This meeting was the third meeting of Ealing Council since the local elections in May 2024. A petition with 3,429 signatures calling on the council to provide more humanitarian support to Palestinians was scheduled to be presented. The meeting also included a motion about the recent budget and the council's contract procedure rules were scheduled for approval.

Humanitarian support for Palestinians

A petition with 3,429 signatures was submitted to the council under procedure rule 9.1 of its constitution, and was scheduled to be debated at this meeting.

The petition called for the council to provide the same humanitarian support to Palestinian refugees as was provided to Ukrainian refugees, arguing that Ealing has a community of residents of Palestinian ethnicity, as it does a community of residents of Ukrainian ethnicity, and that:

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has been identified by the UN as the most significant on impacting children of any other war crisis in the past four years, and that famine has hit many parts of Gaza, directly contravening the International Court of Justice Orders seeking unhindered food and aid deliveries, issued in February and May of this year.

The petition requests that the council write to the Home Secretary seeking sanctions on Israel, provide support for refugees, propose motions calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and divest council funds from companies complicit in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.

The Autumn 2024 Budget

The Labour Group had submitted a motion for debate welcoming the recent budget, describing it as a Budget that fixes the foundations to deliver the change the people of Ealing voted for.

The motion congratulated the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, on:

delivering the first Labour Budget in almost 15 years, and on the historic moment as the first woman to present a Budget to the House of Commons.

The motion noted that Ealing Council’s funding has been cut by 60% and that the council is seeing more demand on our services than ever. It claimed that the Conservatives have not changed, and that All they offer is more of the same: more decline, more austerity, and working people paying the price, going on to attack the new leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch MP, for proposing cutting maternity pay and the minimum wage.

The safety of Lithium-ion batteries

Councillor Athena Zissimos submitted a motion that was not for debate about the fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries. The motion noted that these batteries are becoming increasingly common, particularly in e-bikes and e-scooters, and that this has been accompanied by an increase in the number of fires they cause.

The motion claimed that the number of fires in the UK caused by lithium-ion batteries in e-scooters and e-bikes has increased four-fold since 2020, and that Battery fires in waste disposal are at record levels, with over 1,200 fires at UK waste sites and bin lorries in 2023. The motion described two fires that have been attributed to these batteries at the Greenford recycling site in Greenford and in Northolt this year, and another in a flat in Maldon Road, Acton.

The motion called for the council to work with Electrical Safety First to run an awareness campaign and provide safe spaces for people to charge e-bikes and e-scooters.

Questions asked to the Cabinet

There were two questions asked to the Cabinet by members of the public:

• Angela Fonso asked Councillor Blerina Hashani, the Cabinet Member for Thriving Communities, when Ealing Council would repair the damaged Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs), tennis court and cricket wickets at Southall Recreation Ground.
• Christina Akubeze asked Councillor Paul Driscoll, the Cabinet Member for Climate Action, about the proposed CPZs in Greenford. They asked whether the council would reconsider the CPZ proposal, listen to the community and focus on resolving the real causes of congestion?.

Opposition Motion for Debate

The Conservative Group had submitted a motion for debate claiming that current proposals to introduce CPZs in Greenford South and Greenford Town Centre, and to extend CPZ hours of operation in Ealing and Acton, are anti-car measures that discriminate against the elderly, the infirm, families and small businesses.

The council's Contract Procedure Rules

The council's Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs)¹ were scheduled to be discussed. The rules set out the process officers of the council are expected to follow when spending money on behalf of the council, and are a legal requirement of the Local Government Act 1972.

The report pack proposed that the council approve a new set of CPRs that would align the council's procedures with the recently passed Procurement Act 2023² and the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023³.

The report noted that the new act represents a significant change and that it introduces new transparency requirements requiring contracting authorities to publish a number of notices prior to, during, and after a procurement. It also requires authorities to publish information about supplier performance during the contract.

