April 2009 Archives

THE Comfort Hotel Harrow in Northwick Park Road, Harrow, could expand by a further 34 rooms if councillors approve plans this evening.

Operator Grangebrook wants to demolish 57 Gayton Road, redesign the car park, relocate the restaurant and bar, convert roofspace and build a series of extensions to create more floorspace and bring the total number of suites to 107, while improving disabled access and the circulation of guests and staff.

Harrow Council's strategic planning committee meets tonight to consider the application.

The scheme is slightly different to one for less additional bedrooms that was granted permission by Harrow Council in October last year.

OFFICERS discovered a house in Kingsfield Road, Harrow, had been turned into a cannabis factory on Friday.
Harrow Police came across 500 plants in the cul-de-sac property but did not make any arrests.
However, staff at the Kingsfield Arms at the end of the road told the Observer they had heard nothing about it.

A DECISION to turn run-down West Harrow Recreation Ground into a private tennis academy has been challenged by councillors.
They claim that no consultation had been held with residents before councillor Tony Ferrari (Conservative), portfolio holder for major contracts and property, agreed in March to rent out the land in The Ridgeway in West Harrow, for 35 years.
The company interested in the development would - at its own expense - build changing rooms, a gymnasium and a base for a local boxing club, while in the winter, four of the tennis courts would be covered by a translucent bubble dome to ensure year-round use of the facility.
A council report into the existing seven tennis courts said: "They are currently in a poor state of repair and incapable of use without significant financial investment.
"They require resurfacing, new fencing and new nets and the council does not have the financial resources to undertake this
work.
"Additionally, the council needs to secure the site to prevent it being a health and safety hazard."
However, five Labour and Lib Dem members have 'called in' the decision, a process which allows backbench members of Harrow Council to collectively request a public review of a cabinet-level decision.
They said: "We would emphasise that we are not necessarily against the actual proposal itself or a modification of it but we are very much against the failure of the council to consult anyone and take their views into account."
A call-in sub-committee is being held tonight at Harrow Civic Centre to debate the decision.

SEED-planting workshops for children are being held at Wyevale Garden Centre in Headstone Lane, Harrow, this coming Easter weekend.
Youngsters can pot a marrow or French bean or create a 'cress head' between 10.30am and 11.30am and again between 2.30pm and 3.30pm tomorrow (Friday), Saturday, April 11, and Monday, April 13.

A CHARITY that wants to build a community centre in North Harrow with Islam-influenced architecture has been given more time to iron out problems with its plans.

The Battlers Wells Foundation intends to demolish North Harrow Assembly Halls in Station Road along with 34 and 36 Canterbury Road and 37 and 39 Gloucester Road, in order to build a three-storey mixed use structure.

It would feature a sports hall, separate male and female gymnasiums, a children's play area, prayer areas for 200 people, a library, a food court, a crèche, an exhibition area, and a 24-bed nursing home and eight flats.

When Harrow Council's strategic planning committee met in October last year to debate the scheme, a petition supporting the development was submitted containing more than 1,400 names although planning officers had recommended councillors refuse the application on seven different grounds:

n unduly bulky, obtrusive, overbearing and over dominant building;

n over-intensive use of site;

n neighbours overlooked;

n inadequate flood risk assessment;

n additional traffic and on-street parking;

n inappropriate edge-of-district-centre scheme;

n lack of play space for youngsters;

n not enough bins for nursing home.

In the end, the committee unanimously deferred its decision in order to allow the applicants to meet the council to "address the reasons for refusal", thereby giving the foundation six months to either withdraw their application, have it voted upon or submit a revised design.

The deadline passed at the beginning of this month but the authority has granted the foundation an extension as negotiations are still ongoing.

A MEMORIAL walk was held in a German town to demand further investigations into the death of a young Harrow man there six years ago.
The body of former Quainton Hall School pupil Jeremiah Duggan, 22, was discovered on a dual carriageway on the outskirts of Wiesbaden in 2003, five days after arriving in the west-central state capital.
While local authorities said there were no suspicious circumstances, his parents are adamant the British Jew was beaten to death by members of the LaRouche Schiller Institute, which the they describe as a dangerous anti-Semitic cult.
His mother Erica, of Golders Green, north London, and father Hugo, who still lives in Harrow, believe Jeremiah was "lured" to the town from his studies in Paris under the pretence of attending an anti-war conference.
The Duggans visited Wiesbaden on Friday March 27 to commemorative the sixth anniversary of their son's death by walking the route he allegedly ran in the 20 minutes before he died.
They distributed leaflets and held a public meeting to encourage local residents to expose LaRouche's sinister methods.
Mrs Duggan told the audience: "For six years we have tried to find out about the circumstances in which Jeremiah died.
"The German police closed the case without even a basic investigation and since then so many families have written to our website www.justiceforjeremiah.com telling me about the dangers of the LaRouche youth movement.
"They inform me how the youth  are brought in from all over the world to Hessen to be taught to be followers of this group.
"This is where they train and teach them. This is where my son died. What goes on here? We are here today to break the silence."
The 2003 British inquest returned a narrative verdict and ruled out suicide; the Duggans are still waiting to hear from the Attorney General whether their request for a fresh inquest will be granted.
Furthermore, a ruling is due soon from Germany's constitutional court over whether to uphold an application from the family that there was 'insufficiency of enquiry' by the police force of the state of Hessen.
The Duggans' Wiesbaden trip was documented by a Channel 4 news crew, to whom a local prosecutor stated that they had investigated the Schiller Institute and it had nothing to do with Jeremiah's death.

A SCHEME which allows artists to open their homes or studios as galleries has received funding from the National Lottery for its second outing this summer.
Held for the first time last June, Harrow Open Studios sees painters, jewellery makers, sculptors and others invite visitors to drop by their properties at specific times to view and discuss their works and even buy or commission pieces.
This year's showcase, which features 31 exhibitors and will be held between Friday June 12 and Monday June 15, has attracted a £5,000 grant from Arts Council England.
The organisers say the money will enable them to provide access ramps for wheelchair users at a number of venues as well as an adapted minibus to transport people and their carers between venues.
On top of this, there will be a children's art competition and wider publicity to complement the growing event.
Funding co-ordinator Joy Trpkovic said: "We are delighted with the grant from Arts Council England and the recognition it gives to our Open Studios.
"It means that we can improve on last year's event, which was widely recognised as an outstanding achievement and a welcome innovation for the borough.
"We are very grateful for the initial support from local businesses last year who helped us get started and welcome new sponsors that are coming forward.
"Those individuals and business supporters are an investment for the future and will benefit from inclusion in our advertising and web presence."