In November it was announced a fracking company had applied to search for shale gas under Harrow.

The London Local Energy firm had applied for licences from the Department of Energy to begin fracking underneath three areas of the capital.

The plans are still in the early stages, but at the time the company said only one exploratory well would be needed, from which pipes would fan out up to 20 miles looking for natural gas inside rock deep below the ground.

Concerns were raised by environmental campaigners in the borough, who said the use of shale gas was short sighted and continued London’s reliance on fossil fuels.

November was also the month when the Harrow Times exclusively reported that more than 1,400 patients had been forced to wait in ambulances outside Northwick Park Hospital’s A&E in the past year.

A Freedom of Information request by this paper found there had been 1,437 cases of patients waiting in an ambulance more than 30 minutes from September 2013 to September 2014.

MP for Harrow West Gareth Thomas said the numbers were another worrying sign of the pressure the hospital was under.

Harrow Borough Council also announced proposals for the future of library services in the borough which included the closure of four libraries.

The council began a consultation on closing Bob Lawrence Library, in Edgware, Hatch End Library, in the Harrow Arts Centre, North Harrow Library, in Pinner Road, and Rayners Lane Library, in Imperial Drive.

The authority said they were the four libraries visited the least in the borough and closing them would save the council an estimated £480,000 a year.