Agenda item

To consider motions referred from council assembly 26 March 2014:

 

·  A Vision for Southwark

·  Vision for Localism

·  Local decision making

·  Free school meals

·  Meat free Mondays

·  Regulation for payday lenders

·  Fixed odds betting terminals

RESOLVED:

 

That all the following motions be noted and that Councillor Barrie Hargrove, cabinet member for public health, parks and leisure lead on the action arising from the motion relating to Meat Free Mondays.

 

A Vision for Southwark

 

1.  That council assembly welcomes the work that this administration has done over the last four years to deliver the council’s vision of creating a fairer future for Southwark.

 

2.  That council assembly notes that since 2010, the council has faced almost £80 million in government funding cuts, which have caused significant budget pressures. This year alone the council has lost over £25 million in funding, equating to £249 for every single person in Southwark.

 

These cuts have meant the council has been required to do more with less. Council assembly welcomes the fact that the administration – in line with the preferences of Southwark residents - has protected frontline services and delivered savings through efficiencies in back-office and support services, cutting councillor allowances, cutting the cost of consultants and temps and cutting bills for catering, taxis and publicity.

 

3.  That council assembly applauds the success of this administration in delivering on its “Fairer Future” promises, including:

 

i.  Ensuring every primary school child in Southwark receives a free healthy, nutritious hot meal every day – delivering nearly four million free school meals each year and saving families £340 a year per child

 

ii.  Supporting residents in Southwark through the current cost of living crisis by freezing council tax for four years in a row and keeping council rents low

 

iii.  Ensuring that every employee, contractor and agency staff employed by the council are paid the London Living Wage

 

iv.  Doubling Southwark’s recycling rate and bringing a record 17 council parks up to green flag standard

 

v.  Investing £326 million to make every council home in the borough warm, dry and safe

 

vi.  Supporting older people in the borough by halving the price of meals on wheels, introducing a social care hotline providing expert advice, and building a new Centre of Excellence to deliver cutting edge facilities for dementia patients

 

vii.  Supporting 26 talented young people from Southwark facing financial hardship to go to university

 

viii.  Supporting 1,000 Southwark residents to find work through the council’s employment programmes in the last 18 months

 

4.  That council assembly calls on the cabinet to continue working towards delivering a fairer future for all in Southwark, and in particular by:

 

i.  Creating quality affordable homes in Southwark, building more homes of every kind for local people, including 11,000 new council homes, improving the quality of existing council homes, driving up standards in the private rented sector and keeping rents in Southwark among the lowest in London

 

·  London faces a housing crisis and needs new homes.  Council assembly welcomes that this administration has already given permission for over 11,000 new homes of every type in the borough and has also started building 11,000 new council homes. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to:

 

o  Ensure there are more homes for local people, whether your home is privately rented, shared ownership, council or private.

o  Ensure that at least 50% of all new council homes go to people from that area, with the rest going to other Southwark residents.

o  Keep improving council homes and deliver a quality kitchen and bathroom for every council tenant.

 

ii.  Supporting the best start in life by continuing to deliver free school meals for all primary school children, investing in affordable childcare for families in Southwark and expanding school places across the borough

 

·  Council assembly welcome’s Labour’s commitment to quality affordable childcare and the administration’s decision to keep all our popular nurseries open despite the Liberal Democrat/Tory government cutting the money available for nurseries. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to:

 

o  Invest in the borough’s children’s centres and work with parents to set up two new community nurseries to increase the number of affordable places in the borough.

o  Launch a Childcare Commission to bring together experts, parents, providers and employers to find new ways to guarantee care and early education to help parents and carers to balance work and family life.

o  Guarantee a local primary place for every child and open new secondary schools to meet demand.

