Agenda and minutes

Councillor Alex Ball – non Council business

Councillor Merlita Bryan

Councillor Georgina Culley – non Council business

Councillor Emma Dewinton – non Council business

Councillor Pat Ferguson – non Council business

Councillor Alex Norris – leave

Councillor Jeannie Packer – other Council business

Councillor Brian Parbutt – non Council business

Councillor Sarah Piper – non Council business

Councillor Mohammed Saghir – non Council business

Councillor Wendy Smith – non Council business

Councillor Marcia Watson

No declarations of interests were made.

No questions from citizens were received.

Please note that questions to Council are received after the agenda has been published. Questions will be uploaded to this agenda by 5pm on Friday 5 December 2014

Councillor Chris Gibson submitted a petition on behalf of 226 signatories requesting that the Council take legal measures to secure the repair of the Old Rectory in Clifton Village.

Councillor Gul Khan submitted a petition on behalf of 64 signatories objecting to planning permission for houses to be built opposite Colwick Park Estate.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 October and the extraordinary meeting held on 16 October 2014 were confirmed as correct records and signed by the Lord Mayor.

The Chief Executive reported the following:

Britain’s Cleanest City

Nottingham has been officially declared Britain’s Cleanest City. At the Chartered Institute of Waste Management Clean Britain Awards in Birmingham on the 26 November, the City Council was announced the winner of the Cleanest City Award and winner of the Gold Standard Award. This reflects the Council’s priority of a Clean City and thanks go to the dedicated staff who work to ensure we that deliver the very best service in the City Centre and in our neighbourhoods of Nottingham.

Care Awards

We are also proud to announce that the hard work of 2 of our Social Care teams has been recognised on a national level. The Indian Community Centre on Hucknall Road, which offers a day care service for older people to encourage independence, won the top prize in the National Care Awards 2014. It was nominated for 2 awards and scooped the Best Care Team accolade in London last week.

At the same time the Children’s Social Care Duty Team was short listed for the Children’s Services Team of the Year in the Social Worker of the Year Awards, so congratulations go to both teams.

Devolution away from Whitehall

Councillor Toby Neal asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

Does the Leader agree with me that figures demonstrating an imbalance between infrastructure spending in London and elsewhere show that the government takes a London-centric approach to politics and demonstrate the need for greater devolution away from Whitehall?

Councillor Jon Collins replied as follows:

Thank you, Lord Mayor, and can I thank Councillor Neal for his question.

Yes, I agree. Major infrastructure projects show that the South and South East dominate with 60% of funding allocated to them. In 2013 London got 32% of the total spend and the East Midlands got 6%, so there is a massive imbalance.

The government does take a London-centric view as MPs spend a lot of time there and the vast majority of advisors and staff live there. London is a fantastic City but costs are escalating beyond affordability and it is not in its interests to keep growing when the rest of the country isn’t.

Devolution is necessary to achieve local powers for transport, planning, health and social care, etc. It is important to make a case for a Combined Authority to enable local powers which can be secured through negotiation with the government and the Chancellor.

I would argue that those kind of powers should be available to any group of authorities  that can get together to work as a Combined Authority, that can make a case for devolution, make a case in the context of value for money and ability to deliver good governance but are available locally so that local people can have a greater say in what happens in their communities, in their towns, in their cities, in their counties, rather than the kind of say that they currently get through the one size fits all approach to service delivery championed by Westminster, championed by Whitehall and supported by, I’m afraid,  political parties of all kinds and, of course, backed up by very centralised and centralising Civil Service.

But the Manchester model, from my perspective, is only a starting point and I think some of the work that one of our own MPs, Graham Allen, has done whilst chairing the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, actually highlights the way forward on this. Some of us will have seen the document Graham Allen’s committee has produced, and I won’t summarise all of it, but what I would say is that essentially what he’s arguing for is summed up by saying that other parts of the country should get a little bit of what Scotland’s been offered. I think specifically he argues for a constitutional position for local government with independence from central government guaranteed in law, a guaranteed proportion of the national income tax taken topped up to address local need, with the discretion for local authorities to spend that funding on an agreed and enhanced list of responsibilities, and a timetable for the introduction of tax varying powers, although I think that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

The Leader submitted a report on decisions taken under the urgency procedures, as set out on pages 23 to 28 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to note the urgent decisions taken, as follows:

(1)  urgent decisions (exempt from call-in)

(2)  key decisions (special urgency procedure)

The Chair of the Licensing Committee submitted a report of the review of the Statement of Licensing Policy, as set out on pages 29 to 48 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to adopt the revisions, and authorise the publication of the revised Statement of Licensing Policy to take effect from 7 January 2015.

