A senior Harrow councillor said it remains to be seen “what residents want” in relation to the borough’s ‘Streetspace’ schemes.

Cllr Varsha Parmar, who is responsible for the environment at Harrow Council, defended the council’s approach to the programme and said it was following its process.

The Streetspace programme promotes active travel in response to the Covid-19 pandemic through new cycle lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), and wider pavements.

Cllr Parmar said the plan was to implement the measures for six months before carrying out a full consultation.

“We always said there would be a review and a consultation, so we are following the process we’d said all along,” she explained.

“Everyone should feel as if they’ve been heard, so let’s see what the residents want as we don’t know yet.”

Cllr Parmar added there were regular reviews and any tweaks showed the administration was “listening to residents”.

But Cllr Anjana Patel, Harrow Conservatives’ spokesman for the environment, argued this was not the case given the number of negative comments on the Streetspace feedback page.

She said the council’s decision to make some concessions – such as at the Headstone South LTN – showed there are problems.

But she suggested concessions had not gone far enough.

“The fact that you U-turned on some of these schemes and will move into a meaningful consultation shows you got at least part of the message from residents,” she said.

“By having your hand forced to hold a consultation showed these schemes are deeply polarising and unpopular among Harrow residents.

“Why won’t you consider removing these schemes completely until a full consultation has taken place?”

Cllr Parmar explained the length of the temporary measures, and the implementation of a full consultation, would give everyone a chance to put their views across not just “a small group”.

She added the feedback from the initial portal would form part of the wider review, which she encouraged as many people as possible to take part in.

The council’s full consultation is not yet open but people can comment on the Streetspace feedback page at harrowstreetspaces.commonplace.is

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