Ramji Chauhan, a Conservative councillor in Harrow for thirteen years, was sworn in as the Harrow borough mayor on 18 May.
Cllr Chauhan works in the fine pharmaceutical industry and was elected as a councillor for Harrow Weald ward in the Harrow East constituency in 2010.
He has been described as a freemason and from East African who values inclusiveness.
“It is an honour to be sworn in as the new Mayor and first citizen of Harrow. My theme this year is Unity and Diversity – I hope to continue to unite everyone together, celebrate our differences and embrace cultural diversity” he said.
Such a commitment to diversity is particularly welcoming in the face of the divisiveness imported by some Conservatives in Harrow East for political gain.
He is the second Conservative mayor from a diversity (Asian), first being Cllr Lurline Champagnie (Black) in 2004/5 when still there were some inside/ outside the civic centre who wondered ‘why these people are here’!
There have been twelve Labour mayors in Harrow from the Asian background.
Cllr Chauhan’s mayors chosen charities are RITA (Reminiscence/Rehabilitation & Interactive Therapy Activities)  – a dementia appeal at Northwick Park Hospital – and Centrepoint (provides accommodation and support to homeless people aged 16–25).
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and thanks to everyone for their continued support for my Mayoral year” said the Harrow mayor.

Leader of the Harrow council, councillor Paul Osborn, who does not politically benefit from the Tory campaign against the extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone, including to Harrow, comes under fire for being a part of the Facebook group where members celebrated the destruction of cameras policing the ULEZ.
For example, a comment read: “When politicians do not act on the wishes of the public, the public can and do turn against their rulers. In the UK we have been tolerant for too long.”
Transport for London has reported 96 allegations of criminal damage to ULEZ cameras.
Gareth Thomas, Labour MP for Harrow West, said: “The leader of Harrow council is… facilitating a platform through which criminality is being celebrated.
“For a public servant to give succour to those who commit or endorse vandalism is not only deeply irresponsible but outright dangerous.”
Cllr Osborn might be the administrator of the Facebook group, he is not the sort of person nor would have the time to monitor the group or moderate the comments on a day-to-day basis, condone violence and enjoy the hatful comments.
Campaign against the extension of ULEZ by the Tory held London councils was cleverly worked out and launched when Harrow councillor Susan Hall led the London Assembly Tory group.
Since then, she has stepped down as the leader of the group and is now hopeful for the Tory party candidacy for the London mayor election next year, hoping to gain from the resentment to the extension of the ULEZ so created.
Looks Cllr Osborn has been put under pressure to support the campaign because of the internal dynamics of the Tory group on the council – Cllr Osborn who had fought against Cllr Hall in the group leadership elections, is known to be less confrontational.
Harrow councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman, who strongly supports her ward colleague Cllr Hall for the nomination of Tory candidate for the London mayoralty, is a moderator in the group ‘Harrow say no to Ulez expansion’, and has updated the group rules. The offending posts have now been deleted.

During their leafleting session at the Harrow Town Centre today (22/04/2023), the Harrow Trade Union Congress informed the public that the cost of living crisis is a regular feature in working people’s lives, including in Harrow.

“There are people in this country who work every day but because of ridiculously high rents, heating bills and poverty wages, can’t afford to heat their homes” informs the leaflet.
They are calling for an above-inflation pay rise for all workers currently in dispute, a fair rent act to stop landlords ‘sucking the life out of renters’, and the utilities (gas, water, electricity, rail etc) to be taken into public ownership.
They also pointed out that the Public Spaces Protector Order, like at the Harrow Town Centre, not only adversely impacts the basic right of civil protest and canvassing but is poorly organised.
The Harrow council website lacks information about how to apply for exemption. When applied, it takes too long to process the application and some ridiculous conditions attached which could be challenged.
Other community groups at the Town Centre at the time, like the Citizen’s Advice Bureau who had a table to seek volunteers, expressed similar experience when applying for the exemption.
Some other boroughs like Bromley have an explicit exemption for political, charitable and religious leaflets.

