The Speaker of the Council Councillor Mohammed Ahbab Hossain, (Chair)

During the meeting, the Council agreed to vary the order of business to consider the Reports (10.1 together with Petition 5.3 and Items 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3) before items 6, 7,8,11 and 12. To aid clarity, the Minutes are presented in the order that the items originally appeared on the agenda

The Speaker of the Council opened the meeting and provided an update on his activities since the previous Council meeting.

He was pleased to advise that he had taken part in virtual celebrations and discussions as well as attending a small number of socially distanced events including the recent Remembrance event in the Town hall. His focus had mainly been on the community.

Turning to the impact of the lockdown, he gave special thanks to the efforts of the kind and generous people who had helped residents. He expressed an intention to look into how these people should be recognised

He also advised that he had chosen to support the following charities during his civic term:

•     The Patchwork Foundation

•     Capital Kids Cricket

•     Soytten Sen School of Performing Arts

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of:

·       Councillor Puru Miah

·       Councillor Kyrsten Perry

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine; whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interests form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

Regarding Motion 12.3 relating to Care Full Pay, the Speaker noted that a number of Members had recorded membership of the GMB Union in their register of interests. Whilst he noted this declaration, he had been advised that all Members may participate in the debate and vote on this item.

Councillor Kahar Chowdhury declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in agenda item, 12.3 Motion regarding Care Full Pay. This was on the basis of his wife’s employment in the care sector.

Councillor Rabina Khan declared a non Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in agenda items, 5.1 (Petition regarding St George’s Pools) and 5.4 (Petition regarding the Covid Test Centre in Watney Market). This was on the basis that the facilities were within her ward and, in respect of item 5.1, she has signed the Petition.

Councillor Bex White declared a  Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in agenda item, 8, Motion regarding Fire Safety and the security of the housing sector in Tower Hamlets. This was due to a leaseholder interest in a tall building that had undergone a Waking Watch.

Councillors with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest were advised to the leave the meeting for the duration of the item.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Council held on 30^th September 2020

RESOLVED:

1.        That the unrestricted minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 30^th  September 2020 be confirmed as a correct record and the Speaker be authorised to sign them accordingly, subject to the inclusion of Councillor Bex White’s personal explanation in relation to Member Question 17.12 relating to rough sleepers in the Borough.

The Council’s Chief Executive made a number of announcements as highlighted below:

·       He stated that he was pleased to join the Mayor, the Speaker and Councillors in placing a wreath at the Tower Hall foyer on 11 November to mark remembrance day.

·       At the Local Government Awards, the Council won a Public Health Award for it’s Born Well Growing Well, Asthma and Wheeze Project.  He thanked everyone in the various Council teams that had contributed to this work and to the work of the other shortlisted teams.

·       Regarding staffing matters, he advised of the departure from the Council of Michael Rourke. Vicky Clark was covering the role of Divisional Director, Property and Major Programmes on an interim basis.

·       That a review of the Council’s Senior Management Structure was currently underway. He was due to provide an update to a forthcoming General Purposes Committee.

·       The Council had commenced plans for holding next year’s Mayor of London and GLA Assembly elections, however it was noted that the Council’s decision on its governance model at item 10.1 of the Council agenda, may affect this.

·       He also expressed thanks to Council staff for their continuing work in dealing with Covid - 19.

The Council Procedure Rules provide for a maximum of four petitions to be discussed at an Ordinary Meeting of the Council.

The attached report presents the received petitions to be discussed. Should any additional petitions be received they will be listed to be noted but not discussed.

5.1 Petition requesting all options to be investigated to fully refurbish and update St George’s Pools

Amanda Day addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members. Councillor Sabina Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Culture, Arts and Brexit, then responded to the matters raised in the petition. She advised that the spring lockdown and the Covid restrictions had changed the shape of the Council’s Leisure services including those provided by St George’s Pool. The Council regularly carried out reviews of the leisure services including this pool and this wider review will inform the future of the services. She also stated that she was aware of the need for further investment and that additional funding might be made available from the government. She and the Mayor would be happy to meet with the Petitioners. Any changes would be made public.

RESOLVED

1.     That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Children and Culture for a written response within 28 days.

5.2 Petition requesting an enquiry into the treatment of residents at Aspen Court Care Home

Amanda Henry addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members.

Councillor Rachel Blake, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing then responded to the matters raised in the petition. She expressed condolences to the Petitioner. She noted that the Council must honour and reflect on the experiences at the care home. She also acknowledged that the Council must consider the outcome of the review of care homes and the enquiry.

RESOLVED

1.     That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Health, Adults & Community, for a written response within 28 days.

5.3 Petition regarding Hold a referendum on 6^th May 2021 to replace the ‘Directly Elected Mayor and a cabinet’ system by a ‘Leader and cabinet’ system

Khwaja Qureshi addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members. The Council’s response to this issue is set out at Item 10.1

RESOLVED

1.     That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Governance and Monitoring Officer, for a written response within 28 days.

