We write in support of our ward colleague Councillor Janet Mote to applaud her efforts to cut the cost of parking in the Cambridge Road car park in North Harrow from 80p to 20p. This is a well thought out proposal to try and improve the viability of the local shops and businesses who have suffered a downturn in trade since the one-hour free parking concession was withdrawn.

As residents and traders may know, we led a campaign, supported by a petition containing 3,352 signatures, opposing the end of free parking for the first hour in the Cambridge Road car park. At the time we highlighted the absurd anomaly whereby some shopping centres across the borough were labelled ‘local,’ such as Hatch End with its 20p charge, when others, like North Harrow, were classed as ‘district’ centres and were hit with a charge of 80p to use the car park.

A period of free parking, of at least half-an-hour for both on and off-street parking, will always remain our aim, but we believe that Cllr Mote’s initiative to reduce parking costs in the Cambridge Road car park by 75 per cent for the first hour is a sensible interim measure and should be implemented immediately.

Cllr Varsha Parmar, as portfolio holder for parking matters, should now instruct her officials to bring about a 20p parking charge.

At the same time, we trust that Cllr Mote will lobby the Mayor of London, whose approval is apparently required, to change the status of the town from a ‘district’ to a ‘local’ centre and that through our combined efforts we bring about a happier new year for the shops and businesses of North Harrow.

Cllr James Bond and Cllr Georgia Weston

Headstone North