Earlier this month, Harrow Borough Council’s Labour administration proposed a series of controversial cuts to local services — one of which is to close Harrow Museum at Headstone Manor.

As both a Headstone North councillor and a teacher by profession, the thought of Harrow being without its museum fills me with dread.

We are very fortunate in Harrow to have a local museum showcasing both our own history and attracting exhibitions. As friends of the museum, my family recently attended the festival of archaeology —– with artefacts and medieval skeletons brought from the Museum of London.

If we lose our local museum, we not only lose a key preserver of our history, but the capacity to host such exhibitions.

And let’s not forget that the museum is waiting to hear if it’s won a sizeable sum of lottery funding — as much as £3million — which will transform the service it can provide.

What a travesty it would be if the museum were to close before or soon after this decision is made. Labour are claiming that they need to make cuts in order to save money, but they’re spending money freely on things that neither Harrow Council nor residents need.

Last week, they reinstated the chief executive position — with a proposed salary that’s £20,000 more per year than the annual cost to the council of running Harrow Museum.

It’s tempting to say that Labour are proposing to close Harrow Museum because they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, but perhaps that’s being too kind. Because, as the reinstatement of the chief executive role shows, they don’t actually seem to care about the cost when spending taxpayers’ money on something they want.

Cllr Janet Mote

Con/Headstone North Harrow Borough Council