Agenda item - Petitions for Council Debate

Petitions to be debated at Council.  Reports of the Monitoring Officer (copies attached).

 

(1)       Commit Brighton & Hove Council to Zero Carbon Emissions by 2030.  Lead petitioner Caitriona Vines.

 

(2)       Stop Zippos Circus from returning to Brighton and Hove to Exploit Animals for Entertainment.  Lead petitioner Victoria Wood.

 

(3)       Make Brighton and Hove Events Plastic Free.  Lead petitioners Carole Mortimer and Sarah Kingdom.

 

(1)    COMMIT BRIGHTON AND HOVE TO ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS BY 2030

 

63.1      The Mayor stated that where a petition secured 1,250 or more signatures it could be debated at the council meeting.  She had been made aware of 3 such petitions.  She also noted that there was an amendment to the covering report’s recommendation from the Green Group.

 

63.2      The Mayor noted that the lead petitioner Caitriona Vines was unable to attend the meeting and invited Mr. Gunbie to come forward and present the petition on her behalf. 

 

63.3      Mr. Gunbie thanked the Mayor and sated that the petition had nearly 1,400 signatures in support which had been reached in just under 4 weeks of the petition being started.  He wanted to congratulate the Council on approving the notice of motion in December relating to climate change and noted that council was leading the way in seeking to address this issue.  There was a clear need to encourage low carbon living and the petition was asking the council to make consideration of carbon emission levels an integral part of its decision making for all matters.  Both Bristol and Manchester Councils had incorporated the need to reduce carbon emissions into their Action Plans and he hoped Brighton & Hove would follow the example and work with community groups, partner organisations and schools to reach the target.

 

63.4      Councillor Mitchell thanked Mr. Gunbie for presenting the petition and noted that the council was taking action in light of the approved notice of motion in December; which included having a report to the Policy, Resources & Growth Committee and looking to work with partners to take matters forward.   She also confirmed that she was happy to accept the Green Group’s amendment.

 

63.5      Councillor Sykes welcomed the petition and moved an amendment on behalf of the Green Group, which called for the council to publicise matters and for a report to the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee.  He acknowledged Councillor Mitchell’s willingness to accept the amendment and stated that there was a need to take the initiative and to work with partners to get the message out and to start to address the issue.

 

63.6      Councillor Gibson formally seconded the amendment and stated that there was a climate emergency and a need to take action now for the benefit of future generations and to encourage others to follow suit.

 

63.7      Councillor Janio stated that it was an important issue and had been recognised by the government and he noted that the UK had been outperforming on carbon targets.  He noted that a report was due to come to the Policy, Resources & Growth Committee and welcomed the opportunity to consider that in due course.  He also noted that issue of climate change had been previously considered by a scrutiny panel in 2010.

 

63.8      The Mayor thanked Mr. Gunbie for attending the meeting and presenting the petition, and noted that the amendment had been accepted.  She therefore put the recommendations as amended to the vote which was carried unanimously.

 

63.9      RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the petition be noted and referred to the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee for consideration at its meeting on the 19^th March 2019;

 

(2)       That the council seek to publicise this council's recognition of climate and biodiversity emergencies (as agreed unanimously at a meeting of Full Council, December 2018) as follows:

 

(i)     To request a brief report from the Chief Executive outlining low-cost measures the Communications team could organise to publicise the ‘Climate Emergency’ declaration agreed by this Council;

 

(ii)    To request the placement of an online banner on the home page of the BHCC website 'Unanimous ambition of this Council: zero carbon by 2030' and

 

(3)       To request that the Chief Executive promote this petition on climate and biodiversity and the ambition of this Council to achieve carbon neutral status by 2030 to partner organisations, including: the Greater Brighton Economic Board, the Transport for the South East partnership, the SE7 group, ORBIS, CCG and other similar bodies.

 

(2)    STOP ZIPPOS CIRCUS FROM RETURNING TO BRIGHTON AND HOVE TO EXPLOIT ANIMALS FOR ENTERTAINMENT

 

63.10   The Mayor stated that where a petition secured 1,250 or more signatures it could be debated at the council meeting.  She had been made aware of 1 such petition.  She also noted that there was an amendment to the covering report’s recommendation from the Green Group.

 

63.11   The Mayor then invited Ms. Wood to come forward and present the petition. 

 

63.12   Ms. Wood thanked the Mayor and sated that the petition resulted from concerns about the use of animals by Zippos Circus.  Whilst he noted Zippos had confirmed their circus in 2019 would not involve any animals, the aim of the petition was to get a change in policy to prevent any future instances of animals being used for live entertainment.  The petition had 5,750 signatures and he hoped that councillors would listen to the voices of these people and ensure a change in policy could be achieved and an amendment made to the Animal Welfare Charter.  There was a clear need to prevent animals from suffering stress and anxiety and he noted that the RSPCA supported not using animals in circuses.  She also drew attention to a recent government survey that found 95.4% of people supported a ban on the use of wild animals and there was strong support for domestic animals to be included.  She suggested that with Zippos bringing an all human circus to the city this year, it showed that the use of animals was not a consideration for their business model and noted in 2016 following a public outcry they stopped using cats in their shows.  He called on the council to set an example and to support the petition.

 

63.13   Councillor Robins thanked Ms. Wood for presenting the petition and stated that Zippos had confirmed their intention to bring the successful show from the Edinburgh Festival to the city, which was an entirely human production.  He also confirmed that no other circus bookings had been made for 2019 in the city.  He noted that in the past council animal welfare officers had inspected the conditions for the animals at Zippos and found them to be suitable.  The Animal Welfare Charter set out the council’s policy on the use of animals on council owned land with an exception for horses and ponies and under current legislation this could not be altered.  However, he was happy for the matter to be reconsidered at the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee.