5.4 Petition for debate regarding Covid Test Centre in Watney Market

Ruhul Amin addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners. The Council then debated the matters raised by the petition and Councillor Rachel Blake, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing provided a response.  She stated that she supported the retention of the test centre, as well as the wider measures to facilitate testing, given the importance of an effective test and trace system in reducing the rates of Covid-19.

She considered that there were inaccuracies in the motion which she hoped could be included in the minutes. [MM1] 

During the debate, Councillor Harun Miah moved and Councillor Rabina Khan seconded a motion (as set out below).

This Council notes:

1.   Tower Hamlets has one of the highest levels of deprivation in the United Kingdom. With Shadwell being one of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Council’s Constitution provides for the Elected Mayor to give a report at each Ordinary Council Meeting.

A maximum of six minutes is allowed for the Elected Mayor’s report, following which the Speaker of the Council will invite the leader of the opposition group to respond for up to two minutes should he so wish.

The Mayor presented his report to the Council. Following which:

•         Councillor Peter Golds, Leader of the Conservative Group, responded briefly to the Mayor’s report.

•         The Mayor responded briefly

To debate a Motion submitted by the Administration in accordance with Rules 11 and 13 of the Council’s Constitution. The debate will last for a maximum of 30 minutes.

  Administration Motion regarding The Government Have Failed our Children and Young People

Councillor Danny Hassell moved and Mayor John Biggs seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Councillor Peter Golds moved and Councillor Andrew Wood seconded the following amendment to the motion:

Insertions underlined, deletions struck through

This Council notes:

1.      That the FOI response FOI: 22996542 Financial support to LBTH during Covid stated that Tower Hamlets Council had received “£62.6m in grants for Council expenditure and reduced income”

2.      That the Health and Wellbeing Board was told on the 17^th November 2020 that the Council had been informed on the 11^th June about an additional £3.2 million grant of money for Local Authority Test and Trace Service Support Grant.

3.      That there are reports of an additional £1.203 million in government grants to support children, families and our most vulnerable residents over the winter, as yet unconfirmed.

4.      That in the Cabinet meeting on the 28^th October we were informed that in the P5 budget monitor that:

a.      £30.6 million would be received from government in 2019/20 & 2020/21 for COVID relief, this was verbally amended to add an additional £14 millions of extra money recently received for a total of £44.6 million.

b.      That the total forecast impact of COVID on the Council finances were £35.9 million for 2020/21.

5.      That these numbers are very different to those detailed in the Councils 5th August press release titled “Council pleads with government to honour its Covid-19 funding promise” which said then that the total cost of COVID was £60 million and that only £30 million had been committed from government.

6.      The uncertainty and confusion that these different numbers have caused which make it impossible to understand the true impact of COVID on this year’s budget.

1. The Government’s exams fiasco which saw a large number of teacher predictions for A-levels and GCSE exam results – particularly in more deprived areas – downgraded by an algorithm until the Government performed a U-turn and permitted teacher assessed grades to be used;

1.  The exams fiasco caused a huge amount of unnecessary uncertainty and upset for many young people across the country, as well as jeopardising their futures;

2.  The Government’s failure to continue its Free School Meals (FSM) programme throughout the October half-term holiday, despite the pandemic and the jobs crisis causing hardship for many families who were already struggling;

3.  That charities, individuals, community groups and local authorities – including Tower Hamlets – had to fill the gap left by the Government’s failure to continue FSM over the holiday;

4.  That children and young people have suffered more than most throughout the austerity programme introduced by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in 2010, through the rise in child poverty, cuts to youth services, cuts to school funding, failure to properly fund special needs education, cuts to council budgets, welfare reforms, the coalition’s decision to treble tuition fees despite the Lib Dem promise to abolish them,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To debate a Motion submitted by the Opposition Group in accordance with Rules 11 and 13 of the Council’s Constitution. The debate will last for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Opposition Motion for Debate from the Conservative Group - Regarding Fire Safety & The Security of The Housing Sector in Tower Hamlets

Councillor Andrew Wood moved and Councillor Peter Golds seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Councillor Rabina Khan moved the following friendly amendment

Council Resolves to:

1. Support the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign.  

2. Implement the ten steps set out in the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign.  

3.  Urgently carry out an audit and consultation with resident associations of all habitable buildings in Tower Hamlets (regardless of tenure) to establish the scale of the cladding, EWS1 and snagging issues. This audit should be completed by the end of 2020, and a report provided to Cabinet in January 2021. 

4.  Urge all Housing Associations and private building owners in Tower Hamlets to take urgent action to rectify outstanding issues and achieve EWS1 certification. In cases where the owners are not the original developer, they may require the Council’s assistance to locate these developers or find alternative ways of tackling the problems to avoid passing any costs onto the leaseholders. 

5.  With regard to future planning applications, an EWS1 form should be provided prior to first occupation.

6.  Work in collaboration with MPs, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, and the Mayor of London to devolve powers to Tower Hamlets Council to enable the council to enforce remediation of housing of all tenures, thus enabling the Council to support local affected residents. Implement the practical recommendations of the MHCLG Select Committee to reform the EWS1 in order to provide clarity to lenders and insurers, and instil confidence in homeowners and buyers who wish to re-mortgage, or buy and sell properties, assuming there is no immediate threat. 

Councillor Wood indicated that he accepted the amendment and altered his motion accordingly.

Councillor Sirajul Islam moved and Councillor Eve McQuillan seconded the following amendment to the motion.

Inserted text underlined and deleted text scored out.

This Council notes:

Shortly after the Grenfell fire, the council wrote to the owners and managing agents of over 700 private sector tall buildings.

Following responses from landlords and further investigations by officers the council identified 39 private sector residential buildings with ACM and a further 10 under investigation.

Council officers are in liaison with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, the Greater London Authority, and London Councils on this matter.

That 282 buildings in Tower Hamlets have registered for the government’s £1bn building safety fund to fix cladding issues. That the local authorities with the next highest numbers of affected buildings were Manchester with 136 buildings, 130 in Newham, 127 in Westminster, 126 in Southwark, 102 in Greenwich.

That this list does not include most housing association properties which have a separate application process.

That this list also does not include other buildings with non-ACM cladding issues but where there are other fire safety issues. And it also does not include any building under 18 meters in height.

It is therefore probable that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider the Annual Report of the Standards Advisory Committee.

The Council considered the Annual Report of the Standards Advisory Committee 2019-20

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Annual Report of the Standards Advisory Committee 2019-20 be noted

To consider the Annual Report of the Audit Committee.

The Council considered the Annual Report of the Audit Committee 2019-20, including an amendment to the report published in the supplementary agenda.

RESOLVED:

1.       That the Annual Report of the Audit Committee 2019-20, be noted

To consider the Annual Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Council considered the Annual Report of the Annual Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2019-20

RESOLVED:

1.       That the Annual Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2019-20 be noted

To consider the report of the Corporate Director, Governance and Monitoring Officer on a number of options relating to the Council’s Governance Arrangements. This includes options to hold a referendum on the Council’s Governance Model.

The Council considered the report of the Corporate Director, Governance and Monitoring Officer on a number of options relating to the Council’s Governance Arrangements. This includes options to hold a referendum on the Council’s Governance Model.

During the debate, Councillor Andrew Wood moved and Councillor Peter Golds seconded the following alternative recommendations to the report:

This Council resolves:

•       To agree to the principle of a referendum in 2021 or 2022 but not rush into a fixed choice today without due process, we can learn from what other Councils have done to guide us;

•       That if there is not enough time for a full debate tonight that we hold a dedicated Council meeting on this subject only in the coming month;

•       That we ask for a working group to form with the help of the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny which will report back to the next Council meeting on the 20^th January with more detail on the choices available to us, timings and how we can make the decision;

•       That no referendum be held until it is clear;

o   How each option will work in practise, who will hold responsibility & power?

o   What happens within 28 days of a vote for each option?

o   How and by whom the final two referendum choices are chosen and that this is done in public.

•       That we ask the Head of Electoral Services what options exist to reduce the cost of a referendum later in 2021 by voting on a Saturday, using publicly owned facilities, counting delayed until a working day etc and to also report back to us on the 20^th January;

•       That we also consider a May 2022 referendum so that Mayoral candidates can make clear their views, and that voters can then decide whether to keep the Mayoral system or switch to an alternative model;

•       That a referendum late in 2021 or 2022 would:

o   Allow time to formulate the referendum options in public;

o   Reduce the impact of COVID on polling stations;

o   Allow the referendum to be conducted in a neutral manner as would then be clear that the current Mayor continues in post until the May 2022 elections.

•       That we engage the wider public before making any decision and that decisions are made with a full set of publicly available information after a detailed debate.

During the debate, Mayor John Biggs moved and Councillor Abdul Mukit MBE seconded the following recommendations from the report.

That the Council agrees to:

·       Recommendation 2 - To hold a referendum on the Council’s governance arrangements.

·       Recommendation 3 - That the Council selects as the alternative model, to the Mayor and Cabinet Model, the Leader and Cabinet Model of Executive.

·       Recommendation 4 - To hold the referendum on Thursday 6 May 2021

Councillor Andrew Wood’s amendment was put to the vote and was defeated.

The recommendations in the report, including those proposed by Mayor John Biggs were put to the vote and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.1

The questions which have been received from Councillors to be put at this Council meeting are set out in the attached report.  A maximum period of 30 minutes is allocated to this agenda item.

Due to lack of time the Questions  were not put.  Written provided to these questions are attached at Appendix A.

 Due to lack of time, no motions were considered.