SIX historic walks arranged by the Harrow Heritage Trust are taking place this weekend as part of the Mayor of London's 'Story of London' Festival.

Meet at 10.30am on Saturday, June 6, at one of the following stations: Pinner, Hatch End (for both the Grimsdyke and Hatch End trails), Stanmore or Harrow-on-the-Hill.

HARROW School has applied to build a detached three-bed staff house on the site of the former Dove Cottage in High Street, Harrow on the Hill.

Harrow Council approved the scheme in 2004 but that permission expired three years later.

COUNCILLORS will decide tomorrow night whether high rise flats and shops can be built on Harrow's ex-Post Office site - having been warned the scheme may not bring the regenerative benefits first promised.

Harrow Council's planning committee is due to consider an application by developers Dandara to tear down the vacant building in College Road and construct three towers containing a total of 410 apartments, with the highest structure 19 storeys tall.

Planning officers had presented committee members with two alternate recommendations - one for approval and one for rejection - with evidence to support both.

Their report stated: "Whilst the details of the scheme are considered to be acceptable and appropriate to the site, its town centre location and the current policy background, the scheme has implications for the developing policy background that could mean that the proposal is premature."

What this means is that the planning brief for the centre of Harrow was written before the credit crunch when the council envisaged receiving a substantial sum in community contributions from several developers, of which Dandara was one.

The idea was to pool this money and revamp the area around Harrow-on-the-Hill station, including creating a new bus station and building a pedestrian bridge across the Metropolitan line.

However, following the collapse of the Gayton Road proposals and news that the replacement Harrow College campus may yet fall through, the brief needs to be rewritten to reflect the current, less lucrative economic outlook.

Officers were therefore worried that approving Dandara's scheme, having judged it against objectives that are now redundant, may be too hasty, especially given that the firm could may only chip in a maximum of £5 million towards the aforementioned aspirational transport improvements.

Dandara pointed out, however, the officers' warning that despite being genuine concerns, the arguments for rejecting the plans may not meet the requirements of Planning Policy Guidance 1, the Government's sustainable development policy document under which the scheme could be thrown out for "prematurity".

DANDARA - THE FACTS
n demolition of ex-Post Office building
n construction of three towers containing 410 flats
n basement parking for 87 cars
n build 1,120 sq m of retail and entertainment premises
n contribution of up to £5m to boost public transport based partly on sales
n provide pedestrian bridge over railway line
n create public open space
n allocate 15 per cent of housing as affordable
n incorporate police office
n provide work placements for local people

A YOUNG woman from Harrow on the Hill will be hitting the catwalk and our television screens this autumn after winning a modelling competition.

Catia Gomes, 19, a sales assistant, was named the Face of Tigra 2009 at Westfield shopping centre in Hammersmith, west London, fending off 49 other contestants to land the title.

The contest was organised by Vauxhall, the sponsors of Living TV's 'Britain's Next Top Model', so Catia not only guaranteed herself a spot in the programme's upcoming sixth series but she will get to take part in a catwalk show during London Fashion Week in September.

Two of the judges from TV show, model Lisa Snowdon and photographer Huggy Ragnarsson, joined a Vauxhall Fashion scout and a representative from agency Models 1 at the event to provide modelling advice and runway tips before selecting their winner.

FIFTEEN volunteers are needed to pick up a paddle and take part in dragon boat race to raise cash for the UK's only specialist hospital for colorectal disease.
St Mark's Hospital Foundation, which supports St Mark's Hospital in Watford Road, Harrow, has entered a team into the 12th Rotary Dragon Boat Festival on Sunday May 17 but the original scheduled participants have had to pull out.
Dragon boat racing involves a crew of around 20 sitting two abreast in a long canoe-like boat and paddling in synchronism to the sound of a drum beat.
The races will take place on the River Thames at the Docklands Sailing Centre located at the Millwall Outer Dock in south-east London between 10am and 3pm.
An entry fee of £10 per person is required along with a minimum guaranteed sponsorship of £100, and all participants get a T-shirt.
n For more information and to register, call Maxine McNeil, the foundation's fundraising manager, on 020 8869 2371 or email maxine.mcneil@nwlh.nhs.uk

A SCHEME which allows artists to open their homes or studios as galleries has received funding from the National Lottery for its second outing this summer.
Held for the first time last June, Harrow Open Studios sees painters, jewellery makers, sculptors and others invite visitors to drop by their properties at specific times to view and discuss their works and even buy or commission pieces.
This year's showcase, which features 31 exhibitors and will be held between Friday June 12 and Monday June 15, has attracted a £5,000 grant from Arts Council England.
The organisers say the money will enable them to provide access ramps for wheelchair users at a number of venues as well as an adapted minibus to transport people and their carers between venues.
On top of this, there will be a children's art competition and wider publicity to complement the growing event.
Funding co-ordinator Joy Trpkovic said: "We are delighted with the grant from Arts Council England and the recognition it gives to our Open Studios.
"It means that we can improve on last year's event, which was widely recognised as an outstanding achievement and a welcome innovation for the borough.
"We are very grateful for the initial support from local businesses last year who helped us get started and welcome new sponsors that are coming forward.
"Those individuals and business supporters are an investment for the future and will benefit from inclusion in our advertising and web presence."

