Agenda item
TO RECEIVE PETITIONS
The Council Procedure Rules provide for a maximum of three petitions to be presented at an Ordinary Meeting of the Council.
The deadline for receipt of petitions for this Council meeting is noon on Thursday 14 July 2016.
However at the time of agenda despatch, the maximum number of petitions has already been received as set out in the attached report.
One further petition has been received which collected more than 2,000 signatures and is presented for debate as set out in the additional report.
Minutes:
5.1 Petition relating to Sex Education in Schools
Jahed Choudhury addressed the meeting and responded to questions from Members. Councillor Rachael Saunders, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education & Children's Servicesthen responded to the matters raised in the petition. She explained that Culloden Primary School, as an academy school, had control over the content of the sex education curriculum. Whilst it was of great importance to ensure that schools protected children, it was also important that parents were consulted on the content of sex education lessons. She pledged that the Council would work with parents to ensure this.
RESOLVED:
1. That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Children's Services for a written response within 28 days.
5.2 Petition relating to Special Responsibility Allowances
Glyn Robbins addressed the meeting and responded to questions from Members. Mayor John Biggs then responded to the matters raised in the petition. He reported that since taking up office, he had scrapped the Mayor’s car and posts within the Mayor Office generating a considerable amount of savings. The savings far exceeded the costs of the new Mayoral advisor posts that were in budget. In addition, he had decided not to accept half of the increase in his Mayoral allowance agreed by the Council meeting in May 2016. He also commented that he felt that it was a mistake to reduce the Mayoral allowance in 2014.
He considered that it was important that Councillors’ were paid a reasonable allowance to compensate for the personal and professional sacrifices they made in carrying out their duties. Therefore, he stood by the decision to increase Councillors allowances. He pledged that there would be no further increases before the next Mayoral election.
RESOLVED:
1. That the petition be referred to the Chief Executive, for a written response within 28 days.
5.3 Petition relating to Save our Youth Clubs
Petitioners addressed the meeting and responded to questions from Members. Mayor John Biggs then responded to the matters raised in the petition. He advised that he had been working hard to address the issues, and had issued a Members’ briefing setting out proposals for the service. In view of this, he expressed regret at the circulation of misinformation by opponents regarding the nature of these plans. The first thing to note was that these were interim measures to address urgent problems within the youth services (such as anti - social behaviour issues, problems with premises) and to even out services. Even under these plans, the Borough would still have the second largest youth service in London. He stressed that the Council were committed to providing an excellent youth services and a strong budget. The Administration would be examining the issues in further detail and would be bringing forward long term proposals for the service in the Autumn. There would also be an Overview and Scrutiny spotlight discussion on the subject tomorrow.
RESOLVED:
1. That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Children's Services for a written response within 28 days.
5.4 Petition Debate – Boishakhi Mela.
Mohammed Hannan addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners and the Council then debated the matters raised by the petition.
Following the debate but before the Mayor responded to the matters raised in the petition, the Speaker adjourned the meeting at 20.55pm. The meeting reconvened at 21:05pm.
The Mayor reported that he was not aware that any meeting between himself and the objectors had been cancelled and he was still willing to meet with them. He also advised it would have been a matter for the Council’s Licensing Committee to have considered the issues. However no objections were made about the application. Indeed there was a great deal of local support for the application.
Nevertheless, the Council was very mindful of the concerns about anti-social behaviour from the event. Therefore, there would be additional measures to minimise the impact of the event. Furthermore, if there was any evidence of harassment against women or girls, the Council would be vigorous in dealing with such issues.
The Mayor also reported that he worked hard to represent all sections of the community and that the events steering group was overwhelming from the Bengali community. Should the event not be successful, consideration would be given to relocating it back to Victoria Park.
RESOLVED:
1. That the petition be referred to the Chief Executive, for a written response within 28 days.
Supporting documents:
- Item 5 - Report Petitions to Council 200716, item 5. PDF 69 KB
- Item 5.4 - Petition Debate report, item 5. PDF 78 KB