It has been three weeks since Councillor Ian Edwards stepped down as the Conservative leader of Hillingdon Council. He was replaced by former MP and council cabinet member, Councillor Steve Tuckwell. Two weeks after his ascension to the top job, the Local Democracy Reporting Service sat down with Cllr Tuckwell to discuss all things Hillingdon. We asked him about his plans for the future, his personal ambition, and the recent scandal involving an ex-councillor and Cowley Meeting Hall.
Reaction to Local Election Results
The Conservatives made gains in Hillingdon compared to 2022, managing to take seats from Labour without losing any to Reform. Both Labour and Reform had hoped to eat into the Tories' stronghold on the borough but ultimately failed. On the election results, Cllr Tuckwell said other parties “didn’t have a vision for Hillingdon”. He added: “Hillingdon Conservatives have a plan, have executed that plan, and will continue to deliver that plan for high quality, high value for money services… The residents saw that and put their trust in the Conservative administration for another four years and not only increased turnout, but increased vote share and increased majorities in all of the Conservative wards. So we've got a Labour MP in South Ruislip now who does not have a single Labour councillor (in that ward).”
Cowley Meeting Hall
In January 2026, the LDRS revealed that the Cabinet, of which Cllr Tuckwell was a member, planned to write off the debt of a former Conservative councillor, Alan Deville, relating to money owed on his lease of Cowley Meeting Hall. The Cabinet voted in favour of this in private; however, once the LDRS revealed the circumstances, the council changed course and said it would pursue all avenues to reclaim the owings. We asked Cllr Tuckwell if the council has launched proceedings against Mr Deville. He said: "I'm in the process of being brought up to speed on the situation. I know some commentators were using it during the election, but all I can say is that the situation is being actively managed and, you know, it's something I want to get resolved." When asked how much the council is owed, he said he did not know, but said that “there are some questions that need to be answered” and promised “updates in due course”. Cllr Tuckwell voted alongside his cabinet members in 2025 in writing off the debt, and had appeared to support efforts to retrieve the owings from Mr Deville. When asked why in December he believed it was right to write off the debts, and once it became public was in favour of retrieving the debt, he said: “I didn't say that it was right for the council to retrieve those owings. What I said is the situation is being actively looked at and there'll be an update in due course.” Having been asked to clarify whether he believes it is right the council retrieves those owings, he said: “I think we need to look at the situation. I need to look at the circumstances. So I need to look at the whole holistic picture of what that situation is which brought that situation to where it is today. Once I've understood the root causes, then I'll be able to comment.”
Tuckwell's Priorities for Hillingdon - From Fly-Tipping to Heathrow Expansion
Cllr Tuckwell described how his main priority for the council is to ensure it is “brilliant at the basics”. He told the LDRS: "[I have] given the members and the officer teams here a new north star to follow and that is to be brilliant at the basics, just deliver the basic services residents rely on day in day out to the highest possible quality and be brilliant at it. Whether that's waste collection, maintaining our parks, maintaining our libraries, our highways, our adults and children services that we have. You know, we deliver some of the best adult and children services, and it's really about making sure that we are brilliant at the basics. We're easy to do business with and we put residents first." Throughout the local elections, some of the main priorities for voters included tackling fly-tipping, HMOs, and preventing a third runway at Heathrow. On fly-tipping, Cllr Tuckwell says the council “will seize” and “crush” vehicles used to commit these offences. As part of that, a new cabinet portfolio for “Community, Environment and Enforcement” has been created, a position held by Cllr Adam Bennett. Cllr Tuckwell added: “Enforcement is segmented under various different departments because there's different legislation for different types of enforcement. But I think it's important that we bring it under one portfolio cabinet lead so that Cllr Bennett, who has accepted that role, can see what we need to do with fly-tipping, with HMO licensing, with street scene enforcement, so that we can actually now make sure that we are putting residents first.” In neighbouring boroughs such as Ealing and Hounslow, the council has introduced a free bulky waste collection each year per resident. When asked what he will do to prevent fly-tipping before it occurs, Cllr Tuckwell explained that the pop-up waste centres around the borough will be expanded further. He added: “But I also think we need to be sending a signal to the criminals that are out there fly-tipping, because it is very well organised as well… So we [will] send a message to say 'you fly-tip in Hillingdon, you'll be prosecuted, you run the risk of your vehicle being seized as well'.” On Heathrow expansion, Cllr Tuckwell admits that it is ultimately a government decision, however stands firm in his commitment to do what he can to prevent a third runway. He said: “I mean, they're proposing to demolish potentially up to a thousand homes in the south of our borough. That's a thousand times council tax income that we will be losing. You know, that's huge in terms of what that means. And also, the hotels and warehouses and offices that they're looking to demolish to create space for the third runway, all of [those] business rates will disappear from the council income. So, we're really pushing on the government to say you need to really really think this through, but ultimately we are against expansion, uh, and we want to be defending our residents as hard as we can. We are on their side.”
Ambitions for Westminster
In his resignation statement last week, Cllr Banerjee said he was concerned about the direction of the council under Cllr Tuckwell’s leadership, claiming that he has ambitions to return to Westminster as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip - a role he held between 2023 and 2024. The new Leader of the Council was asked whether he intends to return to Westminster, to which he said: “My entire focus is on serving the residents of Hillingdon right the way through to the 2030 election.”
