Local Authority

Parking measures will be imposed on the streets of Harrow's County Roads estate, Harrow Council has controversially decided.

Councillor Susan Hall (Conservative), portfolio holder for environment and community safety, provisionally signed off the plan on Thursday, March 12 despite residents earlier handing in several petitions against the idea.

The original postal consultation, held in September last year, showed that in the County Roads area 50 residents supported the idea of a controlled parking zone (CPZ) - but 89 did not, with 11 having no opinion.

The CPZ will be introduced to the whole of Devonshire Road, Dorset Road and Oxford Road, the eastern sections of Pinner Road and Sussex Road, the southern sections of Rutland Road, Bedford Road and Pinner View and part of Neptune Road.

It will mean that drivers must display a permit to be able to park their vehicle within the CPZ between 11am and 12 noon on weekdays or risk attracting a parking ticket.

Extra short-term pay-and-display parking bays will be created at the southern ends of Devonshire Road, Oxford Road, Rutland Road, Bedford Road and Pinner Road.

In addition, certain junction throughout Headstone South ward will be painted with double-yellow lines as part of the scheme.

Ms Hall was recommended to approve the plan by the council's Traffic and Road Safety Advisory Panel which met to consider the issue on November 26.

Traffic officers at Harrow Council will now publish the legal notices required to confirm the introduction of the CPZ and, if there are no legal objections, the measures will come into force.

Six months after implementation, further consultation will be held to see if residents support an extension of the area covered by the residents-only parking.

A record number of youngsters flocked to polling stations this year, wanting to ensure their favourite candidate was elected to the UK Youth Parliament.

More than 7,000 young people voted at more than 20 polling stations across Harrow in the week leading up to the announcement - almost 2,000 more than in last year's election.

Harrow's two places in the UK Youth Parliament were won by Aakash Bharania, and Rhiya Pau, both 15, while Amar Chandarana and Mahek Metha claimed deputy spots.

The budding Gordon Browns and Boris Johnsons, who had all been nominated for the posts by their peers, were given the results at the Civic Centre last week and will now join members drawn from all over England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) was set up nine years ago as a way to improve youth participation in decision-making.

Harrow had previously been allowed just one elected Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) on the UKYP and one deputy, but has been asked to elect two of each for the past two years.

An internet class that helps Muslim women detect the tell-tale signs of extremism in their children has been praised by government officials.

The Harrow Council scheme, launched earlier this month, was one of three Harrow-run projects up for awards in the Prevention of Violent Terrorism awards, held last Tuesday.

Labelled the E-safety training workshop, the idea saw off competition from Brent, Hounslow and Lambeth in the best women's project category.

The class aims to cover safety advice on the use of internet messaging, social networking websites and chat rooms, but also helps to alert Muslim mothers about teenagers who might be enticed to look at websites which promote terrorism or extremism.

The event, which was organised by the Government Office for London and the London Prevent Network, was hosted by minister for London and Harrow East MP, Tony McNulty.

Harrow was also shortlisted for prizes in the best youth project and innovation categories.

Former Harrow mayor Graham Hines has died at home at the age of 80 after suffering several months of illness.

Mr Hines spent 24 years as a Conservative councillor and was deputy mayor in 1974/75, becoming mayor the following year, and chaired the education and highways committees.

Present Mayor of Harrow, Councillor John Nickolay, said: "I knew Graham Hines for more than 50 years.

"He was responsible for recruiting me into politics, after knocking on my parents' door, and he was a great example to follow.

"Graham was particularly interested in education and highways and, of course, served with distinction as mayor. He was an inspiring figure and we will miss him greatly."

Mr Hines was living in Hereford, Herefordshire, at the time of his death and is survived by his sister, wife, two married sons and five grandchildren.

The funeral is being held on Tuesday, February 24 at 2pm at Much Birch Church, in Much Birch, Hertfordshire.

Donations, in lieu of floral tributes, can be made to Marie Curie Cancer Care, and sent to the undertakers Bayley Brothers Hereford Ltd, 1719 Cotterell Street, Hereford HR4 OHH.

Handheld computers will be put in bin lorries so updates can be fed back instantly to Harrow Council and vice versa.

Refuse workers will use the devices to make notes about progress on their rounds and any problems encountered.

This will let the authority's call centre give out the latest information when residents phone with a query or complaint, or for managers to send a message directly to crews to go back for a missed bin.

By tracking the 30-plus vehicles in the fleet the council can re-draw the collection routes to make them more efficient.

