Agenda and minutes

Prayers were said by Reverend Adrian Guthrie.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Allen.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2010

RESOLVED:  The minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2010 be agreed as a correct record.

It was with sadness that the Mayor informed Members of the recent death of ex-Councillor David Harnott who had previously been a Councillor representing Uxbridge North.  The Mayor advised that the funeral would take place at 11.30am on 18 January 2011 in Wiltshire.  Details of the funeral arrangements would be available to Members in the Mayor’s Parlour.

The Council was advised that, since the last meeting, the number of events that had been attended by the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and past Mayors on the Mayor’s behalf totalled 67.  56 of these events were within the Borough with the remaining 11 being outside of Hillingdon.

(i)         IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SUCCESSFUL CHRYSALIS PROGRAMME

Councillor D Mills moved the recommendation as set out on the Order of Business.  This was seconded by Councillor Puddifoot.  Following debate (Councillor Khursheed), the motion was put to the vote and agreed.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and the Environmental Improvements Panel be deleted from the list of Council Committees etc.

To consider the recommendation of Cabinet

Councillor Bianco moved the recommendation as set out on the Order of Business.  This was seconded by Councillor Puddifoot.  The motion was then put to the vote and agreed.

RESOLVED: That the revised Statement of Licensing Policy, as set out in the Appendix of the report, be adopted for implementation January 2011 – January 2014.

To consider the Council Tax base for 2011/12

Councillor Bianco moved the recommendation as set out on the Order of Business.  This was seconded by Councillor Puddifoot.  The motion was then put to the vote and agreed.

RESOLVED: That the calculation of the Council Tax Base for 2011/2012 be approved and, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003, the amount calculated by the London Borough of Hillingdon as its Council Tax Base for the year 2011/2012 shall be 99,118.

To take questions submitted by Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11

8.3       QUESTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR MARKHAM TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR PLANNING, TRANSPORTATION AND RECYCLING – COUNCILLOR BURROWS

“Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that we should publicly thank our staff for maintaining front line refuse collection and road gritting services during the recent bad weather?”

Councillor Burrows responded that he did agree.  He advised that the refuse collection and winter gritting services provided for the London Borough of Hillingdon over the recent spell of bad weather had been second to none and congratulated and thanked those involved for their efforts.  Supported by the street cleansing teams, Highways and Refuse officers had worked closely together to keep the Borough’s road network open and town centres free from ice.

Councillor Burrows noted that many areas of Harrow, a neighbouring Borough, hadn’t had their bins collected for over 5 weeks.  Hillingdon had not been prepared to risk the health and safety of its residents by not making every effort to continue with its collection schedule. 

At Councillor Burrows’ request, the Corporate Director had recently sent out 75 letters to key staff thanking them for their hard work during this period.

It was pleasing to note that even the Daily Mail had commented that Hillingdon was one of the boroughs “who have performed beyond the call of duty” in collecting Council rubbish over the Christmas period of ice and snow.

In conclusion, Councillor Burrows stated that he had received two letters from Borough residents congratulating and thanking the Council for maintaining the service so efficiently and effectively.  Councillor Burrows again echoed these sentiments.

There was no supplementary question.

8.1       QUESTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR ALLAM TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR CO-ORDINATION AND CENTRAL SERVICES – COUNCILLOR SEAMAN-DIGBY

“Following a substantial out-of-court settlement paid in July 2010 for personal injury compensation to an adult education teacher who suffered severe damage to her voice while employed by Hillingdon Council, is an investigation being carried out into why no adequate corrective action was taken to ameliorate her working conditions?”

Councillor Seaman-Digby thanked Councillor Allam for his question.  He reminded Members that the settlement had been made by the Council’s insurance company independently of this Council in accordance with the terms of the Council’s insurance contract and that the award was not paid out of Council balances.  It was noted that, if the case had not been settled out of court, the figure could have been higher. 

Councillor Seaman-Digby believed that it was a sad reality of modern life that we now lived in a compensation culture.  This, he thought, was reflected in the press coverage of the case which had focussed on the size of the award which many viewed as surprisingly large.

Councillor Seaman-Digby advised that he was reluctant to go into personal details in an open forum and, whilst he was not claiming that this was an undeserving case, he confirmed that the Council had indeed attempted to take corrective measures in this instance.

