Archive | Issues

To make sound decisions – whether on multi-million pound budgets or local planning applications – a Council must rely on accurate, up-to-date evidence.  Yet, we are seeing a recurring pattern where significant decisions in Hillingdon are being driven by data that is demonstrably wrong, cherry-picked, or simply does not exist. This is not just a […]

Just last month, the Cabinet approved a massive spend to replace the Council’s Planning IT system.  Despite assurances over recent years that our feedback would be taken into consideration and that we would be involved in working on the new system to avoid the bugs of the current one, the decision to purchase a new […]

Most residents know when their home insurance is due; they shop around in good time. Yet for the second year running, the Council has used “Special Urgency” powers to renew the Council’s insurance policy at the last minute in November, automatically waiving the usual scrutiny period. In the case of the insurance renewal, the decision […]

The refusal to be straight with residents extends beyond Officers to elected Councillors.  One local resident who has shared their correspondence with us has spent January trying to participate in the Budget Consultation, only to be met with obfuscation. In early January, having written to their ward councillors (including Deputy Leader Cllr Bianco) asking for […]

Because the accounts were published late, the lawful “Public Inspection” period was pushed back to autumn.  When three residents visited the Civic Centre during this delayed window to inspect the books – an appointment confirmed by the council – nobody was there to meet them, except, after almost an hour of waiting, an untrained junior staff […]