The system will be introduced within the next year after being approved by Councillor Susan Hall, portfolio holder for environmental services, last week.

Harrow Council is spending £2.2 million on the project over the next decade but hopes to save cash on things including its fuel bills.

The owners of Kenton nightclub Cubix Lounge have been hit with a £1,000 fine after ignoring a problem with a deathtrap lift.
Classic Sounds, which runs the venue in Kenton Lane, were prosecuted by Harrow Council because "the goods lift, situated in the rear of the club's car park, exposed moving parts of the lift which could have crushed a person to death."
The company was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs after pleading guilty to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act at Harrow Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
The case was brought after officers visited the club in August and served an enforcement notice on Classic Sounds that compelled them to fix the problems within three weeks. They did not.
Councillor Susan Hall (Conservative), portfolio holder for environmental services, said: "Having served a notice to demand repairs are made, we feel it unacceptable for this to be ignored so the case had to be taken to court.
"This lift was in a very dangerous state and could result in serious injury or even death. The club had to be taken to court for their irresponsible behaviour."
The council will carry out a further inspection to make sure all the repairs have been made in February.
In July 2008, councillors allowed Cubix Lounge to alter its premises licence to serve alcohol to 12.30am on Mondays, 12 midnight Tuesdays to Thursdays, 1am Fridays and 1.30am Saturdays and Sundays.

Harrow Council deposited a quarter of the annual amount of salt it normally uses on the borough's roads in just 24 hours.

Eight Harrow Council lorries laid 250 tonnes of salt across Harrow starting from 3pm on Sunday.

Harrow Council's gritting teams have now been making uninterrupted runs for 14 hours.

Councillor Susan Hall, Harrow Council's head of environment services, said: "We will be gritting again this afternoon across all major routes. We also have two gritting lorries working non-stop to clear roads not on our standard routes."

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Young people in Harrow borough are being encouraged to take part in a new volunteering project.

A new programme of full-time charity work for 16 to 25-year-olds is being launched after Harrow Council was awarded a £285,000 grant.

The money from v, the youth volunteering organisation, will help launch v Talent Year, which will aim to recruit 30 volunteers from the borough over the next two years.

Christine Bednell, portfolio holder for children's services, said: "I would urge as many young people as possible to take up this opportunity to make a difference to children and young people's services - it's a great way to gain training and a qualification. We will support any dedicated young people willing to give up their time to help the community they live in."

The volunteers will help the council's children's services from youth to play work, as well as supporting children and people with special needs and disabilities.

In the first year 30 per cent of the young volunteers will be unemployed and in the second year this will rise to 50 per cent.

Volunteers will also receive a level 2 National Vocational Qualification and a Personal Development Grant.

Anyone interested in volunteering should call 020 8420 9244 or
email .

Harrow residents are being urged to inform on graffiti artists in a bid to tackle problem spots across the borough.

Harrow Police are asking community members to take a close look at the vandals' work to see if they recognise the spray painters' images or tags.

Sergeant Paul Culver, at Rayners Lane Safer Neighbourhood Team, launched the project at Churchill Court in North Harrow last Thursday.

He said: "It is an ongoing problem. We had a rise over Christmas, so it suggests it might be young people who were off school.

"People do not like it. Whenever we do surveys and ask people what concerns them, they always say graffiti.

"If someone has pebble-dashed their wall and then they get someone spraying a lot of graffiti it is not very nice.

"It is the first time we have done anything like this. We want to eradicate graffiti and show the public we are taking it seriously."

Graffiti has affected areas across the borough, including Harrow bus station and allotments in west Harrow.

Job hunters are being encouraged to visit libraries to get back into work.

Harrow libraries are being hailed as a secret weapon in the job market, as residents can use the internet and computer software free of charge for all their employment needs.

A new toolkit of useful websites and packages has also been created to help people improve their CVs and applications.

Councillor Chris Mote (Conservative), portfolio holder for community and cultural services, said: "We realise that people are now looking for work who may not have revised their CV in a long time, or perhaps have not explored the internet as a job-hunting tool.

"We hope our libraries will provide a calm atmosphere, away from home perhaps, where people can concentrate on making their employment credentials as strong as possible and see what work opportunities there are out there."

Staff at the 11 libraries across the borough can also advise visitors on the best websites for people looking for work, as well as provide books on everything from changing careers to interview skills. Residents can take advantage of magazines and newspapers to browse for job adverts.