The Economy, Arts, Sports, and Public Realm Policy and Accountability Committee are scheduled to meet to discuss updates on the Black History Project, highway roadworks management, and waste and recycling service developments. The committee will also review the minutes from their previous meeting.

Waste and Recycling Service Developments

The committee will receive an update on the progress made in waste and recycling services. This includes the ongoing roll-out of food waste recycling, the introduction of wheeled bins, and garden waste recycling.

According to the Recycling Report 21 July PAC, Hammersmith and Fulham is already a high-performing borough for waste reduction, ranking third best in the country with only 227.2kg of household waste collected per head each year. The council is also the best-performing inner London borough for dry recycling (paper, cardboard, metal tins and cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles etc).

The report notes that overall recycling rates, including food and garden waste, have historically been in the bottom quartile of performance across London. However, following the introduction of the measures detailed in the report, the recycling rate is now almost 30%, lifting the council out of the lowest quartile.

Other improvements that are scheduled to be discussed include:

• Consolidation of the wheeled bin and food waste services for street-based homes.
• Promotion of the garden waste recycling service, which is a weekly subscription service costing £90 for 12 months.
• Preparation for the introduction of food waste collections for homes with communal bin stores.
• Food waste recycling for schools, with 43 schools in the borough now participating.
• A commercial food waste recycling service for trade waste customers.
• Recycling collections for small electrical items from street-based properties.
• A pilot programme in Askew Road to offer food waste collections to those living in flats above shops.

The committee will also discuss the impact of these initiatives on recycling performance. The Recycling Report 21 July PAC notes that the increase in food waste tonnage collected for recycling shows a significant increase, with well over 150 tonnes per month of waste now being recycled instead of going to general waste. The increased recycling rate has added over 5 percentage points to the council's recycling rate, an increase of over one fifth.

The report also highlights the social value achieved through the council's partnership with Veolia¹, including local employment, careers support in schools and prisons, apprenticeships, and community project funding.

Highway Roadworks Management and Co-ordination

The committee will discuss how roadworks are managed and co-ordinated in the borough using the council's permit scheme. The Highway Works Management Coordination 21 July PAC outlines proposed enhancements to the London Permit Scheme, known as the Lane Rental Scheme, which aims to provide additional protection for 50 of the borough's key roads.

According to the report, Hammersmith and Fulham Council, as the Highway Authority, has a statutory duty to manage the highway network and minimise disruption from roadworks, as set out in the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and the Traffic Management Act 2004.

The London Permit Scheme was introduced in 2010, and requires works promoters, such as utility companies and highway authorities, to obtain a permit before conducting any works on the street, with the exception of emergency works. The scheme categorises roads based on traffic sensitivity, with higher charges and fines for works on more sensitive streets.

The council receives around 30,000 permit transactions relating to approximately 17,000 works on the roads and footways of the borough each year, with 60% of the works being carried out by public utilities and 40% by the council and its contractors.

The proposed Lane Rental Scheme seeks to protect key roads and routes from being saturated with road works by charging a daily fee based on the disruption likely to be caused. The fee would apply from 7am to 7pm, with charges ranging from £1,000 to £2,500 per day.

The report states that several boroughs, supported by Transport for London (TfL), are working to apply to run a Lane Rental Scheme, with Hammersmith and Fulham aiming to be operational between April and October 2026.

The programme to implement the Lane Rental Scheme includes:

• Consultation during August/September 2025.
• Review of feedback from stakeholders completed end September 2025
• Final development of scheme documents and application September 2025.
• Application to run the scheme submitted to the Department of Transport from the 1st of October 2025.
• Earliest start date for the scheme would be the 1st April 2026

Appendix 1 lists the 50 roads that would be included in the Lane Rental Scheme, including Askew Road, Fulham High Street, King Street, Shepherd's Bush Green, and Wood Lane.

Black History Project Update

The committee will receive an update on the work in progress for the Black History Project, in response to priorities set by the Cultural Compact². The project aims to explore the feasibility of a Black history hub to celebrate the heritage and contributions of Black communities within the borough, as outlined in the Black History Project 21 July PAC.

The report states that the administration's commitment to black history is reflected in the co-produced cultural strategy. The Cultural Compact agreed that creating a Black History Steering Group would enable the development of the Black History Project to be co-produced with the borough's Black community.

The Black History Steering Group was established by Councillor Sharon Holder and has been meeting since autumn 2024. The project is being undertaken in partnership with Fulham Palace Trust, which is described as one of six nationally recognised Anti-Racist Museums, and which is the principal heritage asset in the borough.

A key first step in the project was to define what is meant by Black. The definition agreed on at the Steering Group meeting of 26th February 2025 is:

Black is used to refer to people who self-identify as having non-white backgrounds, including people with African, Asian and South American heritage, indigenous minorities (such as Māori, Aboriginal and Native American populations) and people with complex heritage, sometimes described as ethnically diverse.

The first stage of the project has been to engage the local Black community and explore the extent to which artefacts, personal items, and memories could form part of a future hub offer. To engage with the community across the borough, the Steering Group agreed to run an 18-month Community Collecting & Engagement project, planned in three phases, each of six months' duration, taking place in Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush and Fulham.

The framework of activities, which will feature in each of the 6-month projects, includes:

• Stories: A new oral and visual history project will capture the lives of communities, providing fresh insight into the experiences of the 30 years since 1994, using the Ethnic Communities Oral History project that ran in Hammersmith & Fulham from 1987 until 1994 as a stimulus.
• Artefacts: An antiques roadshow style event will identify the personal and social value of objects, and their potential for inclusion in any future Black History collection.
• People: A photography project will capture the lives and the environment of residents from the perspective of Black history.
• Writing: A programme of talks by Black writers will explore the broader cultural context of Black experience, linked to creative activities in libraries.
• Volunteering: A programme will train people in skills that relate to content management, events, and community engagement.

The first phase of the project is focused in Fulham, with a working group comprising residents in the local area. Activities in the Fulham project include workshops at West College London and Wendell Park Primary, roadshows at Fulham Palace, and photography and filming projects.

The report states that co-production with the local Black community is key to ensuring the relevance, usefulness, appropriate form and location of a facility, together with a long-term and sustainable business model.