In a regulatory notice published on 20 April 2023, the Regulator of Social Housing concluded that the London Borough of Harrow has breached the Home Standard and, as a result, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants.
Following a referral from a tenant, the regulator investigated the London Borough of Harrow and found that it had failed to meet statutory health and safety requirements for electrical and water safety. The council had not completed electrical safety reports for 3,500 homes, and had not completed water risk assessments for every site requiring a re-inspection.
In agreement with the regulator, the council has put a plan in place to address these issues.
Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at RSH, said:”We investigated the London Borough of Harrow after a tenant referred the case to us, and found that the council has breached our standards and put tenants at potential risk. The council needs to address the issues that led to this situation, and we will monitor it closely as it puts things right for tenants.”
A joint statement from Harrow Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Mina Parmar and Dipti Patel Corporate Director of Place, said “All families deserve to live in well-maintained homes that are safe and warm. We are very sorry that the council has failed to deliver the quality of service that our tenants should expect in their homes. We are determined to address this quickly and have already taken action to change this.”

A widely circulated and supported change.org petition asks the Harrow East MP Blackman to apologise to the UK Sikhs for labelling supporters of a Sikh Homeland as terrorists.
“On 23 March 2023, the Conservative MP for Harrow East Bob Blackman went on a tirade in the Commons by labelling followers for a Sikh homeland, Khalistan, of being hooligans, to Militants to terrorists within a space of 92 seconds” informs the petition.
“Scottish people, some of which who campaign for an Independent Scotland, or indeed the people of Ukraine, would be outraged if they were labelled with such rhetoric” points out the petition.
“Sikh people around the world are clearly emotional on the unlawful abduction of Sikh preacher Bhai Amritpal Singh of Punjab – on instruction by the Indian State” claims the petition.
The Sikh community has been widely highlighting their sufferings in India, including several protests in Britain, latest was at the Parliament Square on 25 the March 2023.

Protestors leaflet informs Indian government’s ‘draconian’ measures in Punjab in the form of “internet shutdown, search operations, police blockades, and deployment of paramilitary troops to have a prominent Sikh leader Amritpal Singh arrested and silenced”.
Blackman, who has seemingly calculated his votes and is known to exploit Gujarati nationalism for votes in Harrow, is a strong supporter of the divisive Indian prime minister Narendra Modi of the Gujarati background despite serious violations of human rights in India under his watch.
The Modi government has been notoriously thin-skinned about international criticism. Among those rebuked for speaking out are Greta Thunberg, the climate activist, and the singer Rihanna, who both expressed support for farmers protesting against Modi’s policies and who were subsequently the subject of a damning foreign ministry statement.
Sikh farmers played a major part in crushing the Modi government into repealing the then “3 New Farming Laws”.
Since Modi was elected in 2014, his right-wing Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government has pursued Hindu-centric policies that are moving India away from its secular foundations. A recent House of Commons research briefing informs about the ‘Persecution of Christians and religious minorities in India’.
Human Rights Watch, in its 2019 report on India, claimed that “the government failed to properly enforce Supreme Court directives to prevent and investigate mob attacks, often led by BJP supporters, on religious minorities and other vulnerable communities”.
Despite all this and that harmoniously diverse Harrow could do well without such right-wing activities to divide the local community, Blackman plays the Modi card for political gain all the time: like, he defended Modi after a recent two parts BBC documentary India: the Modi Question that obtained access to a previously unseen and confidential UK government report produced after the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. The report found Modi responsible for the violence and described it as having the “hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”.
Many say Blackman is the most divisive MP that Harrow has ever seen.

