By chance, while visiting Harrow Arts Centre recently, I picked up a copy of the 'Help Shape Harrow'questionnaire.
This document seeks the views of Harrow residents on a range of policy issues related to the anticipated increase of the borough's population from the current 214,600 to 223,000 by 2025. These include future provision for housing, employment, leisure facilities and recycling.
The consultation period runs from June 6 to July 25. This represents an important opportunity for us to contribute to the development of the final draft of a core strategy document due for publication in 2009.
However, a number of people to whom I have since spoken are unaware of the existence of the questionnaire, or how to get hold of it.
The full consultation document on which the questionnaire is based is available online or by post from the planning department.
I have obtained a copy and discover that the full document is actually available for inspection in the borough's public libraries during normal opening hours.
I am concerned that the questionnaire is not apparently widely available and I wonder why, given its importance,it was not distributed to all households?
Further,it strikes me as bizarre to seek our views on the future of Harrow at this juncture.
By the time the final draft core strategy document is published, a number of important planning decisions about the future of the town centre will already have been taken.
If the council is serious about taking account of our views, then there should be a moratorium on major building projects until the core strategy is settled.
IRENE WEARS
Lorne Court Whitehall Road Harrow on the Hill
