Agenda item

Councillor Barrie Hargrove, the cabinet member for public health, parks and leisure, to present the theme for the meeting.

(see pages 1 - 3 of the main agenda and page 6 of supplemental agenda 2)

The Mayor advised that the late motion on HIV testing had been formally moved and seconded and that members could refer to its content in the open debate (see item 5.2.3 for the decision on the late motion).

The cabinet member for public health, parks and leisure, Councillor Barrie Hargrove, presented the motion on the themed debate.

Councillor David Noakes, the lead opposition spokesperson for health, responded to the cabinet member’s motion and proposed Amendment A.

Following debate (Councillors Gavin Edwards, Michael Situ, Karl Eastham, Jane Lyons, Anood Al-Samerai, Sunny Lambe, Paul Flemming, Kieron Williams, Eliza Mann, Lucas Green, Stephanie Cryan, Renata Hamvas, Maria Linforth-Hall, Mark Williams and Jasmine Ali), Councillor Neil Coyle made a point of personal explanation.

The cabinet member for public health, parks and leisure responded to the debate.

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

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

RESOLVED:

1.  That everyone in our borough should have the opportunity to lead a healthy and active life. As a local authority Southwark Council is supporting local residents to be healthy and active by:

1)  Committing to make swim and gym use free for all Southwark residents in council leisure centres to ensure that that cost is not a barrier preventing people in Southwark from getting fit and healthy. This groundbreaking initiative will be particularly targeted at those who would benefit most from free swimming and gyms, including residents with ill health, children and young people, older people, and those with disabilities.

2)  Giving free healthy school meals to all primary school children in Southwark, despite four years of opposition from Liberal Democrat councillors, saving parents £340 a year for each of child, and extending free fruit to all primary school pupils as a healthy morning snack.

3)  Investing in our parks and open spaces and bringing even more of our parks up to green flag standards.

4)  Delivering a cycling strategy to improve cycle take up and safety in the borough.

5)  Doubling the number of free NHS health checks to catch problems like heart disease and diabetes.

6)  Providing a wide range of sports provision, including:

·  Free accredited training for Southwark residents

·  Equipment grants for clubs and coaching courses to increase sport participation for young people

·  A wide range of disability sport opportunities and sportability grants to increase opportunities for disabled people in sport and physical activity

·  A large programme of older adult classes

·  Sports activities for women and girls

·  Free community sport hours at leisure centres and parks across the borough.

7)  Investing in sports infrastructure, including the state of the art BMX track in Burgess Park, reinstating Southwark Park athletics track, and new leisure centres at Elephant and Castle and Canada Water.

8)  Helping residents in Southwark to support each other to lead healthy and active lives, by working with partner organisations, including Volunteer Centre Southwark, Community Action Southwark and Southwark Arts Forum, to make it easier to volunteer and to encourage more people in Southwark to volunteer.

2.  That there are a number of barriers that can prevent people from being healthy and active, including finance, time, work, ill health, disability or access to health, sport and leisure services.  Council assembly welcomes this administration’s work to remove these barriers and support our residents to become healthy and active. However, council assembly is concerned that the government is making it harder for people to be healthy and active by:

1)  Overseeing an increase in GP waiting times, cancelled operations and delays in treatments.

2)  Hitting 3,500 families in the borough with the bedroom tax, making it harder to make ends meet and forcing people into debt for the first time.

3)  Imposing harsh welfare cuts and forcing huge increases in the number of families in Southwark relying on food banks.

3.  That council assembly calls on the cabinet to continue doing everything possible to support local residents to be healthy and active members of the community and to remove the barriers currently preventing some residents from leading healthy and active lives.

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