It also means that all Harrovians take pride in their neighbourhood to keep streets clean. A cleaner borough requires everyone to work together. 

Policy

• Enforce fines and penalties for fly-tipping, littering, and public spitting. 
• Enable residents to dispose of household waste by creating more Council-led opportunities to collect waste or visit local Recycling Centres.
• More bins, more locations, and more emptying of those bins on a frequent basis to prevent overflowing. 
• Create a culture of cleanliness in Harrow by engaging the community to collaboratively set standards in personal waste disposal to prevent littering. 

We want to prioritise quality affordable housing for people on median salaries so they can raise families and build wealth through ownership of their home. We need more social housing to protect the most vulnerable. We want to work with developers who want to build better housing for the people of Harrow.

Policy

• Invest and work with developers to build genuinely affordable housing.
• Take action on unapproved Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) ensuring that landlords comply with Council standards and legal requirements.
• Build infrastructure that can support increased housing demand including: improved roads, public transport, doctors surgeries, pharmacies, schools, and appropriate green spaces.
• Create a clear plan for maintaining and updating existing current Council housing to ensure that council housing is maintained to a high standard and free from mould and disrepair.
• Conduct consultations with a wide-range of residents about future developments to ensure it meets resident’s needs. 

We want Harrow council to be a high-performing council where issues are raised and dealt with in a timely manner. We want residents to be able to speak with their council in person and through other channels. We want to improve the speed and quality of responses from the council to residents.

We want to share those great news stories of communities within our borough, keep residents updated about things that are happening and things we need from them, and ensure that everybody can contact the council and get their issues resolved in a timely manner.

Policy

• Introduce auditable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to the Council’s Performance Management Framework that establish speed and quality metrics for council responses.
• Improve underperforming services identified through standards audits to ensure they are delivering for residents. 
• Create more ways to contact the Council including having more in-person meeting spaces.
• Accelerate plans for opening Harrow’s Civic Centre so the public can meet Council representatives in person.
• Work with community groups and businesses to share the wealth of cultural riches Harrow has to offer through Council communications.
• Give residents real power to shape Council policies through the creation of citizens assemblies and forums to ensure that consultations have real input from residents and not just a tick-box exercise. 
• Work with all residents to communicate key information they need in languages they speak. 

We need to ensure that we create a positive business-friendly environment that realises the commercial potential of Harrow whilst offering skills and opportunities to young people. We want businesses to take pride in their local area and support commercial initiatives that benefit the community.

We want to make sure that we have a diverse range of businesses that cater for the consumer needs of the residents of Harrow. We want to attract industry-leading businesses to Harrow and help our young professionals realise their potential by obtaining gainful employment that help their prosperities.

Policy

• Attract industry leading businesses to Harrow by showcasing the skills, talent, and resources that Harrow has to offer.
• Attract new retailers to Harrow by creating ‘pop-up shop’ opportunities for disused retail spaces on our high streets.
• Create seasonal events with neighbourhood involvement such as Festive Markets in line with cultural celebrations to bring increased footfall to our highstreets.
• Create partnerships with industry leading organisations and our schools and colleges so that students can be better positioned to apply for top jobs in specialist companies.
• Improve internet connectivity across the borough so that customers of businesses can get online.

Our objective is to get our Children’s Services an ‘Outstanding’ OFSTED score.  We want to create environments where children can learn the skills that will help them in life. Our children deserve the best, it is our job to deliver for them.

Policy

• Conduct a strategic root and branch review of Children’s Services to identify areas for opportunity.
• Implement outcomes of the strategic review to deliver an ‘outstanding’ OFSTED score.
• Creation of a scrutiny committee within the council to ensure that the needs of vulnerable children are being met in a financially stable way.
• Invest in early intervention of children’s well-being, but also advice and support for first time families.
• Invest in opportunities for children to learn skills through social youth clubs, sports clubs, and the arts.
• Establish mental health hubs to address the growing crisis in young people’s mental health.
• Support the implementation of a mental health professional in every Primary and Secondary School.

We will ensure that roads are adequately maintained for all road users. Every child should be able to cycle to school safely. Every family should be able to cycle to the park safely. Everyone should be able to cycle to their shopping centre safely. We will take a Vision Zero approach to road safety, prioritising routes with the most collisions and injuries. We will ensure that Harrow has a safe, connected cycle network.

Policy 

• Ensure potholes are repaired in a timely manner.
• Commit to the one-hour free parking policy across the borough. 
• Work closely with TfL to ensure public transport is fit for Harrow’s residents.
• Increase the number of Electric Vehicle charging points across the borough.
• Ensure every traffic light-controlled crossing is pedestrian-friendly has clear signalling.
• Set a programme to develop a safe cycle network that works for everyone.  
• Improve systems to report maintenance issues and feedback to the contractors involved.

We understand that in a cost-of-living crisis every household is watching what they spend. Nationally Liberal Democrats are campaigning for an emergency cut in energy bills, a VAT cut for hospitality businesses and reformed local taxation to solve the cost of living crisis. We recognise that council tax is a large expenditure for most people and we believe that it is important that Harrow residents see value from their council tax through improved services.

Policy

• Limit raises in council tax for poorer households and conduct a cost-of-living analysis prior to any adjustment of council tax to prevent people being indebted or pushed into poverty because of council tax.
• Heavier scrutiny for proposed Council spend to limit wasted taxpayer money. 
• Stricter oversight of the budgeting process to ensure that council services can be delivered adequately and according to the budget or under budget expectations.
• Evaluate strategic investments across the borough which have a strong chance to generate additional council income whilst improving the borough. 
• Maintain adequate reserve capital in the event of a crisis. 

How we live our day-to-day lives is our culture. Our thoughts, words, and deeds are the actions of our culture. We want to create a strong cultural identity for Harrow. A culture that is built by residents and built for residents.

Policy

• Conduct a borough-wide consultation on what the key pillars of Harrow’s shared culture. This includes consulting on our core values and behaviours to determine what Harrovians expect from the Council and each other. 
• Publish the outcome of our consultation in the first publication of Harrow’s Cultural Guide which is shared to all residents and new residents upon moving into the borough. 
• Invest in maintaining our cultural heritage sites so they are attractive to people living in, or visiting, our borough. 
• Create frequent Cultural Exchanges so that people from different backgrounds can experience different cultures. 
• Enhance community spaces so they work for residents and enable residents to enjoy hobbies, connect with people and try new things.

Community safety starts at home and extends to our everyday lives when we are out and about in our neighbourhood. It is everybody’s responsibility to make our neighbourhoods safe, but we need to lead on the specific actions to prevent harm. 

Policy

• Publish a Community Safety Plan that outlines clear and measurable steps to take to improve the safety of residents in Harrow. 
• Create Community-led Safer Neighbourhood groups and work with existing groups to ensure that safety is built into communities by teaching kids about dangers of crime.
• Work collaboratively with the Police to act on trends that can impact public safety and invest in mitigations to prevent harms from occurring.
• Strengthen oversight on Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), Hate Crimes, violence against women and girls, theft and robbery, violence, and drugs to respond to emerging trends and deal with them in a timely manner.
• Enhance existing practices and oversight to protect women and girls from violence and work with the community to ensure that every woman feels safe in Harrow. Work with the local police to educate drivers in the Highway Code around cycling, especially intimidating close-passing, and ensure that cycle routes are well-lit at night.

Harrow has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the UK and rising levels of diseases associated with inactivity. Our older residents need more support to get about. Making it easy and safe to build exercise into everyday journeys can help to tackle this problem. We will work to make walking, cycling and public transport safer. We want to improve Harrow’s public health by working with community groups to ensure people have access to a healthy lifestyle. This includes groups that promote participation in sports, nutrition, and improved mental and physical health resources in the hearts of our community.

Policy

• Ensure adults who need support services have their needs assessed in a timely manner.
• Provide further support for carers to ensure they are also being looked after whilst they are caring for a friend or relative.
• Work with community groups to ensure residents in Harrow can access healthy lifestyle resources in the local area, including sociable walks and bike rides, cycle hire, inclusive cycle parking and routes, tuition and access to second-hand bikes.
• Work with commercial outlets to ensure more public toilets are available across Harrow, which is especially important to children, expectant mothers, elderly and disabled residents.

We want to build the infrastructure to support a growing population and will be supporting and investing in projects that achieve these aims.  

The Liberal Democrats will seek a fair deal for planning and housing that meets the needs of all residents and fulfils their aspirations for well-designed, sustainable homes that they need and can genuinely afford. 

Policy

• Work with developers to ensure that if new developments are built, shareholders contribute to improving social, education and health services and sustainable transport links, especially public transport and safe cycle routes for all, to key destinations such as Northwick Park Hospital, Westminster University and local schools.
• Ensure that new developments are clean and sustainable. 
• Promote independent businesses in the town centre to bring back the local community of Harrow. 
• Ensure the diversity of shops and restaurants on our streets making sure we cater for all of the needs of Harrow residents and protecting our high-streets.
• Where there are abandoned shops, repurpose these into a community spaces. 
• Protect excessive building on greenbelt land and ensure any planning approvals for building on greenbelt land is appropriate and proportionate to the local area through enhanced community consultation.
• Protect green spaces for the public benefit. 
• Ensure that accessibility requirements are built-in to any plans, such as ensuring that there are plenty of disabled parking bays, parking for adapted cycles and appropriate facilities for those less able to move around Harrow.