• Open letter to Harrow Borough Council Leader Cllr David Perry

At the cabinet meeting on December 11, 2014, I asked environment, crime and community safety portfolio holder Councillor Varsha Parmar a about your administration’s introduction of zonal cleaning from January 1 – a system that will mean many of Harrow’s residential streets are cleaned less regularly.

Following up on a commitment Cllr Parmar had given in July that residents whose streets would be cleaned less would be informed as such, I asked ‘Can you confirm that you have written to those residents to tell them to expect a dip in service?’ Cllr Parmar’s response was very clear: “We are in the process of doing that.”

At cabinet on January 15, 2015, I asked Cllr Parmar how many households had been written to so far.

I was frankly astonished to be told: ‘Instead of writing to a small number of residents, we’ve decided to open this information to all our residents in the borough by putting it online.’ I’m sure you will agree that it is completely unacceptable for a cabinet member to state your administration is doing something, only to reveal a month later that you aren’t doing it at all — and have actually gone for a much less informative option.

It begs the question, if we as the opposition are not being told the truth by members of your administration, why should Harrow residents believe anything you tell them, either?

Councillor Susan Hall

Leader of the Conservative Group Harrow Borough Council