Happy families at Hounslow Council

(L) Raghwinder and Emma Siddhu; (R) Pritam and Ajmer Grewal 

Leader of Hounslow Council shuffles jobs as Cllr Raghwinder Siddhu resigns

It’s like that card game Happy Families – I’ve got Mr Bun the Baker and Mrs Bun, the Baker’s wife … only it’s councillors, with two sets of husbands and wives appointed to key positions on Hounslow Council.

We reported last week that Hounslow Cabinet member Councillor Raghwinder Siddhu has resigned from his Cabinet post on the Council after the Solicitors Regulation Authority shut down his law firm on Friday, under suspicion of “dishonesty”.

READ ALSO: Hounslow Cabinet Member’s solicitors practice shut down under suspicion of “dishonesty”

Cllr Shantanu Rajawat

Leader of Hounslow Council, Cllr Shantanu Rajawat, immediately replaced him with Cllr Pritam Grewal as the new Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Customer Experience and Enforcement.

Pritam joins his wife in the Cabinet, former Mayor Cllr Ajmer Grewal, who is responsible for Residents support, Communities and Equalities.

Cabinet members on Hounslow Council receive a basic allowance for their ordinary duties as a councillor, plus a Special Responsibility Allowance for their additional duties.

The basic allowance for all councillors is £12,730. The Special Responsibility Allowance of £21,615 brings a Cabinet Member’s income from Council work to £34,345

Of course, Cllr Raghwinder Siddhu has lost his Special Responsibility Allowance when he stepped down from the Cabinet, but it’s ok because his wife Emma, councillor for Heston West alongside Shantanu, has been given Pritam’s old job as Chair of the Planning Committee, for which the Special Responsibility Allowance is £10,808.

A net loss as a couple of £10,807 (on top of Raghwinder’s loss of earnings as a solicitor of course), but a damn sight better than nothing.

There is no suggestion that Emma is not perfectly capable of chairing the Planning Committee, but there are whisperings of discontent that the Leader is handing out plum jobs to such a tight circle who are also his friends and in Emma’s case, a ward colleague.

At tonight’s Borough Council meeting (Tuesday 22 July) members will be asked to ratify her appointment as Chair of Planning.

They will also be asked to approve the recommendation of the Chief Officer Employment Panel that Mandy Skinner be appointed as Chief Executive.

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