‘Concrete jungle’ not an answer to Harrow’s housing crisis

In a regulatory notice published on 20 April 2023, the Regulator of Social Housing concluded that the London Borough of Harrow has breached the Home Standard and, as a result, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants.
Mushroom growth of ‘tall buildings’ in the central Harrow were supposed to address but have failed to ease the housing crisis as even the ‘affordable’ housing is unaffordable.
Feed up with the reckless planning decisions, Harrow residents say enough is enough, as confirmed by the actions like hundreds have signed a petition in an attempt to stop ten new tower blocks in Harrow dubbed ‘Tesco towers’.
London housing association Notting Hill Genesis is all set to submit a planning application to build more than 500 homes and a new Tesco store at the site of Tesco, Station Road in Harrow. The newly developed tall building Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) could help the planning application since it allows tall buildings in the vicinity of the tall buildings (negative implications for areas like central Harrow but positive for Hatch End, Pinner or Stanmore).
Director of Harrow Law Centre, a former Harrow councillor and chair of the Harrow planning committee, Pamela Fitzpatrick, called housing “one of the biggest problems” in the borough and suggested, whilst there’s enough housing, it’s “largely unaffordable”.
Ms Fitzpatrick added: “Housing associations no longer do what they were set up to do – provide low-cost, secure rented properties – so many people can’t even afford to live in housing association homes. The proposed Tesco site development appears to simply add to the problems and will do little to alleviate the housing crisis.”
Besides, although such a development along with other developments in the area pose big challenge for local infrastructure, no apparent forward plan to cope with the pressures of these developments.
Feet away from the Tesco is Safari cinema redevelopment: apartments rising up to 11 storeys.
Harrow Council has closed the Civic Centre, Station Road Harrow, dispersing its services to various locations – the site has released the land for creation of a new community of 1,000 or more homes.
Harrow Council is looking at developing the existing council car park at the end of Greenhill Way near the junction with Station Road with the potential to have a mini town hall, leisure, residential and commercial uses.