Where do you think Harrow should accommodate 10,000 new residents and all the infrastructure they need?

That is the question being asked as part of the public consultation on Harrow Council's core strategy - the central planning blueprint for the next two decades.

Once adopted, the document will contain the policies against which planning applications will be judged, therefore helping to channel housing and population growth into particular areas.

The spread and balance of these locations is what Harrow Council is asking for your opinion on.

The council has presented two options. The first concentrates more of the development in Harrow town centre and much less in district centres, such as South Harrow and Rayners Lane, and the rest of the borough.

In the second option, the outlying areas are allocated more of the development at the expense of the town centre.

However, the council has said the public's preferred choice may be a hybrid of the two.

Councillor Marilyn Ashton (Conservative), portfolio holder for planning, enterprise and development, told a town centre forum last Wednesday: "We want to find out what people want.

"We know that we're going to have people coming into Harrow and that we have to facilitate the building of 400 homes a year.

"But the point of the document is to identify a way to protect the Green Belt and the Metropolitan Open Land and the suburban character against inappropriate development, while at the same time regenerating and allowing for growth in the town centre."

Besides the two 'growth options', the council is consulting on seven strategic policies that cover ideas such as sustainable housing, the mix and affordability of properties, integrating transport, the use of renewable resources and the borough's heritage, cultural, recreational and community facilities.

Consultation on the draft core strategy - part of a larger collection of linking planning documents called the local development frame-work, or LDF - ends on July 25. [25a0] To view and comment on the documents visit http://harrow-consult .limehouse.co.uk. You can also e-mail your views on the strategy to: ldfconsultation@harrow.gov.uk