 

iii.  Building a strong local economy by leading the campaign for the London Living Wage, working with local businesses to support job creation and ensuring that young people in Southwark are ready for work

 

·  Southwark is a borough of growth and opportunity: a great place to do business, and to work. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to:

 

o  Ensure that this growth continues, by supporting 5,000 local people into jobs and creating 2,000 new apprenticeships over the next four years.

o  Ensure that our young people are ready for work; we will guarantee that every school leaver has something to do whether training, education or a job.

o  Provide an hour’s free parking in our shopping parades to support small shopping parades, which rely on local and passing trade, and to help residents to shop locally.

 

iv.  Continuing to deliver value for money and get the basics right in the face of significant government cuts, continuing to drive up recycling rates, investing in our roads and working to keep our streets clean and safe

 

·  Council assembly condemns the Liberal Democrat/Tory government for their savage cuts to Southwark’s budget.  Council assembly condemns Liberal Democrats and Tories in Southwark who have failed to stand up for the interests of people putting party interest before local need.  Council assembly welcomes that this administration has been using money wisely, so even with 25% less money from the coalition government the council is keeping our streets clean, improving bin collection and making the borough safer. This administration has doubled recycling rates; council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to continue to drive up recycling rates and divert more than 95% of waste away from landfill.

 

·  Historic underinvestment in roads means the council is faced with expensive bills to fill potholes. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to double capital investment into roads making them safer with better surfaces for all roads users.

 

v.  Supporting people of all ages in Southwark to lead healthy and active lives, preventing barriers that prevent people from getting fit, investing in cycling to improve safety and take up, supporting our more vulnerable residents and becoming an “Age Friendly Borough”, to help people get the best out of Southwark, whatever their age

 

i.  Council assembly notes that this administration wants to make it easier for people to be healthy, so that residents in Southwark can live a full life, whatever their age. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to help residents to keep fit by making swimming and gym use free for all residents in our leisure centres.

 

ii.  Council assembly welcomes the council’s investment in better cycling and is making Southwark a 20mph borough to make our streets safer. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to use Dutch expertise to deliver Southwark a safer cycling network and work with the Mayor to extend bike hire across the borough.

 

vi.  Taking pride in our borough, investing in our parks and libraries, continuing to invest in green energy and transforming our town centres through regeneration to make them places that we can all live, work and enjoy.

 

·  After years of the Liberal Democrats and Tories talking down Southwark, council assembly welcomes that Labour is transforming our borough, through huge investment in Walworth, Camberwell and Peckham, and big improvements at the Elephant and Castle and Canada Water. Government cuts mean lots of councils are closing libraries. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to invest in Southwark’s libraries and keep them open, increasing access by giving a free library card to every secondary school child.

 

·  The Tory Mayor has cut over 300 Southwark police officers and PCSOs since 2010. Council assembly supports Labour’s commitment to campaign to get them back.

 

5.  That council assembly also calls on cabinet to help local parents by funding additional childcare hours on top of those already offered by government.

 

A Vision for Localism

 

1.  That council assembly notes the persistently low turnouts in local elections, indicating a lack of connection with the voters; and also the wide disparity in turnout between the wards.

 

2.  That council assembly believes the future of Southwark will be best served when the people are empowered and encouraged to engage with local politicians.

 

3.  That council assembly warmly welcomes the steps that have been taken by this administration to improve consultation with local people through community conversations with thousands of residents. Council assembly welcomes the fact that this feedback from residents has been used to shape policy on issues such as priorities for council services, setting the budget and the future of council housing, and that the outcomes of this consultation have then been fed back to the community.

 

4.  That council assembly also welcomes the council’s work as an acknowledged leader in devolving control of housing services to residents through the creation of tenant management organisations (TMOs). Council assembly notes that residents on the D'Eynesford and Gloucester Grove estates have recently voted to create TMOs for their areas, and will join Styles House which launched in January 2014 and 12 other TMOs in Southwark who provide housing services to over 4200 homes.

 

5.  That council assembly notes that this administration has also successfully sought to allow residents even greater control through the creation of the country's first 'self-financing' TMO in the Leathermarket Joint Management Board (JMB), giving residents control of all rents and service charges in their area.

