Mid-summer 2010 update |
More than eighty members and residents came to our AGM on
21st June; a big increase on 2009 which was itself an increase on 2008.
We had a very popular speaker in Borough Commander Dal Babu, recently awarded
the OBE for services to policing. He told us that Harrow was in reality
a very safe Borough, particularly in terms of robbery and burglary and
he described a number of current police initiatives to reduce youth crime,
for example by encouraging participation in sports such as cricket and
football.
All three Headstone North councillors were present to answer questions in the
forum which followed, the main topics being double yellow lines and the North
Harrow Assembly Hall proposals. We had passed on the message that Headstone
South councillors unfortunately had a Group Meeting on that evening. Their
absence was noted by members and residents and regretted.
Thank you to all who attended. We’re sorry for the difficulty in
making ourselves heard and promise to do better next time!
On Saturday 19th June, the Battlers Well Foundation (BWF)
held an exhibition of their revised plans for development on the North
Harrow Assembly Hall (NHAH) site on Station Road, North Harrow. The development
is reduced in bulk but not in length or impact and parking provision is
still inadequate, especially for its proposed use as an event venue.
Sadly, as has happened on previous occasions, the exhibition was not publicised
much in advance in the neighbouring streets which would be most affected. The
HRA worked to remedy this omission by distributing our own flyers to alert
residents. Interestingly, the BWF’s own flyers followed after.
We have made clear to the Planning Department, our opinion that there has to-date
been no proper public consultation worthy of the name on this project.
There continue to be severe parking and access problems in the area, caused
by the lack of consideration for local residents by current users of the NHAH.
On more than one occasion, the police have had to be called.
The BWF intends to submit its revised application in July.
We continue to monitor planning and licensing applications and will, if requested, approach the council on behalf of residents. We were recently asked to help when a resident’s report of an unsafe structure behind a shop, met with an unsatisfactory response from a council department.
More cheerfully, we see that the rather annoying council banners along the North Harrow shopping area (“Working together for a cleaner Harrow” and the like) have been replaced by attractive hanging baskets. A great improvement!
Summer Update |
We look forward to seeing you at our 2010 AGM at 8:15 for
8:30pm on Monday 21st June in the Methodist Church, North Harrow HA2 6EQ
(at the junction of Pinner Road and George V Avenue).
All residents of North Harrow are invited; paid-up members are entitled to
vote. Membership is open to all residents of Headstone North and South wards
and is currently £4.00 per household.
Details have already been circulated to our current members. Are you a paid-up
member and haven’t had an AGM flyer? Please let us know on: enquiry@headstoneresidentsassociation.co.uk
After the AGM there will be a speaker (we have been promised a representative
of the police) followed by refreshments and a forum. Come and tell us about
your local issues!
Some residents have received a letter from the Battlers Well Foundation about
its new proposals for the North Harrow Assembly Hall site near the junction
of Station Road and Pinner Road. An application (P/2376/08) submitted for this
site in 2008 was unanimously rejected by Harrow Council Planning Committee
in June 2009 following a strong recommendation for refusal by the Planning
Department.
There is to be a public exhibition of the new plans at the North Harrow Assembly
Hall HA2 6AE on Saturday 19th June 2pm to 6pm.
More information from the applicants at: www.nhcconline.org.uk/index2.php We
understand that full plans for the revised version are to be
put forward in July.
London Underground has told residents that they are ready to discuss plans
for replanting the North Harrow rail embankment (by the tube station) following
the stabilisation works carried out over the past few months. Cambridge Road
residents protested when in spring 2009, MetroNet (then responsible for the
works) cut down all the trees on the south bank of the Metropolitan Line from
North Harrow station towards Pinner. The clearance was begun without proper
notice to residents who were angry at the loss of noise screening and privacy
from the platforms and from trains. Work on the embankment is expected to continue
until September and the replanting to be done this autumn.
