A woman has praised the work of her council leader after he acted swiftly to remove discarded drug paraphernalia from near her home.

Caren Duhig, who runs the #Fixit Harrow network, was shocked to find a horde needles and spoons in a service road behind her flat in Harrow Weald.

She said the health hazard, which was made worse by the poor lighting in the area, was particularly stressful since she was unsure how to explain it to her ten-year-old daughter, Cassie-Kai.

“I thought, it’s not fair and it’s not right,” she said. “We shouldn’t expect to have to come home to find used and unopened needles all over the place.

“It was really upsetting because I didn’t know what to say to my daughter – I just told her to stay away from them.

“We had no idea what we might be stepping on during the evenings. Growing up in East London I saw this stuff quite a lot but I never expected it here.”

Caren Duhig and her daughter, Cassie-Kai

Harrow Times:

In an attempt to resolve the issue, she contacted a number of nearby businesses, as well as the police, but received little to no response.

She explained how “no one wanted to take responsibility” until she contacted Sachin Shah, the leader of Harrow Council.

Mr Shah and his team promised to remove the offensive items. The morning after this pledge, Ms Duhig was delighted to see that he had been true to his word.

“I’m happy and thankful that the needles, syringes and drug paraphernalia have been removed and want to thank Sachin and all the other people I emailed for their help and support,” she said.

While the council does not have responsibility for private land, it makes a few recommendations if issues with dumped waste arise.

It offers its own commercial waste team who can remove rubbish for £250. It suggests splitting this cost between neighbours to make it cheaper.

It also recommends that private land owners assess why they are being targeted and think about installing cameras and gates to improve security.