Relaunch: Sachin Shah, left, to get the Fair Grant campaign up and running again

Harrow Council are to relaunch the borough’s Fair Grant campaign, which aims to lobby Westminster for more funding for local services.

On Thursday, Councillor Sachin Shah, Labour’s cabinet member for finance, will announce to a meeting of Harrow’s full council that he will spearhead a re-branded campaign to secure more cash for Harrow from central government.

In a proposed motion to councillors, Mr Shah will say: “Relative to neighbouring boroughs in north west London, Harrow receives a disproportionately small grant.

“We receive £1,608 per resident whereas neighbouring Brent gets £3,317.

“If we got the same as Brent we would be £420million per year better off.

“We also receive four fifths of the funding allocated to Hillingdon.”

The Fair Grant campaign was launched in 2010 when Labour first came to power.

However after a turbulent few years at the Civic Centre, which saw both an Independent Labour and Conservative group also take power unelected during the four-year term, the campaign went on ice.

Oliver Hurcum, chair of Harrow Youth Parliament, was one of many backing the Fair Grant campaign

Mr Shah adds: “Despite these cuts coming from a Conservative government, the opposition has made no attempt to use their influence within their own government to speak up for Harrow, and protect our residents from these cuts.

“Harrow Council should receive a fair funding from the Conservative government.”

The Labour administration has spent the past month consulting on £75million worth of proposed cuts which could see a rise in council tax and the closure of the Harrow Arts Centre.

Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane, deputy leader of the Conservative opposition group, said: “We have always been clear that there’s room for a sensible debate on the amount of money Harrow receives.

'Not the villain': Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane

“Unfortunately, as their motion shows, Labour don’t want a sensible debate – they just want to cast Conservatives as villains to distract from their own wasteful incompetence.

“Not only are Labour making the same mistake as last time by comparing Harrow with boroughs which are nothing like us in terms of population, deprivation or local needs – by restoring the chief executive position the message they’re sending to government is that Harrow has money to burn.

“So I’m afraid Labour have nobody to blame but themselves for their inability to make Harrow’s case.”