Harrow Civic Centre (Photo: Newsquest) Harrow Council could appoint a series of assistants to help support senior councillors with their specific briefs in the borough. A report set to be presented to the council’s cabinet tomorrow (Thursday, May 27) outlines plans to give eight councillors increased responsibilities for 2021/22. If approved, these councillors could receive an additional allowance of £2,142 for taking the role. However, since councillors can only have one extra allowance, in addition to their basic of £8,561, this might not be the case for all appointments. Under the proposals, Cllr Angella Murphy-Strachan (Lab, Edgware) would support Cllr Christine Robson (Lab, West Harrow), who is responsible for children and young people, with corporate parenting.
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Cllr Ghazanfar Ali (Photo: Lucy Baker) The new Mayor of Harrow said he would continue to celebrate the borough’s diversity as he was sworn in at a virtual ceremony yesterday (Wednesday, May 5). Cllr Ghazanfar Ali (Lab, Greenhill) was chosen as Harrow’s first citizen for 2021/22 having served as deputy mayor for the previous term. He takes over from Cllr Nitin Parekh (Lab, Edgware), who was at the helm for a unique two-year period due to the disruption brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Cllr Ali said: “I am honoured and privileged to have been elected as Mayor of Harrow.
Harrow Civic Centre (Photo: Newsquest) Harrow Council’s opposition Conservative group have criticised reshuffles of some of the authority’s key decision-making committees. They suggested decisions taken by council leader Cllr Graham Henson (Lab, Roxbourne) had left certain panels lacking “experience”. Cllr Paul Osborn, leader of Harrow Conservatives, explained nobody questioned the ability of the newly chosen councillors but he felt there were some instances where the changes were not a good fit. He particularly took issue with the decision to appoint Cllr Pamela Fitzpatrick (Lab, Headstone South) as chairman of the planning committee. “I’d like to emphasise we’re not doing this because of the person involved but, while Cllr Fitzpatrick is an experienced and able councillor, she has not sat on the planning committee at all and has only attended one meeting in the last seven years,” he told a full council meeting yesterday (Wednesday, May 5).