The Speaker of the Council, Councillor Victoria Obaze in the Chair

During the meeting, the Council agreed to vary the order of business to consider Item 12.4, Motion regarding London City Airport as the first motion to be debated under Item 12, Motions for debate. To aid clarity, the Minutes are presented in the order that the items originally appeared on the agenda.

The Speaker of the Council brought the Council up to date with some of her activities since the previous Council meeting. This included:

·         Citizenship Ceremonies.

·         Navy and sailing themed events – including a Sea Cadets National Band Competition, the Great River Race, and a Merchant Navy Day service.

·         Services to mark the retirement of a Reverend at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine, and also to mark the institution and induction of a new Rector at St. Mary’s, Bow Church.

·         Eid celebrations

·         A commemorative event marking the National Mourning Day of Bangladesh.

·         Events celebrating the work of the Rainbow Film Festival and the UK Nollywood Producers Guild.

·         The Army Cadets Visitors Day.

·         The Tower Hamlets Disability Sports Day 2019.

·         Charity events to raise money for the Speaker’s charities including the Alzheimer Society.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of:

·         Councillor Kevin Brady

·         Councillor Dipa Das

To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992.  See attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

The following Councillors declared a Non - Disclosable Pecuniary interest that the Council has decided should be registered

Councillor Asma Begum  -  agenda item 12.4, Motion on London City Airport. This was on the basis that Councillor Begum was an Authority appointed Member of the London City Airport Consultative Committee.

Councillor Asma Islam - agenda item 12.4, Motion on London City Airport. This was on the basis that Councillor Islam was a Trustee of the London City Airport Fund

Councillor Denise Jones - agenda item 9.2, A Member Question regarding the Wapping London Dock secondary school. This was on the basis that she was a Mulberry Schools Trust-Trustee.

Councillor Gabriela Salva Macallan - agenda item 5.4, Petition regarding the Community Hall known as the Canal Club, Waterloo Gardens, E2 9HP. This was on the basis that Councillor Salva Macallan resided on the Wellington Estate and was the Chair of the Wellington Estate Tenants Association

The following Councillors declared a Non - Disclosable Pecuniary in agenda items 9.7, 9.10 and 9.12, Member Questions regarding the Whitechapel Bell Foundry on the grounds that they were Members of the Council’s Strategic/Development Committee:

·         Councillor Mufeedah Bustin

·         Councillor Rabina Khan

·         Councillor Abdul Mukit MBE

·         Councillor John Pierce

·         Councillor Leema Qureshi

·         Councillor Dan Tomlinson

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on 17^th July 2019.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 17 July 2019 be confirmed as a correct record and the Speaker be authorised to sign them accordingly.

The Chief Executive updated the Council on a number of developments.

Turning to Staff Awards, he was very pleased to announce that once again, the Council had received awards and recognition for its work, with the following services wining or receiving nominations for awards:

·         No Place for Hate Campaign – winners of the London HEAR Network – #End Hate Together Award.

·         Edward Gibbons House, which was a hostel in Tower Hamlets – had been shortlisted for an award.

·         Capital Delivery Team - had been shortlisted at the Inside Housing Development Awards.

He welcomed to the Council Calvin McLean, Head of Neighbourhood (Operations) and Paul Rock, Head of Internal Audit Fraud and Risk.

He also advised that preparations were underway for holding a General Election, should one be announced, and the Annual Canvass.

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 regarding Single Use Plastics

Ciaran Cusackand others addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members. Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Environment then responded to the matters raised in the petition.

He highlighted the Council’s commitment to reduce and eradicate where possible, the use of single use plastics. The Council’s Waste Management Strategy sets out how it intended to do this.

He also provided reassurances that the Council worked closely with a range of partners and the public and lobbied Central Government to reduce the overall use of single use plastics.

He also looked forward to bringing an update report to the Cabinet in due course.

RESOLVED.

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

5.2  Petition regarding parking on school markings at Arnhem Wharf Primary School

Pupils from the primary school addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members. Councillor David Edgar, Cabinet Member for Environment then responded to the matters raised in the petition.He thanked the Petitioners and the Ward Councillors in particularly for highlighting the issues.

He also provided assurances about the Council’s commitment to making schools streets safer, including the streets aroundArnhem Wharf Primary School through:

·         Working with schools to introduce the Council’s new School Streets initiative, that included proposals in respect of the school Arnhem Wharf Primary School.

·         Increasing patrols around the school and issuing more fines.

·         Exploring the option of adding more road markings outside the school.

RESOLVED

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

5.3 Petition regarding Stop the Lorries on Pennington Street

Aimee Charalambous addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members. Mayor John Biggs then responded to the matters raised in the petition. He drew attention to the Council’s new Liveable Streets programme, particularly the plans to consult residents on proposals.

He also expressed a commitment to carrying out measures to minimise the impacts from traffic in Pennington Streetand that he was willing to meet the residents to further consider their concerns.

RESOLVED

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

5.4 Petition regarding the Community Hall known as the Canal Club, Waterloo Gardens, E2 9HP

Dwight James and others addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, and responded to questions from Members. Councillor Rachel Blake, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Planning, Air Quality and Tackling Poverty then responded to the matters raised in the petition.

