Harrow
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Borough profile
Harrow is an outer London borough situated about 10 miles to the northwest of the centre of the city and bordering Hertfordshire to the north, Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the south-east and Barnet to the east. Harrow Town Centre is Harrow’s main shopping and office location.
It is unique in being the only London borough to replicate the exact same boundaries of a single former district during the great re-organisation of London in 1965, so while the “London Borough” of Harrow was formed in 1965, its predecessor, the “Municipal Borough” of Harrow was formed our of the former “Urban District” of Harrow in 1954, which had been formed in 1934 through a merger of the former area of Harrow on the Hill Urban District, Hendon Rural District and Wealdstone Urban District.
Having seen a slight decline in the second half of the twentieth century, more recent growth means that Harrow’s population is now estimated to be around 215,000, which is close to its all time peak population of 220,000 in 1950. Covering 50 square kilometres (20 square miles) Harrow is the 12th largest borough in Greater London in terms of area, but 21st in terms of size of population. Harrow's average density is 43 persons per hectare, which makes it one of the more densley populated outer London boroughs, although still below the London average. Population density follows the expected distribution of a north London suburb, with large swathes of the north – approximtely a fifth of the borough – designated Green Belt and higher population densitites as the borough moves south towards the city, with certain super output areas in Roxbourne containing densitites above the inner London average.
Harrow is an extremely diverse borough in terms of ethnicity, being one of only 8 local authorities nationally with more ethnic minority than White British residents. 2006 estimates indicate that the largest groups, after White British, are Indian (22%), Other-Asian (5.5%), Other-White (4.9 ) and African (3.5.). At ward levels, there are higher proportions of White residents in the north of the borough: Pinner ward has the highest proportion of residents in the White grouping at 78%; Kenton East has the lowest at 36%. The Asian/Asian British (excluding Chinese) communities are well established in the South, particularly in Kenton East, Kenton West, Queensbury and Edgware wards. For example, over 65% of the population in two Super Output Areas in Kenton East ward being Asian/Asian British. Higher proportions of Black or Black British people live in the wards in the centre and south of Harrow, particularly Roxbourne, Roxeth and Marlborough.
Harrow is also notable for having the highest level of religious diversity of any Local Authority in England and Wales, with data from 2006 indicating that there is 62% chance that 2 people, picked at random, will have different religions. It has the highest density of Gujarat Hindus in the UK, and Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue boasts the largest membership of any single synagogue in Europe.
LB Harrow website
Comparisons
Compare Harrow's overall performance against other boroughs
Indicators where Boroughs are compared:
- Attainment at Age 11 by borough
- Attainment at Age 16 by borough
- Adult ill-health by borough
- Infant deaths by borough
- Premature death by borough
- Overcrowding by borough
- Newly homeless households by borough
- Households in temporary accommodation by boroughh
- Low-paid jobs by borough
- Low-paid residents by borough
- Working-age adults lacking work by borough
- Working age out-of-work benefits by ward
- Pay inequalities within London
- Income inequalities within London boroughs
- Pensioners receiving the Pension Credit Guarantee
- Children in households receiving out-of-work benefits