In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 10 to consider Motions on notice from Members. Motions must be received in writing or by email to the Monitoring Officer by 12 pm (noon) twelve clear working days before the meeting.
The following Motions have been submitted:-
Motion ‘A’ – Moved by Councillor F Adlington-Stringer
North East Derbyshire District Council urges the UK Government to officially recognise:
· Palestine as a sovereign state, alongside that of Israel;
· East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and Gaza as illegally occupied by Israel.
This Council commits to using its power to:
· Combat all forms of discrimination, including anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, in our District.
This Council resolves to request the Managing Director and Head of Paid Service submit this motion in full to the Government of the United Kingdom in order to appeal for:
· An immediate ceasefire (with the United Kingdom voting accordingly at the United Nations) as part of a move towards a politically negotiated solution;
· Condemnation of all the acts of violence directed towards innocent civilians;
· The upholding of international law at all times and the strongest possible condemnation of all war crimes and other proven breaches.
The passing of this motion demonstrates that it is possible to maintain solidarity with both the Jewish and Palestinian communities, at home and abroad. This Council is committed to serving all of its residents, regardless of their background, race, religion, or other identifying traits. North East Derbyshire District Council is proud to join the calls of residents across our District in demanding an end to such abhorrent violence.
Motion ‘B’ – Moved by Councillor C Cupit
Council notes that North East Derbyshire District Council has an adopted and up-to-date Local Plan. Council also notes that Local Plans are the main planning framework for an area but that many local authorities expand their planning policy by adopting Supplementary Planning Documents to support their Local Plans and cover specific issues in more detail. This could include more guidance for residents, businesses and applicants on our District's views on emerging planning issues such as:
· Expansive solar farms;
· Energy efficiency, wildlife enhancements and other Climate Change mitigation measures;
· Supporting a variety of uses and classes to enhance our town centres;
· Ensuring there is sufficient car parking provision on both new developments and in town centres.
Council therefore resolves to establish a politically-proportionate Planning Policy Steering Group of elected members to consider the development of Supplementary Planning Documents to support the Council's decision making with regards to planning applications on relevant issues, including those above.
Motion ‘C’ – Moved by Councillor A Dale
Council notes that the new administration has paused the Parking Strategy subject to a review. While it is accepted that it is the prerogative of any new administration to review any strategy, Council is concerned that the authority should continue to seek to tackle parking issues where it has the control and power to do so, namely on areas of land which the Council own in estates where the bulk of properties are still within the Council’s ownership.
Council notes that parking problems and the availability of adequate parking in many of our communities remains a key concern for significant numbers of our residents and is raised with us as elected members on a regular basis to seek our support in trying to find solutions. These problems are exacerbated by the simple fact that it is much more common for many families to own more cars than they did when many of estates were built.
Council also notes that several Council tenants would be willing to install their own driveways in place of front gardens to accommodate more parking spaces and get more parked cars off our roads where problems are created, but having sufficient finances to do this is often the primary barrier.
Council believes that one of our primary purposes as an authority is to seek to make life better for our residents and therefore Council is committed to continuing to do all it can to improve parking provisions across the District where it has the ability to do so.
Council therefore resolves to:
· Commit to maintaining the budget allocation of £280k pa within the HRA to support improving parking provisions and dealing with acute parking problems where this meets the criteria for HRA spend
· Consider, as part of the current review of the Parking Strategy, introducing a loan scheme for tenants, funded via the £280k budget allocation, to enable to them to install driveways to a design and specification set by the Council and to be repaid at an agreed rate per month in addition to their rent. If necessary, this could be considered by the relevant scrutiny committee.
· Bring a report to a future Full Council meeting setting out the series of options in relation to the next steps for the Parking Strategy and how it is intended that the £280k pa allocation is to be spent moving forward.
Minutes:
MOTION ‘A’
A motion submitted by Councillor F Adlington-Stringer related to the current conflict in Gaza. The full text of Councillor F Adlington-Stringer’s Motion, set out as Motion ‘A’ was included on the agenda for the meeting.
Councillor Adlington-Stringer spoke in support of the Motion. As the motion was not seconded Council did not debate or determine on it.
MOTION ‘B’
Members considered a motion submitted by Councillor C Cupit, which called on Council to establish a Planning Policy Steering Group to consider the development of Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs). The full text of Councillor C Cupit’s Motion, set out as Motion ‘B’ was included on the agenda for the meeting.
Councillor A Dale seconded the motion and reserved his right to speak.
Councillor N Barker spoke against the motion. He argued that there were likely to be changes made to the local plan making process over the next 12 months and as a result, any work done on the SPDs would be largely wasted. Instead, research and data collection around issues such as renewable energy, climate change, biodiversity, town centre planning and car parking strategy would continue. He reminded Members that the Local Plan Review Working Group would be responsible for the consideration of any future SPDs.
