About the documents on this website
Whilst the more strategic service decisions are made by Hillingdon Council's Cabinet collectively each month, most day-to-day service decisions are taken by individual Cabinet Members who comprise the Cabinet. This website makes the reports that inform these decisions, and the decisions themselves, available for public view.
Report documents contain the detailed background information, while Decision documents (or Minutes) confirm the action taken. Note that a "Report" is not a confirmation that something will happen—it is merely the proposal prepared by officers to inform the decision.
Some entries have only got Reports because the decision is pending (the website will be updated after the decision is made). Some entries have only got Decisions, either because the report has not been made public, or because it was a decision made under the "Special Urgency" system.
Decisions, once made, are usually subject to a "Call-in period" where the relevant Select Committee can scrutinise a decision before it comes into effect. However, Special Urgency decisions have no scrutiny period and are effective immediately.
Classifications and Tags
This website uses automated tags to help you identify specific types of reports:
1. Part II / Confidential: Where a report is not published, it is often because its classification is "Part 2", meaning it contains commercially sensitive information or personal data. These records usually just have a Decision note marked Confidential / Part II.
2. Special Urgency: Some entries are identified by the council as Special Urgency, and others are not explicitly marked but fall under that category. Where this website detects these, it adds Special Urgency to the title or displays the red lozenge. You can view all Special Urgency decisions on their own page.
3. Chrysalis Fund: You may see the Chrysalis tag. This identifies capital funding released for community and environmental projects (such as playground renewals or park improvements) under the council's Chrysalis Programme.
About this website
What it isn't
Most importantly, this website is not an official Hillingdon Council website, and doesn't pretend to be. It is an independent resident-led project and is not associated with the London Borough of Hillingdon or Hillingdon Council. The official source of Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions is Hillingdon Council's own website.
Why this website exists
This website exists because the official source can be difficult to navigate, makes it hard to link to specific documents, and is difficult for search engines to index.
This website adds no commentary, makes no judgement, and makes no editorial amendments. It simply reproduces the Reports and Decisions in a more accessible format. The reports and decisions are presented on the same page, made available for direct download, and the text is extracted to make it searchable.
Email updates
The Hillingdon 'Cabinet Member Decisions' page does not offer email alerts. Being able to detect new reports and decisions was one of the main reasons to develop this system. There is no automated subscribe/unsubscribe button, but if you would like to receive an email each time a new document is added, simply get in touch.
Who made this website
Not Hillingdon Council. Not the government. Not any political party. Not taxpayer-funded. Simply, an interested resident of Hillingdon. Why no name here? Because this website is not about the author; it is about the information presented on it—the reports and decisions made by Hillingdon Council.
If you'd like to suggest changes, have found mistakes, have questions, or would like to meet in person, email docs@hillingdondocs.uk. There is a real person behind this, just one who believes this information should be a neutral, accessible repository.
How the website works
This website operates an automated script that checks for new council decisions throughout the day. When it finds one, it downloads the official reports and decision notices to create a permanent archive, extracting the text to make it searchable and generating a dedicated page for that decision.
Decisions Search page
The search tool runs entirely in your browser, ensuring instant results and complete privacy. Unlike standard searches that often only look at titles, this engine scans the detailed text of every PDF report (analyzing the first ~5 pages of content) to help you find specific keywords buried within the documents. The results automatically highlight Special Urgency or Confidential items and provide direct links to the relevant files.