 

63.14   Councillor Mac Cafferty welcomed the petition and moved an amendment on behalf of the Green Group, which called for the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee to review the matter and to consider a report to enable the Animal Welfare Charter to be amended so that the use of animals was not permitted on council owned land.  He noted that a similar petition had been brought to the council two years previously and had not been taken forward.  He hoped that on this occasion the petition and the amendment would be accepted and necessary action taken to enable the Animal Welfare Charter to be amended as there was no need to use animals in this way for entertainment.

 

63.15   Councillor Druitt formally seconded the amendment and stated that he wanted to thank Zippos for taking note of the petition and deciding to bring their non-animal show to the city this year.  He also noted that Councillor Robins had previously agreed to review the policy in 2017 but when the matter came to committee the decision was to retain the Charter and the policy as it was.  He hoped that this time round there would be a change in position.

 

63.16   Councillor Nemeth stated that he welcomed the opportunity to discuss the matter further at committee and to explore the use of animals in circuses as there was a need to consider all sides of the issue.  He noted that Zippos had been coming to city for a number of years and had their intention to continue to do so should be welcomed as it did benefit the city.  He therefore hoped that the council could work with them and other partners to find a solution.

 

63.17   Councillor Robins noted the comments and stated that he could not accept the amendment and was having to defend a policy he did not agree with.  However, the legal advice was that the legislation did not enable the council to extend the ban but in taking the petition to committee he was happy for that advice to be reviewed.

 

63.18   The Mayor thanked Ms. Wood for attending the meeting and presenting the petition, and noted that the Green Group’s amendment had not been accepted.  She therefore put the amendment to the vote which was lost by 21 votes to 23 with 3 abstentions.

 

63.19   The Mayor then put the recommendation detailed in the covering report to the vote which was carried unanimously.

 

63.20   RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the petition be noted and referred to the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee for consideration at its meeting on the 7^th March 2019.

 

(3)    MAKE BRIGHTON AND HOVE EVENTS PLASTIC FREE

 

63.21   The Mayor stated that where a petition secured 1,250 or more signatures it could be debated at the council meeting.  She had been made aware of 3 such petitions.  She also noted that there was an amendment to the covering report’s recommendation from the Green Group.

 

63.22   The Mayor then invited Dr Kingdom to come forward and present the petition. 

 

63.23   Dr Kingdom thanked the Mayor and sated that the petition had over 3,500 signatures calling on the council to ban the use of single-use plastics at outdoor events in the city.  It was felt that the council could move faster to make change happen and is in a position to stipulate conditions as part of any agreement that allows an event to take place in the city which would see the use of alternatives to single-use plastic cups, the provision of water fountains, and improved public transport routes. She believed that Brighton should be regarded as an aspirational destination for event co-ordinators and she hoped that the petition would be supported.

 

63.24   Councillor Robins thanked Dr Kingdom for presenting the petition and stated that officers were already considering how to ensure sustainable event management and to amend the Event Strategy to take account of this issue.  He noted that significant changes had already been achieved by working with the Brighton half-marathon organisers but he accepted that there was still a long way to go.  A report detailing the proposed Event Strategy was due to come to the committee in March and that would be helpful given that was when the petition would also be considered.  He hoped that there would be a possibility to phase out single-use plastics at events in the city.

 

63.25   Councillor Littman welcomed the petition and moved an amendment on behalf of the Green Group, which called for the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee to commission a further report for September that looked at options for other actions that could be implemented to help ensure events in the city were plastic free.

 

63.26   Councillor Greenbaum formally seconded the amendment.

 

63.27   Councillor Nemeth welcomed the petition in principal and agreed that action needed to be taken, but also noted that it would be difficult to prevent events such as the half marathon from being completely plastic free given the use of the material in other associated products such as, energy capsules and the medals presented at the end of the event.  He also suggested that it would be difficult to control the actions of stall holders at such events but looked forward to considering the reports at future meetings of the committee.

 

63.28   Councillor Robins noted the comments and stated that he could not accept the amendment. He was happy to discuss the petition’s ambitions at the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee but felt that the council was already doing a great deal in this area and perhaps needed to consider how to publicise that more.  He noted that other cities such as San Francisco had attempted to reduce use of plastic bottles but then found other problems with the alternatives that were put in place.

 

63.29   The Mayor thanked Dr Kingdom for attending the meeting and presenting the petition, and noted that the Green Group’s amendment had not been accepted.  She therefore put the amendment to the vote which was carried by 29 votes to 19 votes.

 

63.30   The Mayor then put the recommendations as amended to the vote which was carried unanimously.

 

63.31   RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the petition be noted and referred to the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee for consideration at its meeting on the 7^th March 2019;

 

(2)       That, in addition to the referral of this petition to the March meeting, to request that a further report be received by Tourism, Development & Culture Committee before the end of September 2019, containing outline proposals and costings for the following:

 

-    The introduction of an Environmental Impact Charge levied by the Council on event organisers to directly mitigate against any long term environmental or ecological damage;

-    The provision of infrastructure aimed at reducing waste and the usage of plastics at events (e.g. water-fountains or properly signposted standpipes), and improved recycling facilities;

-    The employment of an additional Officer in the Sustainability Team; working specifically on achieving the timetables outlined here and bringing in best practice, such as the management of waste at Latitude Festival in collaboration with Greenpeace, and other measures as set out in the Dec 2018 Notice of Motion on ‘Climate and Biodiversity Emergencies’ and

(3)       That the report in 2.2 above should further explore:

 

-    Options to improve partnership working between the Council, event organisers, and local campaign groups, regarding plastic and waste reduction; and

 

-    Additional work with partners to ensure better public transport links for all events, encouraging low-emission travel.