Next Harrow Council Question Time will not be until November; full details
to be released nearer the time.
Have you changed the address or email address details you gave us? Let us know
on
enquiry@headstoneresidentsassociation.co.uk
Spring 2010 update |
Currently making the rounds is our Winter/Spring Bulletin. Thank
you to Chris Overson for producing it.
Earlier this year, the HRA submitted its response to Harrow Council’s
LDF Core Strategy public consultation. The document proposes a “Harrow
and Wealdstone Intensification Area” (HWIA). The Kodak site, in neighbouring
Marlborough ward, is the biggest open development site in this part of London
and immediately adjoins both North and South Headstone wards. It could hold
a waste processing plant (as part of the West London Waste Plan) and/or
a local energy-producing plant. The HRA believes that industrialisation
must not be allowed to “creep” beyond the boundary. There could
be substantial increases in commercial and industrial vehicles using the
various routes through North Harrow to get to the HWIA. While Harrow needs
local employment, the negative effects must be isolated.
For a copy of the HRA response, email us on the address below.
The HRA recently objected to an application for extended licensing hours
by a corner shop in North Harrow, following requests from a number of residents
concerned about the possibility of drunkenness and anti-social behaviour.
The licensing panel hearing on 14 Mar was attended by 3 HRA committee members
and concerned residents. It became clear that the law is currently so drafted
as to render residents' objections almost ineffective. It appears to be
aimed mostly at pubs and clubs and has little to say about off-licences.
The council is now aware that the situation is unsatisfactory and the HRA
will press them to find ways to ensure residents’ views are properly
taken into account.
The Battlers Well Foundation are continuing discussions with Harrow Planning
about a revised, reduced scheme for the North Harrow Assembly Halls site,
expected to be submitted in early summer. They have been advised by Harrow
Planning that any new application should include community consultation
so that local residents are fully aware of the proposals before any application
is submitted.
When the recycling bins in the Cambridge Road car park (near North Harrow
station) disappeared some weeks ago we understood it was to allow the car
park to be used for materials storage for the North Harrow rail embankment
stabilisation works. We are now told that this is part of a borough-wide
scheme and the bins will not be returned.
The stabilisation works are scheduled to continue until approximately end
of June.
The 2010 HRA AGM will take place one evening in the last two weeks of June;
details will be published here soon and circulated to members.
Do you have a local problem we could help you with? Let us know on enquiry@headstoneresidentsassociation.co.uk
Winter 2009 update |
Our members will have seen our first "proper" Bulletin
since 2006/2007. Many thanks to our Chairman Bob Cook who edited it.
Are you a member but haven’t had your copy? Tell us on the email address
below.
HRA Committee news
James Bond is (as required by our constitution) stepping down as committee
member and Vice-Chairman to contest the next Council elections as independent
candidate for Headstone North. He has already shown himself to be popular
in the community and remarkably good at fund-raising. We wish him every
success in his campaign and at the elections.
A warm welcome to Prakash Raja as our acting Vice-Chairman.
We have heard no news yet about the refused planning application for the North Harrow Assembly Halls site (P/2376/08), which the HRA opposes. The applicant, Battlers Well Foundation, has until late January to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
We noticed that the recycling bins in the Cambridge Road
car park (near North Harrow station) disappeared some weeks ago. Despite
repeated enquiries, Harrow Council’s telephone helpline and One Stop
Shop staff were unable to explain why. When the car park railings also vanished,
we (eventually) discovered that the car park will be used for materials
storage for the North Harrow rail embankment stabilisation works..
While we have found council staff generally helpful, they seem quite unable
actively to investigate enquiries from the public. If the answer’s
not on the computer, they can’t find it out!
In our experience, general email enquiries made via the council website
don’t even receive an acknowledgement, let alone a reply. We recently
tried to compile a list of publicly available planning documents but found
the website itself to be unwieldy and disorganised; a mass of statements,
core documents, options, plans, consultation documents, appraisals and so
forth, from which it's hard to pick out (or even recognise) what you're
after. Links too often lead to the wrong document, or to an empty page or
round in a circle.
