At a special meeting of the Borough Council held on Tuesday, 27th October 2015 at 7.30pm in the Council Chamber at the Hounslow Civic Centre, Lampton Road, Hounslow Present: The Mayor, Councillor Nisar Malik (in the Chair) The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Myra Savin Councillors: Keith Anderson, Candice Atterton, Felicity Barwood, Lily Bath, Raj Bath, Tom Bruce, Manjit Buttar, Peter Carey, John Chatt, Samia Chaudhary, Sam Christie, Steve Curran, Samantha Davies, Katherine Dunne, Colin Ellar, Richard Foote, Linda Green, Ajmer Grewal, Pritam Grewal, Puneet Grewal, Sachin Gupta, Bishnu Bahadur Gurung, Sam Hearn, Tina Howe, Hanif Khan, Gurmail Lal, Guy Lambert, Adrian Lee, Tony Louki, Paul Lynch, Khulique Malik, Ed Mayne, Gerald McGregor, Hina Mir, Sheila O'Reilly, Robert Oulds, Surinder Purewal, Shantanu Rajawat, Daanish Saeed, Sue Sampson, Jagdish Sharma, Peter Thompson, John Todd, Gurpal Virdi and Bob Whatley 1. Apologies for Absence, Other Announcements and Declarations of Interest from Members Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Harleen Atwal Hear, Bandna Chopra, Mel Collins, Theo Dennison, David Hughes, Elizabeth Hughes, Kamaljit Kaur, Mukesh Malhotra, Amrit Mann, Shaida Mehrban, Alan Mitchell, Sohan Sangha and Corinna Smart. An apology for lateness was received from Ruth Cadbury MP who was delayed on Parliamentary business. There were no declarations of interest. 2. Honorary Freemen Of The Borough (CEX100) Members considered a report by Councillor Steve Curran, Leader of the Council. With great pleasure, the Mayor made the following statement: “As you know, the main business tonight is to make five deserving people freemen of the Borough – so I think we can all agree that the meeting will be a joyous celebration of each of their Council careers and promises to be one of the happiest meetings of the year. I would also like to invite everyone to join me in a Mayoral reception after the meeting in the Conference Centre which is being held in honour of our five new freemen. I hope to see you all there. We now move to the main item this evening which is the creation of five honorary freemen. The Council has in the past awarded the title to long-serving Councillors when they have served 25 years as a Member of the authority. We are lucky that in this fiftieth 1 year of the history of our Borough, we have five people who have been Councillors for half that time. Each of them has therefore been a Councillor for exactly half the time that Hounslow has been a Council. Furthermore, that is 125 years of public service between them, which I think you will all agree is a remarkable feat. And of course, they all look far too young for anyone to believe it. It is also lovely to note that both political parties are represented amongst the nominees, and that somehow they have arranged to reflect the current political proportionality of the Council. This helps to make tonight’s meeting a proper celebration across the political spectrum. The five people who we are to honour tonight are Councillors Raj Bath, John Chatt, Paul Lynch and Bob Whatley and of course Ruth Cadbury MP who had just completed twenty five years before she left us to take her place in the House of Commons earlier this year. These five people have been great local champions and dedicated community representatives over a quarter of a century, serving more than six Council terms and fighting at least seven Council elections! That is some staying power! It is my great honour to be the Mayor during the year that we are honouring these five people, who we all know so well and who are not just colleagues but in many cases our friends – and sometimes old friends at that.” The Mayor then explained that after formal moving and seconding of the report and its recommendations, he was proposing that the Council deal with the formal nomination process for bestowing Freedom of the Borough on the five nominees by seeking speeches of support for each candidate in alphabetical order, with the exception of those speaking for Ruth Cadbury MP in order to give her the chance to arrive at the meeting in time to hear them, following her formal apology for absence. There being general consent to this approach, the Mayor invited Councillor Steve Curran, as Leader of the Council, formally to introduce the report and propose the recommendations. In doing so Councillor Curran made the following comments: He was delighted to see so many former Councillors, officers, friends and family of the five nominees at the meeting. He stated that serving 25 years as a Councillor was a fantastic achievement. He doubted that the Council would again see a time when five deserving Councillors were honoured in this way at the same time. Each of the five nominees were highly respected individuals who had undertaken outstanding work for their residents and it was right that they should be honoured with the Freedom of the Borough. Each nominee had repeatedly and consistently put the needs of residents first by providing strong public service to them. He commended each of them and concluded by expressing his delight at being able formally to move the report and its recommendations. Councillor Tom Bruce formally seconded the recommendations. Conferral of the Freedom of the Borough on Councillor Raj Bath The Mayor invited Councillor Jagdish Sharma formally to nominate Councillor Raj Bath as a Freeman of the Borough. 