Agenda item

NOTICES OF MOTION (Standing Order 17)

Meeting of Council, Tuesday, 15th March, 2022 4.00 pm (Item 80.)

To consider notices of motion set out below:

12.1

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

To be moved by: Councillor Rebecca Poulsen

Seconded by: Councillor Debbie Davies

Her Majesty, The Queen, has become the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of dedicated service of our country and across the commonwealth.

Bradford District has welcomed Her Majesty to Bradford five times.

In 1954 Her Majesty visited Bradford 18 months after her Coronation. At this visit she met David Hockney, was sung to by 30,000 children at Bradford Park Avenue cricket ground and visited Perseverance Mills to meet ill workers.

In 1974 Her Majesty visited the Odeon and unveiled the plaque to open the Civic Precinct.

In 1997 The centenary of Bradford’s Royal Charter was marked by another visit. As it was Maundy Thursday, money was distributed at Bradford Cathedral as part of the visit before unveiling a plaque at Centenary Square and visiting the Bradford City fire memorial. Her Majesty then opened the new stand at Valley Parade after lunch at City Hall.

In 2007 there was another visit to Centenary Square where the daughter of murdered policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky handed Her Majesty a posy of flowers.

In 2012 Her Majesty visited as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour. The tour included visiting Saltaire, a luncheon and meeting the Lord Mayor at the time who is still a member of Council, Councillor Dale Smith.

Bradford District looks forward to many events over the summer to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee including local groups organising community events.

This Council thanks Her Majesty for her dedicated service over the last 70 years and congratulates her in the year of her Platinum Jubilee.

12.2

Clean Air Zone

To be moved by: Councillor Sally Birch

Seconded by: Councillor Mohammed Nazam

Council notes that:

There have been delays in introducing Bradford’s Clean Air Zone, originally planned for last October then postponed until January and now we are just told “Spring 2022”.

Local businesses are finding it difficult to plan ahead for this change because the dates keep changing and because they are still not able to apply for exemptions despite being told they would be able to do so by the end of February.

There is a shortage of vehicles fitting the compliant criteria so even if companies want to upgrade their vehicles these are not available and there is a waiting list of several months.

Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone has recently been delayed in order for their plan to reduce nitrogen dioxide levels to be reviewed.

The Clean Air Zone Framework issued by the Department for Transport clearly states “Clean Air Zone proposals are not required to include a charging zone”.

The Government’s Clean Air Framework also states: “In implementing a CAZ local authorities will need to consider the impact on local residents, and the need for any mitigating measures. They will also need to take action as necessary to support growth and protect the economy of their local high streets and town centres, whilst ensuring that their CAZ proposals will not result in the displacement of the most polluting vehicles away from town centres to surrounding areas.”

Council resolves:

To pause plans for Bradford’s Clean Air Zone while it is thoroughly reviewed, considering the potential negative impact on drivers using other roads to avoid being charged for driving through the zone and the possible loss of trade for businesses located within the zone.

To consider moving to a ‘non-charging Clean Air Zone’ instead whilst continuing to work with businesses who wish to upgrade their vehicles and take advantage of the incentives offered.

To ensure that following the review the information provided to businesses, taxi drivers and residents is accurate, informative and the website is easy to use with dates that are met.

12.3

Empowering local voices to empower levelling up in the Bradford District

To be moved by: Councillor David Heseltine

Seconded by: Councillor Chris Herd

This council notes:

That the Bradford District is a diverse district made up of five parliamentary constituencies, allowing local decision making and support local decision makers is at the heart of communitarianism and supporting local communities.

Neither Keighley BID nor Ilkley BID have a councillor appointed to them from their constituency by Bradford Council.

That no councillor from the Keighley Constituency was appointed to the Keighley Towns Fund board by Bradford Council.

Bradford Council failed to apply for up to £80 million of central government funding for 'levelling up' funds for any constituency except Bradford West and failed to consult with ward members about projects that would be feasible to be put forward for this funding.

