Within three days of our reporting water leak outside a Wealdstone high street shop, Affinity Water responded positively and repaired the leak as indicated below (well done Affinity Water).
Somewhat surprised, the Delight shopkeeper Virgina said, “Thank you very much for getting a job done so quickly”.

UPDATE: Cllr Marilyn Ashton now informs us that “the council wanted to impose on them (residents)  double yellow lines without a CPZ – the council has now agreed to delay the double yellow lines until a CPZ can be done”.
“So a result here for the good people in Stanmore Park” she said.

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Stanmore Tory Cllr Marilyn Ashton, who came back to the council in a 2011 by-election but remained under clouds during her leader Cllr Hall time, now seems to be able to spread wings under non-vindictive leader Cllr Paul Osborn.
In criticising the council decision to introduce double-yellow lines in Eaton Close, Stanmore, Cllr Ashton has accused the council of being “high-handed” and “ignoring” residents’ concerns over proposed parking changes in a residential street.
The controlled parking zone (CPZ) are mostly demand led.
The council explains the need for the CPZ here: “Double yellow lines to one side of this road means emergency services and council bin lorries can access the end of the road without any obstructions.”
Cllr Ashton’s concern looks shallow and point-scoring considering that despite being in a powerful position in a Tory administration, she failed to do anything about the  real ‘high-handedness’ and disrespect  for residents by Cllr Hall, then responsible for parking,  in implementing the CPZ.
Cllr Marilyn Ashton was planning portfolio holder at the time and her husband was the leader of the council.
Many, including in the Tory party, felt bad about Cllr Hall’s obsession with CPZ.
For example, Judicial review threat over proposed CPZ in West Harrow said that “Cllr Hall, who is in charge of parking schemes in the borough, vociferously defended her decision” and pointed out Cllr Hall’s  arrogant tone: “It makes no difference to me if West Harrow has a CPZ or not. I don’t work there and I don’t live there” she said.
In another example of Cllr Hall’s heavy-handed application of the CPZ and disrespect for residents, was the biting  statement that “to some degree the council have manufactured the problem (Pinner Road), in order to raise revenue by the CPZ Tax”.
Also, describing the Harrow West/Pinner Road  CPZ consultation and its disputed outcome under Cllr Hall watch, it was said, “What it illustrates is the level contempt she holds the local residents of the area in and around the Pinner Road, that she will tell an untruth, just to have her way”.
There was similar public outcry by others like the Watling Medical Centre in Stanmore which served a petition asking to change the parking times during the surgery times that were arrogantly imposed against their wishes. Their petition was basically dismissed under Cllr Hall watch.
Hypocrisy is not good, not even in the politics.

Joy Morrissey, shortlisted for Tory London mayor candidacy, was asked but failed to condemn Boris Johnson ‘letter-box’ politics.
Social media is overflowing with angry responses to Boris Johnson describing Muslim women in Niqab/burkas as looking like “letter boxes” and “bank robbers”.
A short and simple analysis by David Lammy MP summarises the Mr Johnson move: “Make no mistake, this was nothing less than a coordinated, cynical attack on Muslim women to appeal to racists and win a few days of headlines” he said.
Mr Johnson left Theresa May cabinet, apparently to work on challenging Ms May position but many think he would not go beyond the first round.
Ms Morrissey whose candidacy has been supported by Roger Evans a former Deputy Mayor for Boris Johnson, recently campaigned with divisive Tory PM Bob Blackman in Harrow East.
Considering the extreme racism at the last Tory London mayor campaign, it is important to know where Tory hopefuls for London mayor stand!
Boris Johnson has gone beyond ‘do first, say sorry later’, which tends to confirm deep seated Islamophobia in the Tory Party – who can forget that no Tory, including Boris Johnson defender Eric Pickles, ever condemned their Harrow East MP Bob Blackman, an officer of Conservative Friends of Israel, who very recently hosted a known far right extremist .
[Boris Johnson, Eric Pickles, Theresa May have visited Harrow to support Tory campaigns]
Some have tried to reason with Mr Johnson to apologise for his language but he has not done so knowing that no firm action against him is likely as Theresa May can’t take risk of upsetting Tory MPs who are in Mr Johnson camp, before Brexit crucial vote – another example of weak and wobbly prime minister.
It looks that Muslim factor is used by a Tory mob for power/political gain. For example,  Mr Johnson is trying to walk in Donald Trump shoes and when challenged, his gang is going after Theresa May’s close associate and Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis  for setting Boris Johnson investigation (likely pre-determined outcome ‘not guilty’) who are worried that it might jeopardise his Tory leadership chances, despite far right support.
The ‘letter-box’ factor has aligned many far right/anti-Muslim extremists to support Boris Johnson narrative, as expected.

