Harlow Council leader Russell Perrin proud to defend “record of achievement”
Elections / Wed 3rd May 2023 at 06:35pm
IT is somewhat fitting that our final interview is with Harlow Council leader Russell Perrin.
We wanted to get his view on how he feels the last year has gone for the Conservatives in administration and if they are returned, then what his plans are for the next year.
Cllr James Griggs
2023-05-03 19:02:24
What a load of disingenuous nonsense! £500k profit from the Harvey Centre is being used to plug the gap in their budget. He can only raid the reserves so many times before it’s gone. No impact on services? Really? Just days after he closed the cash office in the Civic Centre, disadvantaging loads of residents.. Using harlow council money to match fund pothole repairs which he said himself is an Essex County issue so why is he spending HDC money on them? The bodged repairs are already breaking up just weeks after being done. The Conservatives claim in a letter to residents that their candidates are the only ones who can stop the development to the west of the town but he says he can’t impact the decisions made by EFDC. Which is it? He knows full well that vast amounts of the regeneration money he boasts about was promised under the Labour administration. Not a single brick laid in his housing program in the past two years that wasn’t already planned or underway as a result of Labour. Two years of failure to deliver anything but hot air and empty promises. What a dismal legacy of failure and inaction in the twilight moments of his leadership.
Mark Gough
2023-05-03 19:35:37
Frankly though James - your lot are no better! Without the Central Government money nothing would have done on Council Housing, just as it wasn't under your last Government. People in this Town have long memories of constant Council Tax rises and headlines like Shambolic and Shambolic 2 under Labour. They are fed up of both the big tired old Parties and are looking around for change and something better! Mark Gough - Reform UK.
Cllr Jodi Dunne
2023-05-03 19:45:23
They do exist! Was beginning to wonder where the Harlow Tories have been on this campaign though if I'd have presided over a council of chaos the last year I'd have kept hidden too!
Luke Burton
2023-05-03 23:16:12
Whenever I visit Harlow, I certainly do not feel it getting any better or safer.
David Forman
2023-05-03 23:56:59
The Invisible Man, Russell Perrin, appears at the last minute as the penny drops that his "under the radar" campaign is not panning out too well.
gary roberts
2023-05-04 06:40:03
I wonder what town Cllr. Perrin was describing: it certainly wasn't Harlow. Is he proud of his record? What record? BS and warm words about sums up any record of any achievement. I would be embarrassed to stand there and spout the nonsense he did.
Tony Wiseman
2023-05-04 06:41:44
OK, so Ocasia House is going to be demolished in the Autumn, to make way for what? Is this just going to be added to the demolition sites at the original Square and Lister House and sit there for years undeveloped? Where can we view the plans that Cllr Perrin talks about?
David Forman
2023-05-04 08:02:49
Mr Wiseman is a bit premature with the demolition of Occasio House. A recent YourHarlow article states the demolition will be finished by 31 January next year: see https://www.yourharlow.com/2023/04/17/plans-submitted-to-demolish-occasio-house-as-part-of-regeneration-plans-for-town-centre/
Nicholas Taylor
2023-05-04 08:45:12
Cllr Griggs sums up things very clearly. On the subject of the Harvey Centre, I wonder why the repairs to the car park have still not been completed after more than a year since being started and more importantly how much revenue has the Council lost because of the reduction in the number of usable parking spaces being available? It must be tens of thousands of pounds. Despite repeatedly asking for some sort document laying out the financial implications and risk assessment of this purchase, the Tories have failed to do so. If it is such a good investment why did no other buyers in the retail/investment industry come forward and buy it?
David Forman
2023-05-04 09:36:30
Mr Taylor, I have an idea how they will manage lost car parking fees. This April's council meeting detailed new responsibilities for portfolio holders. The housing portfolio may: "Dispose of void properties which would cost greater than £10,000 to refurbish". The Evidence at bottom of page 115 in link https://moderngov.harlow.gov.uk/documents/g1481/Public%20reports%20pack%2006th-Apr-2023%2019.30%20Council.pdf?T=10
Nicholas Taylor
2023-05-04 10:49:31
David, Not sure how your comment relates to mine, the Housing Revenue Account is of course separate from the General Fund. But you make an interesting point. I know only to well that any number of homes are vacated that need major work, the Council could be selling more homes than they are building, of which of course to date are none. Who will benefit from such a policy, you guessed it, property developers.
Nick Gunning
2023-05-04 21:44:10
He might manage to Gaslight the voters into failing to see that the County Council and harlow council are one entity as far as council tax. So Harlow 'freezes' Council tax- because the county increases it by the maximum allowed! The potholes issue includes the one that tripped me and left me looking a though I'd been mugged. I reported the incident and even tried to send photos- but the council website doesn't have a system for sending pictures. I sent the pictures attached to an email but they have no facilities to pass those pics to the council. 8 weeks later I've heard nothing, the sites haven't been marked or signposted, same with the mustn't stairs from the Stow to Aldi. Last time Tories controlled Harlow their most notable achievement was closing the public toilets. During the fuel crisis, it was suggested that people use the libraries as warm spaces- but the county has closed libraries half the time! As for that elderly lady who travelled round in buses, she couldn't do that here- the bus services given out to Arriva are inefficient and unreliable as are the electric timetables! Don't even start on the Dead Cat hospital plan: you know, buy up a piece of derelict land by the motorway (owned by whom) then move the hospital there, away from the valuable site in the town centre, accessible from public transport etc. In come the developers, no doubt the usual suspects! But it's a dead cat: funding is made available for surveys and plans, huge sums going to the usual 'planners' and 'consultants' with ceos connected to the party. The grants end up all used in paying the same people who planned the London Garden Bridge (£53M gone) or the Bridge to Ireland (£900M)- now 40 new hospitals (£X000,000,000?) They're almost comical- if it wasn't for the food banks, the 8% increase in council rents- recovering their losses from those who have least?
Louise
2023-05-06 11:38:55
I think in the past year Harlow Council and the services have become really bad, the housing department are not looking after their tenants and maintaining property's they live in. All they want to do is invest in new property's. They want to start looking after the property's they already own, as we pay rent to them. And as for the state of our green area all over grown and full of rubbish!! And the state f the roads!!!!
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