In the latter half of last year more passengers were paid refunds for journeys delayed by late-running trains on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines than on any other underground lines.

Figures obtained by the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act show Tube bosses doled out £118,447 for 26,273 claims relating to the Met line between June and November. Jubilee Line passengers received paybacks totalling £73,907 for 19,369 claims in the same period.

Travellers can apply to Transport for London (TfL) for a reimbursement equivalent to a single fare if their journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes.

Performance figures for roughly the same six months reveal the District line suffered the most late-running trains, an average of 28 a month.

The Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines held the second poorest record with 24 delays each a month, followed by the Central line's 22.

Those using the Jubilee line experienced an average of 13 services a month in which arrival was more than a quarter of an hour overdue.

However, these are absolute numbers and do not take into account the total number of services run on each line.

There may be a number of reasons why TfL pays out more to Metropolitan and Jubilee line passengers than any other.

Statistics show travellers using the Met have the longest average journey time of any line - around 41 minutes.

This, combined with the fact the line stretches from zone 1 to zone 9 and therefore a typical fare may be more expensive, could explain why a Met passenger would be more inclined to seek a refund than someone who hops on the Northern line for a handful of stops within two or three zones at relatively low cost, for instance.

Furthermore, long sections of the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines run on the surface, especially in north-west London, so are susceptible to the impact of bad weather compared to, for example, the Victoria line, which is entirely underground.

Anthony Wood, chairman of the Harrow Public Transport Users' Association, attributes the large number of claims on the Metropolitan to three factors.

He said: "One, the average journey on the line is longer for each person, so the fare is higher. Two, the line has the oldest trains on the system so there's more failures, and three, the signalling system is the oldest on the network, so there are more faults.

"These are the main failures but these are being sorted within the next seven to eight years - a much longer period than we were originally told."

He added: "There are a large number of passengers who know the customer service charter and are quite rightly making claims."

Harrow on the Hill's Catholic college has applied to construct a new security checkpoint.
St Dominic's Sixth Form College is seeking permission to build a "discreet and hidden" security booth by the chapel north entrance.
It would have pedestrian turnstiles to better control access of visitors on foot and would overlook a separate raisable barrier with intercom for vehicles entering and leaving the campus in Mount Park Avenue.
The scheme would involve the loss of five parking spaces but the addition of one disabled parking space and 10 cycle spaces, as well as new railings and landscaping.

To celebrate the opening of its new Harlesden store, Specsavers has teamed up with the Observer to offer four lucky readers the chance to each win £150 worth of eyecare.

The competition is part of the store's two-week celebration to mark its launch.

Each prize includes a free eye examination and a pair of designer specs up to the value of £125.

The four winners can chose from well-known brands including Jasper Conran, Quiksilver, Red or Dead, Missoni and Specsavers' own best selling range of designer glasses - Osiris. A trained store stylist will be on hand to advise on the best frame style and shape to suit their face.

To enter email your name, address, and daytime telephone number to or on a postcard to Specsavers competition, Gazette House, 28 Bakers Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1RG.

The closing date is March 27.

A deal to reopen The Old Post Office on the Hill is close to being agreed, a ward councillor has revealed.

The branch shut on July 3 2008 as one of 152 across London that the Post Office Ltd had decided to wind up three months earlier.

It had served the local community for five decades but customers, including the 800 boys at Harrow School, must use the next nearest service: down the Hill in College Road, Harrow.

Councillor Mark Versallion said: "Just before Christmas, I initiated Harrow Council and Harrow School talking to each other to save the Post Office.

"The school and the council are prepared to do this. We're looking to sponsor it."

"I'm very much lobbying everybody all the time to make sure we come up trumps.

"It's got put through [to the Post Office board] but since then it's dragged on.

"I'm confident we're going to succeed, though."

Mr Versallion said a reopened post office may not offer exactly the same opening hours and services at it used to.

The Observer's Save Our Post Offices campaign encouraged readers to take part in the official consultation process,and more than 500 wrote to the newspaper saying they wished for their local branch to be spared.

But despite the massive public outcry, four other post offices were also earmarked for closure in the borough.