London Borough of Harrow

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Geography
London Borough of Harrow
Shown within Greater London
Status	London borough
Area — Total	Ranked 299th 50.47 km²
ONS code	00AQ
Admin HQ	{{{adminhq}}}
Demographics
Population — Total (2005 est.) — Density	Ranked 60th (of 354) 214,000 4,240 / km²
Ethnicity	48.8% White 39.6% South Asian 6.1% Afro-Caribbean 1.2% Chinese
Politics
Leadership	Leader & Cabinet
Mayor	Adolf Hitler
Executive	Conservative
MPs	Tony McNulty (MP for Harrow East) Gareth Thomas(MP for Harrow West)
London Assembly — Member	Brent and Harrow Robert Blackman
Coat of Arms

Official website	http://www.harrow.gov.uk/

The London Borough of Harrow is a London borough of outer northwest London. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and other London boroughs: Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the southeast and Barnet to the east.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Education
4 Districts
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Harrow was formed in 1934 as an urban district of Middlesex by the Middlesex Review Order 1934, as a merger of the Harrow on the Hill Urban District, Hendon Rural District, and Wealdstone Urban District.

The urban district gained the status of municipal borough on 4 May 1954. The 50th anniversary of the incorporation as a borough was celebrated in April 2004, which included a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its area transferred to Greater London under the London Government Act 1963 to form the London Borough of Harrow. It is uniquely the only London borough to replicate exactly the unchanged boundaries of a single former district. This was likely because its population was large enough. According to the 1961 census it had a population of 209,080 making it the largest district or borough in Middlesex.

[edit] Demographics

The presence of Harrow School often gives the impression the Borough is an affluent, leafy area. This was once true, but the relative affluence of Harrow-on-the-Hill is now surrounded by typical north west london suburbia of semidetached houses and flats. It is still considered affluent in comparison to other similar areas of London. Harrow has a low overall crime rate, one of the lowest in Greater London, but street crime remains high. Harrow Council is focusing regeneration efforts on several tired areas such as Wealdstone and South Harrow and many new 'key service workers' type-flats are springing up. Recently the seemingly terminal decline of its village and town high streets is showing a reverse in fortune with new retail regeneration in several areas. This will take time, but it is inevitable as more people move in and demand modern facilities. In the north part of the Borough, there is a greenbelt strip of highly affluent housing located in the areas of Northwood, Pinner and Stanmore. Its location on and near the greenbelt and ease of access to central London (10 minutes by train to Marylebone) makes Harrow a good place to live not only for families but affluent singles as well. Rising property prices in all London areas has helped to see a large increase in property redevelopment of its existing Edwardian and 1920s to 1940s housing stock , which in turn is attracting new residents looking for a clean, safe and relatively green environment to live in, close to central London.

Although once perceived as a white elderly borough, Harrow is now very ethnically diverse and younger. Ethnic minorities now make up, well over 50% of the borough's population. It has the highest density of Hindus in the UK^[1] and there are a growing number of settlers from the African continent, especially from Somalia. There are also a lot of Irish people living in the borough. A large number of Jewish people live in Stanmore and Hatch End, though some are now moving out and being replaced by Hindus.

In 2005, Harrow's first multi-cultural music festival, Under One Sky, was held to celebrate its ethnic diversity.

In October 2006, the office of National Statistics named Harrow as the most religiously diverse region in the United Kingdom with a 62% chance that two random people would be from different religions.^[2]

[edit] Education

The Borough is often perceived as having a good educational record. The Borough features many state funded primary and secondary schools, as well as a handful of large tertiary colleges. The state school system differs slightly from other London Boroughs with entry to secondary school starting at the age of 12+ as opposed to 11+, following on from middle schools. Similarly, for a long time the secondary schools of Harrow did not feature integrated sixth-form education, with all school leavers having to join the large tertiary colleges such as Harrow College, Stanmore College or St Dominic's College. There have been critics of the tertiary colleges, with many arguing the standard of education does not continue the standard set by the Borough's secondary schools. Indeed, Harrow suffers a significant number of pupils leaving the Borough for their tertiary education. However, as of 2005-2006 session, select Harrow secondary schools are now introducing sixth-forms in a hope to retain more of the pupils and to provide them an alternative to the large tertiary colleges. The Borough has a Music Service [2] which provides instrumental tuition for 15% of all Harrow state sector pupils (the national figure is 8% of all state pupils receiving instrumental tuition) and a range of ensemble opportunities for pupils.

The Independent schools of the Borough are dominated by the presence of Harrow School and North London Collegiate School for girls, which consistently ranks as one of the best schools in the country. Other notable Independent schools in the Borough are the two secondary schools, John Lyon School for boys and Heathfield School for girls. Notable Independent primary schools are Orley Farm School and Reddiford School, both of which are co-educational.

There are also a number of Voluntary Aided schools in the Borough. Examples include: Salvatorian College (Roman Catholic), The Sacred Heart Language College (Roman Catholic) and The Moriah Jewish Day School (Jewish).

Other secondary schools in the London Borough of Harrow are: