Summons 30th July 2003

Notice is hereby given that a Meeting of the Council of the City of Sheffield

will be held in the Council Chamber within the Town Hall, Sheffield, on

Wednesday, 30th July, 2003, at 2.00 p.m.

 

THE FOLLOWING BUSINESS IS PROPOSED TO BE TRANSACTED-

 

1.             MINUTES OF PREVIOUS COUNCIL MEETING

To receive the record of the proceedings of the meeting of the Council held on 2nd July, 2003, and to approve the accuracy thereof.                                                                            

 

2.             PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

To receive any questions or communications from the public, or communications submitted by the Lord Mayor or the Chief Executive and to pass such resolutions thereon as the Standing Orders permit and as may be deemed expedient.

 

3.             MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

(a)           Questions relating to urgent business - Standing Order No. A18(4).

(b)           Questions on the discharge of the functions of the South Yorkshire Joint Authorities for Fire and Civil Defence, Passenger Transport, Pensions and Police - Section 41 of the Local Government Act, 1985 - Standing Order No. A18(4).

 

(c)           Questions on the discharge of the functions of the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly - Standing Order No. A18(4).

(d)           Supplementary questions on Written Questions submitted at this meeting - Standing Order No. A18(1).

(e)           Verbal questions to Cabinet Members and Chairs of Scrutiny Boards and Regulatory Boards -  Standing Order No. A18 (3).

 

4.             REPRESENTATION

To consider any changes to the memberships of Boards etc. and the appointment of representatives to serve on other bodies.

 

5.             ITEMS REFERRED TO COUNCIL

 

FINANCIAL AND SERVICE STRATEGY

To consider any decision which may be referred by the Cabinet at its meeting on 23rd July, 2003.

 

CORPORATE CAPITAL STRATEGY AND ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN 2003

To consider any decision which may be referred by the Cabinet at its meeting on 23rd July, 2003

 

SCHOOL ADMISSION ARRANGEMENTS

To consider any decision which may be referred by the Cabinet at its meeting on 23rd July, 2003

 

COUNTRYSIDE AND RIGHTS OF WAY ACT 2000 – IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPLICATIONS

To consider any decision which may be referred by the Cabinet at its meeting on 23rd July, 2003

 

AMALGAMATION OF AREA HOUSING MEETINGS B AND C

To consider any decision which may be referred by the Cabinet at its meeting on 23rd July, 2003

               

6.             OBSERVATIONS

To receive observations on the minutes of the meetings of the various Council bodies.

 

7.             NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR JAMES HANSON

That this Council:

(a)           notes that Sheffield is a vibrant multicultural City;

(b)           is proud that the City has an excellent race relations record;

(c)           notes the all party condemnation of the British National Party, and its tactics;

(d)           deeply regrets the tone and content of articles by certain elements of the national press when reporting issues surrounding refugees and asylum seekers;

(e)           believes that extremist parties have exploited this issue to promote political gain;

(f)            believes that people seeking asylum are fleeing from persecution and very often are in fear of their lives;

(g)           notes the following:-

(i)            Britain takes in around less than 2% of the World's asylum seekers;

(ii)           asylum seekers are entitled to 70% of the basic benefit rate for a single person; this is around £39.18 a week which is 30% below the poverty line;

(iii)          several EU countries give more financial support to asylum seekers than Britain, including Belgium and Denmark;

(iv)          Britain is twelfth in the EU's table of countries that accept asylum seekers per head of population;

(v)           in 2001, only 42% of asylum applications were granted refugee status;

(vi)          asylum seekers and their children represent less than 5% of the population of Sheffield;

(vii)         that 226 'hard to let' properties are used to house asylum seekers which represents 0.38% of the housing stock;

(viii)        that the foreign born population in the UK pays 10% more to Government revenue than they take out, equivalent to £2.6 billion; and

(h)           accordingly resolves:-

(i)            to continue to work with all its partners to promote racial harmony across the City;

(ii)           to call upon all political parties to deal with the facts and act responsibly when dealing with such an emotive issue;

(iii)          to call upon the Chief Executive to put a web page on the Sheffield City Council website detailing the facts about asylum seekers; and

(iv)          to send copies of this motion to the Home Secretary and the other Sheffield Members of Parliament.

