This week the council agreed our new community charter, which we consulted on earlier in the year. The charter sets out how we intend to engage with you. We want to ensure that local people are involved in all parts of decision making here at the council. You can read the charter and our commitments in Wednesday’s cabinet report (from page 17) and it will be published in due course.

The adoption of the charter is merely the end of the beginning in this process. Writing the charter has involved a huge amount of work across the whole borough led by our advisory panel. The panel, made up of representative of voluntary groups, have engaged hundreds of people about how they want the council to talk to them.

However, we cannot simply write a charter and assume the job is done. Over the coming months, all parts of the council will be working on how they involve residents in our work. The next stage is turning these principles into action.

The council’s cabinet also received an update on progress at Warren Farm. We are continuing to work on both ensuring that the site is designated a nature reserve and provides access to sport for people in Southall and Hanwell. More information on this will come soon.

The report is an important milestone as it confirms that we will apply for local nature reserve status on the original site. This will protect the site and the increase in nature that has happened over the last few years. We are protecting the site for future generations and giving local people access to nature. It is yet another example of this administration delivering on our promises to improve our green spaces.