Infrastructure delivery plan has wider scope

Harrow council Planning Policy Advisory Panel, under Cllr Marilyn Ashton who is also the chair of the council’s planning committee, advises the council cabinet on various planning matters, including the infrastructure issues due to the developments in the borough.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the responsibility of local planning authorities to identify and proactively plan for the provision of infrastructure to support their projected growth.
One important aspect of the Harrow panel’s work is to give ‘detailed consideration to and make recommendations to the cabinet in respect of the use of the Community Infrastructure Levies (CIL) funds’.
The CIL is a charge that local authorities can set on new development in order to raise funds to help fund the infrastructure, facilities and services – such as schools or transport improvements – needed to support new homes and businesses.
Harrow, like some other London councils, seems to have been inspired by and therefore could benefit from the scope of the London Mayor’s imaginative Infrastructure Advisory Panel that focuses on cross-cutting policy issues such as coordination, resilience, regulation, funding and financing, data and innovation.
What Harrow could also follow is the mayor’s focus on bringing together a diverse range of people in the infrastructure and development sectors.
For example, one of the key aims of the mayor’s advisory panel is to address issues around a lack of diversity in the planning sector by offering a platform for innovative ideas brought forward by independent women and Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) professionals.
The inclusion needs to be in real terms and not by a mere reference to ‘diversity’ as is the case in the council’s Spatial Vision and Strategy, and Strategic Objectives (the word ‘diverse’ appears only once in the text).
The Spatial Vision predicts that in the year 2041 ‘Harrow will continue to be a thriving outer London Borough where the “diverse” Harrow community will benefit from an ever-improving quality of life, having a well-connected borough that provides excellent local access to a range of facilities, services, housing, employment, and nature’.
Any community in any borough would benefit from such good conditions and provisions unless the “facilities, services, housing” etc are specific to the needs and aspiration of certain groups of people which has not been said here!!