Hounslow Council has approved significant changes to its constitution, including amendments to the Planning Committee's terms of reference and council procedure rules. The decision was made during a Borough Council meeting held on Tuesday, 15 September 2026.

These changes were necessitated by new legislation, including the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and the Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026. The amendments introduce a national scheme for the delegation and referral of planning applications, which will see Schedule 1 applications determined by officers. Schedule 2 applications will also be determined by officers unless they meet specific referral criteria for the Planning Committee. These criteria include own-interest applications where the Nominated Officer and Nominated Member agree, or if the application raises one or more issues of economic, social or environmental significant to the local area; or one or more significant planning matters having regard to the development plan and any other material considerations . The maximum membership of the Planning Committee has also been reduced from 15 to 13 councillors.

Council Procedure Rules have been amended to reinstate an 11 pm guillotine for meetings, meaning sessions will conclude at this time with no provision for extension, except for the budget meeting. This aims to promote healthy, relevant and focused debate by allowing up to three and a half hours for scrutiny and debate of reports. Member questions will also be reinstated, allowing for greater scrutiny of the executive function of the Council, moving beyond the current system where questions were only permitted on reports. The process for motions has been revised to allow one opposition and one majority group motion per meeting, reflecting the proportionality of the Chamber. The pointless questions stage of reports coming from Cabinet has been removed, as these can now be raised and discussed as part of the main debate.

Committee Procedure Rules have been updated to allow for formal member substitutions under specific circumstances. A named substitute from the same political group may attend in place of an appointed Member if the member is unable to attend for an appropriate reason, including illness. Safeguards are in place, such as the requirement for the substitute member to have undertaken mandatory training, though the specific nature of this training is not detailed.

Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, Leader of the Council, presented the proposed amendments, stating they aimed to streamline council meetings and planning processes. He emphasised that the changes were not about limiting scrutiny but about fostering more focused debate, aiming for Less heat, more light.

Despite some debate, the council ultimately approved the revised arrangements. An amendment proposed by Councillor Jack Emsley, which called for a review of the council's fly-tipping enforcement policy and argued that the current £1,000 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were heavy-handed, was rejected. An amendment by Councillor Amy Croft highlighted existing council efforts and data suggesting a reduction in fly-tipping, noting that Hounslow has the seventh highest rate of reported fly-tipping in London, but that 99.8% of reported incidents are collected within 24 hours. The introduction of £1,000 FPNs has reportedly led to a 12% fly-tipping reduction compared to the previous year, with only a 2% increase since 2022 while nationally it increased by 15%.

The broader strategic goals behind these constitutional changes, as articulated by Councillor Rajawat, include resetting the way debates are conducted in the chamber to focus more on issues that matter to residents, rather than scoring points or engaging in tribalism .

Further details on the meeting and the reports discussed can be found in the Public reports pack, Agenda frontsheet, and Supplementary Agenda.