To help clear up London’s air, the ULEZ is expanding from 29 August 2023 across all London boroughs, including Harrow.
The ULEZ is applied to cars, motorcycles, vans and specialist vehicles (up to and including 3.5 tonnes) and minibuses (up to and including 5 tonnes).
If the vehicle doesn’t meet the ULEZ emission standards and isn’t exempt, a daily charge £12.50 is applied if driven inside the zone.
Most petrol vehicles under 16 years old or diesel vehicles under 6 years old already meet the emissions standards.
To monitor the implementation of the ULEZ, the TfL (Traffic for London) has started installing cameras, including in Harrow.
But Cllr Paul Osborn, leader of Harrow Council, seemingly under pressure, said: “We have not given permission for TfL to put up ULEZ cameras in Harrow, and have refused to cooperate with TfL in their installation. Part of our legal challenge against ULEZ expansion is to have the cameras removed. To date, we understand that the cameras have been installed on traffic lights, which are owned by TfL”.
Out of 32 London boroughs, Harrow is one of the five Conservative held London councils – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon along with Surrey County Council – that is gone for a judicial review challenging the ULEZ expansion (eventually a lost battle at the ratepayer cost).
The Judicial Review launched by the Conservative controlled London boroughs seems to be the revolt instigated by a Harrow Councillor Susan Hall who sits in the London assembly leading the GLA Conservatives group, gives a sense to have a needle for Sadiq Khan and misses no opportunity to attack him!!
Many big cities have ULEZ, including Birmingham and Glasgow, but of course don’t have a reason for the London like Tory led revolt against such an air clear up initiative.
[The Tory revolt against the ULEZ, London Mayor initiative, was apparently instigated by the Harrow Councillor Susan Hall, who at the time led the GLA Conservatives group and is in the habit of calling Mayor Khan “a disgrace”. Cllr Hall is well known for causing political chaos and confusion in Harrow!
Later, she stepped down from the post and is now the Tory candidate for the London Mayor election next year. The judicial review was not successful.]

At the Council meeting on 23 February, the Conservative council administration confirmed that they will be increasing council tax by nearly 5% this year and 12% over three years, breaking an election promise to freeze council tax.
Leader of the council, Councillor Paul Osborn, later said: “Deciding where to invest and where to make savings is very challenging. We’ve taken the tough decisions that allow us to invest in your priorities and at the same time make sure the council lives ­­within its means”.
The expectation was to make the financial decisions to deal with the cost of living crisis effecting Harrow with a local budget that could have made a difference to the lives of all those that have suffered under 13 years of austerity, the Covid-19 pandemic and a decline in real wages.
The Labour opposition points out that “Harrow Conservatives vote through ‘Dangerous’ Budget Cuts to Social Care (£7,452,000), whilst Breaking Election Promises on Council Tax”.
“Harrow Conservative Councillors have dealt a huge slap in the face to Harrow residents by breaking a key election pledge to freeze council tax, only to now increase the financial burden by 12% when the Borough is facing a cost-of-living crisis” the leader of the Labour group, Councillor David Perry said.
“I am deeply concerned that these savage cuts to vital support for our most at risk vulnerable adults and children in Harrow will badly impact service users and their families. The Harrow Conservatives have decided to invest nearly £250k in more PR, Spin Doctors and political messaging at the Council whilst at the same time cutting huge numbers of social care workers demonstrates they have the wrong priorities at the wrong time” Cllr Perry said.

Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow East, announces the formation of ‘all party parliamentary group of British Gujaratis’ (APPG) in the UK parliament’.
“The APPG will provide the Gujarati community with an opportunity to engage with politicians on matters such as health and wellbeing, education, social and cultural needs, immigration, bilateral trade with the state of Gujarat in India, and economic development in the UK” said the co-chair of the group Gareth Thomas (Lab). The other co-chair of the group is Harrow East MP Blackman (Con)!
The REACH (Race, Ethnicity And Culture Heritage) India, fostering a positive image of India, was quick to point out the divisive nature of the vote-grabbing initiative:

Moreover, contrary to what the APPG suggests, the Gujarati community in India or in the UK is not made up of Hindus only.
In trying to justify why the Gujaratis need specific representation, Thomas press release highlights that the Gujaratis are well established in the UK – they became doctors, accountants, solicitors, pharmacists, engineers etc’and that ‘there is hardly any sector, which has been untouched by the Gujarati community’.
Wonder if non-Gujaratis like Rishi Sunak (PM) or Suella Braverman (Home Secretory) would need specific representation because of their treatment for being who they are?
Interesting that political opportunism has no political divide line, and in hunting for the same ground, red merges to blue in exploiting Gujarati nationalism for political gains.
Such are the harmonious relationships between a Harrow Labour MP and a Tory MP that they have calculated their votes, and Harrow East and West territories are well-marked with apparent cosy arrangements whereby Tories don’t put a strong candidate in Harrow West, and the Labour do the same in Harrow East, as the outcome of the selection for Labour parliamentary candidate for Harrow East would confirm this Saturday!

