Standard Items
1
Lord Mayor's announcements
2
Presentation of long service awards
3
Declarations of interest
(Please note that it is the responsibility of individual members to declare an interest prior to the item if they arrive late for the meeting)
4
Questions from the public
Purpose - To agree the accuracy of the minutes of the council meeting held on 21 July 2015
7
Questions to cabinet members / committee chairs
(A printed copy of the questions and replies will be available at the meeting)
Purpose - To review treasury management performance for the year to 31 March 2015
Purpose - To consider the proposed legally binding borrowing authorisation agreement to use future Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) revenues to fund costs associated with the delivery of the Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR).
10
Motion - Individual Electoral Registration
The Electoral Commission’s findings in its report into the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) and, in particular, the finding that 1.9 million of the current entries on the electoral register are only being retained under the transitional arrangements from the previous household registration system, which represents 4% of all register entries. The Electoral Commission has previously estimated that the number of people not correctly registered at their current address is around 7.5million across the UK.
The Government chose to end the transitional arrangements and fully implement IER 12 months early. The Electoral Commission has warned that there is “a risk that a considerable number of eligible voters could be removed from the registers before the significant set of polls scheduled for May 2016 if the transition to IER is brought forward.”
Council RESOLVES to:
1) continue to take every possible step to ensure that as many local residents as possible are registered to vote.
2) write to the Government to:-
a) express concerns that proposals for the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) remain poorly thought out and implemented, running the risk that voters could be disenfranchised as part of this process.
b) ask that the end of the transitional IER arrangements remain at December 2016 as originally stated in law and not be brought forward to December 2015.
11
Motion – Syrian refugee crisis
Council RESOLVES to:
a) reaffirm its long held commitment to help shelter and protect refugees in Norwich;
b) communicate a message of thanks to those Norwich residents who have responded to the crisis by offering and giving help and support to refugees;
c) support citizen initiatives to help all refugees’ resettlement and integration in local communities;
d) ask cabinet to continue to :-
i) work closely with the county council as the ‘lead agency’ and with other public, voluntary and private sector bodies;
ii) participate in schemes to house refugees and work with the UK Border Agency to support people of all nationalities granted refuge in Norwich;
e) call on the Government – in recognition of the need for long-term assistance - to fund support from national resources (without use of the international aid budget) for at least five years with a review after that time;
f) call on both Norwich MPs and MEPs for the Eastern Region to support the suggested funding proposal; and
g) ask group leaders to write to the Prime Minister asking him to recognise and respond positively to the refugee crisis in Europe.
12
Motion – Air pollution
Air pollution from road traffic is a serious public health issue. Public Health England estimate that in Norwich in 2010 5.5% of all deaths of people over 25 years old were associated with fine particulates from diesel vehicles. There may be additional local deaths attributable to nitrogen dioxide which have not been quantified.
In April, the UK Supreme Court ordered the government to produce a plan for cutting unlawful levels of air pollution. Defra has published consultation plans for tackling nitrogen dioxide, but responsibility for action largely falls on local authorities.
The draft Norwich Air Quality Action Plan (August 2015) covers the Air Quality Management Area in the city centre. The proposals need to go further, but action is also required to improve air quality across Greater Norwich.
Therefore, this council RESOLVES to ask the cabinet to:
a) respond to the Government’s consultation and request stronger national action and also additional resources for local authorities for achieving healthy air quality.
b) work with transport and health providers to develop strategies and programmes for delivery with the aim of achieving healthy air quality in Greater Norwich.
c) work with transport partners and bus operators to achieve Euro 6 standard / ultra-low emissions for all buses within the next 5 years and to amend the Norwich Air Quality Action Plan accordingly.
13
Motion – Twinning
Norwich has strong twinning links with Koblenz, Rouen, Novi Sad and El Viejo showing it to be an outward looking city which seeks to find friendship and understanding with other nations.
This council’s support for its Twinning links has included a grant to the Twinning Committee (currently £2060 per annum); officer support through the Twinning Officer and use of the civic budget, the latter of which has been greatly reduced in recent years.
Council RESOLVES, in order to continue to honour these important Twinning Links at a civic level and to support the work of the Twinning Associations, to give consideration to increasing the amount given in grant to the Twinning Committee when the 2016-17 budgets are decided in February 2016.