Hounslow Council has appointed new members to its committees and approved significant changes to its constitutional rules during a recent Borough Council meeting, aimed at streamlining processes and fostering more focused debate.
Lisa Nyon has been appointed as an independent non-voting member to the Audit and Governance Committee. A CIMA-qualified accountant with extensive experience in finance and local government, Ms Nyon was recommended by the committee following an interview process. An interview panel, consisting of the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, the Executive Director of Resources, and the Finance Director, interviewed three candidates for the position. The report states, An interview panel interviewed three candidates and recommended Lisa for the role.
The council also approved revised Planning Committee Terms of Reference, Council Procedure Rules, and Committee Procedure Rules. These changes, 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, aim to streamline council meetings and planning processes. Councillor Shantanu Rajawat stated, To address the first set of recommendations, this is a statutory requirement that will allow us to become compliant with new legislation around planning, specifically the Planning and Infrastructure Act of 2025 and the Town and Country Planning Regulations 2026.
These regulations introduce a national scheme of delegation and associated referral arrangements for the determination of planning applications.
Key amendments include reducing the Planning Committee's membership to 13. This reduction is a compulsory legal requirement stemming from the aforementioned legislation, which also introduces a national scheme of delegation and referral arrangements for planning applications. Councillor Rajawat explained, This introduces a national scheme of delegation and associated referral arrangements for determination of planning applications and places a maximum size of 13 members on planning committee.
Furthermore, an 11 pm guillotine has been reinstated for Borough Council meetings. The rationale behind this is to promote healthy, relevant and focused debate
and ensure meetings conclude at a reasonable hour, acknowledging the significant time commitments of councillors. Councillor Rajawat elaborated, This change, like others, will only affect meetings of Borough Council... This means that we will still have up to three and a half hours in which to scrutinise and debate reports... We're also bringing back member questions... We're also removing the pointless questions stage of reports coming from Cabinet... And finally, changes to motion... Taken together, these changes are not about creating winners or losers. They're about promoting healthy, relevant and focused debate. This is not about clocking off early.
Other appointments made during the meeting include Councillor Jack Emsley to the Pension Fund Panel, and Councillor Ajmer Grewal to the Board of Trustees of the Gunnersbury Park CIC. Councillor Michael Denniss was nominated for appointment to the Pension Board.
The full details of the meeting and the approved changes can be found in the Public reports pack for the Borough Council meeting held on Tuesday, 15 September 2026.