Agenda item

Asset Management

Councillor Kevin Clarke asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Regeneration and Communications:

Could the Portfolio Holder explain to the residents of Nottingham just why they are selling the City's assets and land off?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor, and can I thank Councillor Clarke for his question. In accordance with the Council’s Together for Nottingham Plan, we are implementing a corporate landlord model as part of our Transformation Programme. This involves a strategic review of all the Council’s assets to assess the contribution that they make to the achievements of the Council’s priorities. Where it is concluded that it is in the Council’s best interests to dispose of these assets, their sale will generate much needed capital receipts that we will use to further the delivery of the Council’s medium term plans. By developing a future pipeline of capital receipts from the sales of assets we are permitted to use them for three purposes: funding investment in transformation; and in accordance with regulations around the flexible use of capital receipts, we can use capital receipts in place of general fund revenue resources where our transformation projects deliver ongoing cost efficiencies and improve outcomes in future service delivery. We’ve prioritised the investment of £18million of existing capital receipts to fund the existing transformation programme over the period of 2022/2023 to 2026/2027, that will in turn yield in the region of £60million in savings over that term. In the budget papers which I’m sure Councillor Clarke will have read, it is clear that our 4 year budget plan relies heavily on transformation, that process by where we look to operate in a different more efficient way in a way that gives good or better offers to our citizens, giving them the best possible value whilst saving money as a result of investing in the service. Generating capital receipts by selling property and land that is not fulfilling a useful purpose is a way of making that happen. The generation of a further pipeline of capital receipts will enable consideration of funding future transformation initiatives over and above of those set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan. A second reason for generating capital receipts is the repayment of existing borrowing. In line with our voluntary debt reduction policy, we are committed to reducing the levels of the Council’s total debt at a sensible rate. A future pipeline of capital receipts will give us the opportunity to further accelerate the rate of reduction in our total levels of debt particularly those that are still subject to the level of borrowing from their purchase thereby reducing the annual revenue cost of borrowing in the future. Servicing debt is a significant part of our revenue budget, so reducing debt where we can will have a positive effect on that budget. The third reason why we have a considered programme of asset sales is to allow us to invest in new capital projects. The Council is required to set a fully financed capital programme over the period of the Medium Term Financial Plan. Permitted funding sources include attracting grants from Government and, although not nearly getting our fair share, we are quite good at that but we still need funding to fulfil our ambitions for Nottingham. In accordance with our Voluntary Debt Reduction Policy we will not borrow for new projects and our revenue position does not allow for significant contributions for capital investment. Therefore, there is an increased reliance on our ability to realise capital receipts to fund new capital investment in the future. So Councillor Clarke, this is not some reckless sale of the family silver but a carefully considered programme of reviewing everything that we own and making a judgement as to whether or not capital receipts for the sale of the property is more valuable to the Council at present time than retaining ownership which, of course, following some reviews we will chose to do.

 

Victoria Market

Councillor Kevin Clarke asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Growth and Economic Development:

Could the Portfolio Holder inform the Victoria Market traders when a decision about the future of the market will be finalised and, if it is closed, when relevant compensation will be completed?

 

Councillor Rebecca Langton replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank you Councillor Clarke for his question. As I said in my response to the citizen question, I acknowledge that this is a challenging time for traders at the Victoria Centre Market and I give my assurance that I will work with officers to conclude this as quickly as possible, keeping traders informed. A principle agreement has been reached with the vast majority of market traders. We are now reviewing the full cost of exiting from the market. Should the decision be made to close the market, a new timescale will be drawn up and relevant compensation will be completed in line with that timescale. We are reviewing the decision actively and will be able to update traders and councillors when we have concluded this assessment and confirm our next steps very shortly.

 

Nottingham Castle

Councillor Kirsty Jones asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning:

Could the Portfolio Holder please tell the Chamber the weekly cost of keeping the Castle and the grounds closed?