Having heard about weeks old water leak outside Superdrug, Station Road Harrow, we contacted the Affinity Water who took swift action the next day (the repair work now in progress).
We asked the Superdrug manager Terry whether they reported the water leak at some stage: “yes, we did report the leak weeks ago but nothing happened” she said.

Last council meeting (19 July) awarded Honorary Freedom of the Borough (‘Freedom of Entry to the Borough’) to former Harrow councillor Christine Bednell.
Presentation of Scroll was to mark the appreciation of the forty-seven years service by councillor Christine Bednell to the London Borough of Harrow.
Since the creation of the London Borough of Harrow in 1964, no other councillor has given such long and diligent service.
Those that the council previously conferred Honorary Freedom of the Borough upon included Horace Cutler (1977) and the late Sir Roger Bannister (2004).
Ms Bednell, a Conservative councillor for Stanmore  (1986-2014), was first elected to the council in 1968 from the then Wealdstone North ward.
She was Harrow deputy mayor in 1985 and mayor in 1986 and served on various council committees including Cabinet and held the Portfolios for Children’s Services.
The happy atmosphere at the council meeting was somewhat spoiled by a mischievous Tory motion playing the ‘anti-semitism politics’, in line with what has been happening to attack Jeremy Corbyn and destabilise the Labour party. But then divisive politics is a well recognised feature of the Harrow East Tory party!

[As Jews, we reject the myth that it’s antisemitic to call Israel racist’ “It is profoundly wrong to label the Labour party “antisemitic” for refraining to adopt IHRA guidelines in their entirety” says a  worldwide coalition of Jewish groups – 40 Jewish groups from 15 different countries –  condemning attempts to stifle criticism of Israel with false accusations of antisemitism].

A rogue Harrow business and its shameless director were caught dumping seven and a half tonnes of waste on Hatch End playing fields.
Triangle Care and Maintenance was sentenced and ordered to pay more than £51,000 for the criminal venture – all caught on camera.
Also director Ivan Hausjell, who didn’t attend the Willesden Magistrates Court hearing last week, now has to wear an electronic ankle tag for three months and personally pay £1,600 for his part in the dumping spree.
Enforcement officers encountered Hausjell’s persistent fly-tipping in November 2016 on Hatch End playing fields. On each occasion, a mountain of household and refurbishment waste was dumped.
It was so bad that the waste was spreading into the River Pinn, endangering the environment and local wildlife.
Hidden cameras installed by the council finally captured the rogues in action – with their van and face clearly identified as they brazenly dumped waste late at night.
“It’s an absolute disgrace that the taxpayer had to spend more than £4,000 clearing up their disgusting mess. That’s money that should have been spent on residents who live here and actually care about Harrow” said Cllr Graham Henson, leader of Harrow council.

Newton Park, in the heart of South Harrow has undergone a 9 month restoration programme.

(Click the play button to play – fullscreen by clicking the fullscreen button – bottom right – last)The park now boasts better facilities and access for the local community with new footpaths, bridges, four wetlands and more diverse wildlife habitat.
The attractive 46 acre open space project also provides river restoration and flood defence improvement works.
On Tuesday 17 July, the park will officially be opened by the leader of the council Cllr Graham Henson and the Mayor of Harrow Cllr Kareema Marikar at 1.15pm. They will be joined by local school children from Newton Farm.
There’ll be a ribbon cutting ceremony, planting of 500 aquatic plants, water testing, activities and information displays, tours and refreshments.

