Agenda item

Motions

The following Motions have been notified in accordance with the requirements of Council Procedure Rule 15, to be moved and seconded by the Members indicated:

 

(1)          Motion to Tackle Fly Tipping in Harrow

 

 

To be moved by Councillor Paul Osborn and seconded by Councillor Anjana Patel:

 

 

This Council notes:

  • The number of articles in the local press about incidences of fly-tipping in Harrow has seen an increase in the last year.
  • That Harrow Council’s street cleaning teams do their very best, under difficult circumstances, to clear fly-tips and keep our borough clean.
  • Government data shows that there were 11,151 fly-tipping incidents for 2019/2020, which was slightly lower than 2018/19, but is still significantly higher than 2016/17.
  • At the 2021 Budget Full Council meeting the Conservative Group proposed pilot schemes:
    • Investing £474,000 in a specialised street cleaning taskforce to tackle fly-tipping head on and keep our neighbourhoods clean.
    • Providing £200,000 of funding to set up a free bulk waste collection service for large items, such as sofas and mattresses.
  • These measures were proposed to encourage local people to dispose of items through the proper channels, rather than dumping them in the streets.
  • These costed pilot schemes were voted down by Harrow’s Labour Councillors.

 

This Council resolves:

  • To call on the Executive to implement the fully costed pilot schemes put forward by Harrow Conservatives at the February Full Council meeting and introduce:
    • A specialised street cleaning taskforce to tackle the blight of fly-tipping.
    • A free bulk waste collection service for Harrow residents.”

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15.6, this Motion is moved by the Leader of the Opposition, as it relates to a matter within the powers of the Executive, to not stand automatically referred to the next meeting of the Executive but shall be dealt with as if Council Procedure Rule 15.7.1 applied.

 

(2)          Motion to protect Harrow’s Suburban Character

 

To be moved by Councillor Marilyn Ashton and seconded by Councillor Paul Osborn:

 

         “This Council notes:

  • The current Labour administration, at best, has done little to protect Harrow’s suburban character, and at worst, has wilfully encouraged tall and densely packed developments in our leafy borough.
  • That current planning policies used by the Council are not creating a family friendly environment or delivering desirable homes for families to inhabit.
  • The report by the GLA Planning & Regeneration Committee, Housing typologies investigation findings, which states the following.
    • That tall buildings are less sustainable.
    • That tall buildings are often inappropriate for families.
    • That tall buildings have become even less desirable in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

           This Council believes:

§  It should do everything possible to resist the ravages of inappropriate development in our borough.

§  It should control the density of developments and ensure people are not forced to live in cramped conditions.

 

           This Council resolves:

  • To expedite and resource the work on adopting a Core Strategy that will protect Harrow’s suburbs from high-rise development before it’s too late.”

 

(3)          Stop Abuse of Women in Public Office Motion

 

To be moved by Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick and seconded by Councillor Peymana Assad:

 

“Women who put themselves forward to stand for public office will no doubt expect a higher level of scrutiny than that of the general population. Increasingly however, the experience is one that goes far beyond what is acceptable scrutiny and the experience drives them out of politics and deters other women from standing. 

 

A review from the Independent Committee for Standards on Public Life undertaken in 2018 revealed that in the UK, political candidates endure threats and intimidation far beyond the scope of “scrutiny” and that female politicians are disproportionately the targets of intimidation.

Lord Bew, Chair of the Committee at the time, said:

“This level of vile and threatening behaviour, albeit by a minority of people, against those standing for public office is unacceptable in a healthy democracy. We cannot get to a point where people are put off standing, retreat from debate, and even fear for their lives as a result of their engagement in politics. This is not about protecting elites or stifling debate, it is about ensuring we have a vigorous democracy in which participants engage in a responsible way which recognises others’ rights to participate and to hold different points of view.”

This council agrees:

While debate and having different views is all part of a healthy democracy; abuse, public intimidation and threats are designed to undermine democratic decision making by generating fear in those who represent it and this behaviour is totally unacceptable.

 

It is the responsibility of all of us in public life to play our part by setting a tone which respects the right of every individual to participate and does not, however inadvertently, open a door to intimidation.

