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Public Realm Design Guide:
Councillor Tom Bruce reminded members of a
competition run over the winter months for primary school children
to submit artistic ideas for the borough’s public
spaces.  He reported that some pupils
from Cranford Primary School had been invited to Hounslow House
where the winning pupils were presented with prizes and the news
that their entries would be featured in the completed public realm
design guide that should be published by the end of the current
calendar year.
 
Local Plan update:
Councillor Bruce announced that
the borough’s Local Plan was submitted to the Secretary of
State and was now with the Planning Inspector in readiness for them
to announce a public examination. 
Councillor Bruce was hopeful this would lead to adoption of the
plan by early 2026.  He again recorded
his thanks to officers and all who had worked so hard on the
process to date.
 
Update on place provision for
vulnerable young people in the borough:
Councillor Samia Chaudhary
announced that both providers were subject to annual inspections to
ensure the care provided met the standards laid out in the detailed
regulatory framework.  The inspection
results reaffirmed the outstanding rating for the Westbook unit for
children with a disability and the good rating for The Ride for
teens with additional emotional needs. 
Councillor Chaudhary stated that the results reflected the hard
work and dedication of the teams who strive each date to provide
the highest standards of care and support. 
 
She added that the in-house
provision helped the Council reduced its dependency on much more
expensive private sector.  The Council
was extending its in-house provision with a new home in Bedfont
Lane, as well as leading a West London project to develop a new six
bed children's home for children with complex mental health needs
and challenging behaviour.   The
Council would be providing the asset and recruiting a specialist
staff team with input from NHS colleagues to run this
provision.
 
The Council’s recent bid
to the DFE for 50% capital costs to renovate and remodel the asset
had been successful.  An offer of
£1.5million was subject to confirmation. Councillor Chaudhary
added that the new provision would release pressure on local
hospital wards for children's in crisis and deliver saving to the
Council's general fund.  Children would
benefit from remaining local with continued access to local support
networks and in turn the Council would also be better able to
manage the rising cost of private sector provision.
 
Tributes to the late Councillor Sukhbir Singh
Dhaliwal:
The Mayor led tributes to former councillor Sukbir Singh Dhaliwal, who passed away after a long
illness on the 18th of June 2025.  He
was born in 1949 and moved to Cranford in 1975 where he raised his
family and lived for the rest of his life. He worked as a bus
conductor and then bus driver for many years and was a lifelong
supporter of the trade unions movement. His political interests
soon led him to be selected as a councillor in Hounslow where he
had a long career as an elected member serving over 21 years in
total over three separate periods. First elected to the council in
1994, he served two terms until 2002 as the Labour member for the
Cranford ward.  He was then re-elected
to the council in 2006 as a Labour councillor for the Heston West
ward until 2010.  He then rejoined the
council at a by-election in February 2016, again for the Cranford
ward, which he represented until the time of his sad passing a few
weeks ago.
 
During his long service as a
councillor, he worked on the Education
Committee, the Central Area
Housing Forum, he was Vice Chair of the Planning and Transport
Committee, the Terminal 5 Panel, the Development Control and
Highways Subcommittee, the Unitary Development Plan Panel, the
Voluntary Sector Subcommittee, the Heston and Cranford Area
Committee, the Pension Fund Panel, the Revenues Appeal Panel and
many others.
 
Former Councillor Dhaliwal also
served on a number of outside bodies
including the Association of Metropolitan Authorities Highways
Committee, the Capital Transport Committee, the Cranford Combined
Charities, the Ealing and Hounslow Parking and Traffic Trust,
Hounslow Community Transport, the London Borough’s Transport
Committee and the Heathrow Airport Consultative
Committee. 
 
Former Councillor Dhaliwal had
been suffering from declining health in the recent years and had
spent some time in hospital since the start of the year.
Nonetheless, the Mayor noted that news of his passing had still
been a surprise and a shock to everyone who knew or worked with
him.  She knew from the outpouring of
tributes and appreciation that followed the news of his death that
she spoke for the Council as a whole
when she said that he was a much liked and respected member
across the chamber and that members would miss him.  The Mayor then invited
Councillor Shantanu Rajawat to say a few words in tribute to the
late Councillor Dhaliwal. 
 
The Leader reflected on former
Councillor Dhaliwal’s long service to the community,
particularly to those in Cranford but also in Hounslow. He had been
the embodiment of the diversity in the Hounslow community with an
ever-present value of working hard and raising a family and doing
right by those around you. 
 
The Leader expressed his belief
that former Councillor Dhaliwal would be missed greatly. Describing
all the things he did and what a varied career he had even as a
councillor during his time at Hounslow, former Councillor Dhaliwal
had done so much and would make sure he would contribute something
that would advance the work of any committee he was part
of.  The Leader suggested that this was
something all councillors should aspire to. 
 
Former Councillor Dhaliwal was
well known in and around Cranford. 
Despite knowing this, the Leader had been surprised at the
outpouring of grief and the number of people who had come to pay
their respects at the family home and at the funeral, all with a
personal story to tell about him.  The
Leader recalled how members would joke in the chamber about how as
a lifelong bus driver he had the ability to tell you how to get
across London one bus at a time, but to the Leader this was
indicative of the extensive bank of knowledge and support that
former Councillor Dhaliwal was always willing to share.
 
 
The Leader recalled how he
often went to former Councillor Dhaliwal for advice adding that,
whilst he never gave advice without first being asked, the advice
he did give was always very good.  On a
personal level, the Leader explained how former Councillor Dhaliwal
had taken the decision to stand aside for the 2010 local elections
so that Councillor Rajawat could seek election and become a
councillor, again indicative of his ability to nurture and promote
the next generation and something that the Leader retained as a
valuable life lesson. 
 
The Leader acknowledged that
former Councillor Dhaliwal’s family would miss him every day
and he wanted to let them know that they were not alone and that
his extended family of councillors in this chamber would always be
with him. 
 
The Mayor thanked the Leader and invited Councillor
Ghazala Butt, Cranford Ward to speak. 
 Councillor Butt spoke of how members
were deeply saddened by the loss of former Councillor Dhaliwal who
had been a dedicated public servant who worked tirelessly for the
community. She described him as a “man of Cranford” who
knew its stories, its streets and above all its residents.
 His kindness, guidance and commitment
would always be remembered. He left behind a legacy of service and
compassion and would be missed but not forgotten. Members’
thoughts were with his family and loved ones.  The Mayor thanked
Councillor Butt and asked if there were any other members who
wished to address the meeting. 
 
Councillor Gerald McGregor
spoke of the sadness felt by those in the Conservative Group in
paying tribute to former Councillor Dhaliwal.  Councillor McGregor had served alongside him on
the Council for many years and while he noted that they came from
different political and cultural perspectives,
He had always respected former
Councillor Dhaliwal’s calmness and his thoughtful manner, and
of course his kindness and genuine commitment to the people whom he
represented.
 
Councillor McGregor described
former Councillor Dhaliwal as being ‘of the people’,
someone who had cared deeply about his community, which had shown
in the many ways he conducted himself both in this chamber and
outside of it over a long period of time. In many respects former
Councillor Dhaliwal had the qualities of what might be called a
gentleman, which brought a great deal of credit to him and to the
people around him.
 
Councillor McGregor recalled
serving alongside him on various committees and panels over the
years, adding that when it came to the point former Councillor
Dhaliwal would firmly but quietly make the case for his
residents.
The thing Councillor McGregor
had liked so much about him was his common sense and decency.
  Whilst former Councillor Dhaliwal
did not have a loud voice, when he spoke everybody in the chamber
listened. 
 
On behalf of the Conservative
Party, Councillor McGregor paid tribute to former Councillor
Dhaliwal’s work on the Council, describing him as
fair-minded, always courteous, and with a good sense of
humour.   They had many discussions in the old Civic Centre
chamber had chatted before and after meetings quite
happily.  Councillor McGregor added that
he would miss seeing him and having a chat with him about what was
going on in his part of the world. Even in times when there had
been political tensions in the chamber, former Councillor Dhaliwal
had not allowed this to get in the way of a nice
comment.  His passing was a complete
loss to the Council. On behalf of his Conservative colleagues,
Councillor McGregor wished to extend heartfelt condolences to
former Councillor Dhaliwal’s family, friends and close
colleagues in the Labour Party.  
 
The Mayor thanked Councillor McGregor and invited
Councillor Vickram Grewal to speak.  In
doing so Councillor Grewal added his thanks to Councillor McGregor
for his contribution.  He described how
former Councillor Dhaliwal had been someone he had known since he
was a young boy when his father served as a councillor.  Former Councillor Dhaliwal had, he said, always
made sure Councillor Grewal had had something to drink or sweets,
something that continued right up to recent Council meetings in
this chamber. 
 
Councillor Grewal described
former Councillor Dhaliwal as a polite man and a gentleman, adding
that he was almost like a father of the house who took care of
everybody and never had a bad word to say about anyone. Whilst this
wasn’t because he didn't have any political differences, it
was because he conducted himself in a certain manner.  Councillor Grewal described how former Councillor
Dhaliwal had welcomed him into Cranford ward in 2022 with open
arms.   Only
recently when Councillor Grewal had been out in Cranford, he
recalled how former Councillor Dhaliwal knew everyone who lived in
the area, including details of their grandchildren, family
celebrations and what their interests were – even when he
last spoke to them.  Councillor Grewal
attributed former Councillor Dhaliwal’s success at the ballot
box to the fact that he was ‘a man of the people for the
people, particularly in Cranford’.
 
Councillor Grewal expressed his
condolences to the Dhaliwal family for whom this was such a big
loss, just as it was for members in the chamber.  He asserted that former Councillor
Dhaliwal’s legacy would live long in Cranford and in those
younger members he had always taken care of.   
 
The Mayor thanked Councillor Grewal for his contribution
and asked members to stand for a minute’s
silence.