Tory MP Bob Blackman in marginal Harrow East, well known for his divisive politics, has calculated his votes and asks specific questions at the Commons to capture the Indian and Jewish background voters.
On 4 July 2018, he asked what assistance can the UK government give to match the donations by  Indian Diaspora for orphanages and schools for disabled children in India.
Penny Mordaunt, the secretary for international development, reminded him that the “aid programmes in India are limited to investments on which we make a return and to technical support. We do not do traditional aid programmes in India, and we certainly do not fund the types of institutions to which my hon. Friend refers”.
On 17 May 2018, he enquired about removing the caste (mostly Hindu) as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010, despite the minister being already briefed about the matter and agreed to meet him.
[Labour supported in 2013 for laws to outlaw caste discrimination – in 2013 a clause against caste discrimination was inserted into the Equality Act 2010]
He asked a similar question about the caste on 29 March 2018.
On 22 February 2018, he alleged that “in Kashmir, illegally occupied by Pakistan, 162 terrorist training bases have been identified” and asked what could be done in this country “to help and support our great ally, India, in combating this terrorism?”
Andrea Leadsom, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons, generalised the issued and told him “we work very closely with all our allies to try to stamp out terrorism and all terror attacks”.

Bob Blackman (photo), Tory MP for marginal Harrow East, denies that he is divisive as Barry Kendler, chairman of Harrow East Constituency Labour Party, outlines his group’s plans to defeat Mr Blackman whose majority was slashed at the last general election.
Mr Kendler said that “all communities are suffering at the hands of Blackman’s Government” and that he “needs to be given his P45”.
Labour parliamentary candidate for Harrow East Cllr Pamela Fitzpatrick has also condemned Bob Blackman politics.
Commenting on the Bob Blackman’s divisive campaign, London assembly member and 2017 parliamentary candidate for Harrow East Navin Shah said, “The general election also saw the same old issues like Kashmiri Pundits and caste legislation dragged out for the Tory propaganda to find cheap favours amongst Indian / Hindu voters”.
Mr Blackman has ‘championed’ Hindu caste being removed as a protected characteristic from the legislation, dismissing the caste system in the UK that gives rise to discriminatory practices in socio-religious and employment situations, as indicated by some court cases (i.e. upper class employers treating lower class ‘jatis’ less favourably).
He has also attacked Jewish Voice for Labour, calling it a fringe group that has failed to address anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
In international situations, he supports highly divisive issues that could please his potential right wing voters from the Jewish and Indian background.
Mr Blackman is in a habit of ‘do first, say sorry later’!
The Sky News reminds that  last October, Mr Blackman hosted a parliamentary event attended by Tapan Ghosh, a Hindu nationalist who describes himself as “determined to fight against Islamic aggression and expansion” – Mr Blackman said he was unaware of Mr Ghosh’s past comments.
In March, Mr Blackman expressed “regret” after being exposed for sharing a Facebook post from an anti-Muslim US website – he previously shared a Twitter post by disgraced Tommy Robinson “in error”.
In May he was revealed to have been a member of a number of far-right Facebook groups – he refuted this saying he was added to Facebook groups without his knowledge or permission.
Even the Harrow council has condemned Mr Blackman interactions with far right.
Some leading Tories have been raising concerns, including Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, that there is a “simmering underbelly” of Islamophobia in the Tory party.

Irrespective of what data are reported in the council reports, the grass root complaints are that residents wait too long for a telephone answer from many extensions.
Worst extensions are specific to council tax, bins, waste collection, street issues and environment health.
In one example a caller tried to contact environment health and hanged up after waiting for 10, 11 and 17 minutes on different occasions.
In another example, the council tax telephone extension took 10 minutes to answer. A call to planning took about 5 minutes to answer.
Considering the over 65 population in Harrow (15%), most elderly use telephone rather than Harrow council website for the services.
Jonathan Milbourn, head of the council’s customer and business support services, has not dismissed the public concerns and said “We try to meet the challenge that those who don’t use the internet could contact us by telephone but we have to balance our resources with demands”.
Mr Milbourn informed that the council  receives typically between 80k-100k telephone calls a month which are mostly attended by the staff who do other tasks as well.
He said the council aims to answer the telephone calls within a minute though it was about a minute and a half in May 2018.
Such a target and achievement in answering telephone calls are surprising given what we know and understand about long delays.
Swift communication, warm communication and helpful tone of the communication go a long way towards giving a positive perception about the work and ethos of the council.
Regarding the way forward in cutting down the telephone answering time, Mr Milbourn said “we take opportunities to reducing the need of contact by improving the council services”.