Hounslow (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A planning decision for a Domino’s Pizza in Hounslow has been declared void after a councillor voted on a committee he wasn’t officially part of.
The elected member attended a meeting and cast a vote on a licensing application when he wasn’t on the committee due to a “misunderstanding” between a councillor and police.
Since the meeting must be rescheduled in the upcoming weeks, the West London council will have to pay hundreds of pounds for the mistake made by Councillor Ranjit Gill and Hounslow Council officials.
On July 15, Councillor Gill participated in a Hounslow Licensing Panel and cast a vote on the application’s conclusion. Council members must first be appointed by the council to serve on the Licensing and General Purposes Committee before they can serve on the Licensing Panel. Cllr Gill was not included in the majority of the appointments, which were made at a council meeting on May 27.
After that meeting, Hounslow Council stated that although more appointments were required, Cllr Gill was “to be nominated” to serve on the committee. Cllr Gill completed licensing training before his appointment.
According to a spokeswoman, council officers thought that Cllr Gill had already been appointed because of a “misunderstanding” that occurred during the planning of the Licensing Panel meeting. As a result, he was included in the meeting as though he were a panel member, even though he wasn’t.
A council spokesperson said:
“The costs of meeting rooms and staff are part of the council’s general overheads. That is, there is no additional charge in relation to operational or staff costs for holding Licensing Panel (or other committee) meetings.
The only additional cost is for legal support. The legal costs incurred have yet to be billed to the council by our legal advisors therefore we cannot confirm an exact cost but we would expect the charges to be in the region of between £250 to £500.”
At a meeting of the full council on July 22, Conservative Cllr Jack Emsley, raised a point of order concerning Cllr Gill’s attendance at the Licensing Panel, labelling it a “breach of the constitution”.
Benita Edwards, Director of Law and Governance, apologised for the misunderstanding, and confirmed this was a breach, and that the decision is null and void.
She added:
“I have looked into it, and there was an officer there. So, officers mistakenly assumed that Cllr Gill had actually been appointed to the Licensing and General Purposes Committee.”
She continued:
“I have concluded that the meeting last week of the Licensing Panel wasn’t properly convened; it is as if the meeting never took place, and any decisions or determinations that the Licensing Panel would have undertaken last week were effectively null and void. Having reached that view, the effect of that is the application remains with the licensing authority to determine.”
What are the rules for councillor participation in licensing votes in Hounslow?
Licensing decisions are made by a licensing committee of the council, which should consist of at least 10 but no more than 15 councillors appointed by the full council.
The committee can delegate functions to smaller licensing sub-committees, but those sub-committees must be made up of three members who are themselves members of the main licensing committee to have lawful authority.
Only councillors who are formally appointed members of the licensing committee are authorized to participate and vote in licensing decisions. If a councillor who is not a member of the licensing committee participates or votes, their involvement can render the decision invalid, as happened in Hounslow where a councillor voted despite not being on the committee.