 

8.             NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR JAN WILSON

That this Council:

(a)           notes Sheffield's membership of the Core Cities group, a strategic alliance of the largest Cities in England outside London, which has been making a major contribution to developing plans for linking our urban renaissance with a more competitive Regional and National economy;

(b)           believes that successful Cities and a successful Sheffield are of critical importance for the other communities in their Region, and our Region respectively, and ultimately for the vigour and ambition of our Nation;

(c)           welcomes the presentation of "Creative Sheffield - a Prospectus for a Distinctive European City in a Prosperous Region" to the June 2003 Core Cities Conference;

(d)           believes that the term 'Creative Sheffield' reflects a City which is innovative on a wide front and in particular notes;

(i)            our Universities that are leaders in their specialisms;

(ii)           that Sheffield is one of the most popular Cities with students;

(iii)          the businesses renowned for innovations in technology, and innovations which have won world wide acclaim;

(iv)          public realm innovations which have won world wide acclaim;

(v)           nationally recognised community enterprise initiatives;

(vi)          a City Council which scores consistently highly for current performance and which has excellent prospects for further improvements; and

(e)           recognises that whilst UK regional cities such as Sheffield, have recently made substantial progress, they still lag behind their continental counterparts in both the productivity and renaissance agendas and that closing this gap is an essential pre-requisite to creating more prosperous Regions.

 

9.             NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR GRAHAM OXLEY

That this Council:

 

(a)           believes that the British hallmarking system for precious metal products provides a vital safeguard for both customers and manufacturers;

(b)           congratulates the Sheffield Assay Office on the contribution it makes to British hallmarking, the UK precious metals industry and to City life;

(c)           is deeply concerned by proposals to end the independent hallmarking of precious metal products, a move which would diminish the quality of protection offered to customers and manufacturers alike and would endanger 160 jobs in Sheffield; and

(d)           accordingly resolves to write to the Prime Minister, the Minister of State for Europe, the President of the European Commission, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Members of Parliament and Members of the European Parliament representing Sheffield urging them to reject any such proposals; to the Sheffield Assay Master and his staff offering this Council's full support in their attempts to ensure that such proposals are not adopted; and to the Assay Masters in Edinburgh, London and Birmingham.

 

10.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR BOB McCANN

That this Council:

(a)           notes the public meeting held on July 9th 2003 at Myrtle Springs School and chaired by the Leader of the Council, to discuss the future of Gleadless Common and the former Ashleigh school site;

(b)           notes that the meeting was attended by hundreds of local people and overwhelmingly agreed that housing should be only allowed within the footprint of the site of the former school and should not impinge on Gleadless Common;

(c)           welcomes the work of the Gleadless Common Action Group in promoting the views of local people;

(d)           calls upon the Leader of the Council to demonstrate her commitment to listening to local people and keeping Sheffield green by giving an assurance that only the site of the former school will be sold for housing, that the green land of the Common will not be built on and that an improvement and management scheme for the Common be devised and implemented in conjunction with local people and the Area Panel; and

(e)           directs that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Gleadless Common Action Group.

 

11.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR PETER MACLOUGHLIN

That this Council:

(a)      Is concerned that key elements of the Council's two previous motions on Iraq have not been met;

          

(b)      recognises the difficulties encountered by the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee in accessing and scrutinizing the documents used by HM Government to support entering the war with Iraq;

          

(c)      acknowledges also that the parallel inquiry of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee is constrained in what it can publish by having to submit their report to the Prime Minister for approval;

          

(d)      therefore calls for an independent judicial inquiry into the information used by the Government to support entering the war with Iraq; and

          

(e)      Requests that copies of this motion be sent to the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Sheffield Members of Parliament.

 

12.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR ANNE SMITH

That this Council:

 

(a)      notes with concern the conclusions of a recent Cabinet Office paper, that the Government's anti-poverty drive could grind to a halt unless radical change is undertaken;

          

(b)      also notes that the Government's Strategy Unit and Social Exclusion Unit have said that Britain has one of the highest rates of poorly paid workers in Europe, with the poorest now falling further behind the national average wage than in most other EU countries;

          

(c)      further notes that the Cabinet Office's admission that the stigma attached to means tested tax credits is leading to low take up, contradicting the Treasury's previous refusal to admit this link; and

          

(d)      believes that these revelations show that some of the poorest people in Sheffield are suffering as a direct result of the Government's policies and its failure to tackle social exclusion effectively.

 

13.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR  PAUL SCRIVEN

That this Council:

(a)           notes the Blue Box scheme which provided a doorstep collection of plastics, metals and other recyclables and operated for many years in several districts of the City;

(b)           deplores the recent withdrawal of the scheme, believing that it represents a setback to ambitions to improve the recycling rate and shows the administration's claim to make Sheffield greener to be nothing more than spin; and

(c)           directs the Cabinet Member responsible for recycling to:-

(i)            re-instate the blue box scheme across all those communities where it has been withdrawn, and undertake to ensure that it is maintained in other areas where it is still operating; and

(ii)           write to all Members of this Council detailing the measures he intends to take to move this Council beyond the statutory 18% recycling target by 2005/6 to the 45% target agreed for 2015/16.

