Hillingdon Council has approved its 2025/26 budget, reaffirming its commitment to residents by keeping council tax among the lowest in outer London while continuing to invest in essential services.
Despite facing financial pressures due to rising social care and housing costs, as well as additional costs linked to Heathrow arrivals, the council remains focused on delivering value for money.
However, it is now considering introducing a charge for garden waste collection, a move already implemented by most London boroughs.
Over the next five years, the council will invest:
– £61 million in road and pavement improvements
– £30 million to expand care home capacity
– £25.5 million in special educational needs placements
– £23.1 million for a new Water Sports and Outdoor Activity Centre
– £19 million for the new Platinum Jubilee Leisure Centre in West Drayton
– £20 million in carbon reduction initiatives, including £15 million for cremator replacements
Council tax for a Band D property will rise by 2.99%, plus a 2% levy for adult social care, bringing the total to £1,462 per year—still the lowest in north west London.
Cllr Martin Goddard, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “We are continuing to champion our residents to ensure they don’t pay as much as other boroughs through our ongoing savings drive to cut costs, do things differently and deliver value for money services.
“We stepped in to help to protect them from the government’s winter fuel cuts, and it is outrageous that the government’s National Insurance tax on the council has now left the borough footing a further half a million pound bill.
“The scale of the financial challenge continues to mount, and while we’re fighting hard, we’re already a low spending authority receiving less core funding than other similar outer London boroughs.
“As I’ve said before, the way local government is funded is fundamentally broken. Without a systematic overhaul to stabilise the situation nationally, it continues to create uncertainty and volatility rather than meeting residents’ needs, including the most vulnerable in our society.”
