Agenda item - Notices of Motion.

(a)       Neighbourhood Policing, Council Services and Local Action Teams (LATs).  Proposed by Councillor Ben Duncan.

 

(b)       Electricity Internet.  Proposed by Councillor Brian Oxley.

 

(c)       Financial Services.  Proposed by Councillor Bill Randall.

 

(d)       Support Apprenticeship Programmes in Brighton and Hove.  Proposed by Councillor Craig Turton.

 

(a)            Neighbourhood Policing, Council Services and Local Action Teams (LATs)

 

87.1       The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Duncan and seconded by Councillor Kennedy.

 

87.2       Councillor Morgan moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Hamilton which was accepted by Councillor Duncan.

 

87.3       Councillor Simson moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Kemble which was accepted by Councillor Duncan.

 

87.4       The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion as amended to the vote:

 

“This Council

 

Notes

 

1.     That Sussex Police has adopted ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ as one of its three key priorities – and that the force’s Local Policing Plan commits officers to working with communities across the city to help achieve its neighbourhood policing goals of (a) being visible and accountable, and (b) providing a quality response.

 

2.     That a number of Local Action Teams (LATs) have either come into existence – or begun operating in place of a previously existing community group – to facilitate this.

 

3.     The fact that many LATs have decided to broaden their remit into areas outside the scope of policing and this council's community safety team to include other matters relating to community safety: inter alia, licensing, planning, refuse collection and traffic problems and road safety.

 

4.     The engagement of officers of this authority with LAT meetings to answer residents questions about service delivery.

 

Welcomes

 

1.     The fact that Sussex Police have pledged to engage fully with LATs,

 

2.     The formation of LATs – and the work that communities and members of this council have done and continue to do to allow them to function effectively,

 

3.     The community-led, genuinely democratic, non party-political nature of LATs.

 

Resolves

 

1.     To ask the Cabinet to acknowledge the work of LATS in reflecting the views of communities and neighbourhoods represented by them;

 

2.     To ask the Cabinet to recognise the independence of LATS from the City Council and that each LAT should have the autonomy to fix its own remit and to work together with other community organisations;

 

3.     To ask that that the Cabinet Member responsible for community safety considers working with the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership to identify ways of supporting LATS;

 

4.     To ask the Acting Chief Executive to write to the Chief Constable of Sussex, Martin Richards QPM, congratulating him on his commitment to neighbourhood policing and his officers’ and PCSOs’ pledges to attend future LAT meetings; and

 

5.     To ask the Cabinet to consider whether to provide proactive publicity for LATs on the council website and publications to encourage a greater involvement from the community.”

 

87.5       The motion was carried.

 

(b)            Electricity Internet

 

87.6       The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Oxley and seconded by Councillor Cobb.

 

87.7       Councillor Steedman moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Wakefield-Jarrett, which was put to the vote by the Mayor and carried.

 

87.8       The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion as amended to the vote:

 

“This Council notes that the Conservative Party has recently issued a green paper - The Low Carbon Economy – Security, Stability and Growth – which borrows Green Party proposals to create an electricity internet. An electricity internet has the potential to hugely improve the efficiency of electricity generation and consumption and to help unlock large-scale use of renewable energy in Brighton & Hove in particular and the UK in general.

 

This Council notes that the fundamental architecture of the generation and consumption of electricity in the UK has changed little since the National Grid was first established in the1930s, and is based on a centralised system of command and control. There is little scope to intelligently balance capacity and demand and around two thirds of energy used in large, centralised power stations never reaches the consumer.

 

The proposals contained in the paper seek to address these long-standing problems through:

 

·       transforming electricity networks with ‘smart grid’ and ‘smart meter’ technology so that the use of electricity for a wide range of household and workplace appliances can be tailored automatically to match the supply

 

·       creating a decentralised micro-generation energy revolution by introducing a system of ‘feed in tariffs’ for electricity generation as has occurred in countries such as Germany

 

·       vastly expanding the amount of offshore wind and marine power by incentivising the construction of a new network of under-sea Direct Current cables

 

·       incentivising electricity network operators to establish a new national recharging network for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles

 

This Council notes that the Conservative Party paper fails to explain how these policies would be implemented. The Conservative Government’s privatisation of the electricity supply system has left their proposals at the mercy of the shareholders of the National Grid and energy supply companies. Plans for smart metering in the UK have been bogged down in arguments between the regulator, Ofgem, and the big six energy suppliers for almost five years.

 

This Council further notes that the Conservative Party paper fails to set out the costs of these policies or explain how they would be paid for. It is crucial that these proposals be funded fairly, and not by loading additional, disproportionate costs onto the energy bills of the poorest.

