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Feature- New leader of Hounslow Council
Cllr Shantanu Rajawat was elected the new leader of Hounslow Council back in May, by Hounslow Labour Party membership.
A seasoned local politician and born and bred in the borough, Cllr Rajawat has taken over the reins of Hounslow Council at a challenging time.
It is over a decade now (2010) since he first became a councillor at the tender age of just 25. He explains that he had first been interested in politics while a student at Heston Community School.
A few years later Shantanu graduated from the University of Kent at Canterbury with a degree in Politics and International Relations and went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Law at BPP University.
Back in London as a 25-year-old councillor, Shantanu says that he was one of a number of new young councillors elected at the same time. “Back then council positions were often seen as the preserve of those retired from work. The first few years as a councillor was a real challenge as many of us wanted to do things differently. We pushed for innovation and change and frequently asked ‘why is this acceptable?”
Rising cost of living
In 2022, the same challenges are there – years of austerity have put a pressure on local services and deprivation within the borough has only been exacerbated by Covid and the rising cost of living. Local businesses still struggling to recover post pandemic are now having to deal with inflationary pressures.
The council has made every effort to help local residents where they can. “We are one of the few boroughs to offer 100% discount on council tax and those on Universal Credit are automatically assessed for this support. We also make the process simpler to apply for this support,” Cllr Rajawat explains.
During Covid, in his role as Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, Cllr Rajawat oversaw the distribution of £70m worth of grants, and the introduction of the Shop Local vouchers, which saw great sign up from retailers. The £20 Shop Local voucher saw over £1m distributed back to local retailers.
It was encouraging that the biggest usage was not in the more affluent areas of the borough but in Feltham.
The council’s partnership with SaveTheHighStreet.org also helped deliver tailored support to existing businesses needs, providing new opportunities for start-ups to grow and make it exciting for residents to shop local again.
Help when it matters
The Innovate and Grow business support programme, is a recent council initiative funded by the Government’s COVID-19 Additional Restrictions Grant that Cllr Rajawat is particularly proud of.
The programme offered a wide range of free courses and masterclasses for different-sized businesses and sectors. The support included small business grant funding; green business grant funding; specialist support for towncentre businesses and one-to-one mentoring.
The thinking behind the programme, Cllr Rajawat explains, was to enable businesses to innovate and grow beyond the constraints of the pandemic. To help re-establish confidence within the local economy, while protecting jobs for local people.
Heathrow-linked business
The hospitality and travel sector was hit especially hard by the pandemic and with so many people in the area employed either directly by Heathrow or indirectly (via a service provider or retailer reliant on the airport) the impact on the borough of lockdowns was and still is being felt heavily. “We acted as a centre-point during this time, identifying ways to help local businesses recover. We did get some extra support from central government but it was not enough and the sector is still struggling,” Cllr Rajawat stresses.
“We hear about unemployment rates being lower but the rates of pay are low and the cost of living is making it hard for business and individuals to get by”.
Levelling up is something that you can’t argue against, according to Cllr Rajawat, but saying it is very different to achieving it.
“Hounslow is one of the lowestfunded boroughs in London. And while London is said to be in a bubble, there is without doubt deprivation in the capital and also in this borough”.
To make up the shortfall in funding, the council has few options but to increase council tax.
“Funding is going to be a key thing or us, “ Cllr Rajawat admits. “We are ambitious as a borough to be cleaner, greener and healthier but that costs money. We want to protect our services and support local business. We will continue to press the government for greater support but also make sure the
Striving for a Green economy
In terms of a greener future, Hounslow Council is leading a city-wide plan to give London’s green economy a big boost. London’s Green Economy is currently valued at £48bn and accounts for five per cent of the city’s jobs, but an ambitious new report sets out how the city could double the size of its Green Economy to £100bn by 2030.
Entitled Building the Green Economy, the report outlines how local authorities and partners across London, can work together to stimulate green innovation and enterprise, support small businesses and help residents gain skills to pursue new career opportunities.
The plan also maps out how traditional industries will be supported to embrace the kind of technological change that will help reduce the carbon they produce.
The Green Economy Action Plan, promises to bring the council’s ambition to life, accelerating the transition to a low carbon economy, whilst boosting jobs growth.
We are ambitious as a borough to be cleaner, greener and healthier but that costs money. We want to protect our services and support local business. We will continue to press the government for greater support but also make sure the money we do have is used as productively as possible
