Harrow land use needs rethinking, ‘putting residents first’!

Since Harrow council administration is participating in a review of London’s green belt led by Sir Sadiq Khan’s office, would they be rethinking about the Harrow’s Core Strategy and Local Plan?
This becomes pertinent as the review aims to assess and potentially revise the green belt designation in London, including areas within Harrow.
The mayor of London says current rules prohibiting development on green belt land are “wrong, out-of-date and simply unsustainable”, as the demand for housing increases.
Harrow’s Green Belt covers around 11 square kilometres (1088 hectares), equivalent to eight Hyde Parks and about one fifth of the Borough’s total area, given rise to an imbalance where there are ample green areas but inadequate housing.
Harrow is experiencing a severe housing crisis characterized by insufficient affordable housing, high rents, and increasing homelessness, resulting in a growing number of residents in temporary accommodation, causing a significant pressure on the Harrow council budget.
In 2024, Harrow had 2,163 households on their social housing waiting list, with an increased number of those deemed homeless.
In the context of local planning, a core strategy document is a key document in a local plan that sets out the overall vision and strategic direction for a local authority’s area, guiding future development and land use. It serves as the foundation for other local development documents like Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).
In view of the Harrow’s changed population profile and many inner-city indicators, local town and country planning could do with a well-balanced and realistic approach between retaining green areas in the borough and meeting the local needs, including the housing demand, within the context of ‘putting residents first’!

Harrow’s green belt and homelessness!

Good that, unlike the rest of the Tory London councils (four), Harrow is participating in a review of London’s green belt led by Sir Sadiq Khan’s office. The review aims to assess and potentially revise the green belt designation in London, including areas within Harrow.
The mayor of London says current rules prohibiting development on green belt land are “wrong, out-of-date and simply unsustainable”, as the demand for housing increases.
Harrow’s Green Belt covers around 11 square kilometres (1088 hectares), equivalent to eight Hyde Parks and about one fifth of the Borough’s total area.
Harrow is experiencing a severe housing crisis characterized by insufficient affordable housing, high rents, and increasing homelessness. This crisis has led to a growing number of residents in temporary accommodation and a rise in the demand for information and advice services.
In 2024, Harrow had 2,163 households on their social housing waiting list with an increased number of those deemed homeless.
Therefore, the Labour opposition on the council welcome a boost to Homelessness Prevention Grant and Household Support Fund from central government – £2.6 million assigned to Harrow as Household Support Fund renewed for an unprecedented extra 12 months.
“Grant funding is desperately needed as Harrow has endured 223% increase in risk of homelessness” they said.
Labour Group Leader, Councillor David Perry, said they are relieved to hear that the Labour government has taken action to tackle the cost of living and homelessness crisis currently gripping Harrow and many parts of London with the recent £10m of grant funding.
“During the past five years, homelessness has ballooned in our capital, forcing thousands of people into temporary accommodation. I am pleased our most vulnerable families will get much needed financial support over the coming 12 months thanks to this package of support” he said.
Leader of the council, Cllr Paul Osborn has informed that the government’s Household Support Fund will continue to fund free school meals during the holidays and set money aside for pensioners on council tax support who will miss out on winter fuel payments as well as to provide food aid and fund a homelessness outreach team.

Could new powers for councils to combat fly-tippers help Harrow waste ‘crisis’?

The government has announced a new crackdown on fly-tippers, with tougher sentences of up to five years in prison for those found illicitly transporting waste.
Under the new powers to local councils to combat fly-tipping, councils will work with the police to identify, seize and crush vehicles of waste criminals. Drones and mobile CCTV cameras will be deployed to identify cars and vans belonging to fly-tippers so they can be destroyed.
Labour group on the Harrow council welcome new powers for councils to combat fly-tippers, amid Harrow’s ongoing “waste crisis”.
On 27 APR 2023, MyLondon reported there have been more than 10,000 reports of fly-tipping in Harrow since April 2022, and the hotspots included Vaughan Road in West Harrow (leader of the Harrow council road).
Since then, the number of incidents has rocketed to a record 12,413 over 2023/24.
The Harrow council Labour group leader councillor David Perry applauded the announcement of tougher enforcement, punishment and sentencing for those who illegally dump waste in Harrow and contribute to our town getting dirtier, but said, “While the Conservative-led Harrow Council have talked a big game on enforcement, unfortunately we are yet to see results on a local level”.
Despite fly-tipping has been on the rise in Harrow over recent years, the Conservative administration shows no enthusiasm about the new powers to tackle fly-tipping.
There is also a serious question whether Harrow council could benefit from the new powers, given the inconsistency of the environment portfolio, very thin enforcement team and seemingly lukewarm relationship with the local police.
Nationally, the Conservative opposition, bewildered by the Reform gains, seem more interested in political point scoring rather than focussing on how best the new powers could be deployed: “And with statistics showing that of the 50 worst local areas for fly-tipping, 72% are Labour controlled, it is clear that voting Labour gets you rubbish and rats” said shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins.

Would Harrow deputy mayor behaviour improve when mayor?

Civic responsibility like the mayor or deputy mayor of a borough is a respectable role to be carried out in a dignified manner, like the deputy only has a civic and legal status in the absence of the Mayor.
But in Harrow, after the council meeting on 23rd October 2024, the leader of the opposition Cllr David Perry reported that “following the meeting, I received verbal complaints from three past Mayors of Harrow who raised the disrespectful and inappropriate behaviour of the Deputy Mayor during proceedings by heckling and banging the Mayor’s gavel on the bench”.

“I hope the Deputy Mayor will reflect on this behaviour and ensure in future the position she holds is held to the highest standards in public meetings” Cllr Perry said.
The Local Government Association Model Member Code of Conduct published by the Local Government Association in May 2020, says that the code requires a councillor to “treating other councillors and members of the public with civility” – civility, the LGA defines as the politeness and courtesy in behaviour, speech, and in the written word.
Within the scope of the code, Harrow Monitoring Group reported Harrow deputy mayor Cllr Anjana Patel’s incivility at the council meeting on 23rd October 2024, to the council [see short video clip of her heckling, banging the Mayor’s gavel on the bench, and harshly directing words as well as a finger towards a councillor].
It looks the ruling Conservative group on the Harrow council has taken a notice of all this and has only narrowly selected Cllr Anjana Patel as their mayoral candidate to be ratified at the council meeting in May 2025 along with the challenger for the office who will now be the deputy mayor, as the Conservative have a majority vote at the council. But in public, they would of course ritualistically support her at the mayor-making in May.

Call for investigating dumping at site near Harrow Leisure Centre that needed £348,000 to clean-up

Good that clear up of the site adjacent to Harrow Leisure Centre, which had become a dumping site for illegal fly tippers for over 18 months, is nearing completion.
The site remained unused by the council since August 2023 when the Special Needs Transport vehicle fleet depot was relocated.
However, the Labour group is not satisfied with the site clear up, accelerated after their intervention, claiming that the job will only be finished when those responsible for the illegal dumping of waste on the site are held to account and prosecuted.
“I am pleased to see that, after 18-months of neglect from this Conservative-led Council, the Leisure Centre dumping site is finally being cleared”  the leader of Harrow Labour Group, Cllr David Perry said.
But he is disappointed that the site was ever allowed to get into such a state, fly tippers not prosecuted and that Harrow taxpayers have had to bear the brunt of the £348,000 clean-up cost.
“Harrow Council still have work to do; while the site is cleared, those responsible for illegally dumping on the site have got away scot-free. I and my fellow Labour Councillors are therefore calling for an investigation into how this site was allowed to get into this state by the Council, why their enforcement and securing of the site was so weak, and how they intend to prosecute those responsible” Cllr Perry said.
Hitting back, deputy leader of the Harrow council Cllr Marilyn Ashton said: “The Labour Group know full well that the CCTV did not show any identifiable information on the vehicles used as the number plates were untraceable. In addition, the police were called but failed to turn up”.
“So, Labour’s comments on this are merely designed to keep the story running and are therefore political and nothing else” Cllr Ashton added.

