Councillor John Hartshorne – leave

Councillor Sue Johnson

Councillor Carole McCulloch – leave

Councillor Nick McDonald – work commitments

None.

The Lord Mayor informed Council that one citizen question was received related to the issue of homelessness, but that the answer required a complex set of data to be collated, some of which is not owned by the Council, so the citizen will be provided with a written answer, and the question will be asked at the next full Council as it is a serious issue.

None.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chief Executive reported the following:

By-election Results

I would like to welcome the three new Councillors that were elected at the by-elections held on 19 October. They are:

Councillor Cheryl Barnard – representing the Bulwell Forest Ward;

Councillor Georgia Power – representing the Bestwood Ward; and

Councillor Nick Raine – representing the Basford Ward.

Cll’r Achievement Awards

The LGiU Cll’r Achievement Awards took place on Tuesday 7 November in London and former Councillor Alan Clark was posthumously honoured in the category of Place-Shaping and Environment. The LGiU celebrated Alan’s creativity, vision and leadership in shaping communities through pioneering projects that improved the lives of residents across Nottingham.

Local Public Ownership Awards

Robin Hood Energy and Nottingham City Transport have both been named as two of the country’s top publically owned companies.

The Local Public Ownership Awards showcase some of the best and most inspiring council-run services in the UK. Both Nottingham companies were shortlisted against 10 other local councils. The public then voted for who they thought were the most forward-thinking examples of local public ownership. Both Nottingham City Transport and Robin Hood Energy won the accolade, alongside Bristol Energy.

Public Sector Communications Excellence Awards

The Communications and Marketing Team won the Gold Award at the national Public Sector Communications Excellence Awards for the ‘Let’s keep it clean’ campaign.

The awards are run by LGcommunications, a national body made up of an association of authorities that works to raise the standard of communications in local government.

Michael Hammond

It is with sadness that I inform Council that former Town Clerk and Chief Executive Michael Hammond CBE DL passed away on 21 September 2017. Michael was the Town Clerk/Chief Executive of Nottingham City Council between 1974 and 1990. He leaves behind his three children Sara, Ralph and Richard.

Councillors Chris Gibson and Georgina Culley spoke in tribute to Michael Hammond and a minutes’ silence was held.

None.

Enviroenergy Shutdown

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Sustainability:

Could the Portfolio Holder comment on extent to which the extended shut-down of Enviroenergy over the summer months will affect its ability to meet its loan repayments to the City Council?

Councillor Dave Liversidge replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor, and thanks to Councillor Andrew Rule for his question. Enviroenergy is a separate legal entity. The Council is aware of the extended shutdown of the district heating station as a result of complex engineering works on the system. The turbine is now fully operational and was brought back into service on 18 October. It is likely that this extended shutdown will impact upon the company’s profit and loss account. Any potential impact upon the Council’s 2017/8 budget is not yet known.

Station Street Regeneration

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Leader:

Could the Leader confirm the total cost to the City Council of the following:

·  the initial slabbing works on Station Street;

·  the cost of the recent tarmacking work;

·  any supplementary work to be completed once the Broadmarsh Car Park is completed?

Councillor Jon Collins replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor. The total cost of pedestrianising and improving Station Street was £1,640,000. This cost was not met from Council Tax, but from a variety of external sources including LTP, European and LEP funding.

Recent tarmac work to replace paving slabs on Trent Street cost £35,000 and was made necessary by the decision to temporarily accommodate National Express coaches displaced from Broadmarsh bus station.

It is likely that granite paving in keeping with the rest of the Station Street scheme will be reinstated once the Broadmarsh car park is complete. The cost of this and the temporary tarmac will be met from the current budget for public realm improvements associated with the wider Broadmarsh scheme.

Parking Permit Policy

Councillor Andrew Rule asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Services and Local Transport:

Could the Portfolio Holder explain the apparent inconsistency in the City Council’s chargeable parking permit policy whereby residents included in the proposed parking permit scheme in St Leonards Drive and surrounding streets in Wollaton will not be charged for parking permits, despite more than 50% of the properties in those areas having private driveways, and residents of Clifton Grove are being advised should a parking permit scheme come into operation in that area residents will have to pay for each permit issued because more than 50% of the properties in the scheme have private driveways?

Councillor Sally Longford replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor. The area close to Wollaton Park is affected by parking for a number of Council events on Wollaton Park, attended by thousands of people. The Council is sympathetic to residents’ parking needs, and has to implement temporary event parking schemes which come at a cost to the Council. This scheme will cut expenditure in managing events, and if residents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

Report of the Leader

The Leader submitted a report on the creation of a Friendship Agreement between Nottingham and Rovaniemi, Finland, as set out on pages 23 to 24 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to establish a Friendship Agreement between Nottingham and Rovaniemi.