Political parties have an important duty of care to candidates, members and supporters.  Intimidation takes place across the political spectrum, both in terms of those engaging in and those receiving intimidation. The leadership of political parties must recognise this. 

All parties must show greater leadership in this issue.  All parties must call out members who engage in this appalling behaviour and must ensure appropriate sanctions are imposed swiftly and consistently.

The Council resolves:

1.    For the Leader and Leader of the Opposition to, as a priority, ask current councillors to come forward with examples of any abuse they may have received and to work with the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer on a programme of training and support to raise awareness and put in place appropriate measures to deal with any instances.

2.    To call on our three Harrow MPs to support legislative and systemic change to support those in public office.”

 

(4)      Motion requesting the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to apologise for delivering poor value for money for Harrow Taxpayers

 

To be moved by Councillor Antonio Weiss and seconded by Councillor Graham Henson:

 

“Following this government’s poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and mismanagement of the economy, Harrow households face an increasing tax burden of £3,000 per household, per year, according to the Resolution Foundation.

The government, through its recent Comprehensive Spending Review and anticipated Local Government Finance Settlement, has placed a starting assumption that all councils will be required to raise Council Tax in order to cover the costs of more than a decade of cuts to local authority budgets.

Harrow is regarded by peers as a high quality, low cost authority, with an extremely low level of financial reserves.

Harrow has been a historically underfunded borough compared with peers. It is widely regarded that Harrow Council provides good value for money for Harrow residents and businesses.

Harrow remains one of the lowest funded Councils both within London and nationally and Council notes: -

·         The Council’s Revenue Support Grant (RSG), its main source of funding from central government, has reduced by 97% to just £1.6m, a reduction of £50.5m since 2015.

·         The Council receives no additional funding to meet demographic and inflationary pressures. Therefore, growth of £77.4m has had to be provided to fund the continued pressures on front line services

·         The total budget shortfall to find over the nine years of £147.3m to achieve a balanced budget. 

·         Council Tax has been increased largely in line with referendum limits and full use has been made of the Adults Social Care precept, but this has still been below the amount needed to properly fund services.

·         The reduced funding grants have meant a transfer of responsibility onto the council taxpayer to 78% - from 51% in 2014.

 

By contrast, this Conservative government has been found to have egregiously wasted taxpayers’ money on a £20bn Test & Trace system of limited efficacy, handed out contracts without due procurement processes to friends of Ministers, and supported and backed Conservative MPs who have run inappropriate second jobs, on occasions, not even from this country, let alone their constituency.

 

This government is failing to provide value for money to Harrow residents.

THIS COUNCIL RESOLVES:

?     For the Leader of the Council and Leader of the Opposition to write to the Prime Minister requesting an apology for this government’s wasteful use of Harrow taxpayer’s money

?     For the Leader of the Council, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Executive to write to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, requesting that Harrow is properly funded for the national services provided

?     That once proper funding is reinstated, the Leader of the Council commits to implementing a freeze in Council Tax, in order to protect Harrow residents from the £3,000 per annum tax increases imposed by this Conservative government.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes:

(i)                 “Motion to tackle fly-tipping in Harrow

 

 

Motion in the names of Councillor Paul Osborn and Councillor Anjana Patel

 

 

This Council notes:

 

·       The number of articles in the local press about incidences of fly-tipping in Harrow has seen an increase in the last year.

 

·       That Harrow Council’s street cleaning teams do their very best, under difficult circumstances, to clear fly-tips and keep our borough clean.

 

·       Government data shows that there were 11,151 fly-tipping incidents for 2019/2020, which was slightly lower than 2018/19, but is still significantly higher than 2016/17.

 

·       At the 2021 Budget Full Council meeting the Conservative Group proposed pilot schemes:

o   Investing £474,000 in a specialised street cleaning taskforce to tackle fly-tipping head on and keep our neighbourhoods clean.

o   Providing £200,000 of funding to set up a free bulk waste collection service for large items, such as sofas and mattresses.