Harrow council administration condemns cemetery vandalism but not overtly

The police are investigating criminal damage after 85 graves, mostly children’s, were vandalised in the Muslim section of Carpenders Park cemetery in Watford last week, and are treating this as Islamophobic crime.
The cemetery next-door to Harrow is owned by Brent Council but is widely used by the neighbouring boroughs.
Such targeted attacks do not take place in vacuum.
The recent far-right extremism in Britain stirs up nationalistic feelings for political gains, including by tarnishing the image of some in Britain.
Media, social media and the far-right politicians very effectively recycle such worked out negative image.
In reassuring the community, leader of the Brent council, Cllr Muhammed Butt said: “The desecration of graves is a distressing and unacceptable act. I confirm that the incident was reported to us on Saturday, and that a full investigation by Hertfordshire Police is currently underway. Council officers have been in regular contact with the police since the report was made, and we are providing full cooperation to support their enquiries”.
Despite that a vast majority of the Harrow Muslim community uses the cemetery and many vandalised graves have Harrow dead, there appears to be no public statement by the Harrow council leadership though privately they are liaising with Hertfordshire police and have contacted a mosque where they enjoyed a Ramadan iftar party last.
[40 minutes after this article and 4 days after the wicked crime that he calls ‘events’, the leader of the Harrow council issued a Facebook statement saying “I am deeply shocked and appalled by the events“!! Facebook is not widely read by the Harrow residents, anyway – to-date his statement is not on the Harrow council website – now it is, again after prompting!]
While the Harrow administration’s lack of an immediate response and low profile regarding such a wicked crime is disturbing, it is understandable in the political sense as the council election is next year and the administration apparently can’t take the risk to upset some in its group or at the ballot box next year.
Unsettled Conservative Party fears Labour less but more the “renegade nationalist conservatives”.

No Harrow schools get London mayor green scheme money

No Harrow school is listed* to benefit from the London mayor £2.9m Greener Schools programme to install solar panels, heat pumps and other technology across the capital.
A total of 38 schools in 16 London boroughs will receive funding through the pilot, with councils contributing an extra £9.6m to the project.
The scheme, which also includes insulation and LED lighting, could save schools almost £15,000 on their energy bills.
“Working with the boroughs, we’ve been able to leverage a further £9.6m to fund more vital projects in more schools, helping to meet our target of achieving net-zero by 2030, as we continue working to build a greener and fairer London for everyone,” London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said.
Harrow needs not to pay for some in Harrow council Conservative administration who are toxically at odds with Sir Sadiq Khan and his improvement initiatives.
After Harrow councillor Hall’s bad defeat at the London mayor election, her ward colleague, also a Conservative councillor, organised a venomous petition calling for Sadiq Khan not to be knighted which, though pumped up the far-right mob, didn’t work, and Sadiq Khan was knighted.
The Harrow council Air Quality Action Plan has failed to credit Ultra Low Emission Zone impact like the biggest reductions in NOx emissions due to the ULEZ expansion in Sutton, Merton, Croydon, Harrow and Bromley, where harmful emissions are estimated to be around 15 per cent lower in 2024 than would be expected without the expansion to outer London.
Out of 32 London boroughs, Harrow was one of the four Conservative held London councils – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon – that along with Surrey County Council had gone for a judicial review challenging the London mayor’s Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion programme across all London boroughs.
The revolt was apparently instigated by the Harrow councillor Susan Hall, who at the time led the GLA Conservatives group. Later, she stepped down from the post to stand against the sitting London mayor Sadiq Khan but was badly rejected by the Londoners.
The legal challenge was dismissed but the Harrow council administration never apologised to the residents for wasting their £150,000 on the court action which was apparently staged for the political gain at the London mayor election.
* Listed schools

Harrow council work improving but needs better consistency

Good to see recent improvements in the work of the Harrow council, like the street environment around the Harrow Town Centre, proactive planning regime, fewer complaints about the waste collection, and the council website, though not perfect, feels better.
However, improvement across the board and the borough remains challenging, particularly as the consistency of the council work depends on the political direction and the financial decisions which are thought to be mindful of the political gains in some instances.
From a comparative position, Harrow council has a balanced budget for 2025/26 where its Quarter 3 financial reporting period indicates to have a slight underspend by the end of the 2024/25 year.
Across London now, seven councils are in receipt of Exceptional Financial Support from the Government because their expenditure is unsustainably above their income.
“Therefore, although Harrow’s position is still challenging it is manageable, and we have been able to invest in priority areas for the 2025/26 year which residents should directly see the benefit from” said Alex Dewsnap, Managing Director of the Harrow council.
Responding to how the council assures consistency in its work, Mr Dewsnap said to ensure consistency of good services, the council underwent a Peer Review in 2023 led by an independent team via the Local Government Association.
The review, he informs, highlighted a number of good practices in the council, including a refreshed strategic performance reporting process, which has oversight of achievements and challenges every quarter, as well as focusing on specific issues such as the customer experience & complaints, finance, performance indicators, corporate priorities, workforce data, and risks.
“In addition to this, the council has regular performance reporting via a Corporate Improvement Programme, assurance statements, routine internal audits, customer satisfaction surveys, and oversight of key programmes through the Scrutiny process” Mr Dewsnap added.
“More recently, we have developed and implemented a Workforce Strategy and a Management Competency framework to support us in delivering high quality public services effectively, with a greater focus on productivity” Mr Dewsnap said.
Looking forward, Mr Dewsnap said “as a data driven organisation, the council is exploring the adoption of new technology and how such innovations of Artificial Intelligence can support our improvement journey”.
Regarding the effectiveness of the Workforce Strategy and a Management Competency framework, and the broad implications of the financial decisions, leader of the opposition group (Lab) Cllr David Perry said: “The Labour Group of Councillors are always extremely grateful for the hard work the staffing core at Harrow Council do on a daily basis on behalf of our residents. The staff are the lifeblood of the organisation, and we would always seek to work with staff on any initiative to improve the forward workforce strategy.
“Our biggest concern locally is the political decisions taken by the Conservative run Council directly impacting staff, whether that be cuts in Children’s services which has led to a failed OFSTED inspection now rated as ‘Inadequate’ or ignoring, following consultation, the already pressured frontline staff when £1.3m was cut from 4000+ of our most vulnerable families in Harrow through reduced council tax support. We continue to be impressed with staff resilience despite obvious huge local service challenges”.

Harrow Air Quality Action Plan fails to credit ULEZ impact

Harrow has been classified as an Air Quality Management Area. An AQMA is declared if a local authority finds an area is unlikely to meet the national air quality objectives.
The council has a statutory duty to monitor, report on and contribute to improving air quality in the borough. This includes the preparation of an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) every five years.
In responding to the Harrow council consultation on the draft AQAP, residents shared a concern for air quality and its impacts on human health and wellbeing.
The Harrow Air Quality Action Plan 2025-2029 before the council cabinet meeting on 10 April, informs that road transport emissions in Harrow are a significant source of pollution and commercial heavy and light duty vehicles make up almost 20% of all NOx, PM10 and PM2.5 transport emissions.
[air pollutants NOx (nitrogen oxides) are gases, while PM10 and PM2.5 are particulate matters]
The council priorities identified in the plan are to tackle air quality issues within its control and how it will collaboratively work with the community, the Mayor of London and other London boroughs to support and influence wider improvements.
It is good for the Harrow council to now work with the London mayor to improve the air quality in the borough, contrary to its previous hostility towards the mayor’s initiatives like Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion programme (ULEZ impact still ignored).
Out of 32 London boroughs, Harrow was one of the four Conservative held London councils – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon – that along with Surrey County Council had gone for a judicial review challenging the London mayor’s Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion programme across all London boroughs.
The revolt was apparently instigated by the Harrow councillor Susan Hall, who at the time led the GLA Conservatives group. Later, she stepped down from the post to stand against sitting London mayor Sadiq Khan (now Sir) but was badly rejected by the Londoners.
The legal challenge was dismissed but the Harrow council administration never apologised to the residents for wasting their £150,000 on the court action which was apparently staged for the political gain at the London mayor election.
The report fails to credit that the boroughs which have seen the biggest reductions in NOx emissions due to the ULEZ expansion are Sutton, Merton, Croydon, Harrow and Bromley, where harmful emissions are estimated to be around 15 per cent lower in 2024 than would be expected without the expansion to outer London.
A daily charge of £12.50 is applied to the vehicle that doesn’t meet the ULEZ emission standards and is driven inside the zone.