Harrow’s Community Street Champions (Neighbourhood Champions) scheme, agreed by the council cabinet on 12 th November, has had a poor reception in the press. In our experience, residents don’t need to be “encouraged to take responsibility” (in the council’s words) for reporting litter and graffiti. What they want is a prompt and proper response from the existing service. T his, we believe, is where the council should direct its energies and its budget.
What do you think of the Street Champions Scheme ? What are your experiences of using the council helpline, the One Stop Shop or the website?
Summer 2009 update |
Thank you to all who came to support our AGM on 30 th June making it the best-attended in some years. James Bond (well-known to users of North Harrow underground) spoke of his father, who had been an independent councillor and who inspired his interest in local community activity and his involvement with the HRA. North Harrow, he said, was the most neglected area in Harrow. The Treasurer and Membership Secretary described a difficult couple of years for the HRA. Nonetheless our new Chairman, Bob Cook, ended the meeting on a positive note saying that the new executive committee was well situated to tackle the challenges facing the association.
The planning application for the North Harrow Assembly Halls site (P/2376/08) was refused by unanimous vote of the Planning Committee at its meeting on 22 nd June. However, the HRA was disappointed to see that the council Planning Department’s grounds for refusal had been watered down since the application was last considered in October.
Below are extracts from our Chairman’s letter to the Planning Committee:
“Our view, which accords with the vast majority of local residents, is
that the application has once again been rightly recommended for refusal. Since
last October, when the Strategic Planning Committee graciously deferred their
decision to allow the applicant time to work through your officer’s very
considerable objections, little has changed and the proposals remain, apart from
some minor amendments, very much the same.”
“Although we fully endorse the substantive grounds underlying the planning
officers’ recommendation for refusal, the HRA has very serious concerns
about the unjustified concessions made in support of the applicants’ claim.
This will become very significant were the applicant to appeal against a refusal
decision by the Planning Committee.”
Examples of these concessions are given:
“These are but a few simple examples of the overall diminution in the force and strength of the words throughout the current recommendation for refusal that, overall, affect the substantial strength of the original refusal.”
In addition, the letter gives details from the applicant’s own statement regarding intensive and continuous use and occupation: the hall is currently used by 500 people every Friday midday; the proposed development would bear intensive use throughout festival periods; there would be social functions, with weddings of between 800-1,000 people.
Website updates will be taking a break over August but you can contact us via the website or on enquiry@headstoneresidentsassociation.co.uk to hear the latest news.
Summer 2009 first article |
We look forward to seeing you at our AGM at 8:00 for 8:15PM on Tuesday
30 th June in the Methodist Church, North Harrow HA2 6EQ (at the junction
of Pinner Road and George V Avenue).
All residents of North Harrow are invited; paid-up members are entitled to vote.
Membership is open to all residents of Headstone North and South wards and is
currently £4.00 per household.
More on the planning application for the North Harrow Assembly Halls
site. In its meeting of 2nd October 2008, Harrow Strategic Planning Committee
deferred a decision despite the Planning Department’s strong recommendation
for refusal, on the grounds (among others) of excessive bulk and design
inappropriate to its setting, over development of the site to the detriment
of neighbouring residents and the character and appearance of the area
and inadequate flood risk assessment. The Environment Agency has recently
upheld its objection on the grounds of flood risk and is also considering
the issue of land contamination mentioned in the application document.
The Planning Department has again recommended refusal to the Planning Committee
for its meeting on July 22 nd; the two planning committees, Strategic and
Development - for major and minor applications - have amalgamated. We understand
that the applicant is looking seriously at withdrawing the initial proposal
but is keen to progress with some form of development on the site.
