Today is my 100th day as a councillor serving the people of Headstone North. Reaching the ‘ton’ is often seen as something of a political landmark following an election and the press has been full of stories passing judgement on the new government. For me I spent part of my 100th day living up to my 007 namesake by undertaking a bit of covert surveillance on the roof of a building to take pictures and make notes of some very dodgy building work being carried out somewhere in my ward.
It seems that this kind of thing is not as uncommon as you may think and much of my first 100 days have been dominated by planning and (lack of) enforcement issues. I have titled this blog Our Harrow, our community because the people I represent DO care and they don’t like it when others take liberties and flout the rules by which the majority of us respect and live by.
One of my biggest cases involves the illegal conversion of a three bedroom house into a six bedroom bedsit. The person behind this knows he is in the wrong because he is breaking the enforcement notice the council imposed on him in 2008. My Saturday surgery was full of angry people demanding action and wondering why the planning department appear to be reluctant to act with any urgency. Tomorrow I shall be taking this issue right to the top and Harrow’s Chief Executive will be asked to intervene.
Then there is the smaller, but just as important matter of the shopkeeper and his storage area made out of bits of broken hardboard. It is the picture I have chosen to accompany this blog because you have to see it to believe it! The brick wall doesn’t look too impressive either does it? Next to this eyesore there is also a disused billboard hoarding (responsibility of the same shop) that has been allowed to become another blot on the landscape. And again the council have to be cajoled into action. Enforcement in Harrow seems to mean ‘sending the boys round three weeks next Tuesday if you’re lucky!’
Before the election the then ruling party made much of their ‘baby’, Neighbourhood Champions. I wondered if this was just a PR stunt designed to give the impression that the council would be responsive to residents concerns in dealing with everything from potholes to the flouting of planning rules. In my view the ‘jury is still out’ on the success or otherwise of the champions scheme but as I and others commented at the time,
if the things that matter to residents remain unresolved, apathy and disillusionment will set in and the whole project will have been a massive waste of time, effort and money.
As I approach my 101st day as a councillor the sense of pride in the community is self evident and the so called ‘silent majority’ are making their voices heard. The council now needs to listen.
Bond with the people of Harrow 