Harrow council planning regime is working on a policy document regarding the height of buildings in suburban areas – the areas which are not as densely populated as an inner city, yet more densely populated than a rural area in the countryside.
The tall building Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), in the draft formation and consultation stage, provides guidance on what contextually tall buildings mean in relation to existing building heights in suburban areas.
The SDP would help in deciding the planning applications by considering the ‘context’ and contextuality of the tall buildings applied for.
Councillor Marilyn Ashton, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, said the SDP would help protect the character of Harrow suburbs.
“People come to live in Harrow because of its Metroland, 1930s leafy areas, and they want to see that character retained” she said.
[“1930s leafy areas” characteristics of Harrow have changed over the time as are the communities expectations, living pattern and needs. The planning and regeneration policies should meaningfully reflect this change.
Between the last two censuses (held in 2011 and 2021), the population of Harrow increased by 9.3%, from just under 239,100 in 2011 to around 261,200 in 2021.
In 2021, Harrow was home to around 37.0 people per football pitch-sized piece of land, compared with 33.8 in 2011.
Harrow saw England’s joint largest percentage-point fall in the proportion of households that owned their home (from 65.3% in 2011 to 58.8% in 2021).
In 2021, 45.2% of people in Harrow identified their ethnic group within the “Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh” category (compared with 42.6% in 2011), while 36.5% identified their ethnic group within the “White” category (compared with 42.2% in the previous decade]
Harrow’s built heritage is principally found in clusters around its medieval town centres and historic landscapes. Early settlements such as Pinner, Stanmore and Harrow on the Hill are already protected by Conservation Areas with many Statutory Listed Buildings.
The SDP defines a ‘contextually tall’ building as being equal to or greater than twice that of the prevailing height of an area.
The politics of using the ‘context’ and ‘contextuality’ of the tall buildings is likely to create a two tier system of the tall buildings in the borough in the less (mostly Conservative) or more (mostly Labour) deprived areas.
The less posh areas like the Greenhill and Marlborough wards that already have tall buildings could have more tall buildings, while the posh areas like Pinner, Hatch End and Stanmore would not.
The SDP by insisting on the context of the tall buildings according to the specific areas, primarily protecting the posh suburban parts of the borough and therefore implicitly preserving their socio-cultural, class and political make-up, mostly Conservative, is concerning as whatever is built on a problematic base, is going to be problematic!
Moreover, the lack of a unified approach to the tall buildings across the borough is at odds with the spirit of the equal opportunities and Harrow’s Core Strategy.
As a good practice, the planning and regeneration policies should enhance and not damage the socio-political cohesion, harmony and continuity across the borough.

London’s mayor Sadiq Khan’s announced £130m scheme to give every primary school pupil in London free school meals for the next academic year, includes Harrow children.
Harrow has seen a growing number of children living in poverty, where over 18,000 children living in poverty. There are serious concerns about the profound and devastating consequences of food insecurity on the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of the residents.
According to the Action for Children report this year, 9597 (43.1%) of Harrow East and 7939 (33.2%) of Harrow West children were in poverty in 2020/21.
Other social deprivation input indicators include that around 58,230 people living in poverty in private households in Harrow as of March 2021 as estimated by the Office for National Statistics, and that 23.5% of residents were estimated to be earning below the Living Wage in 2021.
The total number of “violent crime” in Harrow is 11.5k, and this number has increased by 5.8% when compared year-over-year in the period of January 2022 – December 2022 according to the Plumplot.
London Mayor’s welcome initiative of the free school meals follows the similar decisions by the progressive London councils in Newham, Islington, Southwark, Westminster City and Tower Hamlets to offer their own universal primary school free school meals. Harrow?