 

This Council believes that a transformation on this scale would, depending on how it is implemented and financed, benefit

 

(i)         the consumers of Brighton & Hove, through lowering energy bills and giving them the capacity to generate and sell electricity;

(ii)        the global climate, by reducing carbon emissions;

(iii)       the U.K. population as a whole by enhancing energy security.

 

Furthermore, this Council believes that the electricity internet proposals would be very popular in Brighton & Hove given the significant local interest there is in the conservation of natural resources.

 

Therefore, this Council resolves to:

 

·       endorse proposals to create a decentralised electricity grid.

 

·       Instruct the Acting Chief Executive to write to the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change – Greg Clark MP - the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change – Ed Miliband MP - and the City’s 3 MPs confirming the Council’s support for smart, decentralised electricity gridand a local energy revolution, and asking Mr Clark to set out how he sees these policies being implemented in today’s privatised energy markets and paid for in a fair way.

 

·       Ask the Lead Member for Sustainability to examine possible sources of funding which could enable local residents to benefit from an electricity internet in the future.”

 

87.9       The motion was carried.

 

(c)            Financial Services

 

87.10    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Randall and seconded by Councillor Kennedy.

 

87.11    Councillor Allen moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Hawkes, which was accepted by Councillor Randall.

 

87.12    The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion as amended to the vote:

 

“This council welcomes the support that Brighton and Hove City Council is giving to the East Sussex Credit Union.

 

It also notes that:

 

·       Two million people in the UK do not have bank accounts

·       Three million people do not have access to conventional credit and depend on licensed sub-prime market lenders, many of whom operate on the doorstep

·       On average those who borrow from doorstep lenders pay £65 in interest for every £100 they borrow

·       Consumers on low incomes are hit hardest by the recession as credit dries up

·       Formal lending had dropped by 60 per cent since the recession began.

 

It therefore calls on the council’s Acting Chief Executive to write to Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, urging them to:

 

1.     Use the Government’s stake in high street banks to make loans and other financial services available from conventional sources to those on lower incomes,

 

2.     Give more support to credit unions, the Post Office and community finance initiatives to make financial services available to those on lower incomes, whilst recognising the £38 million investment for 2008-11from the Government and the extra £18.75 million investment to the Growth Fund, announced in the most recent budget, which will enable lenders to make an additional 85,000 loans to the financially excluded by 2011.

 

3.     Cap the interest rates charged by doorstep and other sub-prime market lenders in line with many EU countries, US states, Canada and Australia.”

 

87.13    The motion was carried.

 

(d)            Support Apprenticeship Programmes in Brighton and Hove

 

87.14    The Notice of Motion as detailed in the agenda was proposed by Councillor Oxley and seconded by Councillor Cobb.

 

87.15    Councillor Fallon-Khan moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Kemble, which was put to the vote by the Mayor and lost.

 

87.16    The Mayor then put the following Notice of Motion to the vote:

 

“The number of people completing apprenticeships in England has risen from 50,000 to 112,000 in the last 4 years, due to the Government’s rapid expansion of apprenticeships.

 

Brighton and Hove has seen some of the biggest increases in the numbers of completed apprenticeships in the country.  Apprenticeships in Hove alone have increased by over 500%.

 

Nationally, over 130,000 employers now offer apprenticeships across 80 different industry sectors including retail, manufacturing and the public sector and it is widely recognised that apprenticeships offer a valuable and worthwhile contribution to business, especially during an economic downturn.

 

This Council notes

  

·       £140m has been made available to fund a further 35,000 apprenticeship places in 2009/10 with 21,000 of these will be in the public sector, across the country.

·       Local Authorities like Kent CC, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Warwickshire have benefitted from apprenticeships.

·       The Government is supporting a construction clearing house to help keep apprentices who fear losing their jobs employed and in training.

 

This Council actively supports the possible advantages and benefits of entering in to an apprenticeship programme. This Council requests that the Acting Chief Executive complete the online enquiry form at https://apprenticeships.broadsystem.com/EmployerEnquiryForm.aspx to get free information and advice on how the council could benefit more from apprenticeships and how best to promote apprenticeships across the city, amongst local businesses.

 

This Council requests that Cabinet members consider the following;

 

·       Using the Council’s positive influence on more local businesses to encourage the take up of apprenticeship schemes,

 

·       Providing citywide information on the council’s website about apprenticeships available in Brighton and Hove,

 

·       Expanding its own apprenticeship programme within the Council and increasing the numbers of apprentices within the Local Authority.”

 

87.17    The motion was carried.