Motion One
Fireworks are used by people throughout the year to mark different events. While they can bring much enjoyment to some people, they can cause significant problems and fear for other people and animals. They can be a source of fear and distress for many animals (including pet animals, farm livestock and wildlife). Animals affected not only suffer psychological distress but can also cause themselves injuries – sometimes very serious ones – as they attempt to run away or hide from the noise.
This Council therefore resolves to:
1) Require all public firework displays within the local authority boundaries to be advertised in advance of the event, allowing residents to take precautions for their animals and vulnerable people.
2) Actively promote a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people – including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks.
3) Write to the UK Government and Gedling Borough’s two local Members of Parliament urging them to introduce legislation to limit the maximum noise level of fireworks to 90dB for those sold to the public for private displays and to support the RSPCA in their campaign to ensure the safety of all animals.
4) Encourage local suppliers of fireworks to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public display.
5) Write to the Leader and Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council inviting and encouraging them to also take the action outlined in points 1 – 4 above.
6) Work with Nottinghamshire County Council and all other relevant authorities to ensure existing legislation regarding purchase of and setting off fireworks is enforced across our borough and county.
Proposed: Cllr Rachael Ellis
Seconded: Cllr Des Gibbons
Motion Two
This Council notes:
Bees and other pollinators play an essential role in the Earth's ecosystems. Bees and other pollinators are vital to our food crops, our gardens and our countryside, but they are declining – some species have become extinct, others are declining in range. Bees not only maintain biodiversity but also pollinate plants which produce food. The Government has estimated that these pollinators are worth around £500 million to the UK food and fruit industries alone; bees therefore help keep healthy habitats for people and nature.
This pollinator decline is due to various external influences. These causes include disease, climate change, loss of habitat and the use of insecticides such as neonicotinoids (‘neonics’). Neonicotinoid use has been linked in a range of studies to adverse ecological effects, including honeybee colony collapse disorder.
The World Health Organisation’s cancer agency has recently declared that herbicides that include glyphosate are probably carcinogenic to humans. Glysophate lab trials have shown impact on bee behaviours, although not on their foraging efficiency.
Local authorities already have a Duty to have regard to the conservation of biodiversity in exercising their functions, introduced by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, which came into force on 1 October 2006. The Duty affects all public authorities and aims to raise the profile and visibility of biodiversity, to clarify existing commitments with regard to biodiversity, and to make it a natural and integral part of policy and decision making. Conserving biodiversity includes restoring and enhancing species’ populations and habitats.
This Council further notes:
The UK Government pledged to back the 2018 EU ban on all outdoor uses of the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam. At the time, Michael Gove, then the Environment Secretary, said: “The weight of evidence now shows the risks neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to the bees and other pollinators which play such a key part in our £100bn food industry, is greater than previously understood … We cannot afford to put our pollinator populations at risk.”
He also wrote in the Guardian (‘The evidence points in one direction – we must ban neonicotinoids’ - 9 Nov 2017): “Unless the evidence base changes again, the government will keep these restrictions in place after we have left the EU.”
This Council therefore resolves to:
1) Write to the Environment Secretary and Gedling Borough’s local Members of Parliament, condemning the UK Government’s recent authorisation in England of the use of a pesticide containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam, despite an EU-wide ban on its outdoor use two years ago and an explicit Government pledge to keep the restrictions.
2) Call on the UK Government to fund proper research into the hazards of glyphosphates on human and nature’s health.
3) Cease the use of neonicotinoids and glyphosphates on all public access land that it manages in a proactive effort to reverse the destruction of the bees and pollinators and protect human health.
4) Explore other ways in which to enhance and protect bee and pollinator habitats and encourage environmental growth. This Council will therefore produce a Bee/Pollinator Action Plan. This action plan could include:
a) Protecting pollinator habitats via the planning process.
b) Encouraging all new developments to provide for pollinators.
c) Stopping the use of insecticides on local authority land.
d) Establishing wildflower meadows on un-used areas of parks and public greenspace.
e) Planting pollinator-friendly plants as part of amenity planting in parks, gardens and green spaces.
f) Planting trees for bees – blossom producing spring flowering trees such as apple, cherry, hawthorn, blackthorn, sallow.
g) Working with Nottinghamshire County Council to manage road verges for spring and late summer flowers.
