Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from:

Mr Jeff Jackson - manager, St Ann’s Shopping Centre;

Ms Fran Pulford - St Georges Shopping Centre;

Councillor Ben Wealthy - Harrow Council;

Mr Mike Windeatt - Metropolitan Police, Town Centre Team.

Harrow Town Centre Forum meeting 25 November 2010.

AGREED: That the minutes of the Harrow Town Centre Forum Ordinary Meeting held on 25 November 2010 be agreed.

There were no matters arising.

The Principal Planning Officer in the Local Development Framework (LDF) Team for Harrow Council updated the Forum on the progress of Harrow’s Core Strategy and the current public consultation on three development plan documents.  The draft Site Allocations, the draft Development Management Policies and the Harrow & Wealdstone Area Action Plan issues and options, before providing a verbal explanation of the spatial development options being considered for the Area Action Plan. He advised that:

·               there were four spatial development options currently out for consultation on the Harrow and Wealdstone Area Action Plan, to decide upon the most suitable distribution of growth which will inform the preparation of site allocations and policies, which will be the subject of further consultation later this year;

·               consideration had been given to the density of housing development and the potential jobs outputs of each option;

·               the four options had been devised as result of the work conducted by East architects over the past year;

·               the first option, One Centre, would create 4,800 new jobs and 3,500 new homes;

·               the second option, Harrow Plus, would create 4,300 new jobs and 3,200 new homes;

·               the third option, Two Centres, would create 3,700 new jobs and 2,900 new homes;

·               the fourth option, High Roads and Centres, would create 3,900 new jobs and 3,200 new homes;

·               the consultation on these four options was due to end on 24 June 2011.

In response to questions, officers advised that:

·               members of the public could feed into the consultation process via questionnaires, email and letter (questionnaires, leaflets and copies of the Area Action Plan were made available at the meeting).  All information regarding the development options were available on the Council’s website;

·               the decision would be based upon the level of support received and reported back to the LDF Team.  The final decision would be taken by the Cabinet of the Council;

·               the options presented were based on the area as a whole and did not give particular consideration to individual sites within the Intensification Area at this stage;

·               the consultation at this stage was to gauge initial feedback on the four options.  Harrow’s transport study had informed the strategic allocation of housing and jobs growth for the Intensification Area in the Core Strategy. The next stage of the Area Action Plan would consider more detailed transport impacts, such as junctions or development sites within the area as necessary;

·               long term solutions to alleviating potential congestion, such as a Harrow to Watford mono-rail scheme, would need major development funding. This would need to be balanced against the need to fund affordable housing, development viability and the need to generate new jobs;

·               the Area Action Plan was being prepared jointly with Transport for London.  A Forum would be held at Harrow Civic Centre on 20 June 2011 to discuss the preparatory work for stage two of the Area Action Plan preparation process.

AGREED:  That the update be noted.

An officer introduced a report which provided an update on the Outer London Fund.  He advised that:

·               the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, had set up a £50m initiative for outer London boroughs which would offer additional support to parts of London benefiting less from the 2012 Olympic Games and Crossrail;

·               the formal launch of the Fund would be on 13 June 2011;

·               there were fifty seven town centres identified as being eligible for funding by the Greater London Authority (GLA);

·               there would be £10m available at stage one of the process.  The guidance suggested that this could be used for non-infrastructural improvements such as planting and Christmas lights for example over a one year period;

·               £40m would be available at stage two of the process.  It was envisaged that this could be used for larger projects over a longer period of two years;

·               It was proposed that the approach for bidding on stage one would be focused on delivering actions for North Harrow and Rayners Lane District Centres;

·               stage two bidding would be focused on funding for the Harrow Town Centre.  This could include projects on public realm, site development and business improvement district support.

In response to questions, officers advised that:

·               it was anticipated that the closing date for bid submissions for stage one would be in July 2011;

·               there were approximately ten outer London boroughs that could apply for the initiative;

·               officers would contact Members of the Forum to keep them informed of the progress.

AGREED:  That the proposals for bids to the Outer London Fund be endorsed.

An officer from Harrow Council informed the Forum on recent developments in relation to the Town Centre Management and Harrow Business Improvement District (BID).  He advised that:

·               as part of the Section 106 Agreement, a contribution of £25,000 had now been received from Travis Perkins;

·               Mr Jeff Jackson had now been appointed as the new Manager of St. Ann’s Shopping Centre;

·               St. George’s Shopping Centre had recently been sold.  It was anticipated that a new manager would be appointed by the end of June 2011;

·               a new Debenhams manager had recently been appointed.  Officers were corresponding with the new appointee to encourage a strong relationship with the Forum in the future.

In response to questions, the officer advised that:

·               potentially funding a Town Centre Manager with the money from the Section 106 agreement would be considered;

·               there was currently one Director of the BID Company.  Officers would correspond with new managers to seek an additional Director.

AGREED:  That the update be noted.

An officer from the Metropolitan Police Harrow Town Team provided an update on recent policing initiatives within the town centre.  She advised that:

·               plain clothed operations were still underway in relation to pick-pocketing.  Two suspects appeared in Court on 8 June 2011 in relation to this offence;

·               targeting shoplifters was a priority for the Harrow Town Team;

·               anti-social behaviour, in particular around the Queen’s House car park was also a priority.  Officers conducted regular patrols of this area;

·               an operation on seizing fraudulently used disabled car badges was currently underway.  Fifteen such badges had been seized recently. Those found to be misusing badges would be taken to court;

·               four people had been arrested for the theft of lead from the roof of Burger King.  Work was underway to address the recent increase of such thefts.

In response to questions, the Harrow Town Team officer and Council officers advised that:

·               the inclusion of signs requesting cyclists to dismount when travelling through St. Ann’s Road would be considered;

·               the possibility of having the 20 mph speed limit painted on Station Road would be looked into;

·               the kiosk located on St. Ann’s Road was being used for bicycle marking, a process of logging the bicycle’s details onto a website to heighten the chances of recovery in the event of a theft, surgeries and statement taking and registering IMEI numbers on newly purchased mobile telephones.  The Harrow Town Team officer was working with local retailers to encourage customers to utilise these services, which were being offered to the public for free.

AGREED:  That the updates be noted.

Which the Chairman has decided is urgent and cannot otherwise be dealt with.

Vote of Thanks:

The Forum agreed to send a letter of thanks to Suzy Wood, former Chairman, for her involvement in the Forum over the past two years.

Street Pastors:

Reverend Bob Gardiner advised the Forum that between 20 and 30 people were due to be trained as Street Pastors under the Churches Together in Harrow initiative.  Once trained, Street Pastors would patrol Harrow Town Centre to provide assistance on Friday and Saturday nights to those who could not get home for example.

Capital Programme:

Officers advised the Forum that two proposals were currently being considered by the Council to:

·               extend the Station Road maintenance works to include improved lighting design and street furniture;

·               create a ‘Town Centre Park’ at Lowlands Road.

AGREED:  That the items be noted.

Officers would contact Members of the Forum regarding the next meeting date for the Forum.