It can only be good that this year Harrow won the Best All Round Small Business Friendly Borough credit for its work to promote business start-ups and growth.
“This is now the best time to set up shop in Harrow as we embark on the largest regeneration programme for a generation” said Cllr Keith Ferry (middle), portfolio holder for business, planning and regeneration.
However, Harrow has a very clear identity within the West London that consists of other six borough council areas of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon and Hounslow, and therefore shares the challenges for West London.
A very recent West London Economic Assessment, carried out by the Peter Brett Associates LLP for West London Economic Prosperity Board, has identified a number of issues that have implications for Harrow’s business growth.
The PBA report says that there is a mismatch between the skills of the West London population and the needs of businesses, likely to become more acute over the next ten years and as the population continues to increase, this has positive as well as potentially negative economic consequences.
“The lack of affordable housing in particular risks putting a brake on economic growth” emphasises the report.
Perhaps the Tory opposition could realise the unhelpfulness of their opposition to the housing developments in Harrow.
The report alerts “West London could end up with an entrenched low-skill workforce servicing wealthier (central London) populations”.
Comparing West London with other London areas, the report highlights that:

• West London is about London average for business growth but well behind North and East London
• West London is about London average for Knowledge Based Economy employment but behind North and East London
• Unemployment in West London is not falling as quickly as elsewhere in London

The Tory opposition group on the Harrow council is not using the councillors question time at the cabinet meetings productively.
Fifteen minutes are allowed for members of the council to ask a portfolio holder a question on any matter in relation to which the Executive has powers or duties.
This established time limit allows a reasonable number of councillor questions to be answered at the meeting but lately there is an unnecessary increase in the number of questions by the opposition, some of which should have not been asked anyway as the information is already in the public domain.
In the October 2015 cabinet meeting, Tory councillors asked eleven questions, where only five could be answered at the meeting within the time limit.
Such was the nature of the questions, that one question by the deputy leader of the opposition (photo) was about the information regarding the tenants Right to Buy. The information is public and available on the Council’s website as well as via personal enquiry to the Leasehold Team.
The number of the opposition questions reached to thirty five at the November cabinet meeting, twenty nine of which were asked by the deputy leader of the Tory group, seemingly in a show-off. Obviously only seven questions could be answered at the meeting.
One of the questions he asked was about the concessions being offered to residents under the new food and garden waste collection regime. The information is in public domain .
In the public interest, they should not waste the council time in scoring political points in public.

Good that the Harrow council has taken notice of our intervention and has now amended the road marking to remove the ambiguous right turn arrow and leave an arrow indicating straight on.
The right turn arrow on the filter lane at the junction of Gayton Road and Station Road, Harrow caused confusion, resulting in a £65 fine when the motorists innocently failed to comply with the prohibited right turn signs around.
Although the signs for the restricted right turn are mounted, the right turn arrow marked on the road was more readily noticed, tempting and was therefore followed by the drivers!
The fines from this spot generated significant revenue for the council.

Harrow council could helpfully consider any appeals against the PCNs previously issued for mistakenly taking a right turn at this junction under somewhat misguided circumstances.

Lobbying MPs, offering them hospitalities and taking them out on ‘fact-finding’ trips by the interested parties is much heard about and of course the MPs have to declare any interest which someone might reasonably consider to influence their actions or words as an MP.
But it is not often that the local councillors receive gifts or hospitalities from those who have wider national or international interests, but it does happen and must be declared!
In Harrow, the following councillors have provided information about the positions they hold, and gifts or hospitalities they have received:
Cllr Keith Ferry – Lab – deputy leader of the council and chairman planning committee: 18/10/2015 – hospitality received at a Rugby World Cup Event offered by The Berkeley Group; value £500.
Cllr Ameet Jogia – Con – a new comer but in Canons ward: 07/06/2015 – delegation to Israel – 7 to 12 June 2015 offered by Conservative Friends of Israel, Embassy of Israel; value £2000.
Councillor Jerry Miles – Lab – chairman of the powerful Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 03/10/2015 – Tanglewood Monday Club 50th Anniversary Event offered v £60.
Cllr Paul Osborn – Con – very capable and influential councillor irrespective of the council administration: 24/08/2015 – VIP Tickets offered by England Hockey; 1x VIP Tickets for 24 and 25 August, 2x VIP Tickets for 29 and 30 August; value £1300.
Cllr Kiran Ramchandani – Lab – a new comer but holds a most powerful portfolio for the Performance, Corporate Resources & Policy Development: at present, this councillor is looking for the right wording to declare a trip to Israel paid by the controversial Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre.

The Tory party glossy material (photos) that has hit some Harrow letter boxes today, brands the Labour leader almost an ‘enemy within’.
The David Cameron letter says “supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have gathered an army of the far left …. as your Prime Minister my first duty will always be to protect and defend our nation and our way of life …. we can no longer trust them to keep our nation safe and secure”.
A recent YouGov poll found that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is one of Britain’s most popular public figures while Cameron is the most hated.
Moreover, there is an online petition calling for a no confidence vote in David Cameron which has attracted more than 180,000 signatures.
No doubt the party politics is expected to be nasty but perhaps not to this extent and not at this time!