Councillor A Dale reminded Councillor N Barker that he and Councillor S Pickering had committed to conducting a review as soon as possible and that this was their opportunity to influence broader planning policy. To wait for government policy to change was the wrong approach.
Councillor C Cupit expressed her disappointed in Councillor N Barker’s response. She explained that there could be Members with various expertise that would want to feed into this process but were not part of the Local Plan Review Working Group.
Councillors A Dale, C Cupit and S Clough called for a recorded vote.
The motion was put to the vote and was defeated.
For: 20
Cllrs P Antcliff, N Baker, S Clough, C Cupit, A Dale, P Elliott, M Emmens, M Foster, D Hancock, P Jones, W Jones, S Reed, C Renwick, M Roe, R Shipman, R Spooner, M E Thacker MBE, R Welton, H Wetherall, and P Windley
Against: 24
Cllrs N Barker, J Barry, R Beech, J Birkin, D Cheetham, K Clegg, A Cooper, S Cornwell, M Durrant, S Fawcett, C Fletcher, C Gare, K Gillott, D Higgon, P Kerry, C Lacey, T Lacey, N Morley, F Petersen, K Rouse, D Skinner, Caroline Smith, Christine Smith, and M Smith.
Abstentions: 2
Cllrs F Adlington-Stringer and H Liggett
MOTION ‘C’
Members considered a motion submitted by Councillor A Dale which called on the Council to consider the introduction of a loan scheme to enable residents to install driveways, to commit to maintain the budget allocation of £280k and to bring a report to a future meeting of Full Council on a series of options for the next steps for the Parking Strategy. The full text of Councillor A Dale’s motion, set out as Motion ‘C’ was included on the agenda for the meeting.
Councillor C Cupit seconded the motion but reserved her right to speak.
Councillor F Adlington-Stringer spoke against the Motion. He argued that the Council should be investing funding into public transport and supporting residents with active travel and not making them choose between having a greenspace or a driveway.
Councillor N Barker made clear that the parking strategy was still under review. He claimed that the motion in its current form was unfair as it would require future beneficiaries of the scheme to take on debt and would also indirectly benefit other residents but only be paid for through Housing Revenue Account (HRA) tenants.
Councillor N Barker proposed an amendment to the Motion which included a request that the County Council, as the Highways Authority, match fund the District Council’s Allocation.
Councillor J Birkin seconded the amendment to the Motion and reserved his right to speak.
Councillor R Shipman shared his support with most of the sentiments proposed in the amendment but argued that the Council should not encourage residents to taken on debts to pay for improvements.
Councillor A Dale spoke against the amendment. He stated that many residents had informed him of their willingness to take out a loan for this improvement. He argued that the original Motion was not unfair as it would be an improvement to parking within a resident’s own property. He suggested that the amendment was unfair as the Highways Authority would only be subsidising HRA tenants. It would also set a dangerous precedent for the Highways Authority to be expected to resolve parking issues across the entire County.
Councillors K Gillott and D Hancock spoke in favour of the amendment, they explained that it did not commit the Council to take any action other than a review. A final decision could then be taken by Members at a future meeting of Full Council.
Councillor J Birkin supported the amendment, which would enable progress to be made.
Councillor N Barker reiterated that the Parking Strategy was under review. He accepted that increased parking was required and that it would be a huge benefit if the County Council could match fund the District Council’s own financial contribution.
The amendment to the motion was put to the vote and was approved.
Councillor C Cupit stated her support for public transport and informed Members that the Council had received £51.5 million in terms of specific bus funding but that many residents throughout the District required the use of a car. She considered that the amendment had confused the original Motion which was primarily focussed on council houses and tenants but would support the Motion as amended.
Councillor A Dale explained that residents expect the Council to be able to assist them with these issues. He went on to state that there were environmentally friendly drive solutions that could be utilised.
The Motion as amended was put to the vote and was approved.
RESOLVED – That Council:
· Commit to maintaining the budget allocation of £280k pa within the HRA to support improving parking provisions and dealing with acute parking problems where this meets the criteria for HRA spend.
· Invites Cabinet to consider introducing a loan scheme for tenants, funded via the £280k budget allocation, to enable to them to install driveways to a design and specification set by the Council and to be repaid at an agreed rate per month to their rent.
· Asks the Leader of the Council and the proposer of this motion to jointly write to the Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Assets and Transport, inviting them to support this measure to make life better for our tenants and residents by match funding the Councils budget allocation.
· For the Leader of the Council to report back to Council both the response of Derbyshire County Council and the outcome of the Cabinet’s review of the car parking strategy.