PETITIONS
COMMUNITY FORUMS
Three petitions asking Council to provide interim funding, from OFFER (which provides support for community orgs), Darnall Forum, and Handsworth Forum.
All spoke about positive contribution of community forums, how their work would fit in with Community Assemblies etc.
OFFER wanted to map need of all forums in the city, which groups would need funding in the short term, and sort out funding from other agencies.
Darnall Forum said they would be losing posts in a matter of weeks and needed Council to step in.
LD Steve Ayris said solution would be found at meeting with groups on Thurs 30th.
MYERS GROVE/WISEWOOD MERGER
Petition from Proposing Group.
Asks for assurances on decision and that there will be no delays;
Disappointed with level of contact from Council so far and hopes for open and trusting dialogue;
Asks all parties to help resolve Malin Bridge traffic problems.
There were also several similar questions from other members of Proposing Group, but including a question on what Council would do with £25m earmarked for rebuilding both schools.
LD Andrew Sangar respects work of Proposing Group, the administration had said they would not put £100m of BSF funding at risk, need to resolve issues that have caused division and make a success of new school. Paul Scriven said the Council will listen to suggestions of further provision in allocating monies.
POST OFFICE CLOSURES
Petition of 4000 signatures asking Council to support Post Offices threatened with closure - need to consider all possible ways to keep post offices open. Also asks for funds for campaign. Requested Council to support proposal to have a debate on the issue.
LD Paul Scriven replied stating Council will vigorously oppose closures and will mobilise community.
GRN Bernard Little asked for a debate. Scriven responded saying there was already a policy in place after Green Party motion, amended by Lib Dems, last Council and the administration was working with officers to prepare a response.
LAB Jan Wilson said that Council is exactly the place to have a debate. PROPOSAL: Have a debate on post office closures after public questions and public petitions
VOTE: LD against LAB for GRN for
LOST
SHEFFIELD POSITIVE ACTION TRAINING CONSORTIUM (SPATC)
Petition over potential closure due to dispute with a funding body. SPATC previously had a good relationship with VC-Train in training up people with disabilities and refugees so they could get employment. After a change in management at VC-Train, all that has changed. VC-Train has not paid any funds due to SPATC for months, leaving people unpaid and pupils without equipment. An audit by VC-Train alleged teachers were not qualified, despite most teaching staff also teaching in schools and universities; said it was wrong to use computers to teach literacy and numeracy; and that students should not be allowed tea breaks.
LD Paul Scriven said he was aware of good work of SPATC and of issues with audit, including that the auditors did not even go into classrooms. Will look at ways to put pressure on VC-Train.
Other petitions
Petitions about parking on Derbyshire Lane, for pedestrian crossing on Woolsey Road, in support of bus service 201, on Hillsborough Tram Gates, and overgrown trees. And a petition about problems at bus terminus in Fulwood where residents have noise and dust from a bus every 5 mins, frequently left idling, bus drivers urinating, swearing, and making threats! Ian Auckland said he would look at a traffic control system and make representations through PTA. Wished Council did have more power over buses [...], but it is a commercial system.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS
Question from SHEFFIELD PENSIONERS ACTION GROUP
on why the £2.4m refund to the Council from the PCT was not ringfenced for adult care given the need in the city.
LD Paul Scriven replied that it was always part of the overall budget so was not ringfenced, it had not been taken away.
Questions from SHEFFIELD ISRAAC SOMALI COMMUNITY
over balance of funding to Somali groups and the level of support from Council. Asked for investment in people as well as accommodation.
LD Paul Scriven responded that the Somali Task Group had stalled with no agreement on how investment should be directed, that had been restarted, then will decide where investment goes.
Question on funding of SHEFFIELD SOMALI COMMUNITY CENTRE
and why Council has not paid when rent due on 1st July. Scriven said that administration would fund for 1 year, but that would need Labour to reverse decision to call into scrutiny, otherwise there would be further delay.
Question on the recent removal of SECTION 30 IN GLEADLESS VALLEY
Seciton 30 allows police to disperse groups of under 16s. Petitioner stated crime has increased and people have stopped going out at night. Asking for Section 30 to be extended by six months, as bonfire night and xmas are usually bad times.
LD Bob McCann replied that Section 30 was finite and the policy was poorly structured. Council is looking to make sure other ways of tackling problems for the long term are in place, but if local police want Section 30 brought back in then Council will look at it.
Questions on abandoning plans for a WINDFARM AT WESTWOOD COUNTRY PARK
- How stopping development fits with climate change problem;
- If investment to encourage local resident support could be considered;
- Why had no objective assessment been carried out before abandoning the issue;
- Also suggested Skye Edge as one possible site.
- Objector to the windfarm asked Green councillors if they had taken time to meet with residents and groups as no members recalled a visit, party needed to bring forward new thinking on the issue.
LD Shaffaq Mohammed responded stating:
- New sites were being looked at.
- The decision on Westwood had been made after visiting and speaking to local residents;
- Welcomed suggestion for Skye Edge windfarm - will put to local area panel;
- Suspicions arise if in the discussion over windfarms the community asks questions but the Council does not have answers.
WRITTEN QUESTIONS
Another long list of questions from Labour with some quite entertaining answers, the more informative are summarised here:
- Lib Dems have no plans for congestion charge but have not ruled it out;
- Board meetings of Creative Sheffield will now be public;
- Increased business support including through reformed Planning Department;
- Will protect Woodhouse Mill playing fields to the 'maximum practically achievable';
- Decisions on a proportion of Library budgets can be made by area panels if they wish;
- Currently 121 homeless households in Bed and Breakfast including 11 families, with average costs to Council of £150 (single) to £400 (family) per week;
- £500k of Government money put in place to tackle gangs, most to Targeted Youth Support Team in Burngreave, £130k for diversionary activities remains unallocated;
- So far £951k has been spent on activities for 8-13 year olds across the city.
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MOTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS
CHANGES TO ORDER OF BUSINESS
GRN Jillian Creasy proposed moving the motion on windfarms up the order so it would be debated.
LD Paul Scriven said would support discussing Wisewood/Myers Grove motion first, then Windfarm motion.
LAB Jan Wilson also supported. PROPOSED: Discussing ITEM 7 - LD motion on Wisewood/Myers Grove merger, then ITEM 13 - GRN motion on Westwood Country Park Windfarm proposal
VOTE: ALL for
CARRIED
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ITEM 7 - MOTION ON MYERS GROVE AND WISEWOOD (Lib Dem)
LIB DEM
- Andrew Sangar said Council will work with both schools and proposing group to make sure the new school is a complete success;
- The Minister said there was no extra money and if the Council funded schools the BSF money would be withdrawn;
- There will be no delays apart from usual technical issues with submission;
- The Wisewood sports hall will remain in the community, with the remainder of the site being looked at;
- Ian Auckland said the Lib Dems had tried to be honest and deliver throughout;
- John Hesketh said a large number of parents wanted Wisewood kept open and had expressed their views in two elections;
- Local Labour party had worked politically to scupper the two school solution;
- Paul Scriven said in 10 years time the new school as proposed would be 158 places short, a building for now, not the future, so Council would need to look at the numbers;
- Diane Leek questioned lack of studies on traffic issues.
LABOUR
- Harry Harpham said the result just confirmed what the Labour group had been saying all along;
- Lib Dems had made promises they could not keep, Councillors Joe Taylor and Steve Ayris should apologise to people of Hillsborough;
- Council should now invest £25m in the new school to make it a beacon for the country;
- Jan Wilson said advice and reports had advised Lib Dems could not fulfil promises;
- Government has been consistent and were never going to change their position;
- Julie Dore said politicians had to make hard decisions with limited resources available;
- Leigh Bramall questioned how Labour could have been weak previously over arguing for two schools but now strong enough to have the minister stop the merger;
GREEN
- Bernard Little said with the new development in Loxley the traffic situation at Malin Bridge could worsen;
- Cannot assume issues around pollution and safety are solved, need a solution before moving forward.
[More councillors spoke than this, but generally reiterating points above]
MOTION (LD)
Condemns Government for threatening to withdraw investment and local Labour party for supporting merger; accepts Wisewood school will close; thanks local parents and young people for campaigning to save Wisewood.
AMENDMENT 1 (LAB)
Deletes all and replaces with acceptance of merger; notes support of headteachers; lists evidence given that made merger the only option; states that any promises made to electorate should be capable of being fulfilled.
VOTE: LD against LAB for GRN against
LOST
AMENDMENT 2 (GRN)
Notes that building a new school is still subject to the assessment of safety, pollution, and congestion at Malin Bridge.
VOTE: LD against LAB against GRN for
LOST
MOTION as original
VOTE: LD for LAB against GRN for, except point about lib dems having a democratic mandate
CARRIED
=================================== ITEM 13 - MOTION ON WESTWOOD COUNTRY PARK WINDFARM (Green)
GREEN:
- Jillian Creasy stated they had visited the Westwood Country Park and attended meetings;
- Issue about balancing the wishes of a small vocal community against the wishes and needs of the wider community;
- Council needs to do a better job of separating myth from science;
- Proper process had not been followed with regards to the previous Cabinet decision;
- There had been no proper consultation to let all local people have a say.
- Rob Murphy noted Sheffield is the windiest city in the UK, with the park being one of the windiest spots;
- Complaints about windfarms are minimal, changes in property prices negligible, the main reasons for objection are ideological;
- Council administration had failed to communicate and lead on issue;
- Decision will put wind power developers off taking part in future schemes;
- Sheffield should grab its opportunity and lead the way.
LIB DEM:
- Alan Hooper said the LD amendment indicates support for renewables, but in the right place;
- Development would affect hundreds or thousands of people and be placed on green belt conservation land;
- Kathleen Chadwick said locating so close to properties was a nonsense, with concerns over noise and electronic interference.
- Martin Brelsford said it was political dogma to vote for it and unusually agreed with Angela Smith (Labour MP for the area) on the topic.
- Councillors are charged with representing local people.
- Arthur Dunworth said he supported test mast at Sheephouse Heights as it was a good idea to inform judgement.
- Paul Scriven said debate was about finding the correct place and there would be windfarms.
- Shaffaq Mohammed invited [challenged?] councillors in favour of development to argue the case publicly at meetings.
- Regards the Westwood proposal, the community wanted answers on where the masts would be.
LABOUR:
- Jan Wilson questioned how Cllr Mohammed had made the decision to stop the development when only Cabinet could take those kinds of decisions.
- Decisions should take everything on board, deciding things on merit, not on local lobbying.
- Mick Rooney wanted to know why there was no document explaining decision.
- Mary Lea noted developers could fund an Environmental Impact Assessment, that wind was the first choice of renewables for Sheffield.
- Bryan Lodge pointed out that without a feasibility study the questions of the community could not be answered.
- Worries that Lib Dems would favour windfarms when they were in Labour areas, not in their own.
- Council owned sites were looked at first because they were what Council had control over and Council could bring in revenue.
- Martin Lawton said the Manor Castle/Woodthorpe Area Panel would be happy to look into a windfarm on Skye Edge given resources.
MOTION (GRN)
1) Officers to continue with feasibility study on Westwood Country Park and Council to make a decision based on that;
2) Consideration be given to allocating 5% of Council profits from renewable energy projects to local community;
3) Will encourage financial investment by local community in future projects;
Includes: Notes problems of rising energy prices and believes wind energy important.
AMENDMENT 1 (LD)
Removes action points 1 to 3 and adds that Council "is committed to pursuing and developing renewable energy generation at appropriate sites in Sheffield."
VOTE: LD for LAB abstain GRN against
CARRIED
MOTION as amended (notes energy prices, wind energy important, Council will pursue renewables on appropriate sites)
VOTE: ALL for
CARRIED
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ITEM 5 - ANNUAL REPORT FROM SCRUTINY BOARDS
A summary of the work of the scrutiny boards and scrutiny council through the year with nice pictures.
ALL for
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ITEM 6a - REPAYMENT OF £2.4m FROM PCT FOR ADULT CARE COSTS INCURRED BY THE COUNCIL 2007/8
PROPOSAL 1 (LAB)
Notes the £2.4m is effectively a windfall due to changing legislation. Resolves that £2.4m should be ring-fenced to provide additional provision for older and disabled people in Sheffield.
VOTE: LD against LAB for GRN abstain
LOST
PROPOSAL 2 (LD)
Notes Labour Group did not ringfence 2008/9 repayment in their budget; notes that many groups are in need of support and budget should be considered as a whole; accuses Government of failings in strategy as outlined in the 'Don't Stop Me Know' report from the Audit commission; condemns local MPs for tabling a misleading motion in parliament on the issue.
VOTE: LD for LAB against GRN abstain
CARRIED
=================================== ITEM 6b - COMMUNITY ASSEMBLIES AND COMMUNITY WORKING
PROPOSAL 1 (LAB)
Welcomes community assemblies but is concerned about cost of infrastructure, size, lack of power, lack of consultation, lack of information to Area Panels. Wants to involve community representatives in working group on assemblies. Needs more information on staffing, structure, delegation etc.
VOTE: LD against LAB for GRN for
LOST
PROPOSAL 2 (LD)
Work proceeds on setting up of the assemblies and development of the proposals, as outlined in the report, to be brought back to Council when ready.
VOTE: LD for LAB abstain GRN for
CARRIED
=================================== ITEM 8 - MOTION ON MYERS GROVE AND WISEWOOD (Labour) [Full motion and amendments]
Issue should be resolved with certainty; Councillors should work together to achieve the best for local children; thanks local people, parents, teachers, governors, and Proposing Group for their involvement in this issue.
AMENDMENT 1 (LAB)
Adds 1) Site should not be sold for housing or other development but retained for local community, with proposal being considered as part of capital and budget process [i.e. do it if we've got the cash]
VOTE: ALL for
CARRIED
AMENDMENT 2 (LD)
Deletes the motion and replaces with LD motion as ITEM 7
VOTE: LD for LAB against GRN for, except point about having democratic mandate MOTION as amended (keeping whole site for community, otherwise repeats LD motion in ITEM 7 already passed)
VOTE: LD for LAB abstain GRN for
[Some consternation on the Labour front bench as they realised they had just failed to vote for their own amendment, managed to keep it quite quiet tho.]
=================================== ITEM 9 - MOTION ON PRIORITIES (Lib Dem) [Full motion and amendments]
Motion in support of priorities as agreed by the Lib Dem Cabinet and criticising previous Labour administration.
AMENDMENT 1 (GRN)
Removes criticism of previous administration and argues for a coherent waste strategy.
VOTE: LD against LAB for GRN for
LOST
MOTION as original
VOTE: LD for LAB against GRN against
CARRIED
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[ITEM 10 WITHDRAWN - proposing a road to be named after 'Derek Dooley, which has now happened]
ITEM 11 - DEREK DOOLEY (Lib Dem and Labour)
Notes with sadness the passing of Derek Dooley, welcomes decision to rename a section of the Inner Relief Road, and thanks his family.
VOTE: ALL for
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ITEM 12 - PARKING FREEZE AND FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT (Labour)
Proposes free public transport on weekends;
Suspends any increase in car parking charges for a year;
Directs a feasibility study to be carried out.
AMENDMENT 1 (LD)
Removes some notes on the policy, including that it could be funded for the current year.
VOTE: LD for LAB against GRN abstain
CARRIED
MOTION as amended (Free public transport! Freeze on car parking charges!. depending on what the report says)
VOTE: ALL for
CARRIED
=================================== ITEM 14 - IN PRAISE OF THE BRITISH TRANPLANT GAMES (Lib Dem and Labour)
Supporting games, which come to Sheffield between 7th and 11th of August. Raise local awareness of the need for organ donation, encourage Council staff to be on the register.
VOTE: All for
CARRIED
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ITEM 15 - INCREASE NUMBER OF PCSOs (Labour)
Use £300k contingency fund with Safer Communities Partnership to fund 10 PCSOs who would act as a rapid response team to be deployed around the city as needed.
AMENDMENT 1 (LD)
Deletes most of the motion and states: Using short term funds would be unacceptable as PCSOs would be made redundant after a year; proposal was not included in plans Labour administration drew up.
VOTE: LD for LAB against GRN against
CARRIED
AMENDMENT 2 (GRN)
Deletes most of the motion and states: PCSOs need to know community well, so a rapid deployment team is a contradiction in terms; notes recent experiences show some funding should be kept spare to repond to crises.
LOST
=================================== ITEM 16 - RENEWABLE ENERGY AND FEED IN TARIFF (Green)
Council should respond to Government consultation on renewables, in support of Feed-in-Tariff (where people are paid good rates for producing renewable energy, without needing a special contract with an energy supplier), and also arguing for Energy Bill to be changed so Tariff can be introduced.
VOTE: LD for LAB abstain GRN for
CARRIED
=================================== ITEM 17 - SUPPORTING CLIMATE CAMP AT KINGSNORTH POWER STATION (Green)
Sheffield committed to reducing carbon footprint;
Notes risk of reliance on coal power;
Also notes problems with carbon capture technology;
Need for renewable energy as basis of energy production;
Council to send a message of support to Climate Camp who are protesting against the proposed rebuild of Kingsnorth coal fired power station.
VOTE: LD for all, except statements questioning carbon capture and abstains on proposal for an energy system founded on renewable energy LAB against all except comittment to reducing carbon footprint of Sheffield GRN for
CARRIED |