December 2008 Archives

Five people were arrested in a drugs raid at a house in Wealdstone.

Officers from Harrow Crime Squad forced their way into the home in High Street, Wealdstone, at 5.35pm on Friday December 12
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A 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of class A drugs while three men - aged 28, 29 and 42 - and a 20-year-old woman were each arrested on suspicion of possession of class A with intent to supply.

The search warrant was conducted under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The five suspects, who are all from Harrow, have been released on bail and must return to Harrow Police South, Northolt Road, South Harrow, on March 17.

As reported in the Observer on December 4, police have launched a crackdown on drug dealing in Wealdstone, including Operation Preserver, which has targeted street drug deals, and a high profile raid on The Stone Rose pub, in High Street, earlier this month.

Reducing the opening hours at the borough's libraries to save cash is just one belt-tightening move planned by Harrow Council in its first credit crunch-hit budget.

The Conservative administration is proposing to trim expenditure to the tune of £4.8 milion across all departments, its draft spending plans for 2009/10 show.

Savings of £1.25m are expected through an increase in parking camera fines, while shortening library opening hours will cut costs by £102,000 and a 'review' of the highways department is anticipated to shave £133,000 off expenditure.

More than half a million pounds of foreseen savings is attributed to unspecified projects identified by Capita, the private company contracted several years ago to help cut costs.
Elsewhere, the council wants to get rid of a £200,000 from a sum set aside to employ external barristers, as well as sparing £203,000 by merging its the early years and community services functions.

What Harrow Council will be spending taxpayer money on, however, includes the provision of social care - to the tune of £670,000 - and just shy of £250,000 for extended schools, whereby pre- and post-school activities are provided to the local community.

The Tory-controlled authority has pencilled in forking out £267,000 towards the construction and running costs of three Neighbourhood Resource Centres, which will host day centres for residents with learning disabilities.

Providing waste collection and recycling services will be an anticipated £800,000, less a rebate of £139,000 for the high rate of composting the borough achieves. Two hundred thousand pounds will be invested into road maintenance.

A policy of setting aside £1m per year to build up a £5m reserve was revised so annual deposits will be just £500,000.

Harrow Council's proposed total revenue budget for April 2009 to March 2010 is £168.6m. Its capital budget is anticipated to be £56m, of which the authority has to find £32m (entirely by borrowing) and the remaining coming from external funding, primarily the Transport for London and the Department for Children's, Schools and Families.

Six people arrested on suspicion of possessing class A during the police raid on The Stone Rose pub in Wealdstone on Friday, December 5 have been released on police bail, pending further enquiries.

A further five were formally warned for possession of cannabis, while another customer was arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis with intent to supply, and is now on police bail.

A teenager who armed himself with a golf club following a late night argument walked free from court on Friday with 12 months' community service.

Andrew Oshodi, of Windsor Road, was said to be waving the club around in a threatening manner after a fight broke out at a social club he had been DJing at in Wealdstone, this July.

The 18-year-old was caught on CCTV at 1.30am storming across the Civic Centre car park in Station Road, before wielding the weapon which was in the boot of his car.

Police were called to the scene and in interview he told officers he had been called by friends and told there was a fight, and that he had happened to have been playing golf recently.

It emerged in court that witnesses claim Oshodi looked prepared to use the weapon although it never got to that point because of the arrival of the police.

Following his plea at Harrow Crown Court last month Judge Ronald Moss told him: "It doesn't sound to me as though you are much of a golfer.

"It sounds very unlikely that you had recently been playing golf.

"What kind of golfer takes one club out with them?"

And despite pleading guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and affray on November 7, he avoided a prison sentence last week.

Are you a top puzzler, the pride of your local pub quiz team?

We are looking for people to set quizzes, crosswords and puzzles to be published in the Observer series in our New Year edition.

If you would like to set a puzzle or quiz for our readers please email davidtilley@trinitysouth.co.uk, write to Harrow Observer series, Gazette House, 28 Bakers Road, Uxbridge, UB8 1RG, or visit our website www.harrowobserver.co.uk

Closing date for submissions is December 19.

Harrow firefighters are offering free home fire safety checks.
The London Fire Brigade will fit free smoke alarms and assess the fire hazards in yourhome.
For more information call 08000 284428.