Localities plans put forward and approved by area committees do not appear to have funding allocated to area committees to support these plans.

Council resolves to:

Empower ward members by supporting them in being active decision makers and ensuring they are consulted on funding opportunities.

Empower Area Committees by providing them with additional funding opportunities to support their local communities.

Work towards appointing local ward members to BIDs and other groups where local knowledge will help support their work.

12.4

Respecting our Rivers

To be moved by: Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

Seconded by: Councillor Brendan Stubbs

This Council notes that:

· Every river in England is now polluted beyond legal limits.

· The Environment Agency rated only 14% of rivers as ‘Good’ in 2019.

· This pollution is mostly caused by sewage discharges from water companies, the run-offs of nutrients from farms and persistent organic chemicals.

· 36% of English rivers have been damaged by water companies.

· In England, water companies released untreated human waste directly into our waterways over 400,000 times for a total of 3 million hours in 2020 alone.

· Government funding to the Environment Agency to monitor river quality, and regulate farms and water companies has dropped 75% since 2010/11.

· In 2020 just 3.6% of pollution complaints made to the Agency resulted in penalties.

· Farms are now almost never inspected, water quality is rarely tested, and water companies can discharge raw sewage into rivers with virtual impunity.

· In addition, tyre particles, metals from brake pads, and hydrocarbons from vehicle emissions wash off road surfaces and into rivers introducing potentially carcinogenic material into the water supply.

· That Yorkshire Water Ltd is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on 15 March charged with offences relating to a pollution incident which happened at Bradford Beck between September 2017 and August 2018.

This Council commends the work of the Aire Rivers Trust, the Friends of Bradford Becks, partners and the many volunteers who are working hard to meet the Good Water framework Directive status or Good Ecological Potential for all of the Aire Water bodies by 2027.

Council believes that, the UK Government should commit to:

· Restoring Environment Agency budgets to deliver the necessary oversight.

· Increasing inspection regularity of water companies and farms, taking rigorous enforcement action against offenders.

· Ring-fencing fines for water pollution events to be spent on river quality improvements.

· Funding local and highways authorities to introduce systems to prevent road pollutants from entering our water courses.

Council resolves to request the Chief Executive write to:

· The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs calling for the Government to make these commitments and to revise down the consents that allow sewerage discharge into our rivers.

· The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee to advocate for greater enforcement of existing regulatory powers.

· The Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water calling for urgent action to address the impact of waste-water discharges on our local rivers.

· The Regional Director of the National Farmers’ Union requesting clarification on the action being taken locally by farmers to prevent nutrient run-off.

· The charities River Action, the Aire Rivers Trust and the Friends of Bradford’s Becks expressing this Council’s support for their campaign to restore the health of Britain’s rivers and becks.

This Council further requests that the Chief Executive produces a report for all councillors detailing the action the Council is to enforce the rules for water protection on its land it owns.

12.5

0-19 Public Health Service

To be moved by: Councillor Alun Griffiths

Seconded by: Councillor Jeanette Sunderland

Council notes that the 0-19 Public Health service contract ends in April 2023 and is about to be recommissioned.

Council notes the difficulties in recruitment, especially for Health Visitors, faced by the service and the consequent reduction of the service to providing little more than the minimum statutory requirements and a loss of much proactive care.

Council believes that the decisions to blur the distinction between Health Visitors and School Nurses, and move Health Visiting away from Primary Care and into large remote hubs has contributed to this.

Council notes the development of GP Primary Care Networks and believes that this provides an opportunity to return Health Visiting to a model of collaboration between GPs and Health Visitors and other 0-4 nurses with benefits to staff, children, and parents and resolves to recommission the service on that basis.

