Agenda item
TO CONSIDER MOTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL
The motions submitted by Councillors for debate at this meeting are set out in the attached report.
Decision:
Note – Motions 12.3, 12.4 and 12.13 were considered earlier in the meeting and the decisions are listed at those points.
12.7 Motion regarding the Mayor’s failure to deliver on street cleaning
Councillor Helal Abbas moved, and Councillor Khales Uddin-Ahmed seconded, the motion as printed on the agenda.
Following debate, the motion was put to the vote and was agreed.
DECISION
This Council notes:
-
That across
the borough there have been 667
reports ofmissed bin collections over the last 6 months in the E3
area alone.
-
That in response to the 667 reported missed bin
collections in the E3 area the Council has issued just 9 penalty
notices to the contractor Veolia.
This Council believes:
-
That because the above figures only represent missed
bin collections which have been reported by residents they
represent only the tip of the iceberg with many more uncollected
bins left to litter our streets.
- 667 reported missed bin collections over 6 months in one postcode area is a damning reflection on the Mayor’s record on street cleanliness.
- That the number of missed bin collections show that the Mayor and his independent Cabinet member for Cleaner and Greener, Cllr Shahed Ali have failed to get to grips with managing the basic services residents rely upon.
- By only issuing penalties to the contractor on 9 occasions despite 667 incidences of failure to fulfil the rubbish collection contract the Mayor and Cllr Ali have shown astounding complacency and ineffectiveness.
This Council further notes:
-
The Mayor’s 2012 Budget chose to cut street
cleaning to only two days a week, as well as introducing charges
for pest control services and bulk rubbish collection.
-
That Labour councillors opposed the Mayor’s
decision to cut the street cleaning budgets highlighting the
potential for it to degrade the borough.
-
The Mayor’s 2013 Budget included £70,000 of cleaner streets funding for resident
‘education’ designed to ‘align the perception and
the reality of the condition of the borough’.
-
Last year’s Annual Residents Survey showed
that 41% of residents have a negative view of street cleaning
services with 35% unhappy with rubbish collections.
This Council believes:
-
The Mayor’s cuts to street cleaning are having
a demonstrable effect on the state of our borough’s
streets.
-
By spending £70,000 of taxpayers’ money
on propaganda campaigns to ‘educate’ residents how
clean the streets are the Mayor is missing the point, we need
cleaner streets not more propaganda.
-
That the Mayor should spend less time being ferried
around the streets in his tax payer funded Mercedes and actually
get out and see the results of his cuts to street
cleaning.
- The Mayor’s claims that the streets are 97% are ridiculous and just shows how out of touch he and his Cabinet are.
This Council resolves:
-
To censure the Mayor and Cllr Ali for their failure
to effectively manage the Council’s contract for bin
collections with Veolia.
- To instruct the Section 151 officer to investigate the fulfilment of the Council’s bin collection contract to ensure that tax payers are getting best value for money and to report back to Council.
(Action by: Chris Holme, Acting Corporate Director, Resources)
12.9 Motion regarding ‘Affordable’ rent cap
Councillor John Pierce moved, and Councillor Rajib Ahmed seconded, the motion as printed on the agenda.
Councillor Bill Turner moved, and Councillor John Pierce seconded, a procedural motion under Procedure Rule 15.12.1 that the question be now put.
Councillor Rabina Khan indicated that she wished to propose an amendment to the motion as follows:-
“Delete last point under ‘notes’ and replace with
- That Tower Hamlets is currently working with other London councils, including Islington, on the possibility of a Judicial Review of Boris Johnson’s decision.
Insert after all text under ‘notes’
- That the London Borough of Tower Hamlets was one of the consortium of nine London councils that provided evidence at the Revised Early Minor Alterations (REMA) to the London Plan Examination in Public (EiP) on the affordable rent policies in November 2012.
- That as a result of the incisive evidence produced from a landmark research project undertaken by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the Planning Inspector ruled in the councils’ favour, but was ignored by Boris Johnson.
Delete first point under ‘resolves’ and replace with
- To endorse Mayor Rahman’s decision to instruct lawyers to work with other boroughs on a possible Judicial Review of the Mayor of London’s decision.”