 

·       These measures were proposed to encourage local people to dispose of items through the proper channels, rather than dumping them in the streets.

 

·       These costed pilot schemes were voted down by Harrow’s Labour Councillors.

 

This Council resolves:

 

·       To call on the Executive to implement the fully costed pilot schemes put forward by Harrow Conservatives at the February Full Council meeting and introduce:

o   A specialised street cleaning taskforce to tackle the blight of fly-tipping.

o   A free bulk waste collection service for Harrow residents.”

 

Upon the meeting moving to the vote, the Conservative Group requested that their vote be recorded.  The Motion was lost.

 

[For the Motion:  Councillors Almond, Ashton, Baxter, Benjamin, Chauhan, Greek, Halai, Hinkley, Hirani, Karia, Lammiman, Dr Lewinson, Janet Mote, Osborn, Anjana Patel, Pritesh Patel, Rabadia, Seymour, Stevenson and Wright].

 

Against the Motion:  The Worshipful the Mayor Councillor Ghazanfar Ali, Councillors Dan Anderson, Assad, Brown, Butterworth, Gilligan, Graham Henson, Maxine Henson, Lee, Marikar, Maru, Murphy-Strachan, O’Dell, Parekh, Varsha Parmar, Perry, Proctor, Ramchandani, Rekha Shah, Sachin Shah, Krishna Suresh, Sasikala Suresh, Swersky and Weiss.

 

Abstain:  Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick.]

 

(ii)            “Motion to protect Harrow’s Suburban Character

 

 

Motion in the names of Councillor Marilyn Ashton and Councillor Paul Osborn

 

 

This Council notes:

 

·       The current Labour administration, at best, has done little to protect Harrow’s suburban character, and at worst, has wilfully encouraged tall and densely packed developments in our leafy borough.

·       That current planning policies used by the Council are not creating a family friendly environment or delivering desirable homes for families to inhabit.

·       The report by the GLA Planning & Regeneration Committee, Housing typologies investigation findings, which states the following.

o   That tall buildings are less sustainable.

o   That tall buildings are often inappropriate for families.

o   That tall buildings have become even less desirable in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

This Council believes:

·       It should do everything possible to resist the ravages of inappropriate development in our borough.

·       It should control the density of developments and ensure people are not forced to live in cramped conditions.

 

This Council resolves:

To expedite and resource the work on adopting a Core Strategy that will protect Harrow’s suburbs from high-rise development before it’s too late.”

 

Upon the meeting moving to the vote, the Conservative Group requested that their vote be recorded.  The Motion was lost.

 

[For the Motion:  Councillors Almond, Ashton, Baxter, Benjamin, Chauhan, Greek, Halai, Hinkley, Hirani, Karia, Lammiman, Dr Lewinson, Janet Mote, Osborn, Anjana Patel, Pritesh Patel, Rabadia, Seymour, Stevenson and Wright.

 

Against the Motion:  The Worshipful the Mayor Councillor Ghazanfar Ali, Councillors Dan Anderson, Brown, Butterworth, Gilligan, Graham Henson, Maxine Henson, Lee, Marikar, Maru, Murphy-Strachan, O’Dell, Parekh, Varsha Parmar, Perry, Proctor, Ramchandani, Rekha Shah, Sachin Shah, Krishna Suresh, Sasikala Suresh, Swersky and Weiss.

 

Abstain:  Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick.

 

Absent: Councillor Peymana Assad.]

 

(iii)          Stop Abuse of Women in Public Office Motion

 

 

Motion in the names of Councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick and Councillor Peymana Assad

 

 

Women who put themselves forward to stand for public office will no doubt expect a higher level of scrutiny than that of the general population. Increasingly however, the experience is one that goes far beyond what is acceptable scrutiny and the experience drives them out of politics and deters other women from standing.

 

A review from the Independent Committee for Standards on Public Life undertaken in 2018 revealed that in the UK, political candidates endure threats and intimidation far beyond the scope of “scrutiny” and that female politicians are disproportionately the targets of intimidation.

