Agenda item - Notices of Motion.

The following Notices of Motion have been submitted by Members for consideration (copies attached):

 

(a)               Impact of parking charges on the local economy.  Proposed by Councillor Cox.

(b)              Rugby World Cup Bid.  Proposed by Councillor G. Theobald.

(c)               Support properly funded Early Years Education and Childcare.  Proposed by Councillor Gilbey.

(d)              Council Tax Benefit Support.  Proposed by Councillor Phillips.

(e)               Free Childcare for disadvantaged Two-Year Olds.  Proposed by Councillor Shanks.

(f)                 Support Extra Funding for the Local Discretionary Social Fund.  Proposed by Councillor Fitch.

(a)               Impact of Parking Charges on the Local Economy

 

65.1         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Cox on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor G. Theobald.

 

65.2         The Mayor then put the following motion to the vote:

 

“This Council notes with grave concern that visitor numbers in Brighton & Hove fell by 10.8% year on year in the first seven months of 2012 and agrees with the many local traders on the seafront and in the main shopping areas of the city who say that one of the predominant reasons for this drop in numbers was the largest increase in parking charges ever implemented. This is borne out by:

 

a)           figures from other seaside resorts such as Eastbourne, where visitor numbers dropped by only 3%, and Bournemouth, where numbers actually increased by over 13% during the same period.

 

b)           The fact that visitor numbers to Brighton & Hove decreased significantly more (over 14%) after the new parking charges were introduced in April.

 

c)            Targeted Budget Management figures that project a large shortfall on the extra £1.3 million income that the Administration sought from parking charge increases

 

Furthermore, this Council regrets that the remit of the ongoing citywide parking review does not include issues of charging and notes the concerns of local traders and businesses who feel that they have not been properly consulted as part of the review.

 

This Council recognises the significant environmental benefits of encouraging the use of trains, buses, bicycles and walking but also agrees that using high parking charges as a tool to force people out of their cars damages the local economy and gives the dangerous impression that Brighton & Hove is a ‘rip off’ city that takes both visitors and residents for granted.

 

Therefore, this Council resolves to call on the Transport Committee to ensure:

 

a)           As part of the ongoing citywide parking review, to undertake detailed financial modelling to determine the impact on the local economy of different parking charge levels both on-street and off-street (including the decision to delete certain tariffs, thus forcing residents and visitors to pay for parking for longer than they need);

 

b)           As part of this work, to present options to deliver a real terms decrease in parking charges particularly in the areas of the city where local businesses are suffering the most from the impact of high charges. These decreases should bring charges back in line with the level they were at in 2011/12;

 

c)            To carry out a specific targeted consultation with local traders and their representative organisations about the impact of the Administration’s parking charge increases together with the substantial increases in Trader and Business Permits and to act on the findings of that consultation;

 

d)           To examine ways of making better use of the city’s under-occupied car parks such as Norton Road for the benefit of both local businesses and residents;

 

e)           That a report covering the whole parking situation comes back to the Transport Committee meeting on 15^th January to enable the findings to be fed into the Council’s 2013/14 Budget.”

 

65.3         The motion was carried.

 

(b)              Rugby World Cup Bid

 

 

65.4         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor G. Theobald on behalf of the Conservative and Labour & Co-operative Groups.  Councillor Theobald also moved a joint amendment to the notice of motion on behalf of the Conservative, Labour & Co-operative and Green Groups, which was seconded by Councillors Mitchell and Bowden.

 

65.5         The Mayor then put the following motion as amended to the vote:

 

“This Council warmly welcomes the long listing of the AMEX Community Stadium to host matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.  It notes that should the bid, submitted with cross party support by Brighton & Hove Albion FC, be successful it will help increase tourism, inspire young people to take up the sport and significantly boost the economy of our City.  The bid has the full backing from all elected members of Brighton & Hove City Council who undertake to provide their continued support throughout the selection process, and beyond, if successful.”

 

65.6         The motion was carried.

 

 

(c)               Support Properly Funded Early Years Education and Childcare

(e)       Free Childcare for Disadvantaged Two-Year-Olds

 

65.7         The Mayor noted that the notice of motions listed as 58(c) and 58(e) on the agenda related to the same issue and therefore stated that he proposed to take both motions under one debate but to hold separate votes on each motion.

 

65.8         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Mitchell on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group and seconded by Councillor Gilbey.

 

65.9         The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Shanks on behalf of the Green and Conservative Groups and seconded by Councillor Wealls.

 

65.10    The Mayor then put the following motions to the vote:

 

(c)        “This council believes that all families in Brighton and Hove should have access to good quality, affordable early years education and childcare.  It praises the work of the city’s early years providers and pledges to continue to support their valuable work. It recognises that access to childcare and early education is a vital part of maintaining a strong local economy that enables parents who wish to work to do so and where children can be helped to get off to a good start in life.

 

Furthermore, the council believes that properly funded family support projects and early intervention schemes such as Surestart are essential to help support struggling families and, by intervening early, to reduce future costs.  It supports the free early learning places for 2 year olds being further extended to those on low incomes. 

 

However, the council deplores the actions of the Government to effectively scrap the Early Intervention Fund in order to fund the free early learning places for 2 year olds, as confirmed by DCLG, and to also pass £300m from this fund to the Treasury for purposes that remain unclear.  It notes that as a result of these actions this council will loose approximately £3m in 2013/14 from its own Early Intervention Grant funding.

 

This council also raises the concern that whilst there will be a statutory duty placed upon it to provide the 600 early years places needed for 2 year olds living in areas of disadvantage from September 2013, with at least 1,300 similar places needing to be provided the following year, the Government is failing to give assurances that the necessary capital funding will be made available to create the places in the areas that need them most.

 

This council therefore;

 

·              Expresses its strong concern that cuts to the Early Intervention Grant will impede the council’s ability to properly support vulnerable families and children in Brighton & Hove and calls on the government to fund the early years places for 2 year olds with new money;

 

·              Supports the actions of the Conservative Leader of the LGA who has written to Ministers asking that the Government returns to councils the £300m cut from the EIG budget that represents a 1m cut per council and;

 

·              Calls on the Chief Executive to write to relevant Ministers requesting that they provide adequate capital funding for the provision of the additional early years places for 2 year olds so that the Council can properly fulfil the statutory duty placed upon it.”

 

(e)       “This council welcomes the government initiative to extend the current entitlement of 15 hours a week free childcare for three and four olds to disadvantaged 2 year olds.

 

The proposal to extend to the most disadvantaged two year olds from September next year and then to the most disadvantaged 40% from September 2014 should make a real difference to these children’s lives. It will also enable parents to re engage with education and/or employment (paid or voluntary).

 

The importance of the first few years of a child’s life cannot be overstated. Children who have the right support in the foundation years enjoy better health, wellbeing, and achievement in school and later life. [1] 

 

However, while we welcome this extension we ask the government to give us clarity on funding to support this, particularly for future years. We are concerned that the shortfall could mean in adequate provision of high quality free early education, particularly in the disadvantaged areas of our city.”

 

[1]     Supporting Families in the Foundation Years: Proposed Changes to the Entitlement to Free Early Education and Childcare Sufficiency, Department for Education.

 

65.11    The motions were carried.

 

 

(d)              Council Tax Benefit Support

 

65.12    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Phillips on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Duncan.

 

65.13    The Mayor then put the following motion to the vote:

 

“This Council believes that the Government's devolution of responsibility for Council Tax Benefit support to local councils in the name of ‘localism’ is a cynical attempt to make councils take the blame for centrally-driven Benefit cuts. By arbitrarily reducing the amount of money transferred to councils to administer the scheme by ten per cent, it ensured that some of the most vulnerable and impoverished people in local communities up and down the country would suffer. The Government further legislated that the new "local" schemes that councils devised had to ensure that pensioners were not adversely affected by the changes, leaving councils no choice but to pass on even bigger cuts in benefits to non-pensioners. This is neither fair nor localist, and taken with the other proposed Government changes to the Benefits System, represents a vicious attack on the less well off in our community. At the same time, Government cuts to local government funding of 25% over 4 years leave this council facing other tough choices on priorities. This council is disappointed that the localised scheme's first year of government funding assumes declining numbers of benefit claims, when all indicators suggest that numbers will be increasing. There will be no additional funding in future years for council tax support, which means that councils will be alone in bearing the costs of more benefits claims as a direct result of the government's economic mismanagement and welfare cuts. This council also deplores the government's reduced support for the administration costs councils bear when delivering the council tax support, further adding to the financial pressures facing local government.

 

The Council notes that unlike many councils across the country, we have agreed to reduce the cuts to benefits by transferring £1m of general funds and the establishment of a hardship fund.

 

In its 2013/14 budget provisions, through this and other schemes, the Council will ensure that targeted financial support is available to those households most badly affected by the Government’s council tax benefit cuts.

 

The Council calls on the Government to restore the 10% cut made to council tax benefit and appeals to all elected representatives (councillors and MPs) in Brighton & Hove to lobby the Government to restore the full amount of council tax funding.”

 

65.14    The motion was carried.

 

 

(f)                 Support Extra Funding for the Local Discretionary Social Fund

 

65.15    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Fitch on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group and seconded by Councillor Farrow.

 

65.16    The Mayor then put the following motion to the vote:

 

“This Council notes that the government, as part of its welfare reform programme, will abolish the Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants scheme from April 2013, thereafter delegating responsibility and implementation to Local Authorities of a new scheme, the Local Discretionary Social Fund.

 

This Council also notes that the government is to dramatically reduce the amount of money available to local authorities for this new scheme with funding based on 2005/2006 levels of demand for the current Crisis Loan programme. As household budgets are squeezed across the city and the government’s welfare reforms become a reality, the fear is that more and more people will turn to legal and illegal loan sharks in order to make up the shortfall in the help available.

 

This Council therefore calls on the Chief Executive to write to the Minister for the Department of Work and Pensions to ask that more money is available for the new scheme, based on current demand and the anticipated increase as a result of the government’s welfare reforms.”

 

65.17    The motion was carried.