HOUNSLOW's second-in-command has defended a £6,000 trip she made to Cannes, paid for by taxpayers.
Deputy Leader of the council, Ruth Cadbury, spent five days in the French holiday resort (March 5 to 9) visiting a property conference with planning officer, Lee Dawson.
She said she attended the exhibition to encourage foreign investors to put their money and jobs into the borough.
She said: "The return for Hounslow from our attendance at the conference could be massive. For an outlay of £5,580, we are already in further discussions with investors on about 10 major development opportunities across the borough, which could be worth tens of millions of pounds, create 1,700 news jobs and 1,000 new homes.
"Our outlay covered travel, accommodation, conference fees and our contribution to an exhibition stand promoting West London. I think that is a small price to pay for that potential growth.
“It will take time for the discussions we had last week to turn into firm proposals, but if we hadn’t been at the conference, we wouldn’t be in a position to bring that potential investment and regeneration to the borough.”
Her trip came three years after she criticised Conservative councillors for attending the same conference and raised questions as to why she wasn't looking for local investment for Hounslow's town centres.