Proposed: Cllr Michael Payne
Seconded: Cllr Kathryn Fox
Motion Three
This Council notes:
1)
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement
for 2021/22, which was published by the Secretary of State for
Housing, Communities & Local Government on 17 December
2020.
2) Core Spending Power is the Government’s own measure of the resources available to local councils to fund service delivery – it sets out the money that has been made available to local councils through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
This Council is disappointed that:
1)
For the second successive year, Gedling Borough
Council is the worst affected council in England in terms of change
in Core Spending Power from 2015-16 to 2021-22.
2) As a result of Government policy and decisions, Gedling Borough Council has received a 20.2% reduction in Core Spending Power between 2021-22 and 2015/16.
The Council further notes:
1) By comparison, twenty councils have received a greater than 20.5% uplift in Core Spending Power in 2021/22 compared to 2015/16 and that 18 of the 20 are Conservative controlled.
This Council agrees:
1)
To use all available resources to:
a)
ensure
residents and businesses across our borough are
aware of the disproportionate way Gedling Borough has been
negatively affected by successive Local Government Finance
Settlements since 2015/16, in terms of change in Core Spending
Power.
b) lobby the Government to reverse this unfair and unjust treatment of Gedling Borough’s local communities.
2) That all members of the Council will be invited to sign the letter being sent by the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Gedling Borough’s two local Members of Parliament, urging them to reverse the unfair and unjust treatment of Gedling Borough Council in this year’s provisional Local Government Finance Settlement (as set out above).
--
Sources: Link to
official Government data showing Gedling Borough Council is the
worst affected in England in terms of Core Spending Power in
2021/22 compared to 2015/16:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-provisional-local-government-finance-settlement-2021-to-2022
Proposed: Cllr Michael
Payne
Seconded: Cllr John Clarke
Minutes:
Motion One
Upon a notice of motion received in the name of Councillor Rachael Ellis, a proposition was moved by Councillor Rachael Ellis and seconded by Councillor Gibbons in the following terms:
This Council notes:
Fireworks are used by people throughout the year to mark different events. While they can bring much enjoyment to some people, they can cause significant problems and fear for other people and animals. They can be a source of fear and distress for many animals (including pet animals, farm livestock and wildlife). Animals affected not only suffer psychological distress but can also cause themselves injuries - sometimes very serious ones – as they attempt to run away or hide from the noise.
This Council therefore resolves to:
1) Require all public firework displays within the local authority boundaries to be advertised in advance of the event, allowing residents to take precautions for their animals and vulnerable people.
2) Actively promote a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people – including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks.
3) Write to the UK Government and Gedling Borough’s two local Members of Parliament urging them to introduce legislation to limit the maximum noise level of fireworks to 90dB for those sold to the public for private displays and to support the RSPCA in their campaign to ensure the safety of all animals.
4) Encourage local suppliers of fireworks to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public display.
5) Write to the Leader and Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council inviting and encouraging them to also take the action outlined in points 1 – 4 above.
6) Work with Nottinghamshire County Council and all other relevant authorities to ensure existing legislation regarding purchase of and setting off fireworks is enforced across our borough and county.
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY to:
1) Require all public firework displays on Gedling Borough Council owned land, and advise and encourage organisers of other public firework displays within Gedling borough, to be advertised in advance of the event, allowing residents to take precautions for their animals and vulnerable people.
2) Actively promote a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people – including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks.
3) Write to the UK Government and Gedling Borough’s two local Members of Parliament urging them to introduce legislation to limit the maximum noise level of fireworks to 90dB for those sold to the public for private displays and to support the RSPCA in their campaign to ensure the safety of all animals.
4) Encourage local suppliers of fireworks to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public display.
5) Write to the Leader and Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council inviting and encouraging them to also take the action outlined in points 1 – 4 above.
6) Work with Nottinghamshire County Council and all other relevant authorities to ensure existing legislation regarding purchase of and setting off fireworks is enforced across our borough and county.
Motion Two
Upon a notice of motion received in the name of Councillor Michael Payne, a proposition was moved by Councillor Payne and seconded by Councillor Fox in the following terms:
This Council notes:
Bees and other pollinators play an essential role in the Earth's ecosystems. Bees and other pollinators are vital to our food crops, our gardens and our countryside, but they are declining – some species have become extinct, others are declining in range. Bees not only maintain biodiversity but also pollinate plants which produce food. The Government has estimated that these pollinators are worth around £500 million to the UK food and fruit industries alone; bees therefore help keep healthy habitats for people and nature.
This pollinator decline is due to various external influences. These causes include disease, climate change, loss of habitat and the use of insecticides such as neonicotinoids (‘neonics’). Neonicotinoid use has been linked in a range of studies to adverse ecological effects, including honeybee colony collapse disorder.
The World Health Organisation’s cancer agency has recently declared that herbicides that include glyphosate are probably carcinogenic to humans. Glysophate lab trials have shown impact on bee behaviours, although not on their foraging efficiency.
Local authorities already have a Duty to have regard to the conservation of biodiversity in exercising their functions, introduced by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, which came into force on 1 October 2006. The Duty affects all public authorities and aims to raise the profile and visibility of biodiversity, to clarify existing commitments with regard to biodiversity, and to make it a natural and integral part of policy and decision making. Conserving biodiversity includes restoring and enhancing species’ populations and habitats.
This Council further notes:
The UK Government pledged to back the 2018 EU ban on all outdoor uses of the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam. At the time, Michael Gove, then the Environment Secretary, said: “The weight of evidence now shows the risks neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to the bees and other pollinators which play such a key part in our £100bn food industry, is greater than previously understood … We cannot afford to put our pollinator populations at risk.”
He also wrote in the Guardian (‘The evidence points in one direction – we must ban neonicotinoids’ - 9 Nov 2017): “Unless the evidence base changes again, the government will keep these restrictions in place after we have left the EU.”
This Council therefore resolves to:
1) Write to the Environment Secretary and Gedling Borough’s local Members of Parliament, condemning the UK Government’s recent authorisation in England of the use of a pesticide containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam, despite an EU-wide ban on its outdoor use two years ago and an explicit Government pledge to keep the restrictions.
2) Call on the UK Government to fund proper research into the hazards of glyphosphates on human and nature’s health.
3) Cease the use of neonicotinoids and glyphosphates on all public access land that it manages in a proactive effort to reverse the destruction of the bees and pollinators and protect human health.
4) Explore other ways in which to enhance and protect bee and pollinator habitats and encourage environmental growth. This Council will therefore produce a Bee/Pollinator Action Plan. This action plan could include:
a) Protecting pollinator habitats via the planning process.
b) Encouraging all new developments to provide for pollinators.
c) Stopping the use of insecticides on local authority land.
d) Establishing wildflower meadows on un-used areas of parks and public greenspace.
e) Planting pollinator-friendly plants as part of amenity planting in parks, gardens and green spaces.
f) Planting trees for bees – blossom producing spring flowering trees such as apple, cherry, hawthorn, blackthorn, sallow.
g) Working with Nottinghamshire County Council to manage road verges for spring and late summer flowers.
An amendment was moved by Councillor Ellwood and seconded by Councillor Towsey-Hinton in the following terms:
Immediately following point 4) sub paragraph g) of the original motion, insert the following:
h) Consult in advance with local residents and members to seek their views on whether specific open spaces in residential areas should be used for wild flower planting or retained as a conventional lawn.
i) Where open spaces in residential areas are not to be used for wild flower planting, the Borough Council to continue the cutting of grass at such spaces with their existing frequency.
Councillor Wilkinson, seconded by Councillor Sam Smith, proposed a motion to briefly adjourn the meeting to allow Members to consider the amendment put before them. The motion was supported and the Mayor declared it carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7.33 pm.
The meeting resumed at 7.42 pm.
Following debate, the amendment was put to a vote and the Mayor declared that the amendment was not carried.
A second amendment was proposed by Councillor Adams and seconded by Councillor Murray in the following terms:
That points 1) and 2) of the original motion be replaced as follows:
1) Write to the Environment Secretary and Gedling Borough’s local Members of Parliament, seeking urgent reassurances that the UK government’s recent authorisation in England of the use of the pesticide containing the neonicotonoid thiamethoxam, will not extend past the very strictly controlled licence and remain in the general use ban as in the EU.
2) Call on the UK government to increase investment into the research into alternative controls to deal with pests and thus mitigate the hazards of glyphosates on human and nature’s health.
Following debate, the amendment was put to a vote and the Mayor declared that the amendment was not carried.
RESOLVED to:
1) Write to the Environment Secretary and Gedling Borough’s local Members of Parliament, condemning the UK Government’s recent authorisation in England of the use of a pesticide containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam, despite an EU-wide ban on its outdoor use two years ago and an explicit Government pledge to keep the restrictions.
2) Call on the UK Government to fund proper research into the hazards of glyphosphates on human and nature’s health.
3) Cease the use of neonicotinoids and glyphosphates on all public access land that it manages in a proactive effort to reverse the destruction of the bees and pollinators and protect human health.
4) Explore other ways in which to enhance and protect bee and pollinator habitats and encourage environmental growth. This Council will therefore produce a Bee/Pollinator Action Plan. This action plan could include:
a) Protecting pollinator habitats via the planning process.
b) Encouraging all new developments to provide for pollinators.
c) Stopping the use of insecticides on local authority land.
d) Establishing wildflower meadows on un-used areas of parks and public greenspace.
e) Planting pollinator-friendly plants as part of amenity planting in parks, gardens and green spaces.
f) Planting trees for bees – blossom producing spring flowering trees such as apple, cherry, hawthorn, blackthorn, sallow.
g) Working with Nottinghamshire County Council to manage road verges for spring and late summer flowers.
Motion Three
Upon a notice of motion received in the name of Councillor Michael Payne, a proposition was moved by Councillor Payne and seconded by Councillor Clarke in the following terms:
This Council notes:
1) The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2021/22, which was published by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government on 17 December 2020.
2) Core Spending Power is the Government’s own measure of the resources available to local councils to fund service delivery – it sets out the money that has been made available to local councils through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
This Council is disappointed that:
1) For the second successive year, Gedling Borough Council is the worst affected council in England in terms of change in Core Spending Power from 2015-16 to 2021-22.
2) As a result of Government policy and decisions, Gedling Borough Council has received a 20.2% reduction in Core Spending Power between 2021-22 and 2015/16.
The Council further notes:
1) By comparison, twenty councils have received a greater than 20.5% uplift in Core Spending Power in 2021/22 compared to 2015/16 and that 18 of the 20 are Conservative controlled.
This Council agrees:
1) To use all available resources to:
a) ensure residents and businesses across our borough are aware of the disproportionate way Gedling Borough has been negatively affected by successive Local Government Finance Settlements since 2015/16, in terms of change in Core Spending Power.
b) lobby the Government to reverse this unfair and unjust treatment of Gedling Borough’s local communities.
2) That all members of the Council will be invited to sign the letter being sent by the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Gedling Borough’s two local Members of Parliament, urging them to reverse the unfair and unjust treatment of Gedling Borough Council in this year’s provisional Local Government Finance Settlement (as set out above).
Sources: Link to official Government data showing Gedling Borough Council is the worst affected in England in terms of Core Spending Power in 2021/22 compared to 2015/16: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corespending-power-provisional-local-government-finance-settlement-2021-to-2022
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:
1) To use all appropriate resources to:
a) lobby the Government to increase Gedling Borough Council’s share of the Local Government Finance Settlement 2021/22.
2) That all members of the Council will sign the letter being sent by the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, working with Gedling Borough’s two local Members of Parliament, to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government calling on the Government to increase Gedling Borough Council’s share of the Local Government Finance Settlement 2021/22 (as set out above).