12.6

Ukraine

To be moved by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe

Seconded by: Councillor Rebecca Poulsen

This Council condemns the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Putin. Bradford District stands together with our residents of Ukrainian heritage and will support them in their hour of need. We have approximately 5,000 residents with Ukrainian heritage in our district. They are understandably fearing for the lives of their loved ones in the country. The district has demonstrated solidarity with the Ukrainian community by:

· Lighting up civic buildings in the colours of Ukraine.

· Bradford City fans showing their support for Ukraine at their match on 26 February.

· Bradford Cathedral organising a multi faith service at the Cathedral on 2 March.

· The Council’s Safer and Stronger Communities team speaking with the Bradford Ukrainian community organisation to hear their voice and to offer support.

· At the launch of the ‘From Bosnia to Bradford’ films that were premiered at the National Media Museum in early March similarities between the conflicts were discussed and support and solidarity for Ukraine was expressed by speakers and the audience in attendance. The films feature stories about the survivors of the Balkans conflict who fled in the early 1990s and settled in the Bradford District.

We remember:

· That this is an act of aggression by Putin, not by residents with Russian heritage living and working in this district.

· We must support all our residents here to live peaceful lives without fear or anxiety.

· We are a City of Sanctuary which prides itself on welcoming communities from all over the world. We will warmly welcome Ukrainians to our district as part of any national refugee effort.

We urge:

· Peace. We are a city of Peace, with a renowned Peace Studies department at the University and a Peace Museum which we have all benefited from being located here.

· Residents to come together - we come together at difficult times and support each other when the burden can seem heavy.

· People to support the Ukrainian communities across West Yorkshire who are mobilising in support of Ukraine by donating to a fund which they have set up to provide critical support for Ukraine at this time.

· The Government to do everything possible to support the Ukrainian people who are being displaced from their homeland including welcoming them to this country.

12.7

Cost of Living Crisis

To be moved by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe

Seconded by: Councillor Abdul Jabar

Rising energy bills and the cost of living crisis is real. It is hitting those on lowest incomes the hardest. Energy bills are increasing rapidly – the regulator Ofgem has warned that the average household faces a 54% increase and will be paying almost £2,000 a year to heat and light their home.

The number of people having to rely on food banks for emergency supplies has rocketed. The number of food banks in the UK’s biggest network (the Trussell Trust) has increased from 57 in 2010 to over 1,300 now, as well as an additional 1,000 independent food banks across the country.

We call on Government:

1) To develop a coherent strategy of how to tackle the cost of living crisis nationally.

2) To restore the £20 Universal credit payment, cut VAT on household energy bills and use a windfall tax on oil and gas companies’ increased profits to help reduce energy bills.

3) To make Bradford District a levelling up area with significant access to funding for regeneration.

12.8

Supporting Children and Families to thrive post pandemic

To be moved by: Councillor Sue Duffy

Seconded by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe

As a nation we started 2020 with high Child Poverty rates. Then came the pandemic, hitting our young people particularly hard. Missing out on education and experiencing acute social isolation. Since then we’ve seen an increase in children’s mental health issues, an increase in obesity levels and an increasing number of families experiencing domestic violence.

As an immediate response this council is already investing to develop and deliver services which support our young people going through difficult times:

· Our new Living Well school workers are making sure that children are able to be active and healthy.

· We are providing emotional support through the use of ‘Safer Spaces’.

· We are working with the voluntary sector and other partners to deliver the Holiday Activities and Food programme.

· We are investing in Future Boost, our local offer to support our young people into good work and training.

· We have invested some of our Covid grant into additional Domestic Violence services.

There is still much much more to do.

We resolve to:

· Work with our young people to develop a Children and Young People’s Plan Post Pandemic.

· Ask our Looked After Children how the pandemic has affected them and how we can support them towards getting back to normality.

· Draw on our experienced young Covid ambassadors to lead on our work on Children’s rights throughout the district.

· Ask for a Scrutiny Review of Child Poverty.

We call on government and our district’s MPs to work with us to:

· Join us in investing in the future of our children and young people.

· Invest long-term in local authorities so we can deliver and commission universal services that our young people can rely on year in year out.

· Invest in our young people by delivering on the Government’s pledge to Level Up Bradford and the North of England.

Minutes:

Resolved – That the following notices of motion be approved:

12.1 - The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Moved by: Councillor Rebecca Poulsen

Seconded by: Councillor Debbie Davies

Her Majesty, The Queen, has become the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of dedicated service of our country and across the commonwealth.

Bradford District has welcomed Her Majesty to Bradford five times.

In 1954 Her Majesty visited Bradford 18 months after her Coronation.

At this visit she met David Hockney, was sung to by 30,000 children at Bradford Park Avenue cricket ground and visited Perseverance Mills to meet ill workers.

In 1974 Her Majesty visited the Odeon and unveiled the plaque to open the Civic Precinct.

In 2007 there was another visit to Centenary Square where the daughter of murdered policewoman Sharon Beshenivsky handed Her Majesty a posy of flowers.

Bradford District looks forward to many events over the summer to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee including local groups organising community events.

This Council thanks Her Majesty for her dedicated service over the last 70 years and congratulates her in the year of her Platinum Jubilee.

Motion 12.2 - Clean Air Zone

Moved by: Councillor Sarah Ferriby

Seconded by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe

That with the addition of the following words the motion be amended to read as follows:

Council notes:

· Government’s Plans to Tackle Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide in the UK https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/633270/air-quality-plan-detail.pdf – this was followed by the UK Clean Air Zone Framework, including requirements of local areas to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in the shortest possible timeframe.

· The Government’s failure to tackle this national issue with national action, instead preferring to impose a variety of different Clean Air Zones in different cities, dodging their own national obligations on clean air for which they are being sued by Client Earth.

· There was never a go live date of October 2021. January 2022 was published as the go live date. The CAZ will be introduced at the earliest opportunity this year once Government has provided a date. There will then be no further delays.

· There is a clear health imperative to clean up our air. More than one in five children in Bradford has a wheezing disorder. Research has shown that air pollution can affect children even before they are born and latest data shows that Bradford is still nowhere near legal limits on air quality.

· Bradford NHS estimates that the CAZ will achieve a step change in emergency admissions for respiratory, COPD and heart disease in the district – there are 370 such admissions every week.

· As a result Government has developed Clean Air Zones (CAZ) across the country to help meet their national commitment. Bath, Birmingham and Portsmouth now have CAZ; Oxford has a zero emission zone; and new CAZ are being developed in many other local authority areas. Every Clean Air Zone is different, so Manchester cannot be compared with Bradford which has secured a more generous grants regime from Government. Bradford also has an exemption programme, Manchester does not.

· The Government’s legislation entitled Environment Act 1995 (City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council) Air Quality Direction 2020 legally directs Bradford Council to provide a charging CAZ to improve air quality in the shortest possible timeframe.

· We asked Government if we could revert to a non-charging clean air zone, and the Government’s clear answer was no because a non-charging CAZ would not achieve compliance with legal levels of pollution, even if every bus in the district was electric.

· The Bradford CAZ will not charge residents’ privately owned vehicles or motorbikes and these do not need to be registered with the Clean Air Zone.

· When the CAZ is introduced businesses in Bradford will be able to have three vehicles which are non compliant as well as access to grants if they want to change any of their vehicles to be compliant.

· Where a new compliant vehicle is on order, the old vehicle will not be charged in the Clean Air Zone, no matter how long the delivery of the new, compliant vehicle takes. This is termed a sunset clause.

· The Council has consulted widely with residents, businesses and other organisations on the CAZ and wrote directly to 17,000 businesses as part of the consultation.

· Bradford has secured the highest value grants from Government for businesses to upgrade their vehicles to CAZ standard of anywhere in the UK.