 

6.  That council assembly calls on the cabinet to continue working with local people in Southwark to encourage community involvement in decision-making and to ensure council policies reflect the priorities of local people.

 

Local Decision Making

 

1.  That council assembly believes that decisions are best made by the people closest to them and supports devolving decisions from central government to local government, as well as within local government to community councils, wards and neighbourhoods.

 

2.  That council assembly notes that the government has devolved some powers to local councils, such as neighbourhood plans, community right to bid and community right to challenge. However, council assembly is concerned that despite its rhetoric, the coalition government has failed to really deliver localism properly and has in fact centralised more decision making in Whitehall.

 

3.  That council assembly notes that the coalition government has imposed new limits on the ability of councils to make local decisions on schools, council tax, or how we speak to the community. Council assembly notes with concern that the coalition government has now acquired sweeping powers to shut down hospitals at short notice without local consultation, even if they are performing strongly, despite opposition by Labour MPs.

 

4.  That council assembly

 

i.  Believes the council still has an important role to play in promoting the devolution of powers to local communities, and supporting ward councillors with local issues where appropriate.

 

ii.  Calls on cabinet to review what further decisions and funding could be passed from the centre of Southwark Council to community councils and ward councillors.

 

5.  That council assembly:

 

·  Welcomes work by Labour councillors and Val Shawcross AM to tackle the issue of slow broadband in Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks.

·  Condemns Liberal Democrats councillors and Simon Hughes MP for failing to deliver on this issue for local people in the area.

·   Welcomes that the leader of the council is working with broadband providers to discuss progress on the issue of slow broadband in the Rotherhithe peninsula and pressing them to take meaningful action.

·  Welcomes Southwark Labour’s commitment to bring superfast broadband to Rotherhithe.

 

6.  That council assembly:

 

·  Welcomes Southwark Labour’s commitment to open new secondary schools in the borough including one in East Dulwich.

·  Notes that the Supplementary Planning Document for the East Dulwich hospital site states that "The use of part of this site for a school would help to meet the requirements of the planning brief".

·  Calls on cabinet to work closely with the steering group and deliver a new secondary school on the East Dulwich Site, rather than following the Liberal Democrats suggestion of embarking on a long winded and unneccesary bureaucratic exercise of amending the planning brief, which in any case already allows for community facilities on the site, provides only guidance and will have little impact on the delivery of the school.

 

7.  That council assembly:

 

·  Welcomes the proposed rebuild of Elephant and Castle shopping centre and welcomes that this administration is delivering on the Elephant and Castle regeneration after years of dither and delay under the previous Liberal Democrat administration.

·  Welcomes the council’s commitment and vision for the area and work that is already going on to deliver this.

·  Notes that the council is not the owner or landlord of the shopping centre, however calls on the cabinet to work with key landlords such as Delancy, Lend Lease and Network Rail to draw up a retail strategy for the Elephant & Castle, Walworth Road and East Street which protects the vibrant mix of businesses in the area and allows local businesses meaningful involvement in plans for the area.

·  Welcomes the recommendation to the cabinet member for communities and economic wellbeing to allocate £22,000 from the first round of The High Street Challenge to the Latin Elephant group to fund business planning, which is the first step of realising this administration’s vision for creating a Latin American quarter at the Elephant & Castle.

 

8.  That council assembly

 

·  Welcomes this administration’s investment of £5.96 million for parks in the Elephant & Castle area, including Dickens Square Park in Chaucer ward (£1.5m), Pullens Open Space in Newington (£350k), St Mary's Churchyard in Cathedrals (£1.25m) and Nursery Row Park (£600k) and Victory Park (£1.8m) in East Walworth, through the capital refresh programme.

·  Notes that as a result of cabinet's decision of 18 March, consultation with residents on proposals to revitalise Dicken's Square Park will proceed with all due haste.