The Speaker advised the Council of the text of Cllr Khan’s proposed amendment as above. However, there was insufficient time left before the expiry of the time limit for the meeting for the amendment to be debated.
The procedural motion moved by Councillor Turner was then put to the vote and was agreed.
The substantive motion was then put to the vote and was agreed.
DECISION
This Council notes:
-
That a government-appointed planning inspector
recently recommended that Boris Johnson delete paragraphs from his
Draft London Plan which would prevent councils from setting
localised caps for affordable rent.
-
The planning inspector reported that nine councils
had provided “compelling evidence about the lack
of affordability of homes at 60-80 per cent of market rents for
many of their poorest residents”
- Boris Johnson has since indicated that he will reject the inspector’s recommendations and press ahead with mandating affordable rent for London at 80% of market rates.
- Many residents in Tower Hamlets cannot afford rents at 80% of market rates and will be forced to look outside of the borough for housing options in the future.
- Labour-led Islington Council have said that they are exploring the possibility of legal action against the Mayor of London’s decision.
This Council believes:
-
The Conservative ‘affordable rent’ model
is a farce which is totally unaffordable for many of those
currently living in London
-
Boris Johnson’s refusal to allow councils to
set a localised ‘affordable’ rent is a clear abdication
of his duty to protect the poorest in our society.
- Not allowing councillors to set localised ‘affordable’ rent shows the hollow nature of the Conservative’s much promoted localism agenda.
- That this decision is indicative of the gentrification agenda of a Conservative Party who would rather see lifelong residents turfed out of London than supported.
This Council resolves:
-
To call upon the Mayor of London to reconsider his
decision and to allow councils to set localised affordable rent
caps which reflect the needs of their local populations.
-
To call upon the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to support
Labour-Led Islington council in its potential legal action against
the Mayor of London’s decision.
- To call upon the Tower Hamlets Conservative Group to publically condemn the Mayor of London’s decision.
Motions 12.1, 12.2, 12.5, 12.6, 12.8, 12.10, 12.11, 12.12 and 12.14 – 12.17 were not considered due to lack of time.
Minutes:
Note – Motions 12.3, 12.4 and 12.13 had been considered earlier in the meeting and the decisions are listed at those points.
12.7 Motion regarding the Mayor’s failure to deliver on street cleaning
Councillor Helal Abbas moved, and Councillor Khales Uddin-Ahmed seconded, the motion as printed on the agenda.
Following debate, the motion was put to the vote and was agreed.
RESOLVED
This Council notes:
-
That across
the borough there have been 667
reports ofmissed bin collections over the last 6 months in the E3
area alone.
-
That in response to the 667 reported missed bin
collections in the E3 area the Council has issued just 9 penalty
notices to the contractor Veolia.
This Council believes:
-
That because the above figures only represent missed
bin collections which have been reported by residents they
represent only the tip of the iceberg with many more uncollected
bins left to litter our streets.
- 667 reported missed bin collections over 6 months in one postcode area is a damning reflection on the Mayor’s record on street cleanliness.
- That the number of missed bin collections show that the Mayor and his independent Cabinet member for Cleaner and Greener, Cllr Shahed Ali have failed to get to grips with managing the basic services residents rely upon.
- By only issuing penalties to the contractor on 9 occasions despite 667 incidences of failure to fulfil the rubbish collection contract the Mayor and Cllr Ali have shown astounding complacency and ineffectiveness.
This Council further notes:
-
The Mayor’s 2012 Budget chose to cut street
cleaning to only two days a week, as well as introducing charges
for pest control services and bulk rubbish collection.
-
That Labour councillors opposed the Mayor’s
decision to cut the street cleaning budgets highlighting the
potential for it to degrade the borough.
-
The Mayor’s 2013 Budget included £70,000 of cleaner streets funding for resident
‘education’ designed to ‘align the perception and
the reality of the condition of the borough’.
-
Last year’s Annual Residents Survey showed
that 41% of residents have a negative view of street cleaning
services with 35% unhappy with rubbish collections.