 

Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and may I thank Councillor Jones for the question. As I previously stated at Council on 9 January, since the Castle came back to our direct control and after the end of the liquidation process, a number of immediate actions have taken place. We have ensured adequate security arrangements are in place to safeguard the site, the buildings and the collections displayed in the Castle; we have worked with the Council’s insurers to ensure suitable arrangements are in place for insurance cover whilst the site remains closed; we have worked with the Council’s Energy Team to ensure we best manage the utility needs for the site and make sure it takes care of our collections in there, as it needs to be appropriate; we have obtained necessary advice to ensure assets purchased or owned by the Council on the site are safeguarded through the liquidation process; and we have asked for an allocation of staff for ongoing maintenance and conservation works if necessary. In governance terms, we have set up a Transition Board and everyone in the Department in the Council is working tirelessly to have everything in place for a reopening as soon as practically possible.  Our work is progressing really well. In terms of your question, the holding costs are forecast at the moment to be £229,000 up until the end of the financial year, which is 31 March 2023. This figure includes all direct costs such as utilities and security.  It doesn’t cover finance, HR and legal costs. So, to answer your question Councillor Jones, the weekly cost based on anticipated outturn for 2022/23 is £12,722 a week and that is calculated over an 18 week period from 30 November 2022 to 31 March of this year. As previously publicly stated, we are seeking a resolution that enables the opening of Nottingham Castle for Nottingham people and this remains our top priority. Thank you.

 

Fly Tipping

Councillor Kirsty Jones asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Services:

Would the Portfolio Holder be able to supply us with the number of fly tips we are dealing with on a weekly basis, and whether the numbers have increased since the introduction of bulky waste charges?

 

Councillor Sally Longford replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Jones for your question. The bulky waste charges were introduced at the beginning of this financial year. There is a cumulative pressure of 12 years of underfunding under this Tory Government. Introducing the charges is something I can confidently say no Labour Councillor will have wanted to do in a better situation. We did, however, manage to maintain one free collection for those on council tax benefits in order to soften the blow. We are one of the last councils in the country to introduce a charge and it is something we thought long and hard about because of the possible impacts on our streets. Since the introduction of the charge, we have been carefully monitoring the impact of fly-tipping on the city, as well as the changes in patterns of bulky waste requests. We record fly-tipping in two ways. Firstly, the number of reports and secondly the weight of fly-tips the Cleansing Team have been collecting, which will include unreported fly-tips. I am glad to report we have seen a 10.3% reduction in the number of fly-tips this year, following the introduction of the charges. Since April 2022, there has been an average total of 162 reported fly-tips each week. I know it is a lot, but it is down. It amounts to 7934 this year to date. Last year in 2021/22 there was an average of 184 reported fly-tips each week totalling 8839 during the same period. So it is 905 less instances of fly-tipping in the city at this point. The weight of all the fly tips amongst the city has remained relatively constant and has not increased either. One of the possible reasons for this reduction in fly-tipping is that people are making better use of the household waste recycling centre in Lenton.  There has been a recorded increase in weights taken there, showing that, where possible, residents have been using this free facility rather than requesting a bulky waste collection. We do know however that this has put a lot more pressure on the Household Waste Recycling Centre, and in the new Resources and Waste Strategy we are going to make sure we look at access to that in the future. On our website we also promote other ways to get rid of unwanted items for free, such as via the British Heart Foundation, FreeCycle and the Furniture Project Nottinghamshire. I hope a greater proportion of the reusable and repairable items are going to these destinations. As far as the bulky waste system is concerned, it is also clear from the ward data that people are using the bulky waste system more efficiently. Rather than requesting a collection for a small collection of items, they seem to be waiting until they have a full load in order to get best value for the collection. For example in Clifton East, since the introduction of the charge the number of collections of one item of bulky waste has gone down to 22% - 17% of the total. Whereas the percentage of collections of more than 4 items at a time has gone up from 48% to 55%. The pattern is the same for every single ward in the city. Since people have had to pay for their collection, they are obviously trying to minimise their charges and those who do not have to pay for the collection are maximising the benefits. It is much more cost effective to the Council to visit a property to collect several items at a time, although I am sure citizens are not entirely happy about saving up their items.

