Police chief gave sterling service
THE retirement announcement by the Harrow Borough Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Dal Babu, came as a big surprise to residents.
As chairman of Harrow Police and Community Consultative Group (HPCCG), I worked closely with Mr Babu and found him very helpful and co-operative at all times regarding the security and safety of Harrow.
It was a privilege to work with him and his team. HPCCG, at our public and private meetings, always held the police accountable and received positive responses from them under his leadership.
Mr Babu has given a sterling three-and-half-years service to Harrow in bring down all types of crime, thefts, burglaries and anti-social behaviour. He made Harrow the second safest borough in London, which is a great achievement in itself and praiseworthy.
He handled the demonstrations held by the English Defence League in Harrow in 2009 robustly and professionally. He ensured the smooth running of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and Harrow officers also helped police the 2012 London Olympics during his tenure.
Mr Babu set up the Mothers Against Gangs support group. He always worked closely with all the community and voluntary organisations, supported them and attended the their functions with a smile on his face.
He was the first cycling borough commander I had seen, which was rather unusual but a good example for others to follow.
He will be sadly missed by Harrow residents and we wish him the best of luck and success in whatever he does in future. Harovians will not forget him and his service to them.
BALDEV SHARMA
Chairman
Harrow Police and Community Consultative Group
So join the rest of us in tax struggle
I WOULD like to add a comment, to the comments made in the letters pages of February 7 concerning the levying of council tax on people who receive benefits.
Firstly, the comments of Councillor Tony Ferrari, Harrow Council’s shadow finance portfolio holder. In this he states ‘people on benefits will struggle to pay’. Very likely they will. In which case, they can join the rest of us, who struggle to pay the charge of between £1,000 and £3,000 in Harrow.
As the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, has remarked, the council tax charge is far too high as it stands.
This is primarily because the Heseltine Quick Fix of the early 1990s was bereft of checks and balances, which enabled the inflation busting increases we have seen since then. Mr Pickles has now added some which are welcome, but the horse has already bolted.
Turning to the comments of Councillor Stanley Sheinwald’s letter, he mentions correctly that the present regime in a previous time raised the demand by 20 per cent, which equated to an average £200 increase. Add to that a previous Lib Dem regime raised the demand by 15 per cent, which equated to a further £90. The two added together equal about a fifth of the current charge.
The whole system needs looking at to democratise it and relate it to ability to pay, which, in my humble opinion, was deliberately left out by Heseltine.
If the current trend is allowed to continue, the current figure of 17,500 in the borough who are exempt payment will grow to the point where more are exempt than those that are targeted to pay and the system will collapse.
R SIMMONS
Pinner
My logical view on gay marriage
AFTER reading the Observer article, MP ‘vilified for gay marriage opposition’, on February 7, I have this message for Nick Hurd, the MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, who abstained in the Commons vote.
Dear Mr Hurd – You have asked people’s views on same sex marriage. I believe that my view is simple and logical. All forms of coupling have emotional validity but only one form of coupling has biological validity i.e. man and woman, or as they say in San Francisco, a mixed marriage.
An American gay man said recently on TV that ‘homosexuality is not normal, but it is OK’. I agree with that. On that basis, heterosexual mating must have distinct status that sets it apart from homosexual mating.
I am, therefore, against same sex marriage. I have no problem with civil partnerships, which need not necessarily have anything to do with sexual intimacy.
Laurel and Hardy innocently shared a bed, but such films would cause a fuss today. There was a ridiculous hoo-ha when two Tory politicians shared a room last year.
The sexual outlook of modern society is an odd mix of the prudish and liberal. I see no moral objection to polygamous marriage, but believe that it should be heterosexual only.
Church marriage is different from civil marriage. Churches should be free to refuse same sex marriage. The homosexual community will lose much goodwill if they take action against churches. If this happens, I hope churches will stand firm, even if that means breaking the law.
EDMUND O’BRIEN
Sussex Road
Ickenham
Finance chief only good at cutting
SACHIN Shah, Harrow Council’s portfolio holder for finance, says ‘it’s the cuts, it’s the cuts’ like a parrot to explain the increase of 2 per cent in council tax, but the rise is not necessary at all.
Over the past two years, Harrow Council has sold properties worth in excess of £1million through Allsop auctioneers. On February 14, the council is selling Enterprise House, Pinner Road, with a guide price of £500,000-£525,000, which is likely to be sold for more housing.
Mr Shah needs to be retrained in his job, as the only thing he is good at is cutting services for Harrow residents.
The latest cuts stop locking parks at night, park grass areas are not to be cut, and street sweeping will be cut from every four weeks to every six weeks.
I fear that, by the time local elections take place next year, Mr Shah is voted out of the council and as portfolio holder for finance.
The new council without Labour would be much better. We residents will have the frontline services that are needed, and those forced from their jobs should be reinstated as, without them, Harrow will not be a leading council in the UK, which it currently does not deserve to be.
JACK WELBY
Merlin Crescent
Edgware
No rosy picture for start-ups
IF THERE is one thing I agree with Councillor Keith Ferry, Labour’s portfolio holder for planning and regeneration, about, it is the important role our business community plays in Harrow (Letters, February 7).
Fostering entrepreneurs, supporting our local traders and welcoming enterprise are vital in keeping our borough a place we are proud of. However, Mr Ferry is disingenuous to claim that an increase in business start-ups means his support for business having a ‘massive impact’.
Yes, the number of business start-ups has increased, but it is unfair to paint such a rosy picture. You only have to speak to the owners, managers and supervisors of our businesses and they will tell you what is really happening.
Many are struggling to stay afloat, to pay wages, and to settle bills.
And Mr Ferry knows this, because the number of businesses in Harrow which do not survive remains high, and other Outer London boroughs are growing at a much healthier rate. Prosperity is finding a home elsewhere.
In terms of total businesses in West London, Harrow – with the exception of Hounslow – ranks bottom. While 4,530 new businesses were ‘born’ from 2009 to 2011, 4,155 businesses ‘died’. A business in Harrow currently has less than a 45 per cent chance of surviving five years, meaning that the majority simply will not make it.
Declining revenue from business rates is estimated to have cost the council in excess of £9million since 2006, and Harrow is one of only four boroughs to experience such a decline since 2000. We’ve also seen the relocation of two of Harrow’s largest employers, GI Capital and Winsor and Newton, out of the borough.
With increased localised powers for business rates, council tax and community infrastructure levies being transferred, the council has more tools at its disposal to prevent Harrow from becoming a dormant borough.
Mr Ferry talks a good game, but can he honestly say his ad-hoc, ‘one night only’ and one size fits all, business advice evenings is him doing all he can to encourage investment in Harrow and support our local businesses? Harrow’s business community deserves more from Mr Ferry and more from their council – and they need it now.
COUNCILLOR KAM CHANA
Shadow portfolio holder for business
Harrow Council
Volunteering is a tremendous fun
AS WE celebrate Student Volunteering Week (February 11-16), I’d like to pay tribute to the student volunteers who do incredible work across the UK.
I work for Vitalise, a national charity providing much-needed respite breaks for people with disabilities and their carers. Each year, we welcome thousands of volunteers, who provide support and companionship for the disabled guests taking breaks at our accessible centres.
Our volunteers are not only students gaining valuable work experience or contributing their free time, but come from all sorts of backgrounds and range in age from teenagers to retired people.
I would like to invite readers to join our volunteers and spend a week of their time – or just the odd day – helping our disabled guests have a much-needed break.
It is tremendous fun and a fantastic opportunity for you to put your experience to good use.
For more information, call 03033 030 147 or email volunteer@vitalise.org.uk.
COLIN BROOK
Senior communications officer
Vitalise
Upper Street
London N1 0QH
Who knows about life of Syd Brown?
I AM researching the life of Syd Brown, who played cricket for Middlesex between 1937 and 1955.
He was born in Eltham in 1917, but attended Headstone School (now Nower Hill) in Pinner from 1929 and 1932.
I know a little about his time at the school, but would like to know more, especially about his sporting achievements while there, particularly on the cricket field, or even just more generally anything about sport at the school at the time e.g. who they played cricket against etc.
The name of the road or roads where Syd lived then would also be helpful. Any assistance would be much appreciated. Please write to me or email me at chris95@btinternet.com.
CHRIS OVERSON
9 Cambridge Road
North Harrow
HA2 7LA
We deserve a better bin service
CAN Harrow Council enlighten me on when it intends to empty the waste bins in Elizabeth Gardens, Stanmore, or is the saga going on for another month?
The bins should have been emptied on Friday, February 1. I am writing this on Monday evening, February 4, and it has still not been done and they are now overfull.
This is now a disgrace, and we deserve better.
COLIN GRAY
Elizabeth Gardens
Stanmore
n A Harrow Council spokeswoman said: “We attended Elizabeth Gardens to empty the bins on both February 5 and 8. We understand that delays to the service can be frustrating and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Tell us about your future EU fears
THE Prime Minister’s promise to hold an ‘in or out’ referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union in the first half of the next parliament will be welcomed by the many voters I meet who are worried about European political integration.
Representing London in Brussels and Strasbourg, I am struck by the determination of politicians from other EU countries to build what Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, calls a federation of nation states.
The challenge now for our Prime Minister is to reach a deal for Britain which returns powers to British voters and to Parliament.
To do that we will need your input. If you feel strongly about any aspect of your life or work that has become governed by Europe when it should be a matter for British politicians, please write to me at the address below or email me at syed@syedkamall.com.
I share the Prime Minister’s confidence of persuading our European partners to see our point of view. We can get the right deal for Britain in Europe. If we don’t get the right deal, the British people can choose to leave or stay in the European Union if they wish.
SYED KAMALL
Conservative MEP for London
3 Bridle Close
Kingston KT1 2JW
Over 75s get a free TV licence
Anyone aged 75 or over is eligible for a free TV licence for their main address. Last year, TV Licensing issued more than 7,800 such licences to residents of Harrow and more than 3,900 in Wembley.
Anyone aged 74 or over can begin planning for the concession immediately by applying for a short-term licence which will last between one and 11 months.
Eligible people can register online at www.tvlicensing.co.uk/over75 or by calling 03007 906 073. The free licence will cover all the equipment in the property, meaning family or carers living in the same home could also benefit.
The free licence is not granted automatically. So anybody who is eligible must remember to apply.
VICTORIA SYKES
TV Licensing
Kingsway
London
