Harrow is a great place to live and it always has been. It offers large houses for families, green space and great transport links to central London. Demand for housing has never been so great, and it’s only set to increase. As London faces up to this pressure, and in the absence of any help from the Government, the Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has published the London Plan – a set of principles, targets and controls that will help us to respond to what has become one of the most profound challenges we face today.
The principles behind the Mayor’s vision are the right ones – housing that’s well-served by public transport, better use of already developed sites, protection of our precious green spaces and, most importantly, a focus on what’s affordable for ordinary people.
In Harrow we are rebuilding the Grange Farm council housing estate. They were built in 1968 and they are one of the last remaining constructions that use fibreglass panels for external walls, and so are now far past their best. We want to seize the opportunity this presents us with to develop on the site a new neighbourhood - one that we can all be proud of, and one that will help us to hit our target for new affordable homes that’s been set by the Mayor.
Our proposal is to build 549 modern homes. Every permanent resident who currently lives at Grange Farm will be offered a property on the new development and we’ll also offer properties for sale and shared ownership. The new Grange Farm will be a fantastic community hub with attractive courtyards, green space, places for children to play, a nursery and a flexible community space for learning, leisure and fun.
But The London Plan will need a change in the way our community gets around. The Mayor has an aim that 80% of all journeys in London will be either by walking, cycling, or on public transport.
Our community has got accustomed to having and using a car, with many homes in Harrow having 2 or 3 cars. This will have to change. It’s a sad fact that Harrow has the highest level of diabetes in London, and the least active population in London. So the Mayor of London has now said that most new developments in Harrow cannot have more than 1 parking space for every two properties, and those in Harrow Town centre will not be allowed any car parking spaces at all. Harrow Council will not be allowed to give planning permission for developers who want more parking. We will have a choice, either we don’t build the homes needed for the future, or we build them without parking.
The purpose behind this is very noble, which is to make having a car so difficult that people chose not to have one. I worry that all it will mean is people will park on other side streets. This is in fact what is happening in other developments across Harrow.
We also need a better bus network in Harrow, while in central London, you don’t have to wait much more than a minute for a bus, in some parts of Harrow you have to wait 10 or 20 minutes for a bus, so a journey than might only by 15 minutes by car could take 40 minutes by bus.
We will also need to see an increase in the number of people cycling to work, which is something that not many people from Harrow do, especially in the Indian community.
A better bus network and more people cycling will mean people need fewer cars, traffic is reduced, people are more active and pollution is lower. That’s a win for everyone.
So, while I agree with the Mayor on the need for people to move from the car to other ways of traveling, I am not convinced that the best way of doing this is by the very blunt mechanism he is trying to use. Sometimes the carrot is far better than the stick.
The draft plan as a whole is one of the best we have every seen. It shows real vision and shows a determination by Sadiq to deal with London’s housing problems. It is only with this kind of vision and commitment we can make sure Harrow remains a great place to live for generations to come.