 

I hope this puts your mind at rest about the impact of the introduction of the bulky waste charge on fly-tipping, and that this positive pattern continues. Bearing in mind that we want people to reduce the stuff that goes to waste, to implement a new Resource and Waste Strategy we will be encouraging people to adopt a more sustainable approach to consumption and disposal of goods and hopefully this will also have a positive impact on the quantity of waste presented for collection, both at bulky waste and through fly-tipping.

 

Neighbourhood Cleanliness

Councillor Nayab Patel asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Services:

Could the Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Services outline progress on making our neighbourhoods clean and attractive for all our citizens?

 

Councillor Sally Longford replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor Patel for your question. Nottingham City Council remains absolutely committed to building a safer, cleaner city for all of its residents and, despite the ups and downs of Covid lockdowns changing patterns to work and huge pressure on our budgets, we have been striving to maintain our high standard of street cleansing and waste management across the city. As you know, we have a longstanding priority to clear graffiti quickly, particularly to remove offensive material. During the Covid lockdown period huge pressure was put on the system and many people will have been aware of an increase in the visibility of graffiti in the city. That was a national problem. However, I feel that we are now really on top of the situation, with the number of incidents in terms of removal significantly improving in the last part of 2022. In the last quarter there has been a 15% reduction in graffiti incidents. This is the result of better joint partnership working with the Police leading to significant arrests, plus providing community education programmes, and working with local businesses and property owners to remove graffiti as soon as it appears. Other activities include using anti-graffiti coatings and the use of anti-graffiti wipes which has been expanded in the Council so that partners and, for example, our Community Protection Officers can take a proactive approach and remove small tags on things such as street furniture when they see them rather than having to call them in and wait for someone to come out and do it separately. I think this has been a very positive development. Opportunities are being created to work with artists to create street art as an alternative to traditional graffiti, which will hopefully lead to a decrease in graffiti in the city whilst also offering space for creativity. Another persistent and annoying issue is people dropping chewing gum, which is particularly noticeable in our city centre streets and takes particular effort to remove. I am glad to report that we have been working with ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ to trial new ways of awareness raising, coordinated with clean ups in order to try to change behaviours and hopefully this will start to have a real impact in the next few weeks. Colleagues in the Chamber will know that we fully investigate reports of fly-tipping which can be a blight in some of our neighbourhoods and we issue Fixed Penalty Notices where possible. However, as I said earlier, there has been a reduction of more than 900 fly tips in the city this year, which is a significant improvement. I’m sure we can thank activity like the ‘Spring Clean’ campaigns for helping to improve awareness and reduce these incidents and hope that it reflects a greater awareness amongst our citizens that fly-tipping is offensive and unnecessary. I am also pleased to report that our active community involvement through almost 8000 Clean Champions works and continues to grow, and our officers continue to work closely with them to support them in coordinating with our frontline staff to maximise the benefits of that commitment. The scheme continues to develop with area co-ordinators organising more group litter pickups, with more school and university students getting involved. I would like, once again, to take the opportunity to thank the outstanding Clean Champions for the work they do in supporting their communities. Many of our neighbourhood parks, playgrounds and open spaces have been improved over the last few years including new equipment, a huge number of trees planted and bee-friendly plants in every ward. Our teams are backed up by the enthusiasm of members of the Open Spaces Forum, which organises local activities, clean ups and holds us to account for our actions. Like the Clean Champions, these volunteers really enhance the experience of living in our city and support our Green Flag programme. Our Council has also been reducing the negative impact of our activities on our streets and neighbourhoods by protecting wildlife by not spraying herbicide in our parks, by working with volunteers in your ward Councillor Patel, to try ground-breaking non-spray management technique on the street, by switching to cleaner electric vehicles and tools and reducing carbon emissions and local air pollution. I know Council will join me in once again thanking our workforce for all they continue to do in meeting our ambitions and, although there is more to do, we will remain ambitious for our city and build on the good work in improving the cleanliness on all our neighbourhoods.

 

Big Reading Challenge

Councillor Carole McCulloch asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools:

Could the Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools tell us how the recent Big Reading Challenge contributes to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library scheme in Nottingham and children’s development?

 

Councillor Cheryl Barnard replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor McCulloch for asking this question. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a fantastic scheme that has provided books for over 10,000 children in Nottingham. It sends a book every month for the first 5 years of a child’s life to children in some of our most disadvantaged wards. However, it is a charity and is reliant on the generosity of partners, individuals, and businesses in our city. The Big Reading Challenge 2023 was a week-long fundraising campaign which took place in the week commencing 30 January. The Leader of the Council, myself, and other councillors visited schools in the city reading stories to as many children as possible. We read to children in Loxley House, school classes, assemblies, library sessions and held a 3-hour candlelight book reading session in the Council House to families attending Nottingham Light Night. We also held a business breakfast where we invited local business leaders to come along and find out more about the scheme. This was a great opportunity for us to explain how the Imagination Library links to our ambitions for Nottingham and its economy and gain their support. Children from Greenfield School attended and read individually to business leaders at their tables. The Big Reading Challenge aims to raise the profile and increase donations to the schemes. This supports us to register more children in Nottingham to the scheme and it’s a scheme that’s proven to improve a child’s literacy skill, which promotes school readiness and better outcomes throughout their school journey. Early findings from research undertaken shows that the scheme has a significant impact on a child’s development and that this begins as soon as the child joins the programme and remains after they have turned 5 and graduated. Local research has shown that the scheme narrows the gap between disadvantaged children in receipt of the books and their counterparts. School readiness is much improved, with children better able to express themselves, understand instructions, have good reading skills and a much broader vocabulary. Reading from an early age has also been seen to improve attachment leading to improved development and puts in place patterns of positive interactions between parents and their children. The cost of £2 a month per child, £125 for 5 years is excellent value. Donating the equivalent of a cup of coffee a week can fund a child for 5 years. I am also extremely pleased that our children will benefit from the new children’s library that will open later this year and will provide a child-friendly environment with books, facilities and activities for children.

 

Anti-Social Behaviour

Councillor Angela Kandola asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Safety, and Inclusion:

Residents regularly contact us about the lack of visible neighbourhood police officers in residential areas. Can the Portfolio Holder tell councillors what the Council has been doing since the 2019 local elections to tackle anti-social behaviour in our communities?

 

Councillor Neghat Khan replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and thank you Councillor Kandola for her question. I also get regularly contacted by residents who complain about the lack of visible neighbourhood police officers in our neighbourhoods and unfortunately this is a result of this Tory Government’s decade of underfunding the Police, who have seen a massive reduction in police officer numbers. In 2020 the Tory Government pledged to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers through Operation Uplift. What they forgot to mention is that the figure is a real time cut to the previous numbers we had under the Labour Government. Population has increased so less officers per resident than in 2010 and, even with this uplift, it comes on the back of the cut of thousands of jobs in public sector services. Unfortunately, we don’t see our neighbourhood police officers walking the beat to help prevent crime. They have moved to a reactive model and you are more likely to see police officers in flashing blue lights than walking the beat. That is a conscious decision of Tory austerity over the last 10 years, which has dramatically reduced the ability of public sector services to be proactive. Tackling antisocial behaviour has been and remains a commitment of Nottingham City Council. Members in this Chamber will know that the effects of repeated antisocial behaviour on both individuals and communities can be severely impactful and long-lasting. Which is why tackling antisocial behaviour remains a priority for us. All complaints of antisocial behaviour are recorded and an update is provided to the complainants within 48 hours. Nottingham City Council utilises uses a dedicated vehicle which is on duty every night of the week, with the sole purpose of responding to all calls of antisocial behaviour. Having said that, the Council is absolutely committed to working in partnership in its approach to tackling antisocial behaviour and will continue to drive this by leading monthly antisocial behaviour meetings, which are co-chaired with Nottinghamshire Police. This identifies repeat and high-level reporting of properties associated with antisocial behaviour and, through partnership working, aims to tackle these. This group is made up of partners from Nottingham City Homes, Nottinghamshire Police, Nottingham Fire and Rescue. Bi-weekly student issue meetings are also chaired by the Council aimed at bringing relevant partners, including both universities and their student unions, together to look at antisocial behaviour. This allows for future planning around key dates with known associated antisocial behaviour and also helps to identify emerging trends.

 

In response to the question about issues of antisocial behaviour from July 2021 until 1 March 2023, the Council has issued 2322 community protection notice warnings, 260 community protection notices and 86 fixed penalty notices. There is a clear correlation of intervention against repeat offending and that the early warning system resulting in low breach ratio. During this period, 11.2% of community protection notice warnings were breached.  With all the work we have been doing to tackle antisocial behaviour since 2019 our antisocial behaviour figures have reduced by 7%. There were 1020 less recorded incidents. This figure would have been reduced earlier if it wasn’t for the pandemic and the Police recording a lot of neighbourhood issues as antisocial behaviour. This Council remains absolutely committed to delivering its duties in relating to antisocial behaviour and will remain in partnership in order to address these issues as they emerge.

 

Employment

Councillor Nick Raine asked the following question of the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Growth and Economic Development:

Could the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Growth and Economic Development update Council on progress in creating jobs for Nottingham people and supporting Nottingham residents into work?

 

Councillor Rebecca Langton replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Raine for his question. I welcome the opportunity to update Council on our work towards achieving our manifesto pledge of creating jobs for Nottingham people and supporting Nottingham residents into work. Nottingham is a great place to live and it is a great place to work. A thriving local economy benefits all of us and helping Nottingham people into good jobs is a big and important part of this. Since May 2019, Nottingham City Council has supported the creation of nearly 10,000 jobs in the city, and notable successes include: support for Invest in Nottingham has seen 4,000 new jobs as a result of inward investment activity, that means bringing new citizens to the city and supporting existing companies to grow e.g. the new HMRC building at Unity Square which has created 2,000 new jobs, 800 new jobs at Domestic and General and 200 new jobs as part Island Quarter development; the Growth Hub has supported the creation of employment opportunities particularly through the Business Investment Fund which has created 350 new jobs; regeneration projects such as Traffic Street, Huntington Street and Sneinton Market Avenue have created over 500 construction jobs for Nottingham people; and the Big House business support programme for the creative and digital sector has created 72 new jobs. The Council has also supported people starting small businesses through the Business and Intellectual Property Centre run by the library service. I visited the Centre in Bulwell Riverside and was inspired by their commitment to supporting people to turn good ideas and hobbies into business opportunities that pay. Of course, since we made this commitment in 2019, we as a city have faced the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has created huge challenges for businesses around Nottingham. While the pandemic was at its height Nottingham City Council stood alongside businesses. We distributed Covid support grants to over 10,000 businesses, with funding worth over £100 million, and helped safeguard around 500 jobs.  In addition, the city centre teams supported city centre hospitality businesses as they re-opened after the Covid lockdown, supporting around 500 jobs. Recognising the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our economy, we worked with partners through the Nottingham Growth Board to create the Economic Recovery and Renewal Plan which looks to address the challenges facing our economy by working in partnership. This is an important part of how we work with Nottingham businesses and sets out our vision to reimagine Nottingham’s economy as an inclusive, green and creative and digitally enabled city. As well as supporting the creation and protection of Nottingham jobs, we helped make sure it is Nottingham people who get them.  The City Council’s Job Service delivers a range of projects that support local residents into employment. Since April 2020, Nottingham jobs has supported over 6,700 local people of whom around 2,500 have gone on to secure jobs or further education or training opportunities. This includes various projects such as ‘Nottingham Works For You’, supporting nearly 1,400 young people into employment or further education or training; ‘Ways to Work’ where over 1,000 people have experienced barriers into employment have secured jobs; and ‘Back to Work’, where 160 local people have received free employment training, many of whom have secured employment and pathways to health and social care through which 66 residents have secured jobs in the sector.  It is worth reminding Council that these projects were all funded by the European Social Fund (ESF).  This funding has continued until now but will be replaced by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund from April this year. Nottingham’s allocation of UK Shared Prosperity Funding is around £6million per year less than we received in ESF money, which is approximately a third of the overall budget for this work. So whilst we remain committed to supporting Nottingham people into work, and we do have a plan to make the most of what we can from this money, we shouldn’t brush over the impact that such a significant reduction in funding will have. Politicians supporting Brexit promised more money for people here in the UK once we left the European Union, but the reality is less money for Nottingham people as a direct consequence of Brexit. Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank colleagues in the Economic Development Team for their hard work and commitment in delivering such impressive results against a very challenging backdrop. Our Economic Development Team are committed, dedicated and do a brilliant job of helping Nottingham businesses to thrive and ensuring this benefits Nottingham people most. I am grateful for their commitment to standing alongside Nottingham people and our local economy, thank you.

 

International Women’s Day

The following question was asked by Councillor Eunice Campbell-Clarke of the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Safety, and Inclusion:

For over 100 years, International Women’s Day has been marked on 8 March,

celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.  Could the Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods, Safety and Inclusion explain how Nottingham will be marking International Women’s Day to focus attention on the work that still needs to be done to accelerate equality?

 

Councillor Neghat Khan replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor, and can I thank Councillor Campbell-Clark for her question. As Councillor Campbell-Clark states, International Women’s Day is celebrated across the world celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. More than that, the day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity, fundraising for female-focused charities and calling for positive change in advancing and celebrating women right across the world. Everyone, everywhere can play a part in helping forge gender equality and I’m pleased that right here in Nottingham people will be able to join a wide range of campaigns, events, rallies, lobbying and performances in celebrating women across the globe – it’s what makes International Women’s Day so inclusive.  Nobel Prize winning activist Malala Yousafzai once said, “we cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” I firmly believe this. Women’s equality is everyone’s responsibility, and everyone can play an important part in their own chosen way. This collective form of activism connects audiences from anywhere and everywhere, it draws together all of those who care deeply about women’s equality, building solidarity and sharing different perspectives.

 

I am pleased that this year a number of organisations across the city are working in partnership to deliver a range of events all week, including an event in the Council House on Wednesday where women will come together from across the community and voluntary sector in a daylong event filled with networking and workshops. We’re also pleased to welcome keynote speeches from Angela Seddon from the Faculty of Engineeringat the University of Nottingham and Helen Voce, the outgoing Chief Executive of the Nottingham Women’s Centre. The Women’s Centre has planned a thought-provoking day of activity on 14 March where people can drop-in to talk about courses and events taking place at the Women’s Centre.  The creative poetry group ‘Women Write at the Centre’ will be giving performances and the Nottingham Women’s Library will host a small bespoke International Women’s Day display where people will be on hand for discussions or to answer any questions from interested guests. The Bonington Gallery at Nottingham Trent University will host an exhibition exploring the rich history of the Centre and the fight for women’s rights in the city from 25 March and the University of Nottingham is hosting a month-long series of events, including Inspiring Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), The Suffragette film screening and interactive sessions about period poverty and menopause. Across the Council, as part of International Women’s Day, staff members can join an informal session with colleagues to raise awareness of the menopause, to help increase understanding and share personal journeys which can help to manage some menopausal symptoms.

 

The theme for International Women’s Day this year is ‘Embrace Equity’ – equity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must have and needs to be part of every society’s DNA. The theme this year is aimed at driving an understanding of why equal opportunities are no longer enough. Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Our goal is to change systemic and structural barriers that get in the way of people’s ability to thrive, for example, ‘equality’ focuses on providing all genders with equal opportunities, such as a woman's right to vote. Yet, women can often require more than a level playing field. We all need to belong in a global culture that actively promotes and supports women in all aspects of their lives, from education to the workplace to health and childbearing. Gender is intersectional, and women as a group are truly diverse. Policies that benefit white women, for example, may not benefit women of colour due to historical or current inequalities. A shift from gender equality to the process of gender equity is required for meaningful progress – which is why this year’s theme is so important.

 

International Women’s Day is a day for women but that doesn’t mean that it is a day for men to be silent. It remains a fact that men still dominate board rooms, cabinet rooms, rooms where the decisions are made and we need allies that elevate the voices of women and stand alongside us. I hope that on this International Women’s Day many men around us will consider their role as a man in a women’s world and commit to choosing to challenge discrimination, under-representation, and inequality wherever it still exists for women. 

 

There is also a lot to feel angry about when it comes to the disadvantage that still affects women in society.  In this Chamber in March last year, I lamented the Government’s refusal to make misogyny a hate crime following a review of existing legislation to protect women’s rights and the Misogyny Hate Crime Policy which was first piloted by Nottinghamshire Police following campaigns by Nottingham Women’s Centre and Nottingham Citizens. The disgracefully low prosecution and conviction rates for rape offences have worsened in the last 12 months with the Office for National Statistics recording the highest ever number of rapes recorded by police in the year ending September 2022, with 70,633 cases and charges brought in just 4% of cases.  Nottingham City Council will be working closely with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in delivering the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy which we hope to launch formally later in the spring this year. With this strategy, our mission will be to reduce the prevalence of violence against women and girls, bring more perpetrators to justice and increase support for all survivors. Nottinghamshire has a well-developed range of skilled specialist organisations working to meet the needs of victims and survivors, but there are opportunities to enhance prevention activity and improve access to services among some communities and how effectively agencies work together. There are also opportunities to improve our knowledge of what works in tackling violence against women and girls and ensure that the work we do is evidence-led and robustly evaluated. No one should ever face abuse or harassment because of their gender. We need to change the way people see woman and girls, promote and empower positive role models and work with communities to ensure that perpetrators of violence against women and girls are held to account for their actions – not victims and survivors themselves. I am confident that through this strategy, we will work tirelessly with our partners to deliver change.

 

International Women’s Day is also about celebrating women who overcome adversity every day and not just about the names you read in the history books, although they are amazing too.  It is about celebrating every woman. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the women in this room, the women around each of us every day and the women who work for Nottingham City Council. We are lucky as a Council to have committed women who make up our workforce and, I know it has been said many times before, but we must never take for granted our female majority Council and Cabinet. I would like to recognise the women of this Council, from all walks of life and all backgrounds, being in local politics as a woman is a challenge and I am proud to sit amongst you all. As a young woman on this Council I sometimes forget how unusual this is, but when I go to meetings outside the City that remain predominantly old, white and male I am reminded quite how far we have come and quite how far there still is to go in representation in politics. In May a number of my political colleagues will be standing down following tireless efforts as strong and influential women in politics. Eunice Campbell-Clark, Merlita Bryan, Sally Longford, Rebecca Langton, Angharad Roberts and Nicola Heaton have stood for political office and made immeasurable contributions to the city of Nottingham. Merlita, the city’s first black female Lord Mayor and Sheriff of Nottingham has made celebrating black achievement her defining legacy. Eunice, if anyone has done more for the rights of older people in the city during her three decades in public service, I’m yet to meet them. Sally, a driving force for climate change. Angharad a tireless advocate for LGBT+ rights. Rebecca a driving force for women’s rights and fighting hate crime and Nicola who has championed area working, cleansing and of course the Meadows. As someone who has had the pleasure of working with you all, I want to thank you. It has been an honour to serve the people of our city alongside you as colleagues, as friends, and as women.

 

I hope women across Nottingham have the opportunity to participate in the celebrations for International Women’s Day this year – it is vitally important that we recognise what we can achieve together by committing ourselves to challenging injustice, disadvantage, prejudice and misogyny wherever we see it, not just today, but every day.

 

Blueprint

The following question was asked by Councillor Andrew Rule of the Leader of the Council:

Given Blueprint (General Partner) Limited’s stated purpose in its accounts is, “...the encouragement of regeneration and economic resurgence” can the Leader of the Council confirm why being a director of that Company whilst simultaneously acting as the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Regeneration and Communications doesn’t present a situational conflict of interest as defined in the Council’s own Corporate Governance Handbook?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor and can I thank Councillor Rule for his question. Blueprint is a company that is partly owned by the City Council.  It has played a significant part in regenerating parts of the city which have not been easy to change, including the Waterside area in Colwick, parts of The Meadows and now the fruit market area behind Sneinton Market. I have been a Blueprint Board Member for three years.  I have declared an Interest and not taken part in discussions at Companies Governance Executive Committee any time that the progress of the Company has been discussed at the Committee. Following the recent completion and approval of the Company Governance Handbook, Executive members with perceived conflicts have agreed to step down from boards where there is an actual or perceived conflict. This will happen in May, rather than in a rush, giving time for planning for the companies so that they can welcome and induct new board members. Subsequently, the Council has received instructions from the Improvement and Assurance Board and one of these is to align the Council’s Conflict of Interest requirements as they apply to council-owned entity boards with the Lawyers in Local Government Code of Practice. This will mean that officers rather than councillors will be the default appointees to board. Councillors will be appointed to boards if exceptions can be shown that it is in the best interest for both the Council and the company to do so. The requirement of the Company’s Governance Handbook will still apply to all appointments to all boards of council owned companies. 

 

Council borrowing

The following question was asked by Councillor Andrew Rule of the Leader of the Council:

At the last Audit Committee meeting, a Labour Committee Member stated that the City Council’s external borrowing levels should be seen as a ‘badge of honour’ for the Labour Group that reflect their ambition for the City. Bearing in mind the debt level is estimated to be over £800m for the next financial year, can I ask the Leader of the Council whether he concurs with this view?

 

Councillor David Mellen replied as follows:

Thank you Lord Mayor, and can I thank Councillor Rule for his question. You are right when you state we are ambitious for our city. We have taken capital investment decisions over the last decade to improve our neighbourhoods and the city centre environments; improve housing stock; build new libraries, and a leisure centre; invest in public spaces with better street lights; invest in the extension of the tram network and enhanced our world-class transport system. We have also invested in commercial properties in order to generate ongoing revenue income returns. Following the Government’s Non Statutory Review published in November 2020, the Council responded positively to its recommendations for the development of its recovery plan, now known as the ‘Together for Nottingham’ Plan. The Capital Strategy and Treasury Management Strategy represent cornerstones to that Plan and in returning the Council to financial operational stability. Within our Capital Strategy, we acknowledge the governance of the programme and particularly that the debt related implications of these investments have not been as transparent as they needed to be in the past, leaving the city with a high level of risk and debt and annual costs of servicing the debt when compared to our peer group of local authorities. Through our Voluntary Debt Reduction Policy, we have reduced the level of external debt and will do so further. We are committed to not funding any new capital investment from borrowing over the term of the Medium Term Financial Plan and until our debt reaches more sustainable and affordable levels, instead relying on grants, external contributions, and new capital receipts from the rationalisation of assets. We will take the opportunity where it arises and where it is feasible within competing priorities to repay borrowing through the application of our new future capital receipts, as explained earlier in my answer to Councillor Clarke and to further reduce principal payments, costs to the general fund and interest payments.  This will reduce the annual costs of servicing our total debt.