Council Tax goes up by the maximum as LB Hounslow publishes budget ‘that invests in the future of the borough’

Leader of Hounslow Council, Cllr Shantanu Rajawat

More money for street cleaning, support for community groups and discounts for young people at leisure services in Hounslow’s 2026-27 budget

LB Hounslow has published its budget for the coming financial year and, as expected, is increasing Council Tax by the maximum 4.99%. Hounslow’s Council Tax for a Band D property for 2026/7 will be £1,675, (an increase of £79.61), which with the Greater London Authority tax of £510.51, (an increase of £20.13) brings the full amount to £2,185.56 – a total increase of £99.74.

Council Leader Cllr Shantanu Rajawat announced details of the Budget on Monday 2 February, including:

• An additional £750k on street cleaning
• An investment of £250k to provide discounts and offers to young people on leisure and wellbeing
• An investment of £200k to support community groups

Fallen leaves in a residential street in Chiswick

Street cleaning

With local elections coming up in May Cllr Rajawat said he had been doing a lot of door-knocking, and the issue of street cleaning came up in conversation often.

Hounslow Highways’ programme for picking up fallen leaves runs between November 2025 and February 2026, which means residents in some streets are still trudging through piles of rotting leaves that fell months ago, which are dangerous for those with poor sight or mobility, as the pavements and roads are slippery and it is sometimes difficult to see where the kerb is.

READ ALSO: Chiswick residents fed up with trudging through slippery leaf slush

Cllr Rajawat told The Chiswick Calendar the new investment in street cleaning would mean people would immediately see a difference. Details of the programme will be announced “by the end of the week”, but it would be speeded up, with more street cleaning being done, getting through the schedule more quickly.

The main pool at Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre

Discounts for young people

The investment in discounts for young people is also extra spending which will come into effect immediately. Later this week the Council say they will be announcing details of the discounts at Lampton leisure facilities, which in Chiswick means the Brentford Fountain Leisure Centre and the New Chiswick Pool in Edensor Road.

READ ALSO: Smaller pools and more flats proposed for Brentford Fountain leisure centre redevelopment

Chiswick Library; photograph A McMurdo

Support for community groups

Council officers are in the process of working through where the new money to support community groups will be spent, but the idea is to invest in ‘community capacity to reduce demand on statutory services and build stronger neighbourhoods’.

The example the Council Leader gave The Chiswick Calendar was the five year programme of investment they announced last year in the Citizens Advice Bureau and the development of the libraries into ‘community hubs’, which may include the representation of local community groups.

“We have kept all 11 libraires open and turned them into community hubs”.

Several London borough have closed libraries to fund other services. Enfield shut nearly half its libraries, while Havering has closed three in the past year.

READ ALSO: Hounslow Council extend Citizens Advice funding for next five years

READ ALSO: Chiswick Library to become a ‘Community Hub’

“We are very proud of our community sector”, said Cllr Rajawat. Council Chief Executive Officer Mandy Skinner added that the Council’s relationship with the community sector had recently been peer reviewed and it was acknowledged as a strength.

Derwent Lodge, which provides extra-sheltered accommodation in Hounslow

‘A budget that invests in people’

Introducing the budget, Cllr Rajawat said last year had been a particularly challenging year financially. Post-pandemic there had been a big increase in reliance on public services and while costs have been increasing, interest rates have also been rising, every 1% increase adding £4m to costs.

The lion’s share of the Council’s spending is on adult and children’s care, and by investing in services for children and young people they were hoping to prevent crises happening.

This year Hounslow is building new extra care housing at Nene Gardens in Hanworth which will deliver 50 housing units for adults aged over 55, and investing £11m in residential and short-term children’s accommodation.

Travel assistance for SEND pupils; LB Hounslow

‘A budget that invests in services that matter to residents’

At the last Chiswick Area Forum, where Cllr Rajawat and Hounslow’s Chief Finance Officer Jake Bacchus made a presentation on the Budget, they were congratulated by the Leader of the Opposition, Chiswick councillor Peter Thompson, on doing such a good job in challenging circumstances.

He acknowledged that potholes and “the bits we get cross about” were a small percentage of the budget they were managing.

At today’s presentation of the Budget, Cllr Rajawat acknowledged in turn that the Council needed to invest in ‘the services that matter to residents’, so they had focused on ‘improving our green spaces, with cleaner streets and a better quality of life for all communities’.

Spring bulbs on Turnham Green

As well as the increased budget for street cleaning, he announced investment of £4m for maintaining and enhancing the parks, a £2m Pavement Pledge – working with Hounslow Highways to deliver an additional 22 footway renewal schemes over the next nine months – and money for improving council homes.

The Council is investing £32m, and £150m by 2030, on housing estate improvement.

The benefits of living in ‘leafy Chiswick’

‘A budget that invests in the future of the borough’

Cllr Rajawat acknowledged the last year had been particularly tough for house building, which has stagnated across the whole capital, but there were two particular growth areas which they expected to unlock development: MOD land in Feltham which is being developed to provide new homes, and the M4 corridor along the ‘Golden Mile’ running west from Chiswick.

Plans for the redevelopment of the GSK building are due to come before the Planning Committee soon.

Council Tax bill

Hounslow is getting extra money from the Government, so why do they still need to increase Council Tax and rents by the full amount?

Recent changes in the way local government is funded will put £60m in Hounslow’s coffers over the next three years. I asked the Council Leader why in that case could they not give Council Tax payers and Council rent payers a reprieve. Could they not have decided not to increase Council Tax and Council rents this year, or at least not increase them by the maximum permitted?

“To do that would have a material impact on services”, Cllr Rajawat told me.

READ ALSO: Hounslow’s finances rescued by Government policy change

In order to balance this year’s budget they needed the extra £21m ‘fair funding’ increase from the Government and the Council Tax uplift, even after they had made £26m of savings, he said.

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar