A “misunderstanding” by a councillor and officers saw the elected member attend a meeting and vote on a licensing application when he wasn’t actually on the committee.
The blunder by Councillor Ranjit Gill and Hounslow Council officers is set to cost the West London council hundreds of pounds because the meeting needs to be held again in the coming weeks.
Councillor Gill attended a Hounslow Licensing Panel on 15 July, and voted on the outcome of the application. In order to sit as a member of the Licensing Panel, councillors first have to be appointed by the council to sit as members of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee. Most appointments were made at a council meeting on 27 May but Cllr Gill was not among them.
Following that meeting, Hounslow Council said there was a need for further changes to the appointments, but that Cllr Gill was “to be nominated” to sit as a member of the committee. Cllr Gill, in anticipation of his appointment, undertook licensing training.
Image: Hounslow Council
A spokesperson said that due to a “misunderstanding” during the arrangement for the Licensing Panel meeting, council officers believed that Cllr Gill had already been appointed, and he was included in the meeting as if he was a member of the panel – which he wasn’t.
A council spokesperson said: “The costs of meeting rooms and staff are part of the council’s general overheads. That is, there is no additional charge in relation to operational or staff costs for holding Licensing Panel (or other committee) meetings.
“The only additional cost is for legal support. The legal costs incurred have yet to be billed to the council by our legal advisors therefore we cannot confirm an exact cost but we would expect the charges to be in the region of between £250 to £500.”
At a meeting of the full council on 22 July, Conservative Cllr Jack Emsley, raised a point of order concerning Cllr Gill’s attendance at the Licensing Panel, labelling it a “breach of the constitution”.
Benita Edwards, Director of Law and Governance, apologised for the misunderstanding, and confirmed this was a breach, and that the decision is null and void.
She added: “I have looked into it, and there was an officer there. So, officers mistakenly assumed that Cllr Gill had actually been appointed to the Licensing and General Purposes Committee.”
She continued: “I have concluded that the meeting last week of the Licensing Panel wasn’t properly convened; it is as if the meeting never took place, and any decisions or determinations that the Licensing Panel would have undertaken last week were effectively null and void. Having reached that view, the effect of that is the application remains with the licensing authority to determine.”
After the meeting, Cllr Emsley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “This licensing application is an important issue for my constituents, many of whom wrote to me urging the council to make a swift decision. Residents in Chiswick will rightly feel frustrated not only that Cllr Gill’s actions jeopardised the decision taken by the panel and caused an unnecessary delay in this process, but that taxpayer money will now be wasted in having to reconvene the meeting.
“I hope that the panel is now able to quickly meet again and end this saga, and that the Labour Group takes appropriate action to ensure its councillors do not jeopardise future licensing issues in Chiswick.”