·  Welcomes the proposals developed by this administration to revitalise Dicken's Square Park, which will include tree planting, sightline and accessibility improvements, new footpaths, new green space as well as new links to other green space, and improved recreational and play-space.

 

9.  That council assembly:

 

·  Recognises the concerns of residents in South Bermondsey about the need for good quality affordable housing in the area, and in particular family-sized council homes, and welcomes this administration’s commitment to delivering 11,000 new council homes in Southwark – the biggest house building programme in the country.

·  Condemns the Liberal Democrats for falsely accusing Labour of a “mass sell-off of council homes”, when the number of council homes sold or demolished under the current Labour administration is actually four times less than the amount in previous years under the Liberal Democrats.

·  Condemns Liberal Democrat councillors in South Bermonsey for spreading misleading information about the sale of council homes in the area, and in particular for telling local residents that a property on Longley Street is being sold by the council, when the council is in fact renovating the property to let to council tenants as a family home. 

 

10.  That council assembly:

 

·  Welcomes this administration’s investment of £326 million to make every council home in Southwark warm, dry and safe.

·  Welcomes Southwark Labour’s commitment to deliver quality kitchens and bathrooms for every council tenant, including residents on the Arnold Estate.

·  Condemns the attempt by Liberal Democrat councillors to ignore need across the borough by prioritising particular council properties in wards they currently hold rather than where the need in the borough is greatest.

·  Notes the failure of the Liberal Democrat/Tory council to deliver improvements in housing where they left a housing department judged as failing and a £600m hole in the housing budget.

·  Calls on cabinet to guarantee that every council home in Southwark will be made warm, dry and safe and to install new kitchens and bathrooms where they are needed for all council tenants in every ward in the borough.

 

11.  That council assembly:

 

·  Recognises the pressure on school places across the borough, including in Rotherhithe.

·  Notes that Liberal Democrats in Rotherhithe have failed to raise this important issue with cabinet.

·  Praises local residents who have pressed for a new primary and a new secondary school in the area.

·  Welcomes Labour’s commitment to new schools in the borough to meet demand.

 

12.  That council assembly:

 

·  Notes that traffic management in the very busy London Bridge is continually being reviewed by highways engineers and network planners, all part of Southwark Council's public realm department.

·  Notes that councillors who are concerned about traffic movements should in the first instance contact the public realm division or the relevant cabinet member.

·  Notes that the timescale to conduct a full traffic management study for streets in Grange Ward has passed, and regrets that Grange ward councillors have thus far failed to raise concerns about traffic problems in the ward.

·  Calls on the cabinet to actively follow up any requests from future Grange ward councillors who wish to call for a traffic study in selected roads.

 

13.  That council assembly:

 

·  Notes that payments negotiated from developers in-lieu of on-site affordable homes are being spent within the communities affected by the new development and are helping to fund 1,000 new council homes, including 165 council homes in SE1 and 76 council homes in SE16.

·  Calls on cabinet to work with local ward councillors across the borough to identify sites that could be used to deliver more affordable housing.

 

14.  That council assembly:

 

·  Notes that due to savage cuts to government funding the council has to make savings wherever possible, including the cost of committee meetings.

·  Notes that planning committee meetings are currently held in Tooley Street and at Queens Road, Peckham, because of the significant cost implications of holding these meetings elsewhere.

·  Calls on the cabinet to hold planning committee meetings in locations across the borough whenever it is financially feasible to do so.

 

15.  That in addition council assembly calls on the cabinet to continue delivering a fairer future for all by:

 

·  Creating a new world class civic centre in Walworth.

·  Delivering £11million investment in Camberwell Green including a new state of the art library and keep campaigning to extend the Bakerloo Line.

·  Securing the long term future of Greendale.

·  Campaigning to ensure a Dulwich police base remains open on Seeley Drive on the Kingswood Estate.

·  Continuing improvements in Nunhead including a free cash point and a bigger and better playground in Peckham Rye Park.