This Council believes:
-
The Mayor’s cuts to street cleaning are having
a demonstrable effect on the state of our borough’s
streets.
-
By spending £70,000 of taxpayers’ money
on propaganda campaigns to ‘educate’ residents how
clean the streets are the Mayor is missing the point, we need cleaner streets not more
propaganda.
-
That the Mayor should spend less time being ferried
around the streets in his tax payer funded Mercedes and actually
get out and see the results of his cuts to street
cleaning.
- The Mayor’s claims that the streets are 97% are ridiculous and just shows how out of touch he and his Cabinet are.
This Council resolves:
-
To censure the Mayor and Cllr Ali for their failure
to effectively manage the Council’s contract for bin
collections with Veolia.
- To instruct the Section 151 officer to investigate the fulfilment of the Council’s bin collection contract to ensure that tax payers are getting best value for money and to report back to Council.
12.9 Motion regarding ‘Affordable’ rent cap
Councillor John Pierce moved, and Councillor Rajib Ahmed seconded, the motion as printed on the agenda.
Councillor Bill Turner moved, and Councillor John Pierce seconded, a procedural motion under Procedure Rule 15.12.1 that the question be now put.
Councillor Rabina Khan indicated that she wished to propose an amendment to the motion as follows:-
“Delete last point under ‘notes’ and replace with
- That Tower Hamlets is currently working with other London councils, including Islington, on the possibility of a Judicial Review of Boris Johnson’s decision.
Insert after all text under ‘notes’
- That the London Borough of Tower Hamlets was one of the consortium of nine London councils that provided evidence at the Revised Early Minor Alterations (REMA) to the London Plan Examination in Public (EiP) on the affordable rent policies in November 2012.
- That as a result of the incisive evidence produced from a landmark research project undertaken by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the Planning Inspector ruled in the councils’ favour, but was ignored by Boris Johnson.
Delete first point under ‘resolves’ and replace with
- To endorse Mayor Rahman’s decision to instruct lawyers to work with other boroughs on a possible Judicial Review of the Mayor of London’s decision.”
The Speaker advised the Council of the text of Cllr Khan’s proposed amendment as above. However, there was insufficient time left before the expiry of the time limit for the meeting for the amendment to be debated.
The procedural motion moved by Councillor Turner was then put to the vote and was agreed.
The substantive motion was then put to the vote and was agreed.
RESOLVED
This Council notes:
-
That a government-appointed planning inspector
recently recommended that Boris Johnson delete paragraphs from his
Draft London Plan which would prevent councils from setting
localised caps for affordable rent.
-
The planning inspector reported that nine councils
had provided “compelling evidence about the lack
of affordability of homes at 60-80 per cent of market rents for
many of their poorest residents”
- Boris Johnson has since indicated that he will reject the inspector’s recommendations and press ahead with mandating affordable rent for London at 80% of market rates.
- Many residents in Tower Hamlets cannot afford rents at 80% of market rates and will be forced to look outside of the borough for housing options in the future.
- Labour-led Islington Council have said that they are exploring the possibility of legal action against the Mayor of London’s decision.
This Council believes:
-
The Conservative ‘affordable rent’ model
is a farce which is totally unaffordable for many of those
currently living in London
-
Boris Johnson’s refusal to allow councils to
set a localised ‘affordable’ rent is a clear abdication
of his duty to protect the poorest in our society.
- Not allowing councillors to set localised ‘affordable’ rent shows the hollow nature of the Conservative’s much promoted localism agenda.
- That this decision is indicative of the gentrification agenda of a Conservative Party who would rather see lifelong residents turfed out of London than supported.
This Council resolves:
-
To call upon the Mayor of London to reconsider his
decision and to allow councils to set localised affordable rent
caps which reflect the needs of their local populations.
-
To call upon the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to support
Labour-Led Islington council in its potential legal action against
the Mayor of London’s decision.
- To call upon the Tower Hamlets Conservative Group to publically condemn the Mayor of London’s decision.
Motions 12.1, 12.2, 12.5, 12.6, 12.8, 12.10, 12.11, 12.12 and 12.14 – 12.17 were not considered due to lack of time.
Supporting documents: