The Harrow Counselling Centre will be closing its doors after 30 years this week.
The qualified counsellor of 30 years and sole director Jackie Tancred is retiring and no one has come forward to take over the centre at Greenford Road.
The centre that saw over 2000 people during the last 15 years and has over 9000 telephone clients, offers a range of affordable professional counselling to the local community for both men, women and couples.
The service includes a skilled counsellor listening and helping clients to understand how past experiences, worries about the future or lack of confidence may be affecting their life. The counsellor will not tell what to do or give advice, but will help clients make their own choices.
When started, the centre tried to get funding through the health authority at the time but was refused. Since then the centre has been funded purely by the clients and the voluntary work of professionally qualified counsellors.
Describing the process to establish the centre, Jackie Tancred informed “Initially we put our own personal money into the centre and with the help of local communities who gave small donations, along with client fees have kept going”.
“Quite frankly I tried very hard to get someone to take over a flourishing, thriving counselling centre and could not – it is sad” she said.
“I do not think that there is anywhere that offers affordable professional counselling particularly for men in Harrow now” she added.

North-West London GPs are urged against referring patients to hospital specialists and consultants, and some outpatient appointments will be axed, as part of a controversial programme of NHS to be introduced in London.
This is in addition to thirty three  procedures covered under PPwT policy for which hospitals have to make individual funding request to the NHS Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) where  the  treatment falls under the ‘not normally funded’ category.
Gareth Thomas, the Harrow West MP, said the new plans amounted to rationing.
Harrow East MP Bob Blackman, not really interested in Harrow issues, has shown no interest in the dire effects of rationing the health care.
The procedures for rationing looked at includes: knee replacement, knee arthroscopy (keyhole surgery), interventional treatments for back pain, varicose vein procedures, shoulder decompression and cataract surgery.
The sweeping changes were communicated in a letter from the North West London Collaboration of clinical commissioning groups (NWLCCCG), which funds NHS health services for more than two million Londoners, on the same day the prime minister reinforced his commitment to funding the NHS while announcing he was suspending parliament.
The expected deficit for 2019/20 in north-west London was previously £51m, but this has more than doubled with a further £61m identified – a total of £112m. Harrow CCG was put into special measures because its forecast deficit of £40 million.
Pamela Fitzpatrick Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Harrow East said “Boris Johnson claims to care about our NHS whilst outpatient appointments are axed and our walk in centres are being closed at a rapid rate”.
“We have suffered nine long years of cut backs and the public have simply had enough” she added.
It’s time to invest in our vital services and a Labour Government will give the NHS the money it needs, she said.
Adam Bernard, Liberal Democrat candidate for Harrow East, said “We understand that the NHS here is under a lot of pressure, but we are concerned by these proposed restrictions. It is important that all patients can get the specialist care they need”.
Lisa-Maria Bornemann, Liberal Democrat candidate for Harrow West, said “It’s alarming that the Conservative government is wasting money on Brexit, when the NHS is in desperate need of financial support.”
Previously, Harrow resident have been deprived of walk-in centres which allowed treatment of minor illnesses and injuries, without an appointment. This followed the impingement upon patient rights where the Harrow CCG has instructed GPs not to prescribe the items which the NHS England had said should be prescribed if the patents do not wish to buy.

As the Tory government is in deep crisis, Labour MP for Harrow West Gareth Thomas assures “I am absolutely committed to acting in the national interest, making sure residents voice is heard, and will continue to do everything I can to prevent the Prime Minister from crashing this country out of the EU”.
Harrow majority voted to Remain in the EU!
His reassurance is welcoming as the MPs and Lords have passed the Bill to require the Prime Minister to seek and accept an extension of the Brexit deadline if a deal has not been agreed by 19 October and Parliament is still opposed to No Deal; it should soon receive Royal Assent and become law.
“I have always been opposed to leaving the EU without a deal as I believe it would be disastrous for our country. The Government’s own leaked assessments and warnings from leading industry figures have highlighted the damage it could cause” he said.
He reminds:
The British Medical Association has said that the consequences of No Deal could have “potentially catastrophic consequences for patients, the health workforce and services, and the nation’s health.”
Make UK, which represents 20,000 British manufacturers has said that leaving without a deal would be “the height of economic lunacy”.
The National Farmers’ Union has said that No Deal would have a “devastating impact” on British food and farming and “must be avoided at all costs”.
Those who would pay the price of No Deal would be working people, their families, and communities in Harrow and across the county, Mr Thomas said.
“It is absolutely vital that we first prevent a disastrous No deal Brexit taking place on October 31. Until that is secured, with no room for doubt, I can assure that I will be voting against any measures which allow for an early general election” he said.
On the other hand, Tory MP for Harrow East is colluding with Boris Johnson who has become the first premier since the Earl of Rosebery in 1894 to lose his first parliament vote. In one week this week, he has sacked 21 Tory MPs, has collapsed his own working majority from one to minus 43, has been deserted by his own brother as well as the Tory leader in Scotland, and has achieved defeats at the Commons and Lords.

Parliament is to ‘prorogue’ or shut down for five weeks as the prime minister has not got sufficient support in Parliament for his undemocratic No Deal Brexit plans. This will be the longest prorogation of Parliament since 1945.
“This is a shocking and scandalous decision by a Prime Minister who, far from seeking to unite the country, has sought to avoid scrutiny and accountability at every turn, not just from Parliament but from journalists and the media too” said Gareth Thomas, Labour MP for Harrow West.
“By shutting down Parliament, Boris Johnson is deliberately attempting to avoid any challenge to his deeply worrying plans to crash our country out of the European Union without a deal” he added.
Cllr Graham Henson, the leader of Harrow Council, said that the prime minister’s move to leave the EU without a deal would be a “disaster” for Harrow.
Highly concerned Pamela Fitzpatrick Labours parliamentary candidate for Harrow East said “Suspending Parliament to prevent scrutiny show us exactly what lengths this Prime Minister with no mandate will resort to. There is every indication that the UK is heading for a recession”.
She reminded the Financial Times editorial on 28/8/19: “History has shown that charlatans, demagogues and would-be dictators have little time for representative government. They seek ways around parliament before concluding it is an inconvenience.
“Mr Johnson may not be a tyrant, but he has set a dangerous precedent. He and the cabal around him who have chosen this revolutionary path should be careful what they wish for”.
Harrow’s Liberal Democrat candidates reacted angrily to the news of parliament’s prorogation.
Adam Bernard, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Harrow East said: “Shutting down democracy in order to force through a Brexit that neither the people nor Parliament want is the act of a dictator.”
Lisa-Maria Bornemann, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Harrow West said: “Boris Johnson has shown that all he cares about is getting his own will, even when it comes at the expense of damaging our country. This behaviour is selfish and cowardly, and it must be stopped”.
As expected, Tory MP for Harrow East Bob Blackman supports shutting down the parliament to impress certain voters in his highly marginal seat that the Brexit would enable more trade with India and Israel.
Strong public feelings at the Defend Democracy – Downing Street demo against shutting down parliament, held on 31 August 2019 (footage below)

Councils in England could make a record surplus of £1bn from parking charges and penalties this year, reports BBC.
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding described £1bn as “quite a windfall from a service that is intended to be all about managing traffic”.
Harrow council made £8.310 million in 2017/18 and £9.174 million in 2018/19 which ought to be spent on local transport improvement – for example to providing a high quality parking service and a fair, consistent and transparent approach to parking management and sensible traffic enforcement.
The money made includes the fine collected from Penalty Charge Notices. Harrow council issued 168,079 PCNs in 2017-18 compared with 78,333 in Hillingdon, 190,737 in Brent and 241,350 in Barnet.
Many feel that on times the PCN is a easy way to generate revenue rather than in the interest of traffic management. The PCN validity depends on who is issuing it and how it is issued, according to a ruling at the High Court.
As well as managing Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) and local parking schemes, the council also enforces other traffic and parking. This includes: School Keep Clear Enforcement, Yellow Line Enforcement, bus lanes and bus stop parking as well as on-street pay and display parking bays.

Having calculated votes in his highly marginal Harrow East constituency, divisive MP Bob Blackman works all the time on Indian background voters for political gain, for example, playing Indian-occupied Kashmir game, while doing nothing for Harrow.
Equally concerning are few opportunist Tory councillors who are paid £8000+ councillor allowance for the ward welfare but work as foot soldiers for Mr Blackman instead.
Majority of Harrow residents voted to remain in Europe but Mr Blackman is not representing them, instead he pleads for Brexit and publicises that it will help more business opportunities with India.
People in Harrow are concerned at the increase in knife crime and government’s failure to provide the resources to deal with this issue – the government has cut the Harrow youth offending team’s funding by £409,130 since2010 (66 percent cuts) – Mr Blackman has not intervened.
He has not questioned about the usefulness of the youth work in Harrow, Harrow Safer Neighbourhood Board and the effectiveness of the Harrow Police & Crime Plan (PCP) priority to reduce the number of young people involved in youth violence and gang crime and to decrease the number of young people carrying offensive weapons.
Since Theresa May took over as home secretary in 2010, Harrow has lost over 173 police officers.
In Harrow, the impact of austerity has been shocking.  Already one of the lowest funded councils in London, his government’s reckless policies continue to put an unacceptable strain on borough finances and cause damage to the residents – Mr Blackman has not really put forward Harrow case.
Over 30% of children in Harrow live in poverty where child poverty is rising to 40% in some wards. Last year, the Harrow food bank fed over 2617 people, including over 1041 children – Mr Blackman has done nothing to ease the situation.
In Harrow 46 of 50 schools have suffered £27.2M cuts to per pupil funding between 2015 & 2019 which on average is £286 per pupil loss – ignoring this, Mr Blackman mischievously keeps talking about government increase in education funding.
If there was ever a much-loved and vital service that told the story of the NHS funding crisis in north-west London, these are the walk-in centre closed by the Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that has been put into special measures because its forecast deficit of £40 million – Mr Blackman failed to raise the issue.

People in Harrow are concerned at the increase in knife crime and rightly feel let down by the government’s failure to provide the resources to deal with this issue, says Harrow councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Harrow East (photo).
The government has cut the Harrow youth offending team’s funding by £409,130 since2010 – meaning cuts of 66 percent.
Nationally, the Tories have slashed central government funding for youth offending teams by over half from £145m in 2010/11 to £71m in 2017/18.
“It was completely unacceptable for the Tories and, in coalition, the Lib Dems to cut this funding” said Cllr Fitzpatrick.
“It is appalling that, with youth violence rising, the government is still failing to prioritise funding for this essential service. This is a big issue yet Bob Blackman has done nothing to address this problem” she said.
[Divisive Harrow East MP Bob Blackman has calculated his votes and his priority is to work on Jewish and Indian backgrounds voters by cashing in on situations like that in Kashmir or Palestine. For example, he has supported far-right Modi government’s widely condemned recent action to oppress Kashmir people by taking back their right to decide their futures – far right Hindu nationalist domination in India is well summed up by Haaretz.com*]
Cllr Fitzpatrick demands that the government must guarantee the resources needed to protect our community and help prevent young people from getting involved in crime in the first place.
*

A motion at the Council meeting on 18 July 2019 demands the incoming Tory prime minister to take responsibility for the terrible human cost of his party’s austerity programme and make the necessary investment to properly fund public services.
The movers of the motion councillors Graham Henson and Adam Swersky point out that “Austerity has caused huge damage to communities up and down the UK, with devastating effects on key public services that protect the most defenceless in society – children at risk, disabled adults and vulnerable older people – and the services we all rely on, like clean streets, libraries, and community centres”.
In Harrow, the impact of austerity has been shocking.  Already one of the lowest funded councils in London, this government’s reckless policies continue to put an unacceptable strain on our finances and cause damage to our residents, highlights the petition.
Over 30% of children in Harrow live in poverty where child poverty is rising to 40% in some wards. Last year, the Harrow food bank fed over 2617 people, including over 1041 children.
The Young Harrow Foundation’s Needs Analysis found that 20% of Harrow’s young people need mental health support while 17% need help with suicidal thoughts or know someone who needs this help.
The government has cut the budget of the Metropolitan police drastically, forcing a reduction in officer numbers with fewer 3,000 police officers and 3,000 fewer community support officers in the capital compared to 2010 – crime has increased.
This year, a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime has found a link between these cuts and the rise in youth violence which has also been witnessed in Harrow.
Harrow has  seen an increase in violent crime with knife crime becoming a more frequent occurrence.
Inevitably, it is our residents who suffer these strains, whether it be through reduced services or increased council tax, says the petition.

Harrow council’s Standards Working Group found that Tory councillor Stephen Wright, a Pinner ward colleague of the opposition leader Cllr Paul Osborn and once a close friend of the controversial previous opposition leader Cllr Susan Hall, brought his office and the council into disrepute.
Last June, Standards Working Group considered complaints from a female resident that councillor Wright had breached the code of conduct for councillors and members. She alleged that he used information to exaggerate his influence as a powerful decision maker to form an inappropriate personal relationship with her.
The Working Group heard from the complainant, the investigating officer, witnesses and the councillor and unanimously concluded that Councillor Wright had breached the code.
It found that councillor Wright failed to treat others with respect; compromised the impartiality of those working for the Council; used his position improperly to secure an advantage; breached the Protocols on Members’ Access to Information and on councillor/officer relations; and inappropriately involved himself in the day to day management of council services by:

• Making some inappropriate physical contact with the complainant
• Seeking a frequency of contact with her that was not justified in the circumstances
• Exceeding the normal professional boundaries of a councillor-resident relationship in the frequency and timing of his contact with her and the suggested locations of meetings
• Describing council officers as liars trying to whitewash events, and exceeding his role by attempting to secure the suspension or dismissal of an officer
• Attempting to secure privileged meetings between the complainant and senior officers
• Retaining confidential papers on his personal device when asked not to by the court

In view of the above breaches the Working Group unanimously recommended that Cllr Wright be censured and that this notice be read out at Council, and put on the council’s website and in a local newspaper.
There are demands for Cllr Wright to resign because of the seriousness of the matters – there could be a Pinner ward by-election soon!
Online petition to remove Harrow Councillor Stephen Wright From Power