Agenda item - The following Notices of Motion have been submitted by Members for consideration:

(a)          Divesting from Fossil Fuels.  Proposed by Councillor Russell-Moyle (copy attached).

 

(b)          Support for Unaccompanied Children in Refugee Camps.  Proposed by Councillor Littman (copy attached).

 

(c)          TUPE Pension Protection for Local Government Staff.  Proposed by Councillor Moonan (copy attached).

 

(d)          Kings House.  Proposed by Councillor Nemeth (copy attached).

 

(e)          Clean Air.  Proposed by Councillor Deane (copy attached).

 

(f)           Housing Support No Evictions.  Proposed by Councillor Gibson (copy attached).

(a)          Divesting from Fossil Fuels.

 

97.1      The Notice of Motion as listed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Russell-Moyle on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group and seconded by Councillor Allen.

 

97.2      The Mayor then put the following motion as listed to the vote:

 

“This Council requests the Chief Executive writes to the Chair of the East Sussex County Council Pensions Committee asking the Committee:

 

·           To commit itself, over the course of the next five years, to divest the East Sussex Pension Fund from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds, and

 

·           To focus re-investment in areas that minimise climate change and reduce the Fund's carbon footprint;

 

while ensuring the Fund continues to generate a sufficient level of return to ensure the current and future sustainability of the fund.”

 

97.3      The Mayor confirmed that the motion had been carried by 33 votes to 20 with no abstentions as detailed below:

 

		For	Against	Abstain			For	Against	Abstain
1	Allen	ü				Marsh	ü
2	Atkinson	ü				Meadows	ü
3	Barford	ü				Mears		X
4	Barnett		X			Miller		X
5	Bell		X			Mitchell	ü
6	Bennett		X			Moonan	ü
7	Bewick	Not present				Morgan	ü
8	Brown		X			Morris	ü
9	Cattell	ü				Nemeth		X
10	Chapman		X			Norman A		X
11	Cobb		X			Norman K		X
12	Daniel	ü				O’Quinn	ü
13	Deane	ü				Page	ü
14	Druitt	ü				Peltzer Dunn		X
15	Gibson	ü				Penn	ü
16	Gilbey	ü				Phillips	ü
17	Greenbaum	ü				Robins	ü
18	Hamilton	ü				Russell-Moyle	ü
19	Hill	ü				Simson		X
20	Horan	ü				Sykes		X
21	Hyde		X			Taylor		X
22	Inkpin-Leissner	ü				Theobald C		X
23	Janio		X			Theobald G		X
24	Knight	ü				Wares		X
25	Lewry		X			Wealls		X
26	Littman	ü				West	ü
27	Mac Cafferty	ü				Yates	ü
						Total	33	20	0

 

97.4      The motion was carried.

 

Note:  Closure Motion.

 

97.5      The Mayor noted that the meeting had been in session for four hours and therefore in having regard to the constitution, he was required to move a closure motion under procedural rule 17 to terminate the meeting.

 

97.6      The Mayor then put the motion to close the meeting to the vote which was unanimously rejected.

 

97.7      The motion was lost.

 

(b)         Support for Unaccompanied Children in Refugee Camps.

 

97.8      The Notice of Motion as listed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Littman on behalf of the Green and Labour & Co-operative Groups and seconded by Councillor Daniel.

 

97.9      Councillor Bell moved an amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group, which was seconded by Councillor G. Theobald.

 

97.10   The Mayor noted that the Conservative amendment had not been accepted in full but that clause (c) had been accepted by Councillor Littman as an amendment to the original motion.  He then put the amendment as moved by Councillor Bell to the vote which was lost by 20 votes to 32 as detailed below:

 

97.11   The Mayor then put motion as amended by the inclusion of clause (c) to the vote which was carried by 52 votes to 0 against, with no abstentions.

 

97.12   The Mayor then put the following substantive motion to the vote:

 

“That following the announcement that the so-called ‘Dubs Amendment’, a scheme for unaccompanied children to come to the UK is to be closed, this Council requests that:

The Chief Executive write to the Home Secretary to ask that she honours the Government’s commitment to play its part in providing safe-haven to unaccompanied refugee children; and makes the requisite funding available to BHCC and all other Local Authorities willing to give a place of sanctuary for these blameless survivors and encouraging her to continue talks with other Local Authorities to take part in the National Transfer Scheme and in the Vulnerable Children’s Relocation Scheme.”

 

97.13   The Mayor confirmed that the motion as amended had been carried by 52 votes to 0 with no abstentions as detailed below:

 

		For	Against	Abstain			For	Against	Abstain
1	Allen	ü				Marsh	ü
2	Atkinson	ü				Meadows	ü
3	Barford	Not present				Mears	ü
4	Barnett	ü				Miller	ü
5	Bell	ü				Mitchell	ü
6	Bennett	ü				Moonan	ü
7	Bewick	Not present				Morgan	ü
8	Brown	ü				Morris	ü
9	Cattell	ü				Nemeth	ü
10	Chapman	ü				Norman A	ü
11	Cobb	ü				Norman K	ü
12	Daniel	ü				O’Quinn	ü
13	Deane	ü				Page	ü
14	Druitt	ü				Peltzer Dunn	ü
15	Gibson	ü				Penn	ü
16	Gilbey	ü				Phillips	ü
17	Greenbaum	ü				Robins	ü
18	Hamilton	ü				Russell-Moyle	ü
19	Hill	ü				Simson	ü
20	Horan	ü				Sykes	ü
21	Hyde	ü				Taylor	ü
22	Inkpin-Leissner	ü				Theobald C	ü
23	Janio	ü				Theobald G	ü
24	Knight	ü				Wares	ü
25	Lewry	ü				Wealls	ü
26	Littman	ü				West	ü
27	Mac Cafferty	ü				Yates	ü
						Total	52	0	0

 

97.14   The motion was carried.

 

(c)          TUPE Pension Protection for Local Government Staff.