Tory group leader Cllr Hall has used the Tax Payers’ Alliance list of the council managers whose remuneration exceeded £100,000 to defend why her “previous administration abolished the expensive Chief Executive role”.
After the Labour regained the council last year, they restored the chief executive post that was “unilaterally and wrongly” deleted by the short-lived Cllr Hall’s administration – a fluke, forcing the chief executive Michael Lockwood to go.
Many say that the deletion of the chief executive’s post was not for the financial reasons but seemingly because of the ‘Punch and Judy’ style leadership of the Tory group.
Such was the nature of the show that the members of the Tory group were seemingly instructed not to attend the chief executive’s leaving party in any noticeable numbers to demonstrate that the leaving chief executive is not popular and would not be missed.
The other named officer on the list is the former corporate director of place shaping Andrew Trehern who remained on the Tory hate list seemingly because he had no appetite for some lead Tory councillors.
Both of these officers are known for their appreciation for the Harrow’s diverse community.
Cllr Hall seems to have wider unforgiveness: “we’ve noticed some senior officers have already been given new positions after their old ones were abolished” she said.
Chris Spencer, Harrow Interim Corporate Director, People whose previous post was deleted was the candidate who applied through the internal advertisement and has now been appointed as Corporate Director, People.

Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust says it will deliver mental health services in line with Harrow Council’s vision as the services ‘require improvement’ (a concerning category).
Reporting to the Harrow Health and Wellbeing Board on 5 November, Tanya Paxton, Harrow Borough Director of CNWL informed that the trust will provide safe and integrated care within the borough and all Harrow residents will be able to access mental health services.

The Care Quality Commission inspection of CNWL early this year found the area of greatest concern related to safety and responsiveness on the acute wards for adults of working age which were rated as inadequate (very concerning category).
The inspection also found that the services responsive to people’s needs require improvement (lesser concerning category).

For example, the pressure on acute beds meant that wards were over-occupied and there was not always a bed for patients and they slept on sofas or a temporary bed was used.
The 14 points ‘Must Dos’ for Harrow teams, include:
• promote the privacy (phone calls) and dignity of patients
• reduce the number of times that patients are moved to other wards to sleep for non-clinical

   reasons, staff must ensure that a thorough handover takes place to promote continuity of care

   and patients must only be moved at reasonable times so that they are not adversely affected
• make sufficient staff available to work as care co-ordinators
‘Should Dos’ for Harrow teams include:
• reduce 5 week waiting times for patients to be assesses
• further training for staff to support patients with personality disorders

This Shelter leaflet reminds that the next Mayor of London can build the homes that our children will be able to afford.

Demand for housing in Harrow is increasing, particularly as the changes to welfare benefits affect people who live both in affordable housing (renting from the council or a housing association) and private rented housing.
While there is a firm commitment by the Labour London Mayoral as well as Brent and Harrow London Assembly candidates to build more affordable homes, not sure about the Tory candidates except that Harrow East MP Bob Blackman has joined a group of campaigners in voicing his opposition to plans for 318 new homes on the former post office site in College Road, Harrow.
“The political game he is playing with his chums in Government will at the very least delay the supply of these much needed homes” said Cllr Glen Hearnden, Housing Portfolio Holder.
“To stop the building of affordable housing is criminal given the housing crisis affecting many of our residents” he added.

Shelter has organised a petition for more affordable homes and it can be signed here

David Cameron’s overreaction to the tax credits defeat in the Lords – promising a “rapid review” of the relationship between the Lords and the Commons – is a matter of concern for all democrats among us.
But this is not likely the reason why the Harrow East MP Bob Blackman voted to support a backbench motion from Labour MP Frank Field which called for the Government to “reconsider the effect on the lowest paid workers of its proposed changes to tax credits”.
He must have known that the government was not going to oppose the motion as they remained abstained.
In situations like this, usually the party whip allows space for their vulnerable MPs to impress their voters by staging a drama of defying the whip.
And of course, the Brent & Harrow London Assembly and London Mayoral elections are next year!
Under the tax credit, the state tops up the wages of the low paid, giving them an incentive to stay in work.
It is not Mr Blackman’s doing but the work of the Lords that an estimated 3.2 million families will be spared the miserable pre-Christmas shock of losing more than £100 a month (on average) that the government had in store for them.

My Community E-Purse project (MyCeP), went live in Harrow for all new service users in September 2014, provides an online personal budget and support planning tool that enables the users to receive a personal budget and purchase services from hundreds of providers, all in one place using a PayPal electronic e-purse.
Like other councils, Harrow council offers Personal Budget to all those eligible for social care support from the council, including people with mental health needs.
The E-Purse users can buy services like shopping, domestic services, prescription collection, and sitting and sleep in services.
“Harrow council has had a lot of interest in this model (project) and it is held up as an example of what can be achieved when focusing on the needs of the customer” said Cllr Anne Whitehead, adult and older people portfolio holder.
Since September 2014, there have been 716 users of MyCeP while there are an estimated 4000 potential users of the services and an estimated 8400 residential/nursing self-funders in Harrow. There are an estimated 24,000 unpaid carers as well.
A significant majority of the users since September 2014 are 65+ and 51.2% are from the Asian or Asian British background.
“The E-Purse initiative is good but more work is needed to reach out elderly, particularly the Asian elders, because of their limited computer literacy, access to the internet and online buying experience” said Kanti Nagda, a community leader who has been facilitating social care services from the long established Sangat Advice Centre in Harrow.
Things could improve as the assistant director Chris Greenway, head of safeguarding assurance & quality services adults social care, said that following the initial pilot phase, the E-Purse was introduced to all new community based clients and is gradually being rolled out to the existing community based clients.
“We are also developing the system to be able to broaden its appeal by offering all residential and nursing care clients a Personal Budget using MyCeP” Mr Greenway said. “We aim to introduce this functionality by April 2016” he added.
The project with 11 staff and costing £160,000, has saved £3m since the tool was introduced in 2012 as it reduces the need to generate invoices and pay the relevant supplier of the services.
The introduction of increased cap and raised threshold that determines whether a person is entitled to financial support will bring a significant new range of people into the local authority social care system, who previously planned and funded their care themselves.