She thanked the petitioners and the ward Councillors for helping to ensure there was a meaningful and in-depth consultation on the proposals. She expressed a commitment to continuing to consult with the residents on the plans to redevelop the site and to provide much needed social housing and replace the existing facilities.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the petition  ...  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 to respond to the leader of the opposition for up to two minutes

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

·         Councillor Andrew Wood, Leader of the Conservative Group, responded briefly to the Mayor’s report.

·         The Mayor responded briefly to the Leader of the Conservative Group

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.

7 –  Administration Motion regarding the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)funding crisis

Councillor Danny Hassell moved and Councillor Sufia Alam seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Following debate, the motion was put to a vote and was agreed.

RESOLVED:

This Council notes:

1. There are around 8,000 children and young people in Tower Hamlets who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or are attending alternative provision. 3,000 children and young people have an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP);
2. Demand for SEND services is increasing rapidly and services are also responding to more complex needs. Over the period 2016/17 to 2018/19 we saw a 48% increase in the number of children with an EHCP;
3. Last year Tower Hamlets received £49.7m from the Government for SEND funding, but it spent more than £56m on services;
4. The funding from Government has failed to keep pace with rapidly increasing costs, leaving big gaps in budgets;
5. This crisis is replicated across London, where the total in-year shortfall for 2017/18 across SEND services came to £77 million and the cumulative overspend on the high needs block is higher in London than in any other region;
6. Analysis from the National Education Union shows that had funding kept pace with rising numbers and increased in line with inflation, the budget gap would almost be eliminated. However as things stand, the Local Government Association estimates that councils in England face a SEND funding gap of up to £1.6 billion by 2021;
7. The council has responded to the Government’s ‘call for evidence’ on high needs funding and the Mayor and Cabinet Member have written directly to the Prime Minister on this issue.
8. That Tower Hamlets Council organised a cross-party letter from council cabinet members across London with responsibility for children’s services to the Secretary of State for Education calling for an end to the funding crisis in SEND services.
9. The recent announcement from the Government pledging additional funding for schools, including £700m for children with SEND.

This Council believes:

1. We face a national crisis in high needs funding, but this crisis is hitting London harder than anywhere else in the country;
2. We have now reached a tipping point: whilst in previous years many councils have been able to meet the gap from reserves or underspending on other education budgets, as other education budgets tighten this is no longer an option. Deficits will now become cumulative, rolling over into the next year and the pressure on high needs funding will rise exponentially; 
3. The Government is failing to fund SEND services properly and it’s falling to local councils to plug the gaps;
4. That while the additional £700m is very welcome, it doesn’t even cover the gap we already face now, nor will it fill the SEND funding gap estimated by the LGA at £1.6bn by 2021.
5. Children and young people with special needs and disabilities are some of the most vulnerable in our society and it’s vital that the services that support them are funded fairly and  ...  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.

8 – Opposition Motion by the Conservative Group regarding the Tower Hamlets Annual Residents’ Survey 2019

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

Councillor Asma Begum moved and Mayor John Biggs seconded the following amendment to the motion to be debated.

Added text underlined and in red font.

Deleted text scored out.

This Council notes:

·         The recent publication of the Tower Hamlets Annual Residents’ Survey 2019

·         A news update on the Council website titled “Residents survey results revealed” released on Tuesday 3^rd September which correctly stated that:

‘Nearly eight out of ten Tower Hamlets residents (78 per cent) continue to agree that people from different backgrounds get on well together, are positive about most local services, and 69 per cent say that the council is doing a good job.’

·         Commitments made at the 19^th September 2018 full Council meeting as regards anti-social behaviour & crime in Tower Hamlets

Summary Table 1 page 4 Residents Survey 2019 - Service satisfaction ratings (%) – all residents and all users (N.B. table deleted for reasons of accuracy)

This Council notes that Crime and ASB are major concerns for residents. Many elements of this are for other agencies and partners to address and it would be foolhardy for the Council to accept ownership of matters beyond our powers or control but we note the ongoing work by the Council and partners to address issues of community safety, including but not limited to:

·      £3 million investment of council funding for extra police officers to work on key crime and ASB hotspots;

·      A Neighbourhood Management Pilot in the north east of the borough to bring extra focus and dedicated resource to four wards in the borough with high concentrations of ASB;

·      Ongoing targeted activity with the police to tackle the drugs trade through ‘Operation Continuum’ which has seen 312 arrests for drug offences, 129 people charges with drug supply and £564k cash seized under proceeds of crime;

·      A review of the Council’s CCTV infrastructure as a prelude to major investment in the network;

·      Refreshing the Substance Misuse Strategy to ensure it reflects the current/emerging challenges and sustaining £8 million investment on substance misuse support.

The Council is concerned:

About the year on year That while some areas have seen an improvement in resident perceptions (for example in parks and road/pavement repairs), there has been a decline in resident’s perception about a range of other issues and concerns (for example refuse collection but also other areas not a responsibility of the council including policing).

