Agenda item

To consider the following motions submitted by members of the council:

 

·  Save our Local Pubs

 

·  Support for Free Healthy School Meals

 

·  Green Flags

 

·  Damp in Peter Butler House

 

·  Clean up Tower Bridge Road

MOTION 1 – SAVE OUR LOCAL PUBS

(see page 15 of the main agenda)

 

The guillotine having fallen Councillors Tim McNally and Paul Kyriacou formally moved and seconded the motion.

 

Councillors Victoria Mills and Patrick Diamond formally moved and seconded Amendment C.

 

Amendment C was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That council assembly:

 

1.  Recognises the important role local pubs play in the life of our borough by providing a community hub for residents to meet, relax, debate and do business.

 

2.  Notes with regret the decline of community pubs in recent years, as the use of properties for other means has become more financially lucrative.

 

3.  Recognises the community campaigns and their activists who have already successfully managed to get their pubs listed as assets of community value and looks forward to working with those who set up new businesses and create much needed employment.

 

4.  Welcomes the council's groundbreaking approval to bring into force Article 4 planning directions on change of use to help protect our high streets and community assets such as pubs. This makes Southwark the first authority nationally to make such a change.

 

5.  Recognises that highly indebted property companies own over half of Britain’s pubs. These charge high rents to tied tenants of pubs. The Fair Deal for Your Local Campaign estimates that to pay these high rents a pint of lager is on average 80p per pint higher and ale is 65p per pint higher than justified by inflation and like for like changes in taxes since 1987. This is pricing pubs out of the market.

 

Council assembly therefore calls on the government to commit to statutory regulation of the relationship between large scale pub landlords and their tenants which specifically includes a "free of tie" option which will enable them to buy produce on the open market and pay a fair rent for their building.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

MOTION 2 – SUPPORT FOR FREE HEALTHY SCHOOL MEALS (see pages 15 - 16 of the main agenda

 

This motion was considered after the deputation on the Free healthy School Meals Programme and prior to the guillotine having fallen.

 

Councillor Peter John, seconded by Councillor Dora Dixon-Fyle, moved the motion.

 

Councillor Anood Al-Samerai, seconded by Councillor Rosie Shimell, moved Amendment D.

 

Following debate (Councillors Richard Livingstone, Catherine Bowman, Gavin Edwards, Lewis Robinson and David Hubber), Councillor Dan Garfield, seconded by Councillor Martin Seaton, moved that the question be put.  The procedure motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

Amendment D was put to the vote and declared to be lost.

 

Councillor Peter John exercised his right of reply.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That council assembly:

 

·  welcomes the final stage of the roll out of free healthy school meals to all primary school children in the borough.

 

·  notes the feedback from parents, carers and teachers who are reporting improved attainment, better concentration, fewer discipline issues, and healthy eating both inside and outside of school.

 

·  is encouraged that such positive feedback will be contributing towards the challenge of childhood obesity in Southwark.

 

·  welcomes the commitment from the coalition government that they will be following Southwark’s example and introducing a national scheme of school meals for the youngest children in primary schools.

 

However, council assembly also:

 

·  believes that the government scheme will fall short of what is needed by only providing free school meals for the youngest children.

 

·  notes with concern that the government scheme will mean that primary school children in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 would lose their free healthy school meal unless local councils like Southwark have their own scheme in place and prioritises the budget to do so.

 

·  notes that the Liberal Democrat Group in Southwark has consistently voted to remove the budget for free healthy school meals which would result in children losing this important meal each day.

 

·  notes that free healthy school meals in Southwark have been opposed by Liberal Democrat members who have voted against them and by Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP, Simon Hughes, who was writing to constituents as recently as September opposing Southwark’s plans.

 

That council assembly therefore:

 

·  utterly condemns Southwark Liberal Democrat’s record opposition to free healthy school meals in Southwark for all primary school children.

 

·  asks cabinet to write to the Deputy Prime Minister welcoming his announcement on free school meals for all children in their first three years of school, urging an expansion of the scheme to all primary school children, and offering to work with government to show how Southwark has made this such a resounding success.

 

·  calls on cabinet to continue to deliver free healthy school meals for all primary school children in Southwark.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

MOTION 3 - GREEN FLAGS (see pages 16 – 17 of the main agenda)

 

The guillotine having fallen Councillors Rosie Shimell and Jonathan Mitchell formally moved and seconded the motion.

 

Councillors Rowenna Davis and Nick Dolezal formally moved and seconded Amendment E.

 

Amendment E was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That council assembly:

 

1.  Notes that Southwark residents benefit hugely from the many green spaces across the borough, and believes the council should do as much as possible to promote our parks to maximise use.

 

2.  Further notes the great progress which has been made in this respect over recent years with Southwark having now been awarded a total of seventeen green flags across the borough.

 

3.  Notes that the council can only apply for flags in parks it owns and maintains and so parks such as St Francis would not be eligible.

 

4.  Calls on the cabinet member for transport, environment and recycling and his team to commit to nominating other parks in Southwark for the Green Flag awards for 2014/15, including Nursery Row, Mint Street and Surrey Square which are all wonderful assets to their neighbouring communities.

 

5.  Council assembly further calls on the cabinet member to consider other parks for future rounds of green flag awards including Goose Green and Dawsons Heights as well as Camberwell Green, Nunhead Green and Pasley Park. 

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

MOTION 4 – DAMP IN PETER BUTLER HOUSE (see page 17 of the main agenda)

 

The guillotine having fallen Councillors Eliza Mann and Anood Al-Samerai formally moved and seconded the motion.

 

Councillors Ian Wingfield and Darren Merrill formally moved and seconded Amendment F.

 

Amendment F was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That council assembly notes that in the last three years, the council has received three formal complaints regarding damp in Peter Butler House – two which were due to condensation and one due to a defective balcony all of which have now been resolved.

 

2.  That council assembly notes that officers have commissioned a survey to assess all dwellings within the block to identify any underlying issues and necessary remedial actions and welcomes the council’s commitment to this.

 

3.  That council assembly calls on the cabinet member for housing management to consider the outcome of the survey and take any remedial action necessary.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

MOTION 5 – CLEAN UP TOWER BRIDGE ROAD (see page 17 of the main agenda)

 

The guillotine having fallen Councillors Mark Gettleson and Denise Capstick formally moved and seconded the motion.

 

Councillors Claire Hickson and the Right Revd Emmanuel Oyewole formally moved and seconded Amendment G.

 

Amendment G was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That council assembly welcomes the efforts of the Tower Bridge Road Business Alliance to improve Tower Bridge Road.

 

2.  That council assembly welcomes the investment made through the community restoration fund that supported the creation of the Alliance and its initial activities.

 

3.  That council assembly congratulates the Alliance on the success of its recent projects, funded through the cleaner greener safer budget, particularly the decoration of shop shutters, which have helped to improve the appearance of the street and allowed businesses to see the benefits of working with the Alliance.

 

4.  That council assembly welcomes the high standards in street cleaning across the borough and the record public satisfaction with street cleanliness.  It further welcomes the council’s economic wellbeing strategy which sets out the council’s plans to further improve partnership working with businesses to ensure that the council fully considers the different needs and expectations of businesses, their customers, local communities and residents when delivering basic services.

 

5.  That council assembly calls on the cabinet to:

 

·  continue to ensure that the planned improvements to Tower Bridge Road by Transport for London respond to the needs of local businesses and results improve the general appearance of the street.

 

·  Implement plans in the economic wellbeing strategy so that businesses on Tower Bridge Road and elsewhere in the borough can have more input into ensuring that local services meet their needs.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.

 

MOTION 6 – MAKING CATHEDRALS WARD SAFER FOR RESIDENTS AND CYCLIST (see supplemental agenda 1, page 86)

 

The guillotine having fallen Councillors Adele Morris and David Noakes formally moved and seconded the motion.

 

Councillors Rebecca Lury and Martin Seaton formally moved and seconded Amendment H.

 

Amendment H was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

The substantive motion was put to the vote and declared to be carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That council assembly:

 

·  Recognises the large number of developments that are either under construction or soon to be under construction in Cathedrals Ward and other areas of the borough and that this brings with it significant construction traffic and logistical challenges.

 

·  Notes that all construction sites in the area have to have agreed construction management plans in place to demonstrate how deliveries will take place. This often results in a local road closure or a pit lane being installed to ensure HGV's can safely access and unload next to sites.

 

·  Notes that construction management plans must take account of the safety of other road users around the site including pedestrians and cyclists and that this is rigorously enforced.

 

·  Notes that all contractors have logistics companies working for them who arrange delivery slots so there should not be any local parking - all deliveries are just-in-time.

 

·  Notes that for very large projects contractors may need to rent a logistics site such as holding bays on Druid Street for the Shard and London Bridge Station.

 

·  Notes that the council takes action against any contractors caught parking up locally such highways inspectors taking action against parking on Hopton Street.

 

That council assembly therefore calls upon cabinet to:

 

·  instruct officers to work with contractors to assist them in finding suitable sites to use as waiting areas for construction vehicles which arrive before their allotted time and to continue to rigorously enforce against any use of local streets for circling or parking of vehicles.

 

Note: This motion will be referred as a recommendation to the cabinet for consideration.