Report of the Leader

The Leader submitted a report on amendments to the Constitution, as set out on pages 25 to 34 of the agenda, and the revised Appendix 1 circulated prior to the meeting.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the following membership changes approved by the Corporate Director for Strategy and Resources:

(2)  note the following revised Portfolio Holder appointments and remits approved by the Leader:

Report of the Leader

The Leader submitted a report on decisions taken under Urgency Procedures, as set out on pages 35 to 38 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the urgent decisions (exempt from call-in):

(2)  note that no key decisions have been taken under special urgency procedures since the last meeting of Council.

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Community and Customer Services

The Portfolio Holder for Community and Customer Services submitted a report on the adoption of model bylaws to regulate the hygiene and practice standards in premises conducting cosmetic piercing, semi-permanent skin colouring, acupuncture, tattooing and electrolysis, as set out on pages 39 to 72 of the agenda.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the adoption of the bylaws outline in Appendix 1 of the report;

(2)  authorise the Director of Legal and Governance and/or Head of Legal and Governance to take all such steps as may be necessary to make, seal, advertise and obtain confirmation of the bylaws so as to bring them into effect;

(3)  revoke the existing bylaws relating to ear piercing, acupuncture, tattooing and electrolysis in the City of Nottingham, made by the Council on 1 April 1988 and confirmed by the Secretary of State for Health on 1 March 1989.

Motion in the name of Councillor Jane Urquhart:

This Council welcomes the Government’s commitment to provide £2 billion for the building of affordable homes. However, this Council believes that the Government’s commitment falls well short of what is required to meet the level of need. The funding will mean only 13 more council houses per local authority or 5000 nationally, when 1.2 million households are currently on a housing waiting list. 

This Council therefore resolves to:

·  Call upon the Government to be more ambitious in its commitment to help local authorities build council homes.

·  Call upon the Government to ensure that new funding is used for council homes and not private housing schemes.

·  Bid as a local authority for additional funding in order to continue to build more homes that Nottingham people can afford to rent or buy.

·  Call upon the government to remove the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap.

Moved by Councillor Jane Urquhart, seconded by Councillor Georgia Power:

This Council welcomes the Government’s commitment to provide £2 billion for the building of affordable homes. However, this Council believes that the Government’s commitment falls well short of what is required to meet the level of need. The funding will mean only 13 more council houses per local authority or 5000 nationally, when 1.2 million households are currently on a housing waiting list.

This Council therefore resolves to:

·   call upon the Government to be more ambitious in its commitment

  to help local authorities build council homes;

·   call upon the Government to ensure that new funding is used for

  council homes and not private housing schemes;

·   bid as a local authority for additional funding in order to continue to

  build more homes that Nottingham people can afford to rent or buy;

·   call upon the government to remove the Housing Revenue

  Account borrowing cap.

The following amendment was proposed by Councillor Brian Parbutt, seconded by Councillor Linda Woodings:

After……..meet the level of need add:

This Council is concerned that even this limited promise of funding may not be kept, as the government has previously promised to fund fire safety measures in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy but then refused to actually make funding available.

Add an additional bullet point at the end of the motion:

Call upon the Chancellor to provide funding to local authorities for the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all social housing high rise blocks.

Amended motion to read:

This Council welcomes the Government’s commitment to provide £2 billion for the building of affordable homes. However, this Council believes that the Government’s commitment falls well short of what is required to meet the level of need. This Council is concerned that even this limited promise of funding may not be kept, as the Government has previously promised to fund fire safety measures in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy but then refused to actually make funding available. The funding will mean only 13 more council houses per local authority or 5000 nationally, when 1.2 million households are currently on a housing waiting list.

This Council therefore resolves to:

·   call upon the Government to be more ambitious in its commitment

  to help local authorities build council homes;

·   call upon the Government to ensure that new funding is used for

  council homes and not private housing schemes;

·   bid as a local authority for additional funding in order to continue to

  build more homes that Nottingham people can afford to rent or buy;

·   call upon the government to remove the Housing Revenue

  Account borrowing cap;

·  call upon the Chancellor to provide funding to local authorities for the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all social housing high rise blocks.

Councillors voted on the proposed amendment.

RESOLVED to carry the amended motion.

Motion in the name of Councillor Graham Chapman:

Given the failures identified by pilot schemes and concerns raised by the Work and Pensions Committee, this Council urges the Government to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit full service before it is imposed on the citizens of Nottingham.

Moved by Councillor Graham Chapman, seconded by Councillor Adele Williams:

Given the failures identified by pilot schemes and concerns raised by the

Work and Pensions Committee, this Council urges the Government to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit full service before it is imposed on the citizens of Nottingham.

RESOLVED to carry the motion.