· We have one of the best and cleanest taxi fleets in the country with over 84% of Bradford taxis now meeting CAZ standard. 317 buses are being upgraded to CAZ standard.

· We have secured a reduction from Government in the CAZ charge for non-compliant taxis, down from £12.50 to £7.

Council resolves to:

· Open the exemptions process for vehicles at the beginning of April. Businesses are encouraged to register for an exemption, it’s possible to do this from now and over 5000 have already done so. Passenger cars don’t have to do this.

· To press Government to provide a date when they are starting the Bradford CAZ.

· To increase the amount of communication the council is doing around the CAZ to counter people spreading incorrect rumours as fact. Press the Government for an answer to our request for a national communication strategy around Clean Air Zones.

· To press the Government to own its responsibilities for reducing emissions across the country. Air pollution knows no borders

· Continue to work closely with government and with residents and businesses to support them throughout the introduction of the CAZ and beyond.

12.3 - Levelling up Bradford District

Moved by: Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw

Seconded by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe

That with the addition of the following words the motion be amended to read as follows:

This council notes:

· As Councillors we represent all of Bradford District as well as our own wards where we are elected and held directly accountable

· Between 2010 and 2020 the government has cut funding to Local Authorities by £15bn with no regard for the impact on local communities

· Central government set many of the processes local government must follow when bidding for funding

· Many of these processes are announced at short notice within extremely tight timescales, leaving little time for Local Authorities to be able to fully engage with communities on potential projects or proposals

· On Business Improvement Districts (BIDs):

o It is great for Bradford to have three BIDs across our district, in Bradford city centre, Keighley and Ilkley. This is among the highest in Yorkshire and shows businesses taking a lead in improving their communities

o BIDs are private sector bodies led and made up of businesses within a local area who have come together for the betterment of their local area. They are not public sector or council bodies and their priorities are set and agreed upon by the business community

· On Towns Funds:

o The funding awards of £33m for Keighley and £25m for Shipley represent a fantastic success for those towns and for the wider district and should rightly be celebrated

o Bradford Council provided significant support including direct funding for the Towns Fund process, incorporating strategic plans such as our Business Development Zones (BDZ) in Keighley and Shipley, with a further BDZ in Barkerend

o The Towns Fund process was set up by central government and is spearheaded by a private-sector led board. The Council acts as the Accountable Body for the Towns Fund Board and therefore has a single political representative on the board to reflect this and maintain the private sector as the primary lead sector for the boards

o Briefing sessions have been and continue to be held for ward members in the Towns Fund areas

· On the Levelling Up Fund:

o The award of £20m to deliver the Squire Lane pool and leisure centre is fantastic news for Toller ward and Bradford West constituency but also the whole district as many people will use and benefit from the facility from outside of the local area

o Bradford Council has repeatedly and publicly committed to submitting a bid for every constituency in Bradford District

o It was made clear by central government from the outset that there would be multiple funding rounds so bids could be spread over a number of years. Ward members in every constituency were engaged on potential projects in their area during the first bidding round process

o At the time of writing government has refused to set out the process or criteria for the second round of the Levelling Up Fund

· Unlike other Local Authorities, Bradford Council used nearly £2m from the Additional Restrictions Grant funding to distribute via Area Committees to support high street improvements and the VCS sector

· Locality work in every constituency has been strengthened with 15 additional Assistant Ward Officer roles being hired

Council resolves to:

· Continue developing potential Levelling Up Fund bids for each remaining constituency while demanding government speed up their announcement of the next phase

· Ask the district’s MPs to write to government asking for clarity on the next phase of the Levelling Up Fund process

· Lobby Government with the aim of the whole of Bradford district getting its fair allocation of the long-awaited Shared Prosperity Fund from Government.

· Encourage members to attend the briefing sessions set up for ward members in Towns Fund areas and future briefings for the Levelling Up and Shared Prosperity Funds.

12.4 - Respecting our Rivers

Moved by: Councillor Jeanette Sunderland