This Council recognises that young people in Nottingham have been hit hard by the coalition government's policies. There has been a sustained attack on the young. As a Council we have done a great deal to support young people despite this sustained attack including:

• retaining the youth and play service providing positive activities for young people
• developed the Nottingham apprenticeship hub to get young people into work and training
• retaining face to face intervention for those young people at risk of becoming NEET

The Council calls on the government to end its attack on the young by implementing policies that will:

• tackle child poverty in Nottingham
• better and more appropriately prepare our young people for working life
• protect and strengthen young people’s working rights

It further calls on this government and any future government to implement recommendations contained in the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s State of the Nation 2014 report, including:

• ending long-term youth unemployment by 2020
• higher pay to get the best teachers into schools in the most deprived parts of the country
• unpaid internships to be ended – through legislation if necessary – by 2020

In addition this Council commits to:

• working to ensure that every school age young person can access a work experience placement whilst in education despite current Government policy
• continuing to recruit apprentices and place an expectation on Council suppliers and contractors that they employ apprentices where possible
• promoting fair pay and fair employment contracts for young workers

Moved by Councillor Sam Webster, seconded by Councillor David Mellen:

"This Council recognises that young people in Nottingham have been hit hard by the coalition government's policies. There has been a sustained attack on the young. As a Council we have done a great deal to support young people despite this sustained attack including:

• retaining the youth and play service providing positive activities for young people
• developed the Nottingham apprenticeship hub to get young people into work and training
• retaining face to face intervention for those young people at risk of becoming NEET

The Council calls on the government to end its attack on the young by implementing policies that will:

• tackle child poverty in Nottingham
• better and more appropriately prepare our young people for working life
• protect and strengthen young people’s working rights

It further calls on this government and any future government to implement recommendations contained in the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s State of the Nation 2014 report, including:

• ending long-term youth unemployment by 2020
• higher pay to get the best teachers into schools in the most deprived parts of the country
• unpaid internships to be ended – through legislation if necessary – by 2020

In addition this Council commits to:

• working to ensure that every school age young person can access a work experience placement whilst in education despite current Government policy
• continuing to recruit apprentices and place an expectation on Council suppliers and contractors that they employ apprentices where possible
• promoting fair pay and fair employment contracts for young workers”

Moved by Councillor Eileen Morley by way of an amendment and seconded by Councillor Roger Steel to:

In paragraph 1

DELETE: “young people in Nottingham have been hit hard by the coalition government's policies. There has been a sustained attack on the young.”

INSERT “all young people in Nottingham deserve an education that gives them the best possible opportunities. In a global market it is not enough that Nottingham improves gradually against itself and this council recognises that rapidly improving Nottingham’s attainment in comparison to other authorities is vital to securing our children’s futures.”

AFTER “As a Council we have” INSERT “already”

DELETE: “despite this sustained attack”

In paragraph 1, bullet point 2:

INSERT “with help from Government funding”

In paragraph 2

DELETE: “end its attack on the young by implementing” INSERT “implement”

In paragraph 4, bullet point 1

DELETE: “despite current Government policy”

Amended Motion to read:

“This Council recognises that all young people in Nottingham deserve an education that gives them the best possible opportunities. In a global market it is not enough that Nottingham improves gradually against itself and this council recognises that rapidly improving Nottingham’s attainment in comparison to other authorities is vital to securing our children’s futures. As a Council we have already done a great deal to support young people including:

·  retaining the youth and play service providing positive activities for young people

·  with help from Government funding, developed the Nottingham apprenticeship hub to get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.