Lord Bew, Chair of the Committee at the time, said:

“This level of vile and threatening behaviour, albeit by a minority of people, against those standing for public office is unacceptable in a healthy democracy.  We cannot get to a point where people are put off standing, retreat from debate, and even fear for their lives as a result of their engagement in politics.  This is not about protecting elites or stifling debate, it is about ensuring we have a vigorous democracy in which participants engage in a responsible way which recognises others’ rights to participate and to hold different points of view.”

This council agrees:

While debate and having different views is all part of a healthy democracy; abuse, public intimidation and threats are designed to undermine democratic decision making by generating fear in those who represent it and this behaviour is totally unacceptable.

 

It is the responsibility of all of us in public life to play our part by setting a tone which respects the right of every individual to participate and does not, however inadvertently, open a door to intimidation.

Political parties have an important duty of care to candidates, members and supporters.  Intimidation takes place across the political spectrum, both in terms of those engaging in and those receiving intimidation.  The leadership of political parties must recognise this.

All parties must show greater leadership in this issue.  All parties must call out members who engage in this appalling behaviour and must ensure appropriate sanctions are imposed swiftly and consistently.

The Council resolves:

1.              For the Leader and Leader of the Opposition to, as a priority, ask current councillors to come forward with examples of any abuse they may have received and to work with the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer on a programme of training and support to raise awareness and put in place appropriate measures to deal with any instances.

 

2.              To call on our three Harrow MPs to support legislative and systemic change to support those in public office.”

 

RESOLVED (Unanimously):  That the Motion, as set out at (iii) above, be adopted.

 

(iv)          “Motion requesting the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to apologise for delivering poor value for money for Harrow Taxpayers

 

 

Motion in the names of Councillor Antonio Weiss and Councillor Natasha Proctor

 

 

Following this government’s poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and mismanagement of the economy, Harrow households face an increasing tax burden of £3,000 per household, per year, according to the Resolution Foundation.

 

The government, through its recent Comprehensive Spending Review and anticipated Local Government Finance Settlement, has placed a starting assumption that all councils will be required to raise Council Tax in order to cover the costs of more than a decade of cuts to local authority budgets.

 

Harrow is regarded by peers as a high quality, low cost authority, with an extremely low level of financial reserves.

 

Harrow has been a historically underfunded borough compared with peers.  It is widely regarded that Harrow Council provides good value for money for Harrow residents and businesses.

 

Harrow remains one of the lowest funded Councils both within London and nationally and Council notes: -

 

·       The Council’s Revenue Support Grant (RSG), its main source of funding from central government, has reduced by 97% to just £1.6m, a reduction of £50.5m since 2015.

·       The Council receives no additional funding to meet demographic and inflationary pressures.  Therefore, growth of £77.4m has had to be provided to fund the continued pressures on front line services

·       The total budget shortfall to find over the nine years of £147.3m to achieve a balanced budget.

·       Council Tax has been increased largely in line with referendum limits and full use has been made of the Adults Social Care precept, but this has still been below the amount needed to properly fund services.

·       The reduced funding grants have meant a transfer of responsibility onto the council taxpayer to 78% - from 51% in 2014.

 

By contrast, this Conservative government has been found to have egregiously wasted taxpayers’ money on a £20bn Test & Trace system of limited efficacy, handed out contracts without due procurement processes to friends of Ministers, and supported and backed Conservative MPs who have run inappropriate second jobs, on occasions, not even from this country, let alone their constituency.

 

This government is failing to provide value for money to Harrow residents.

 

THIS COUNCIL RESOLVES:

 

?      For the Leader of the Council and Leader of the Opposition to write to the Prime Minister requesting an apology for this government’s wasteful use of Harrow taxpayer’s money

?      For the Leader of the Council, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Executive to write to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, requesting that Harrow is properly funded for the national services provided

?      That once proper funding is reinstated, the Leader of the Council commits to implementing a freeze in Council Tax, in order to protect Harrow residents from the £3,000 per annum tax increases imposed by this Conservative government.”

 

A tabled amendment was received and duly seconded.  Upon being put to the vote the amendment was lost.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Motion, as set out at (iv) above, be adopted.

 

Supporting documents: