Planning permission granted for 1,000 new homes in Harrow

1:00pm Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News By Jaber Mohamed

The Kodak factory in Wealdstone The Kodak factory in Wealdstone

Permission has been given for the largest development project in Harrow for 50 years.

The redevelopment of the Kodak site, off Headstone Drive in Wealdstone, will create 1,500 new jobs, 985 new homes and 135,000sq ft of shopping and community space including a new health centre and a primary school.

The project will include £10m of infrastructure on and off the site, including highway improvements, improved public transport facilities - and those behind it say it will bring jobs, training programmes and education.

Almost 200 affordable homes are also to be provided as part of the proposals.

The plan will also contribute towards sport and open spaces, paying for improvements to pitches and changing rooms at nearby council sites and a games area within the proposed primary school.

Councillor Keith Ferry, Harrow Borough Council’s portfolio holder for planning and regeneration, said: “It has been a long time in the planning and the next ten years will see a transformation of an area that has been historically very important to Harrow.

“As a council we are determined to deliver on our promise to regenerate and build the most sustainable community in Harrow and to establish a thriving residential and commercial centre.”
 

Comments(9)

HarrowRes says...
9:17pm Wed 30 Jan 13

How many more people are Harrow Council going to try to cram into our already over populated, over congested borough. What they are doing is the modern day equivalent of the disasterous strategy of building high rise blocks of flats in the sixties. One day the Council will wake up and realise what they have done to ruin Harrow.

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JoninHarrow says...
12:25am Thu 31 Jan 13

Let me see, Bradstowe House, now derelict and covered in graffiti; similarly with Lyon House and Equitable House. Not to mention the abandoned "Police cube" in St. Ann's precinct.

A boarded up Post Office in central Harrow, and a derelict Burger King down the road. Gayton Library, demolished many years ago, is still a building site.

Wealdstone and Rayners lane are chock-full of closed-down, shabby, abandoned shops. Local Harrow pubs The Sam Maguire, The Wealdstone Inn, The Rayners, Ned Hyland's and The Fat Controller are all closed and derelict too.

So, I'm sure Harrow residents can come to their own opinion about how the Council's idea of regenerating the Kodak site will end up.

Perhaps if Harrow Council could manage to sort out the smaller developments that I've mentioned, we might have more confidence in their ability to cope with this larger development.

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Harrow Rani says...
10:03am Thu 31 Jan 13

Joninharrow - you ae so right. The last thing we need is a massive new development which will take years to build and like so many other abandoned developments you mention, will make Harrow look more and more like a derelict town. Even if this one does get built, how is one primary school and one medical centre going to relieve the pressure on local services? Oh and yet another quota of social housing to invite even more dross to this borough. The new flats will be built,and an aggressive campaign will be launched to sell to private investors. The investors in turn will hand the flats over to the council for guaranteed rent, and the council will immeidately allocate them for social housing. Great! Another sink estate created, like the one that Barratt built in Stanley Road, in South Harrow. I remember that being touted by Harrow council as a regeneration of an area and now it is a crime ridden estate full of anti social behaviour and all the private purchases have been driven out. Shame on Harrow. This used to be a great Borough and now, it is massive dump!

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starbright says...
11:38am Thu 31 Jan 13

Am in total agreement with the posters above! Harrow has become a dumping ground for anything and everything! Shabby Borough run by an even shabbier Council! As usual ill thought out!

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pricklypilgrim says...
1:10pm Thu 31 Jan 13

Yes indeed: just what Harrow needs in order irrevocably to become established as an over-populated ghetto and dumping ground. Well played...

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Harrow Rani says...
1:15pm Thu 31 Jan 13

Sadly, despite us venting our spleen on this site, it makes absolutely no difference to Harrow Council and its decision making. Presumably proper public consultaton was done so if the population of harrow did not bother to comment or raise their concerns, then Harrow would give the development the nod. We have only ourselves to blame for these ridiculous decisions we allow our council to make.

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JoninHarrow says...
6:57pm Thu 31 Jan 13

On the whole, developing the Kodak site is probably a good thing.

However, the question we should be asking is "Is Harrow Council competent to manage it?" This scheme is being touted as the biggest development project in Harrow for 50 years, and the Council's reputation for developing other sites is far from good.

Elsewhere, someone has commented that people didn't bother to comment or raise their concerns. Well, I visited the Civic Centre to complaint about the state of Harrow (in general) with all its closed shops and incomplete tower blocks.

I managed to speak to a gentleman from the Planning department, and found out about this new development. However, he could only suggest speaking to a local Councillor - none of whom are interested in speaking to me. Then a couple of weeks later, Kodak is "given the nod". What sort of public consultation is that?

Meanwhile, people have been posting pictures of how dilapidated and decrepit Harrow has become on Twitter, even local bloggers have highlighted the issue... http://www.iharrow.c
om/special-feature/a
rmpit-a-photo-collec
tion-of-harrow/

The problem seems to be that our local Councillors are more interested in collecting their salaries and pushing their Party political agendas than doing what's right for the people who live and work in Harrow.

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HarrowResident1 says...
3:03pm Sat 2 Feb 13

Wherever the labour party has control of any ward, borough or the country, it usually ends up like a third world place but worse it ends up bankrupt. People in the third world aspire to build a first world place but in harrow the council aspires to go from a first world destination to a third world destination. Just look at central harrow I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, I dare some some town centers in Afghanistan are better. Well done harrow council keep up the good work!

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diligaf says...
9:12am Sun 3 Feb 13

All good quotes above Harrow is a pile of doo doo no wonder even police officers wont live on the borough

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