·  Working with the community to transform Peckham town centre including support for local arts organisations and businesses.

·  Working with businesses to deliver a business improvement district on Southwark Park Road at The Blue.

·  Continuing to campaign with Bermondsey residents to stop the super-sewer at Chambers Wharf.

·  Restoring the Old Kent Road to its former glory with plans to build new homes and support for businesses.

·  Transforming the Elephant and Castle with a new leisure centre, affordable homes and shopping centre.

 

Free School Meals

 

1.  That council assembly notes the recent London Assembly Labour report on food poverty in London, which shows that more people than ever in the capital are relying on food banks - the use of foodbanks in London has gone up by 400% in the last two years. Council assembly condemns the shameful rise in the numbers of families being forced to rely on emergency handouts from foodbanks, as Tory/Liberal Democrat welfare reforms push more families into poverty, and supports the report’s call for free school meals for all children in London to combat the growing food poverty crisis.

 

2.  That council assembly is concerned at reports that the national plan to give free school meals to the youngest primary school children across the country is “in chaos” and that young children are unlikely to get a hot, nutritious meal as promised by the government. Council assembly notes the concerns of primary schools about how the policy will be implemented, given that the Liberal Democrat Leader has failed to take into account the cost of upgrading school kitchen facilities in the plans for the national scheme.

 

3.  That council assembly notes that a former Liberal Democrat Minister has described the policy as being dreamt up “on the back of a fag packet”. Council assembly believes that the utterly shambolic implementation of free school meals by Liberal Democrats in government shows that free hot healthy school meals are not safe in the hands of the Liberal Democrats.

 

4.  That council assembly urges the cabinet to call on government to put forward a fully costed, implementable plan for the roll out of free school meals nationally; to provide reassurance to schools that they will be given the necessary support to upgrade kitchen facilities in order to meet the demand of the new policy; and to follow Southwark’s lead by extending free school meals to the youngest children.

 

That council assembly also calls on the cabinet to provide reassurance that regardless of the outcome of the national scheme, this council will continue to provide free, hot healthy school meals for every primary school child in the borough.

 

Meat Free Mondays

 

1.  That council assembly notes the benefits to personal health and the environment of lowering the consumption of meat.

 

2.  That council assembly therefore calls on cabinet to promote meat free options in schools and council buildings every Monday, and also promote the benefits of reducing meat consumption to council staff.

 

Regulation for Payday Lenders

 

That council assembly:

 

1.  Notes that payday lenders are trapping millions of people in spirals of debt.

 

2.  Believes that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s new proposals for regulating payday lenders are a step in the right direction, but do not go far enough.

 

3.  Considers the FCA’s proposals:

 

i.  Would not prevent payday lenders from drip feeding new loans to people who already have payday debts and are struggling to pay them back

ii.  Would not prevent people from being hit with escalating penalty fees

iii.  Would not stop payday lenders from raiding people’s bank accounts without telling them.

 

4.  Welcomes the steps that this administration has taken to stop the spread of payday lenders in Southwark, including:

 

i.  Refusing to let council buildings to pay day lenders

ii.  Using Article 4 planning directions on change of use to protect high streets

iii.  Reducing the exposure of residents to payday lenders by getting agreement from two of the council’s billboard advertising contractors not to display payday loan adverts

iv.  Lobbying the government for the power to levy payday lenders in Southwark.

 

5.  Welcomes that some of Britain’s biggest debt, consumer and anti-poverty organisations – including Which, Citizens Advice, StepChange Debt Charity, Church Action on Poverty and the Centre for Responsible Credit – and MPs from every party represented at Westminster have come together to support the Charter to Stop the Payday Loan Rip-Off.