 

14.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR COLIN ROSS

That this Council:

(a)           welcomes much of the recent Cabinet report "Transforming Sheffield - A Strategy for the Development of Secondary Education in Sheffield";

 

(b)           applauds the decision of the 27 Secondary Headteachers not to apply for 'Leading Edge' status;

 

(c)           welcomes the hard work across all Sheffield schools to improve pupils' attainment;

 

(d)           regrets that decisions as to which schools are to be designated 'Specialist' are made in Whitehall and not locally;

 

(e)           notes the high level of parental satisfaction with the present secondary school admissions policy;

 

(f)            welcomes the commitment given by the 27 Secondary Headteachers in Sheffield not to use the Specialist Schools power to select 10% of their pupils on grounds of aptitude and believes that any return to selection on grounds of aptitude would create a two tier secondary school system in Sheffield, create chaos in the schools admissions system that would significantly reduce the level of parental satisfaction; and negate the progress that has been made in education in Sheffield over recent years;

 

(g)           is concerned that Specialist status may lead to the curriculum contracting in some schools and thus dilute the concept of an all round education; and

 

(h)           directs that copies of this resolution be sent to the Secretary of State for Education, his opposite numbers in the two main opposition parties, the Sheffield Members of Parliament and the Secondary School Headteachers and Chairs of Governors.

 

15.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR ANDREW SANGAR

That this Council:

(a)           notes the 'national debate' on the future of genetically modified crops in this Country, which the Government determined would conclude on July 18th 2003;

(b)           regrets that this 'national debate' is ending before the Government commissioned scientific review is due to report, that as such the public are being asked to comment in a vacuum and accordingly believes that the 'national debate' should take place after the Government's scientific reviews have reported;

(c)           believes that more extensive trials need to be conducted on the impact of GM crops on human health;

(d)           believes that any decision on the future use of GM crops, which will be irreversible, and upon which a great deal of public interest lies, cannot be rushed, cut short or spun; and

(e)           resolves to write to the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and her opposite numbers in the two main opposition parties at Westminster and the Sheffield Members of Parliament, advising them of the views of this Council on GM crops, as a contribution to the 'national debate'.

 

16.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR ANGELA SMITH

That this Council:

(a)           notes the attendance of Education Minister, David Miliband, to the formal launch of the groundbreaking "Transforming Secondary Education" programme;

(b)           agrees with the Minister when he said that Education and Training should be about "matching opportunities to potential";

(c)           recognises that:-

(i)            there has been an unprecedented level of capital investment in the secondary sector;

(ii)           inner city schools have made significant progress in GCSE standards; and

(iii)          post 16 achievement levels in the 11-18 schools are very high;

(d)           welcomes the development of the "Sheffield Apprenticeship", which will develop flexible work-related 14-19 learning pathways for all young people, in collaboration with major employers;

(e)           notes that the apprenticeship will allow students to pursue suitable work-related qualifications such as GCSEs, GNVQs and NVQs;

(f)            believes that the apprenticeship scheme is inspired by the best traditions of this City's proud past and that it will help create new employment opportunities for young people, especially those in areas where unemployment remains stubbornly high; and

(g)           believes that this initiative will make a significant contribution towards this administration's policy to close the unacceptable gap in the quality of life between those citizens experiencing multiple deprivation and their more privileged counterparts.

 

17.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR SYLVIA DUNKLEY

That this Council:

calls on the Government to bring back a system of regulated bus services similar to the one operating in London, which will allow Passenger Transport Authorities / Executives to:

 

(a)           specify the routes, timetables and fares of bus services, emphasising the social, environmental and economic importance of bus services rather than the profit motive;

 

(b)           remove the wasteful 'on the road' competition which eats up resources better deployed on improving services;

 

(c)           operate a bus service 'of last resort' where commercial bus operators cannot or will not operate a service;

 

(d)           make sure public finance and subsidies are used in the most cost effective manner; and

 

(e)           lease buses to smaller bus companies;

 

and directs that copies of this resolution be sent to the Sheffield Members of Parliament, the Secretary of State for Transport and his opposite numbers in the two Westminster opposition  parties, and the Chair of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority.

 

 

18.           NOTICE OF MOTION GIVEN BY COUNCILLOR ANNE SMITH

That this Council:

in the interests of democracy and the effective scrutiny of the decision-making process,

(a)  determines that the existing arrangement whereby ordinary meetings of the Council alternate monthly between a general format and a format under which Members' questions and Notices of Motion are replaced by a debate on a topic or topics selected by an appropriate scrutiny forum, be discontinued forthwith; and

(b)  instructs that arrangements be made for the Council to hold full monthly meetings based on  the  general format, which shall include Members' questions and Notices of Motion at each monthly meeting, and the Council's Constitution and Standing Orders be amended accordingly.         

                   

Dated this 22nd  day of July, 2003