Residents of a north London neighbourhood have complained that the area is becoming ‘tired and rundown’, with the Tube station in a ‘disgraceful state’ and rubbish left outside private rental addresses and on the street going months without being collected causing a ‘health hazard’.
Canons Park in Harrow has been described by some residents as ‘looking like a dump’ and are urging the council and Transport for London (TfL) to step in to address some of the on-going issues.
Mark Amies, 55, a Canons Park resident of 11 years, feels that the area has ‘been neglected’ by Harrow Council and it is affecting both residents and businesses.
Mark told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The whole area is looking very tired and run down.
Street cleaning is patchy, the underground station is in a state of disrepair, the railway bridge has been plastered with graffiti, and there are on-going problems with rubbish and flytipping outside private rental properties.”
He added: “Some parts of Harrow have received murals and general care and attention, one only has to look at the sort of money spent on Wealdstone to see this.
“Canons Park is clearly not a priority for the council. It is left in the no-man’s land between Edgware and Stanmore.”
Mark, alongside a number of other residents, have been complaining to the council about mounds of rubbish left outside one particular address on Whitchurch Lane, often for many months at a time, which had started to smell. Residents have reported seeing rats scurrying around amongst the ‘toxic dump’ of discarded litter and old mattresses.
Mark said: “It affects everyone who lives nearby. It reflects extremely badly on the area, making Canons Park look like a dump. It will affect property values. It affects residents’ peace of mind. It’s a toxic dump of rubbish. The council simply cannot afford to sit back on this issue.
He added: “[This property] and the other properties adjoining it are in a shocking state of repair. We have a house that has been so badly neglected that it is a total eyesore and could present a risk on so many levels.”
Mark and others have been critical of the council’s response to the situation, which has been on-going now for many months without resolution. As it is a private residence, the responsibility to have the rubbish removed rests with the landlord but a string of complaints from residents eventually resulted in a visit from the council’s enforcement officers, where it was discovered to be operating as an unlicensed Home of Multiple Occupancy (HMO).
The landlord has since been served with a notice to clear the land. If they fail to do so further, the council has said that further enforcement action will follow and it will ‘continue to monitor’ the situation.
But it’s not the only part of Canons Park where there have been complaints of an ‘environmental hazard’ impacting local residents.
This month’s Canons Park Residents Association (CAPRA) newsletter also raises concerns about a ‘contaminated waste bin shed’ at the bottom of Howberry Road, which is ‘affecting the whole community’.
The newsletter reads: “This situation not only represents an environmental hazard but also poses significant health risks to residents and passers by. The unpleasant odours, partly stemming from a rat infestation, raise serious concerns about potential disease spread, making it imperative that we address this issue for the well-being of our community.”
The chair of CAPRA, Shirley Sackwild, agreed that the ‘longstanding issue’ at the property on Whitchurch Lane has ‘definitely got a lot worse’ over the last couple of months but also highlighted the issue with the waste bin shed, which she claims has been ‘on-going for ten years plus’.
Shirley told the LDRS: “The bottom line is that it has got worse and worse. We are sure there are rats in the back, quite often it doesn’t smell terribly pleasant either.
“There is a lot of flytipping that happens here because it is a nice wide corner pavement. […] Over the years the council has tried to deal with this issue, maybe not as successfully as we would like.”
Shirley explained that the rubbish is often cleared ‘within a day or two’ when it is reported to the council, ‘but not always’.
She said the local councillors ‘bend over backwards’ to help them and the Residents Association has ‘no complaints’ but acknowledged ‘budgetary constraints’ can impact council services.
This is not a sentiment shared by Mark, who feels the local ward councillors are ‘practically invisible’. He said: “Local councillors seem idle and lacking in presence. One imagines they enjoy the status but just simply don’t care about their ward.
“To be honest, such is the lack of their presence, other than Cllr Ammet Jogia I really couldn’t tell you who any of them are!”
The council has said it is working with the landlords, businesses and residents to try and resolve the on-going issues. A council spokesperson said: “There’s a lot of work being done in our approach to environmental crime and street cleansing so that we can restore pride in Harrow. We’ve increased fines for fly-tipping to £1000 and launched a wall of shame to find and fine those responsible.”
They added: “This year we have also invested in street cleansing, introducing new ward-based teams who know their local area and can quickly deal with issues. We will continue to look at ways to make our borough cleaner and safer, and ask residents to help us by reporting issues through the council website.”
An area where Shirley and Mark are in agreement is with regards to the state of Canons Park Underground Station, which has had issues with a leaky roof in the ticket office for a number of years, as well as a graffiti on the bridge and a previously faulty platform being propped up by what appears to be wooden posts.
Mark describes it as being in ‘a state of terrible neglect’. He said: “The whole structure is letting in water, and parts of the ceilings have come away – chunks of plaster half an inch thick came off the ceiling and fell into the ticket office more than a year ago. […] The platforms appear to be subsiding, you can see it because there is a clear undulation on the Northbound platform.
“I have it on pretty good authority that the stations are not being looked after as they sound and that property building safety checks are not as thorough as they once were, due to cutbacks. Add to this a general air of non-attendance by station staff, which is most noticeable in the non peak times of the day.”
The underground station was partially closed in 2018 due to a safety issue with the platform that required emergency repair work. However, six years later and the faulty segment of the platform has only been ‘propped up’ by six posts.
A TfL spokesperson said: “All our stations are regularly cleaned and maintained but we will ensure that any issues with litter and graffiti at Canons Park Tube station are dealt with promptly.
“The ticket office ceiling is currently being assessed and the southbound platform is under regular review.
“Its replacement is being considered as we determine which improvement projects to move forward with first given the funding available.”
