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Mayor disregards Harrow-on-the-Hill petition
By Navin Shah AM
I am extremely disappointed’ by the Mayor of London’s response to the 500-signature strong petition submitted last March regarding the lack of accessibility at Harrow-on-the-Hill station.
The petition I submitted at the London Plenary meeting in March, stated that residents and visitors to Harrow want the Mayor of London to restore funding, previously agreed with the former Mayor and TfL, to make Harrow-on-the-Hill fully accessible and integrated with Harrow Bus Station.
Over 500 residents signed the petition.
The response to the petition, sent by Deputy Mayor for Transport, Isabel Dedring, said: “The Mayor recognises that there is more to do to further enhance the accessibility of London’s transport system.
“Harrow-on-the-Hill has been identified in this plan as being in an area for the LU network which should be considered for additional step-free access provision.”
I will continue to lobby the Mayor about this as residents really need and want Harrow-on-the-Hill station to be accessible for them. I am extremely disappointed with the Mayor’s decision, as I’m sure those who signed the petition will be as well.
The £25 million of investment for regeneration and step-free access to Harrow-on-the-Hill Station that the Mayor of London cut in 2008 is desperately needed to make this station a viable transport hub.
One in ten Londoners are excluded from large parts of the transport network because of mobility issues and in Harrow only 4 tube and rail stations out of 14 have step-free access. This is not good enough.
Cllr Sue Anderson, lead petitioner, said: “I was really disappointed to find that despite the campaign to get step-free access for Harrow-on-the-Hill promised to us by the Labour Mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, Boris hasn’t made any such commitment.”
Harrow-on-the-Hill petition submitted to the Mayor
I submitted a petition to Mayor of London, Boris Johnson regarding the lack of accessibility at Harrow-on-the-Hill station at last week's Plenary.
The petition states that residents and visitors to Harrow want the Mayor of London to restore funding, previously agreed with the former Mayor and TfL, to make Harrow-on-the-Hill fully accessible and integrated with Harrow Bus Station.
Over 500 residents signed the petition.
I have lobbied the Mayor on this issue continually over the last four years, since he cut £25 million of investment for regeneration and step-free access to Harrow-on-the-Hill Station.
One in ten Londoners are excluded from large parts of the transport network because of mobility issues and in Harrow only 4 tube and rail stations out of 14 have step-free access. This is not good enough.
Local Councillor and lead petitioner, Sue Anderson joined me at City Hall to submit the petition. She said: “Step-free access is well overdue at this major station, I have been really impressed by the amount of support the petition has received from people across the borough and beyond.”
Access for Harrow-on-the-Hill
By Suruchi Sharma
THE deadline for a petition to get lifts for a tube station in Harrow has been extended to gather more support.
Shoppers last month backed a campaign to install lifts at Harrow-on-the-Hill tube station to help the elderly and disabled in the area.
Tube-users supported the campaign after Councillor Sue Anderson (Greenhill, Labour) started collecting signatures in November.
The petition was to be handed in tomorrow to London mayor, Boris Johnson, but campaigners have extended the time to March to gather more support.
Cllr Anderson said: “The campaign is going really well and we have around 500 signatures now. We were supposed to hand them over through London Assembly member for Harrow, Navin Shah, but we decided to extend the time to gather more support.
“It has been very interesting talking to people over the last few months as a lot of elderly people have said they find it really difficult to climb the stairs because of heart problems or bad knees.
“It has also been surprising how many young people with small children find it difficult as they can’t take their pushchairs up there without difficulty.
“We are planning to do some more petitioning and I urge people in the area to back this so that we can go there with a solid campaign.”
Last month the campaign was backed by Pushpa Hargovan, manager of Harrow Shopmobility, based at St George’s Shopping Centre, in St Ann’s Road.
Speaking to the Harrow Times about installing the lifts last month, London mayor Boris Johnson said it was on his “list of things to do” but it was not possible yet due to cost.
Sign the petition here for access to Harrow-on-the-Hill.
See my campaigns page for more information.
Only 4 Stations in Harrow are accessible
New figures reveal that 71 per cent of Harrow’s stations cannot be used by people with restricted mobility
One in ten Londoners are excluded from large parts of the transport network because of mobility issues, according to a report by the London Assembly. The report found that in Harrow only 4 tube and rail stations out of 14 have step-free access.
There are 26,620 residents who live in the borough with reduced mobility. Stanmore and Harrow-on-the-Hill are two key stations in the borough that have been identified by local interest groups to have a severe lack of accessibility.
Local London Assembly member, Navin Shah, has called on Mayor Boris Johnson to get a grip of the situation. Last year the Mayor deferred the plans of his predecessor to make 22 stations step-free. Navin said: "Parents with buggies or prams, elderly people and those with disabilities are frozen out of so much of our transport network. Boris Johnson needs to get a grip of this and show that he is a Mayor for all Londoners.
“This affects a high number of residents in Harrow and little progress has been made. The refurbishment of Harrow-on-the-Hill will regenerate the area and make it a fully integrated transport hub. Stanmore is another station where lack of accessibility is just not good enough.”
The full report, supporting maps and evidence can be found here. You can sign the petition here.
Published by NeonHorizon. Promoted by Keith Ferry on behalf of Navin Shah, both at 20 Byron Road, Harrow, HA3 7ST