Were this to go ahead, it would be the biggest change to North Harrow’s
built environment since its initial development in the 1920s. The proposal
involves the demolition not only of the Assembly Halls but of neighbouring
properties on Canterbury and Gloucester Roads.
Following a comment to us by a resident, we spoke to Harrow Council's
Highways Enforcement section about pavement obstruction in front of some
North Harrow shops. Apparently there are demarcation lines marking private
forecourts to some shops where the shopkeeper is entitled to put up stalls
etc. On request, Harrow Council inspectors can check that the stalls do
not stray beyond this line, otherwise they cannot act unless there is a
health hazard or dangerous structure.
Headstone North Safer Neighbourhood Panel are also taking an interest in this
issue along with the perennial problems of rubbish dumping and graffiti.
Green Belts for a greener future: survey
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is asking people who live or own
land in London, Bristol or Merseyside to complete a short on-line survey
(by the end of July) about the benefits and future uses of the Green Belt.
The link to the CPRE website is here:
www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/planning/green-belts/green-belts-green-belts-for-a-greener-future-survey
If you have information or would like to make your feelings known on local matters please email us using the form on the “Contact Us” page. Interested in becoming a member? Would you like to volunteer as a street representative? Contact us!
Late Spring 2009 |
Congratulations to James Bond and the team at North Harrow Metropolitan
Line station on winning the Customer Service Team of the Year at the London
Transport Awards in March.
The award was voted for by the public, and North Harrow is the first station
outside zone one to win. Well done!
The deferred planning application for the North Harrow Assembly Halls is in the news again. The applicants’ agent emailed the Environment Agency on Friday 17th April with amended proposals (not made public yet) regarding the Flood Risk Assessment. These are currently being considered by the Environment Agency's engineers. The agent has also arranged to meet Harrow Council in early May.
This case will be overseen by Steve Kelly who is taking over from Roger Pidgeon in Harrow Planning Department.
Harrow planning information and applications are no longer on the www.ukplanning.com
website but on the useful though unwieldy new fully-online Planning System.
Go to:
http://www.harrow.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents.php?categoryID=200074
and click Planning Search.
You can quick-search planning applications by street name, postcode, partial
postcode.
Check the FAQs link for the Planning search guidance document.
“Redacted” indicates that part of a document has been blacked out
(e.g. a signature).
Where have all the trees gone? MetroNet has caused anger to residents of Cambridge Road by cutting down all the trees (in preparation for stabilisation work) on the south bank of the Metropolitan Line from North Harrow station towards Pinner. While this work (to begin in July) may well be necessary for safety purposes, the clearance was begun without proper notice to residents who lose screening and privacy from the platforms and from trains.
Although Harrow remains one of the safest of the London boroughs, the
economic downturn has also seen a rise in acquisitive crime in the area
including doorstep crime.
The Metropolitan Police local Safer Neighbourhood teams (based at Churchill
Court, near North Harrow station) hold regular drop-in surgeries: see the Links
pages of this website.
Tesco has submitted several planning applications for developing the old Apollo pub site on Pinner Road.
If you have concerns, issues, information or would just like to make your feelings known on local matters please email us using the form on the “Contact Us” page. We want to hear from you!
Interested in becoming a member? Would you like to volunteer as a street representative?
Contact us!
| Winter-Spring 2009 |
No further news on the deferred planning application for the North Harrow Assembly Hall proposals. According to a highly-charged article which appeared on architects’ website bdonline.co.uk last September, these controversial plans have the backing of local MP Gareth Thomas.
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3123825
Other local planning applications:
There may be an application to split the supermarket site at Gilbert Square into smaller units; unwelcome competition for the many unoccupied small shop sites in North Harrow.
A new Tesco Express quickly gained planning permission and opened on 21 st January on The Broadwalk, Pinner Road, North Harrow on the site previously occupied by The Bed Shop. It is expected to provide fierce competition for our local food shops.