 

97.15   The Notice of Motion as listed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Moonan on behalf of the Labour & Co-operative Group and seconded by Councillor Horan.

 

97.16   The Mayor then put the following motion as listed to the vote:

 

“We call on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Damien Green to amend the Fair Deal Guidance 2003 to include staff from Best Value Authorities such as Brighton and Hove City Council within the guidance.  This will ensure they have the same rights as other public sector workers to retain their Public Service Pension Scheme when they are TUPE'D out of local government employment.”

 

97.17   The Mayor confirmed that the motion had been carried unanimously.

 

97.18   The motion was carried.

 

 

(d)         Kings House.

 

97.19   The Notice of Motion as listed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Nemeth on behalf of the Conservative Group and seconded by Councillor G. Theobald.

 

97.20   The Mayor then put the following motion as listed to the vote:

 

“This Council resolves to request that the Leader of the Council:

 

(i)        Makes a full public statement on why the consortium that was picked as preferred buyer of King’s House has dropped out so far into the process;

 

(ii)       Issues a briefing note to Councillors detailing exactly what went wrong and what lessons can be learnt; and,

 

(iii)      Updates the Policy, Resources & Growth Committee of the budgetary consequences of the ongoing delays of this and other major projects.”

 

97.21   The Mayor confirmed that the motion had been carried by 30 votes to 21 with no abstentions as detailed below:

 

		For	Against	Abstain			For	Against	Abstain
1	Allen		X			Marsh		X
2	Atkinson		X			Meadows		X
3	Barford	Not present				Mears	ü
4	Barnett	ü				Miller	ü
5	Bell	ü				Mitchell		X
6	Bennett	ü				Moonan		X
7	Bewick	Not present				Morgan		X
8	Brown	ü				Morris		X
9	Cattell		X			Nemeth	ü
10	Chapman		X			Norman A	ü
11	Cobb	ü				Norman K	ü
12	Daniel		X			O’Quinn		X
13	Deane	ü				Page	ü
14	Druitt	ü				Peltzer Dunn	ü
15	Gibson	ü				Penn		X
16	Gilbey		X			Phillips	ü
17	Greenbaum	ü				Robins		X
18	Hamilton		X			Russell-Moyle		X
19	Hill		X			Simson	ü
20	Horan		X			Sykes	ü
21	Hyde	ü				Taylor	ü
22	Inkpin-Leissner		X			Theobald C	ü
23	Janio	ü				Theobald G	ü
24	Knight	Not present				Wares	ü
25	Lewry	ü				Wealls	ü
26	Littman	ü				West	ü
27	Mac Cafferty	ü				Yates		X
						Total	30	21	0

 

97.22   The motion was carried.

 

(e)          Clean Air.

 

97.23   The Notice of Motion as listed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Deane on behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Sykes.

 

97.24   The Mayor then put the following motion as listed to the vote:

 

“This council notes the damaging effects of diesel engine emissions to people's health and to the environment and therefore commits to accelerating initiatives that will reduce this harm and lead to cleaner air.  This council resolves to:

1)    Request the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee to follow the example of Westminster City Council and introduce visitor parking differentials to incentivise diesel vehicle drivers not to enter the highest polluted areas of the city;

2)    Request the Licensing Committee to consider calling for a report detailing the options to:

·           Enforce the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002 in relation to vehicle idling offences;

·           Ensure that all new taxi licences issued under the council's policy of managed growth are for low emission vehicles only, and that all replacement taxis are low emission vehicles;

3)    To facilitate (2) above, this council requests the Chief Executive to write to Business Secretary, Greg Clark, requesting that financial assistance be made available to taxi drivers switching to more environmentally friendly vehicles, as announced at the recent opening of the new London Taxi Company factory in Coventry.”

 

97.25   The Mayor confirmed that the motion had been carried unanimously.

 

97.26   The motion was carried.

 

(f)           Housing Support No Evictions

 

97.27   The Notice of Motion as listed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Gibson behalf of the Green Group and seconded by Councillor Druitt.

 

97.28   The Mayor then put the following motion as listed to the vote:

 

“This council notes the Government changes to welfare benefits, including the introduction of the benefit cap and proposed removal of entitlement to housing benefit for 18-21 year olds.

In view of the potential impact of these changes and the number of individuals likely to fall into rent arrears and possible eviction, the Council resolves to:

Request the Housing & New Homes Committee to call for a report outlining how the risk of evictions caused by the housing benefit changes and benefit cap will be minimised. The report will take into consideration the following actions:

-        Where it is possible to clearly identify that arrears are solely due to the benefit cap or removal of entitlement, that officers use all means other than evictions and bailiffs to recover rent due;

 

-        That the Council work with partners to ensure all those affected by benefit changes are, wherever possible, prevented from eviction and homelessness; in particular recognition of the fact that a disproportionate number of LGBT young people find themselves at risk of homelessness, and as such may be adversely impacted by the changes.”

 

97.29   The Mayor confirmed that the motion had been carried unanimously.

 

97.30   The motion was carried.