The meeting included four petitions on a variety of matters, discussion of the ‘state of the borough’ report, the appointment of a new Monitoring Officer and four proposed motions for debate by members. In addition the council considered reports on treasury management, the adoption of a new gambling policy, and constitutional matters. Lastly, five written questions to cabinet members were answered.

Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2024/25

The report was to update members on the council’s treasury activities between April and September, covering investments and borrowing, and to provide assurance that the activities in question were being undertaken in accordance with best practice.

The report identified that new borrowing of £29.7m had been taken on since April, bringing the total to £578.3 million. The council’s treasury investments stood at £80.3 million, an increase of £21.7 million. Total non-treasury investments (eg loans to subsidiaries) were £242.7 million.

Two issues of compliance were highlighted – that the council had exceeded its approved treasury limit for the total amount invested in money market funds, the limit being £100 million, and had also exceeded its limit of £250 million for loans to Lampton Investment 360 Ltd, the council’s trading company. Both issues were rectified during the reporting period.

The report identified that a strategic decision had been made to withdraw £16.117 million from Fidelity International’s Multi Asset Income Fund, which had made a loss of £3.883 million since the council had invested £20 million in the fund in 2019. This had been done to preserve the remaining capital.

Members were advised that work was underway to establish a Community Municipal Investment (CMI) scheme¹, to allow residents to invest directly in local ‘green’ projects and deliver the council’s net zero targets. A similar scheme had been launched in Lewisham in June 2023. The report included a target date of June 2025 for the launch of Hounslow’s scheme.

Approval of Statement of Gambling Principles

The council were asked to approve a new Statement of Gambling Principles, a legal requirement for all local authorities, setting out how Hounslow would regulate gambling. The current policy was due to expire in May 2025 but had to be updated by January 2025.

A public consultation on the draft statement had taken place in April and May, to which five responses had been received and considered.

The revised statement included a number of measures aimed at preventing problem gambling, particularly among vulnerable groups such as young people and those experiencing mental health issues and financial difficulties.

Hounslow’s Local Area Profile (LAP) which identifies those areas of the borough which are particularly vulnerable to gambling-related harms, was to be reviewed and updated.

The LAP identifies five areas in the borough (known as ‘Gambling Vulnerability Zones’) where the risk of problem gambling is higher:

• Chiswick Gunnersbury/homefields border
• Brentford/Syon area
• Hounslow central/high street
• Heston/Osterley
• Hounslow west

The LAP found that the risk in those areas was due to a combination of factors:

Risk in these areas is driven by a range of different factors but primarily by the concentration of younger residents and the location of facilities for younger people. Relatively high levels of deprivation as well as ethnic mix are also major driving factors in these locations.

Applicants for new premises licences would be required to undertake local risk assessments, to identify risks and outline measures to mitigate them, and licensees would be expected to provide the council with copies. Existing licence holders would also have to provide the council with their risk assessments.

Constitutional Review – Tranche Three

The meeting included consideration of a number of proposals to update the council’s constitution, following review by a cross-party member working group.

Local Choice Functions

The council were asked to agree how they would deal with a number of council functions for which they could choose which decision making body was responsible, a requirement of the Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) Regulations 2000. It was recommended that most functions (other than those relating to planning and licensing) be the responsibility of the council’s Cabinet.

Planning Committee

The council’s planning committee was to be given responsibility for decisions on planning applications which met one or more of the following criteria:

• Major applications (as defined in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015) which did not meet the council’s planning policies
• Applications which a local councillor or area forum chair considered would have a significant impact on their ward (known as the ‘pending list’)
• Applications relating to council-owned land or proposed development by the council
• Applications from council members or senior officers.

The revised terms of reference also proposed a change to the current practice of allowing only objectors to speak at committee meetings, with applicants given the opportunity to speak only if there was an objector present. Under the new proposal, applicants would be able to address the committee even when there were no objectors present, in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

Scheme of Delegation to Officers

The report proposed that the current scheme of delegation to officers be replaced with a new scheme. This would give senior officers authority to take all decisions within their remit, other than those that were reserved to the council’s Cabinet or to a committee.

The scheme also proposed that officers be given authority to agree the disposal or acquisition of assets with a value of up to £1 million (or to grant leases for up to 15 years) without the decision needing to be taken by Cabinet.

Access to Information Procedure Rules

The council were asked to agree new rules setting out how the public could access information relating to the council’s decisions.

The report contained a proposal to change the current practice of publishing all ‘Chief Officer Decisions’ which had been used to document a large number of routine officer decisions for which there was no legal requirement to do so. Instead it was proposed that officer decisions would only need to be published where the decision involved expenditure of more than £250,000 for revenue, or £500,000 for capital. In those cases, a ‘Publishable Officer Decision’ or POD would have to be produced and published.

The council were also asked to agree revisions to the wording of the existing rules to reflect other proposed changes to the constitution.

Leader’s Scheme of Delegation to Cabinet Members

The council were to be asked to ‘note and endorse’ the Leader’s proposals for how Cabinet decisions would be taken in future, a requirement of the council’s constitution. This included the proposal that individual Cabinet members could take decisions on matters falling within their portfolio, unless those decisions involved expenditure over £1,000,000 for revenue or £2,000,000 for capital, in which case those decisions would stand referred to the full Cabinet.

Cabinet Procedure Rules

The report included a proposal that the council should ‘note and endorse’ a revised version of the rules covering how Cabinet meetings are run. This would reflect changes to the decision making process contained elsewhere in the constitution and also clarify the ability for the council leader to exclude non-cabinet members from cabinet meetings when exempt or confidential matters were being discussed.

Officer Employment Procedure Rules

A new section was to be introduced to the constitution, covering the recruitment, appointment, dismissal and discipline of council officers.

This included the requirement that a member panel be convened to oversee the appointment or dismissal of senior officers.

Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places in the London Borough of Hounslow: Reference from the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 7th October 2024

The council was asked to agree the recommendations of the Audit and Governance Committee on the review of polling districts and polling places, a legal requirement which local authorities must undertake every five years.

The committee had carried out a four week consultation on the proposals in August and September, receiving 15 responses in total.

It was recommended that a number of changes be made, including the creation of new polling districts in Bedfont and Chiswick Gunnersbury, each of which would be allocated a new polling place. In Chiswick Riverside a polling district was to be merged into an adjacent district. The report identified that the new polling places would cost around £3,000 to hire when elections are held.

Appointment of Director of Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer)

The council was asked to appoint Benita Edwards as the council’s new Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer². The Chief Officer Employment Panel had interviewed candidates for the post in October and recommended Ms Edwards’ appointment. The post was due to be filled in February 2025.

Calendar of Formal Committee Dates 2024-25

The council was asked to approve a schedule of dates for its formal committee meetings for the municipal year 2025/26, running from May 2025 to May 2026. Six meetings of the full council were scheduled. The report included a note that the dates in question might have to change for practical reasons.