December 2008 Archives

Reducing the opening hours at the borough's libraries to save cash is just one belt-tightening move planned by Harrow Council in its first credit crunch-hit budget.

The Conservative administration is proposing to trim expenditure to the tune of £4.8 milion across all departments, its draft spending plans for 2009/10 show.

Savings of £1.25m are expected through an increase in parking camera fines, while shortening library opening hours will cut costs by £102,000 and a 'review' of the highways department is anticipated to shave £133,000 off expenditure.

More than half a million pounds of foreseen savings is attributed to unspecified projects identified by Capita, the private company contracted several years ago to help cut costs.
Elsewhere, the council wants to get rid of a £200,000 from a sum set aside to employ external barristers, as well as sparing £203,000 by merging its the early years and community services functions.

What Harrow Council will be spending taxpayer money on, however, includes the provision of social care - to the tune of £670,000 - and just shy of £250,000 for extended schools, whereby pre- and post-school activities are provided to the local community.

The Tory-controlled authority has pencilled in forking out £267,000 towards the construction and running costs of three Neighbourhood Resource Centres, which will host day centres for residents with learning disabilities.

Providing waste collection and recycling services will be an anticipated £800,000, less a rebate of £139,000 for the high rate of composting the borough achieves. Two hundred thousand pounds will be invested into road maintenance.

A policy of setting aside £1m per year to build up a £5m reserve was revised so annual deposits will be just £500,000.

Harrow Council's proposed total revenue budget for April 2009 to March 2010 is £168.6m. Its capital budget is anticipated to be £56m, of which the authority has to find £32m (entirely by borrowing) and the remaining coming from external funding, primarily the Transport for London and the Department for Children's, Schools and Families.

A crackdown was launched on drivers abusing the blue badge scheme, which provides convenience for disabled motorists and passengers.

Eleven people were caught misusing the badges, which allow vehicles to park on double-yellow lines and in disabled parking bays, when Harrow Council watched two parkings bays in central Harrow for six hours last Tuesday.

It is a criminal offence to abuse the system and can lead to a fine of up to £1,000.

All those spotted misusing te badges in Greenhill Way and Havelock Place have been or are to be interviewed to decide whether a criminal prosecution should take place.

One driver's excuse was that the blue badge holder was shopping, although he or she never returned to the car in the hours that council officers and police officers waited to test this claim.

Kenton's Ghanshyam Education Centre - which backs onto the Shri Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple - is looking to expand.

Leaders at the school, in Kenton Lane, have submitted a planning application to Harrow Council for first, second and third floor extensions that will physically link the school to
the mandir in Westfield Lane, where worshippers follow a modern form of Hinduism known as the Swaminarayan faith.

The three existing classrooms would be supplemented by an extra five, a large activity hall and disabled toilets.

If the proposals are approved, students will enjoy a creche, language classes, computer classes, dance training, indoor sports, community seminars, and computer training.

Ghanshyam Education Centre opens from 8am to 9pm Monday to Thursday, from 8am to 8pm Friday and Saturday and from 10.30am to 8pm Sunday.

Harrow's doomed racial equality body and Harrow Council have clashed over how to find the former's successor.

Last week, Harrow Council for Racial Equality's (HCRE) executive committee agreed to dissolve the charity and support the creation of a new body fulfilling the same function.

This followed a critical independent report into the organisation's financial affairs ordered by Harrow Council when it suspended HCRE'S £57,585 annual grant.

Asoke Dutta, HCRE chairman, said: "The committee agreed that the organisation be dissolved, subject to the following things: one, that we should have proper legal advice on the dissolution and transfer of staff to HAVS (Harrow Association of Voluntary Service).

"Two, we seek advice from the Charity Commission on where we stand financially with the accounts; and three, the transition board should start working straight away.

"We are quite sure that the transition board could be set up now, comprising (as recommended in the independent report) three members from the committee of HCRE and three members from Harrow Council, having the proper representation they seek.

"But instead of three and three, Councillor Chris Mote (Conservative), is suggesting three Conservative council members, one Labour and two HCRE members.

"We are not objecting to that composition, we're saying if you have more councillors then we should have a similar number from the voluntary sector.

"And Harrow Council is not without blemishes. Their own record on equal opportuntiies is not that great."

But Mr Mote, portfolio holder for community and cultural services, said: "In its resolution, the executive committee said it will only dissolve if we put three of their members on the interim body. That's a threat.

"It is politically weighed because we want to set up a body that meets our needs. This all started because HCRE had not returned their annual audit returns to us.

"I ordered a full investigation report and it showed HCRE was not being run as it should have been, and I want a totally fresh start."

In a separate development, Mr Dutta has written to Harrow Council to ask if it followed the Race Relations Act and conducted the legally necessary impact assessment, to review the possible consequences on the borough, before taking its decision to suspend HCRE's grant.

Are you a top puzzler, the pride of your local pub quiz team?

We are looking for people to set quizzes, crosswords and puzzles to be published in the Observer series in our New Year edition.

If you would like to set a puzzle or quiz for our readers please email davidtilley@trinitysouth.co.uk, write to Harrow Observer series, Gazette House, 28 Bakers Road, Uxbridge, UB8 1RG, or visit our website www.harrowobserver.co.uk

Closing date for submissions is December 19.

It has been announced that Harrow Council will be given a little more than £5million by the Mayor of London to spend on transport projects in the next financial year.

The cash, from Transport for London (TfL), will go on improving road safety, encouraging walking and cycling, boosting bus reliability, relieving traffic congestion, the maintenance of the public transport infrastructure and increasing accessibility to public transport.

More than £2m is allocated to implementing Bus Priority initiatives, which are schemes designed to improve the quality of bus operations, often by giving buses priority over other traffic.

TfL is providing £800,000 to bring two-way bus routes to a revamped Station Road, Harrow. Meanwhile, £900,000 will fund the replacement for Petts Hill Bridge in Northolt Road, South Harrow this Christmas.

Harrow has been given £175,000 to instal new crossings, paths and lights on walking routes to Rayners Lane, South Harrow, Hatch End and West Harrow stations, £45,000 for cycle training and £15,000 for cycle parking improvements.

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that the borough's allocation for 2009/10 will be 15 per cent higher than the £4.2m sum it got to invest this year, although some of the increase is an advance on future years' settlements that Harrow needed to fill a funding shortfall in the Petts Hill Bridge project.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson (Conservative) said: "I am awarding Harrow a budget of £5.1m next year for local schemes that will make travelling safer, more accessible and more environmentally-friendly, helping to improve the quality of life for people across the borough."

He added: "When I was elected I promised I would be different and give greater freedom to the boroughs. This is why this year I have introduced a £100,000 award for boroughs to spend as they choose.

"Boroughs are being given greater freedom to develop and deliver the schemes they want, which means more choice over a range of key local schemes to improve town centres and cycling facilities, tackle the school run and improve local roads."

Councillor Susan Hall, portfolio holder for environment services, said: "We are pleased with the funding settlement from Transport for London, especially because our borough has received one of the largest increases.

"In addition, we are particularly pleased that TfL has allocated Harrow an additional £100,000 to be spent on transport priorities of our choice.

"Before any decisions are made on how the money is spent we will look carefully at what residents and business owners have identified as key issues."