2 Councillor Sharma made a speech in nomination of Councillor Raj Bath and made the following comments: The awarding of the Freedom of the Borough on long serving Councillors was a good tradition within Hounslow and each of the five nominees was fully deserving of the honour. However, the honour was not conferred purely because of age but because the nominees in each case had acted with distinction in public service. He congratulated all five nominees and thanked them all for their good work for their residents and the Borough – and he gave them each his best wishes. He also commended the entire Council tonight for acting together at events like these and he described the Council as being noble at such meetings. However, it was his privilege to be able formally to nominate Councillor Raj Bath who he considered richly deserved the honour. He had been a dedicated public servant and had earned the award of the freedom. He wished to remind Members and those present of some of the details of Councillor Bath’s career so far. Councillor Raj Bath had originally come to the United Kingdom in 1965 from Punjab in India. He had previously served in the Punjab Civil Service for about three years as a District Employment Officer which was a gazetted post. He had a Masters degree in Economics and was also a law graduate and he had come to the United Kingdom in order to study at the London School of Economics. However, soon after his arrival in the country, he was selected for a job with the Inland Revenue where, over a thirty year career, he did well and was often promoted. Councillor Bath took early retirement from his career in 1994. He had first been elected to the Council representing the Heston West Ward in 1990 and went on to serve his residents with dignity and honour for twenty five years. In 1997, Councillor Bath had become Deputy Mayor and then the Mayor in 1998. Over the years, he had also served as Chair of the Social Services Committee, Chair of the Heston and Cranford Area Committee, Chair of the Planning Committee, Chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee and was a Cabinet Member in 2010/11. Outside of the Council, Councillor Bath had also served as a governor of Cranford Community College, Heston Community School and Berkeley School as well as being Chair of the Hounslow Multicultural Centre and the Chair of the Isleworth Old People’s Society. Councillor Bath continued to be very popular and highly respected in the community as well as being a very experienced Member of the Council, continually serving in Heston West Ward for his entire political career. As such, it was a privilege to propose that Councillor Raj Bath be made a Freeman of the London Borough of Hounslow. Members showed their support with a round of applause. The Mayor then invited Councillor Shantanu Rajawat to second the nomination of Councillor Raj Bath. Councillor Rajawat did so and made the following statement: “Thank you Mr. Mayor. 3 I am delighted to second Councillor Rajinder Bath’s nomination as Freeman of the Borough. A curious privilege of freemen is their ability to drive sheep through the Borough without hindrance. I must say that it feels like Councillor Bath has been practising this for about 25 years! Every year, and particularly every four years, Councillor Bath herds his trusted team around the Heston West Ward, meeting and talking to local residents. He is particularly adept at making sure Councillor Lily Bath and I are not allowed to have a day off or an easy round despite all our bleating and crying! As the elder of our team, he has a particular look which lets you know that he does not like slacking! It is a remarkable achievement continuously to represent the same ward for 25 years. I, however, am not surprised. I recall as a new Councillor, when knocking on doors and meeting residents, I was shocked that everyone I spoke to seemed to know Councillor Bath and always had warm words about him. Having worked with him for a number of years, I now understand that Councillor Bath has a unique ability to talk to people and explain matters in a way which residents and stakeholders understand.