The report proposed introducing a lighter touch regime for contracts for individual placements in education or care settings. The report argued that this would enable officers to efficiently place them in care or education settings which best suit their needs, rather than follow prescribed rules or, as is presently the case, go through the process of getting an exception to the Contract Procedure Rules.

The Council's Committees

A report proposing a number of changes to the council's committees was scheduled to be discussed.

The first proposal was to merge the Chief Officers’ Appointment Panel and Chief Officers Panel to create a new committee called the Employment Panel. The new panel would be responsible for interviewing and appointing statutory officers like the Chief Executive, Strategic Director of Resources, Strategic Director of Children, Strategic Director of Adults and Public Health and the Director of Legal and Democratic Services, as well as any non-statutory Chief Officers which report directly to the Chief Executive.

The new panel would also be responsible for handling disciplinary matters for statutory and non-statutory Chief Officers who report to the Chief Executive, as well as recommending to the Full Council that any of these officers be dismissed, or considering any appeals against dismissal.

The report also proposed deleting the “Emergency Cabinet” from the council's constitution on the grounds that it is unnecessary, as it was not convened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that if an emergency was to occur again, the Leader of the council has the power to take executive decisions.

The Local Development Framework Advisory Committee was scheduled to be renamed to the Planning Advisory Committee.

The report proposed establishing a Victoria Hall Trust (VHT) Advisory Committee to replace the Victoria Hall Trust Committee. The VHT Advisory Committee would be responsible for advising the Cabinet Member for Thriving Communities on how to exercise the council's functions as trustee of the Victoria Hall in Southall. This follows the Charity Commission's issuing of a new scheme in relation to the VHT in September 2024.

The report also proposed establishing a new Shareholder Committee. The committee would be comprised of all of the members of the Cabinet, and would be responsible for approving the governance documents, business plans and budgets of the council's three wholly owned companies:

• Greener Ealing Ltd
• Broadway Living Ltd
• Broadway Living RP Ltd

The political balance of the council's committees

The results of the recent by-elections in Ealing changed the political balance of the council, and the Monitoring Officer, Rhian Davies, was required to review and update the allocation of seats on the council's committees to ensure that they reflect the proportion of councillors from each of the parties represented on the council.

The updated figures were:

• Labour: 59 councillors
• Liberal Democrat: 7 councillors
• Conservative: 4 councillors

This resulted in the following allocation of seats to committees:

• Labour: 140 seats
• Liberal Democrat: 17 seats
• Conservative: 9 seats

Update on the council's borrowing

The report pack included the second quarterly update on the council's borrowing in the 2024/25 financial year. The report was prepared by Bridget Uku, Amalio Alcazar and Bhavika Patel.

The report noted that the council's investments had returned an average of 5.053% in the first half of the year, which is below the benchmark SONIA rate of 5.116% over the same period, and explained that this was because:

a substantial amount of the investment portfolio being made at lower rates for a fixed duration prior to interest rate increases in the economic backdrop.

The report explained that the council's investment strategy prioritises security and liquidity above yield. It stated that the council's £521,997,000 of investments are held with the following counterparties:

• UK Government (Debt Management Office)⁴
• UK Government (Treasury Bills via King & Shaxson)⁵
• Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)⁶
• Lloyds Bank⁷
• HSBC⁸
• Standard Chartered Bank (Certificate of Deposit via King & Shaxson)
• Barclays Bank⁹
• Nationwide Building Society¹⁰
• AAA rated Money Market Funds

The report also noted that the council has agreements to invest money on behalf of the West London Waste Authority (WLWA) and the Mortlake Crematorium in Mortlake, and that the council holds £44,000,000 and £4,875,000 for the two organisations respectively.

The report noted that the council had not had to borrow any money for day-to-day spending in the first half of the year. The report stated that the council has a total of £877,551,000 of long-term borrowing, which is split between:

• General Fund: £602,000,000
• Housing Revenue Account: £184,568,000
• Broadway Living Registered Provider: £90,983,000

The report explained that the council is expecting to have to borrow a total of £1,007,983,000 by the end of the year.