Councillor Allam, by way of a supplementary question, asked how confident Councillor Seaman-Digby was that this situation would not happen again.  Councillor Seaman-Digby responded that the Council had done everything it could in this case and would continue to address any issues as they arose.  The Council’s Human Resources team would continue to work with all Council staff to try to ensure that this did not happen again.

8.4       QUESTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR RICHARD MILLS TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR PLANNING, TRANSPORTATION AND RECYCLING – COUNCILLOR BURROWS

“Can the Cabinet Member advise what range of Highway improvements will now be possible following Mayor Boris Johnson's announcement before Christmas of financial support to Hillingdon?”

Councillor Burrows thanked Councillor R Mills for his timely question.  At the end of last year, the Council heard from Mayor Johnson regarding the outcome of its Local Implementation Plan (LIP) bid to Transport for London.  This programme was one of the key tools to help the Council deliver the majority of its transport and highways related projects.  As such, it was a very important source of funding to improve aspects such as road safety, traffic management and the condition of the Borough’s roads and bridges.

In terms of the settlement for the period 2011 to 2014, the Mayor and the Council had agreed a figure of around £10.5m for the Council’s LIP which would cover a range of measures - highways improvements would obviously be an important element of this.

As an example, over £600,000 funding of this had been allocated within 2011/12 towards much needed improvements to the condition of some of the Borough’s major roads.  This included an allocation of £133,000 for a section of Harlington Road, within the Brunel Ward.

Within the wider remit of the LIP budget, there would be a range of schemes including measures such as new pedestrian crossings, traffic management schemes, parking management, road safety and other improvements.  Much of the complex detail of that settlement had been set out in a report to Cabinet last month.  In a number of cases, the schemes had originated in petitions from residents which Councillor Burrows had considered as the relevant Cabinet Member.

On top of the main LIP allocation, the Council had also received the go-ahead from the Mayor to begin work on the major town centre improvement programme for Yiewsley and West Drayton as part of the Mayor’s ‘Major Schemes’ programme.  This programme would see the highway environment considerably improved over the next two years.   A sum of £1.8m had been set aside over a period of two years for the development and implementation of these works.

In conclusion, Councillor Burrows stated that, set against a challenging economic environment, Hillingdon would still be well placed to deliver a major programme of improvements for its residents on their roads.

Councillor R Mills, by way of a supplementary question, asked whether the Cabinet Member agreed that allowing councils to make their own choices was of greater benefit than being told what to do by the Mayor of London.  Councillor Burrows agreed and commented that Mayor Johnson knew where Hillingdon was and what challenges it faced.  He continued by advising that Mayor Johnson was not just concentrating on East London and instead ensured that he delivered to residents from all boroughs across London.

8.2       QUESTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR SANDHU TO THE CABINET MEMBER FOR PLANNING, TRANSPORTATION AND RECYCLING – COUNCILLOR BURROWS

“How many times and by how many contractors has the bridge over the M4 to Harlington High Street been resurfaced in the last 12 months?”

Councillor Burrows thanked Councillor Sandhu for his question.  It was noted that the bridge over the M4 to Harlington High Street had been a real problem to the Council and, over the last twelve months, it had been patch repaired 20 times.  Officers had tried different repair methods and materials but the real problem had been that the Highways Agency needed to repair the sub surface of the bridge (which it was responsible for) so that when Council officers laid the tarmac on top it would not crack and go into potholes again.  The Council had constantly reminded them of this and the Highways Agency had at last agreed to do the work and had programmed it in for April/May 2011.

Councillor Sandhu, by way of a supplementary question, asked how the Council could reduce the inconvenience to the residents and reduce the cost to the Council.  Councillor Burrows referred Councillor Sandhu to his response to Councillor R Mills’ earlier question.  He went on to advise that the Council had done everything it could to mitigate the inconvenience to residents despite the problem not being its responsibility.  If the situation had become completely intolerable, the Council would have had no option but to close the road. 

To consider Motions submitted by Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12

9.1       MOTION FROM COUNCILLOR NELSON

Councillor Nelson moved the following motion:

“That this Council agrees that a report be made to Cabinet, as soon as possible, on the most effective way of maintaining and encouraging further recycling in the Borough now that the supply of recycling bags has been removed from libraries and public places and requests for recycling bags from many residents receive no response.”

The motion was seconded by Councillor Duncan.  Following debate (Councillors Bridges, Burrows, Dhillon, Harmsworth, Jenkins, MacDonald, Puddifoot, Retter and Simmonds), and on being put to the vote, the motion was lost.