To Participate in Isleworth & Brentford Area Committee
Hounslow Council is appealing to residents in the borough with strong opinions on local issues to get involved with influencing change in their area.
The borough‘s co-optee scheme offers members of the public the chance to join area monitoring committees across Hounslow, participate fully in meeting debates and have access to all council paperwork, including confidential papers.
The decisions co-optees make could affect local policy on a wide range of issues such as transport, education and the environment.
Isleworth & Brentford area monitoring committee is looking for up to three co-optee members, all of whom live or work in the district of their chosen area committee. (Other committees recruiting are Central Hounslow, Chiswick and West)
Prospective Co-optees may wish to attend an Area Committee meeting to observe proceedings. Meeting dates can be found on the website.
The deadline for submission of application forms is Friday 8th October 2010, with interviews taking place later on in October or early in November for shortlisted applicants.
Application forms cannot be downloaded from Hounslow Council website at the moment but please contact Kay Duffy 020 8583 2067 or kay.duffy@hounslow.gov.uk.
Councillor Jagdish Sharma, Leader of the London Borough of Hounslow said:
“This is a chance for residents to join councillors in raising their opinions and make a real difference to where they live. It’s truly democracy in action, where the public meets local government to bring about change across our borough.
We believe it’s vital that we’re able to engage with residents who are passionate about where they live and dedicated in their desire to bring their local community together.”
Councillor Rajinder Bath, Hounslow’s Executive Member for Communities, said:
“The co-optee recruitment drive really is the best way to ensure we are not missing out on any valuable insights; after all it’s residents that are best placed to inform us about what is needed at a local level.
We hope to see many fantastic applicants over the coming weeks and look forward to working with some of the most inspired people in our borough to make a real difference.”
Among the skills and experience the area committees are looking for are:
• Applicants must be at least 18 years of age.
• Applicants must either be a resident or working in the area of the area committee they are applying to and have a good knowledge of that area.
• The applicant must be able to maintain confidentiality.
• The applicant should be able to express views and opinions constructively in public meetings and work alongside elected Members and officers in putting forward suggestions for the resolution of problems that the Area Committee encounters.
• Applicants should have an interest in ensuring that high standards of local services are provided to the local community.
• Specialist expertise in subjects such as education, the environment, business and the voluntary sector etc. would be desirable.
• The applicant must not be disqualified from election to membership of the Local Authority and in broad terms should not be perceived as representing particular political interests.
The term of office for co-opted members is four years in total. This is reviewed each municipal year by the members of each Area Committee.
Co-optees are by law not allowed to sit on area planning committee meetings, and do not hold any voting powers. No existing affiliations with Hounslow Council are allowed.
August 20, 2010