 

6.  Council assembly supports the Charter to Stop the Payday Loan Rip-Off which calls on the FCA to introduce tougher regulation of payday lenders. Council assembly calls on the cabinet to:

 

i.  Encourage residents of Southwark to support the Charter by signing the online petition at http://www.change.org/paydayloancharter

 

ii.  Promote and support the development of local credit unions and more affordable lending

 

iii.  Work with partners on campaigns against increasing levels of personal debt

 

iv.  Send a copy of this motion to Martin Wheatley, Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

 

Fixed Odds Betting Terminals

 

1.  That council assembly notes:

 

i.  The prevalence of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in betting shops, often referred to in the media as “the crack cocaine of gambling”.

 

ii.  That, unlike fruit machines in pubs, bingo halls and amusement arcades where cash stakes are limited to £2, gamblers can bet with cash or via a debit card up to £100 every 20 seconds on FOBTs, more than four times as fast as the rate of play in casinos.

 

iii.  That in 2012, over £1.5 billion was lost on FOBTs across the UK. More profit was made from FOBTs than from the National Lottery, when according to the most recent British Gambling Prevalence Survey, 56% of the population play the Lottery, but just 4% play FOBTs.

 

iv.  Empirical evidence that suggests FOBTs are the most addictive form of gambling.

 

v.  Research carried out by Geofutures, which found there to be four times as many betting shops in areas of high unemployment than in areas of low unemployment.

 

vi.  Research carried out by 2CV in Newham, which found that the average bet per spin on FOBTs is £17, and the average amount of cash inserted into the machine is £55 per session, with one in five putting in over £100 a time.

 

vii.  Nationally, more than 80% of turnover in betting shops and more than half of profits are derived from FOBTs. Less than 20% of stakes in betting shops are over the counter.

 

viii.  A recent economic analysis undertaken by Landman Economics, commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which assessed the impact of FOBTs on local economies and across the wider economy. The report concluded that every £1 billion spent on FOBTs produces a net reduction of 13,000 jobs, compared to if spent in the wider consumer economy. The projected doubling of revenue from FOBTs by 2023 could cost a further 23,000 jobs across the economy.

 

ix.  The position in the Republic of Ireland where the government has introduced legislation to outlaw FOBTs in betting shops

 

2.  That council assembly notes with concern the prevalence of high-speed, high-stakes gambling machines in the most deprived areas of the country. In the 55 most deprived boroughs of the country £13 billion was gambled and £470 million lost to fixed-odds betting terminals last year, in 2,691 betting shops – double the amount staked in the richest areas. Council assembly is concerned that it appears bookmakers are targeting the poorest areas with the highest unemployment and lowest income level.  In Southwark, £523 million was gambled and £18.6m lost at fixed odds betting terminals in 81 shops last year.

 

3.  That council assembly notes that the gambling industry has recently been announced a new code of conduct, introducing optional time and money limits for gamblers and mandatory alerts to betting shop staff, but believes that this voluntary code does not go far enough to protect people from the risks of these high-stakes betting machines.

 

4.  That council assembly is concerned that the government has not addressed the issues caused by fixed-odds betting terminals (FOTBs) and has resisted calls to reduce stakes on FOBT, claiming that “it is currently not clear how great an impact a reduction would have on gambling related harm”.

 

5.  That council assembly applauds the work of Labour MPs in calling for local authorities to be given new powers to restrict the growth of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOTBs) and is disappointed that this motion was rejected by Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs, who failed to support the proposals despite the Liberal Democrats’ previous support for “Stop FOBT” campaigns.

 

6.  That council assembly believes that the increase in FOBTs is causing significant problems and believes that the government should either use the existing legislative framework, or introduce legislation to outlaw B2 casino games in betting shops. At the very least, local authorities should be given the powers to protect the local amenity and wellbeing of communities by (1) stopping the proliferation of betting shops and (2) reducing the maximum stakes and slowing down the speed of play.

 

7.  That council assembly therefore calls on the cabinet to:

 

a)  Write to the Secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport to outline the terms of this motion and demand urgent action against FOBTs by the government

 

b)  Explore the use of the Sustainable Communities Act as a means to reduce the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals to £2 per spin.