The Council further notes:

That the news release dated 3^rd September 2019 titled “Residents survey results revealed” does not mention  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

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.

The following questions and in each case supplementary questions were put (except where indicated) and were responded to by the Mayor or relevant Executive Member.

9.1 Question from Councillor Tarik Khan:

Can the cabinet member please update members about the council’s investment in its summer programme and what indicators we have about the success of the programme?

Response of Councillor Sabina Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Culture, Arts and Brexit:

I am so proud that this year we have had an exciting variety of activities, available through our summer programme. These were delivered in parks, leisure centres, youth clubs, Idea Stores, children’s centres and various community venues.  We strongly  believe in Every Chance for Every Child.  We know that families on low incomes often experience a range of challenges, during the holiday period that is why we have aimed to keep over 335 free or low cost activities. I will just refer to some of the highlights: Over the summer holidays we have provided over 21,000 free meals to children at Council funded school holiday activity venues. The Sport and Physical Activity service delivered 262 activities in July and August. We have had the summer reading challenge in the Idea Store. We have a programme that has benefited over 2000 SEND children.

The full evaluation of the programme is currently being undertaken and will be available at the beginning of October.

Supplementary question from Councillor Tarik Khan:

Other than the advertised Summer Programme, how many other organisations were funded by the Council to provide summer projects. Do we have any numbers around them. Like for example the Tower Hamlets Homes programme which was not advertised in our yellow book this year?

Councillor Akhtar’s response to supplementary question:

I don’t have the exact numbers of all the activities done with other groups, but as you have mentioned we have run activities such as the Tower Hamlets Homes Summer programme for young people providing activities on Estates. We have also had the summer transition workshops for children, moving from primary to secondary school. Next year we hope to engage with children not just using our hubs and we will be advertising our yellow book.

9.2 Question from CouncillorAndrew Wood:

Can the Council confirm that the new Wapping London Dock secondary school which the Council confirmed would be given the lease for the land is a free school being opened up under the free school presumption process?

Response of Mayor Biggs

Yes.

Supplementary question from CouncillorAndrew Wood:

We have been trying to get the Local Authority to admit it IS actually a free school. It’s a term you have avoided using.  This is important for other free schools so thank you for that answer

Mayor Biggs response to supplementary question:

A free school is synonymous with an Academy. Mulberry is a multi-academy trust and it’s the preferred provider of education on the London Dock side. We look forward to a thriving and a state of the art building being constructed there.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Nil items.

There were no reports.

Nil items.

There was no other business.

Procedural Motion

Councillor Asma Islam moved, a procedural motion “that under Procedure Rule 12.1.(c) the order of business be varied such that agenda item 12.4 Motion regarding London City Airport be taken as the next item of business to allow the Council to submits a formal response to the London City Airport Master Plan 2020-2035 consultation”. The procedural motion was put to the vote and was agreed.

Due to time constraints, the Council agreed to move straight to the vote on Motions 12.1, 12.2, 12.3 and 12.5.

12.1 Motion regarding regarding cyberbullying and e-safety

The motion was put to the vote without debate and was agreed.

RESOLVED:

This Council Notes:

1.    Bullying and cyberbullying are two of the most serious issues facing children's and young people's lives.

2.    Research undertaken by the NSPCC has found:

a.    almost 1 in 4 of 8 to 11-year-olds and 3 in 4 of 12 to 15-year-olds has a social media profile;

b.    1 in 3 internet users are children;

c.    1 in 4 children have experienced something upsetting on a social networking site;

d.    around 1 in 8 young people have been bullied on social media;

e.    3 in 4 parents have looked for or received information or advice about how to help their child manage online risks;

f.     almost 1 in 4 young people have come across racist or hate messages online; and

g.    there were over 2,200 counselling sessions with young people who talked to Childline about online sexual abuse online in 2017/18 

3.    There are many forms of cyber-bullying including harassment, denigration, flaming, impersonation, outing and trickery, cyber-stalking, exclusion, bullying by spreading rumours and gossip, threatening behaviour, blackmail and grooming.

4.    Some of the triggers found in young victims include; low self-esteem, withdrawal from social activities, changes in appearance, weight loss, depression and even self-harm.

5.    It is currently impossible to know how many children are reporting content, what they are reporting and how these reports are dealt with. 

6.    The recommendation of the Children’s Commissioner to establish a Children’s Digital Ombudsman to media between under 18s and social media companies over the removal of content. 

7.    That parents, educators, and counsellors across UK are responding to this behaviour with new and innovative approaches.

8.    Here in Tower Hamlets the council’s Parental Engagement Team has developed workshops and courses which explore internet safety.  More than 200 parents and carers have attended a course or workshop delivered in school and community settings in 2018 – 19.  The PET has also recruited and trained 8 Safer Families Champions to promote key safeguarding messages to families. 

9.    Digital inclusion, including e-safety for young people is a strand in the Local Community Fund.

This Council Believes:

1. The impact of cyber-bullying and exposure to other inappropriate content online is a threat to a child's safety and wellbeing and if they are not handled swiftly it can cause long-term psychological damage that can affect everything from their personal relationships to their performance in school.
2. That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.