No police sergeant has yet been appointed for Headstone North. Neil Jennings continues as acting sergeant for Headstone South.
If you live in the area, you will have seen the Headstone Residents’ Association leaflet circulated in December. Could you write a few paragraphs for our Bulletin? Local history, your personal reminiscences of the area, its prospects for the future? Let us know!
Meanwhile, if you have concerns, issues, information or would just like to make your feelings known on local matters please email us using the address on our home page or use the form on the “Contact Us” page. We want to hear from you!
Interested in becoming a member? Would you like to volunteer as a street representative?
Contact us!
| Late Autumn 2008 |
The North Harrow Assembly Hall site planning application was considered at a packed public meeting of the Harrow Council Strategic Planning Committee on 2 October. The Committee decided to defer the application in order for the applicant to address the objections of the Planning Department.
Other local planning applications:
We understand that a major supermarket chain has expressed interest in the Gilbert Square site but have no firm news.
Concern has been raised about new rolling stock planned for the Metropolitan Line. According to the Mayor’s report (available at www.tfl.gov.uk under Corporate, Business Plans) the new S-Stock trains will operate on the Metropolitan line from the end of 2010. We understand that the “tube-style” carriages will have 27% fewer seats. London Transport promises more trains per hour at peak times but not until signalling upgrading has been carried out after 2012.
Harrow Council has circulated a glossy brochure asking for residents’ opinions on proposed parking changes along Pinner Road between Bessborough Road and Headstone Lane.
Meanwhile, if you have concerns, issues, information or would just like to make your feelings known on local matters please email us at the address on our home page or use the form on the “Contact Us” page. We want to hear from you!
Interested in becoming a member? Would you like to volunteer as a street representative? Contact us!
| Spring-Summer 2008 |
HRA committee members and the North Harrow Traders Association met Harrow Council member Susan Hall to discuss the future of the “first hour free” parking concession in North Harrow’s car parks for which the Headstone Residents Association worked so hard . Sadly the Council rejected our proposals and appears in favour of removing all parking concessions round Harrow .
Our Vice Chairman attended a Police meeting to discuss the use of police on “action days”, targetting graffiti, litter and low-level crime.
The HRA has been active in supporting the successful 3449sayno petition to retain the ticket office at North Harrow station.
The Genesis “Gilbert Square” development of 112 flats (on the old Safeway site in North Harrow) is close to being ready for occupancy but we still have no news on the supermarket. Local shopkeepers have looked to this to provide a much-needed boost to custom in an area which has suffered further recent closures of long-standing businesses.
On the positive side, Spring 2008 saw the opening of a bright new St Luke’s Hospice charity shop in Station Road, just a few yards from the tube station.
Many of you will have received notification from Harrow Council Planning Department about the proposed major development at the North Harrow Assembly Hall and adjoining sites in Station Road.
This is the text of a letter from Headstone Residents’ Association chairman which appeared in the Harrow Observer of 31 July 2008 headlined “Controversial plan would be an understatement”:
“The Observer is to be congratulated upon its article last week on the proposed development of a key North Harrow site by the current owners of the same: a Shia Muslim charity, the ‘BWF’.
“To say that the development - as outlined in the planning permission requested - is controversial would be, perhaps, an understatement as far as most of the local people are concerned.
“As Chairman of the Headstone Residents’ Association, which covers this part of the borough, I would ask everyone to examine the planning application most carefully as, if approved, there would be the most significant permanent change to the ‘built environment’ of North Harrow since this ‘Metroland’ dormitory suburb was initially developed in the 1920s.
“Readers’ comments - within planning application guidelines - should be urgently addressed in writing or by e-mail to David Charteris at the Civic Centre.
“This is, I consider, a matter of the utmost importance for both local residents as well as those who love Harrow and take a keen interest in the future development of our much-loved suburbs.”
Richard J M Williams
Chairman
Headstone Residents’ Association