Agenda, decisions and minutes

Attached for noting.

Noted by Council, without division.

The protocol on the operation of meetings of full Council during the Covid-19 restrictions was noted by Council, without division.

To receive apologies for absence (if any).

Received from Councillor Reg Whitney.

Apologies were received from Councillor Reg Whitney.

To sign as a true record the minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 9 September 2020 (attached).

Minutes AGREED as a correct record, without division.

The minutes of the meeting of full Council held on 9 September 2020 were agreed as a correct record, without division.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting. 

Members may still disclose any interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To receive announcements.

The following procedural motion on behalf of the Conservaive Group was AGREED by 43 votes to 0, with 7 abstentions:

In view of the Chief Executive’s announcement and update from the Director of Public Health, and in recognition of the considerable work that officers are currently engaged in and need to continue with; I am putting forward the following motion under Council procedure Rule 12.1 (k):

Under Council Procedure Rule 20, Council agrees to partially suspend the Council Procedure Rules for this evening’s meeting. There are petitions under item 7, one report at item 8 as well as members’ questions and motions for debate at items 9 and 10.

i)            The petitions are marked as received

ii)           The report in item 8 be received and a vote only procedure is followed on the proposed amendment and if necessary the recommendation in the report.

iii)          That the answers to Members’ Question be circulated to all Members by email. Any supplementary questions from Members who put forward the questions be sent to Democratic Services and a written response provided in due course which is copied to all Members.

iv)          That the Council follow the vote only procedure pursuant to Rule 13.4 in relation to motions A and B put forward by the Independent Resident’s Group and their proposed amendments.

v)           That the Council agrees the withdrawal of motions C and D pursuant to rule 11.7 and agrees that those items are resubmitted to the next scheduled meeting of Full Council in January 2021.

In putting forward this procedural  motion, in particular the vote only procedure for Motions A & B, I acknowledge that the Leader of the Independent Resident’s Group has stated that his and his Group’s preference would have been to debate these motions before these are put to a vote.

As this is a procedural motion under Council Procedure Rule 12.1(k), this motion should proceed to a vote without discussion.

A minute’s silence was held in memory of former Councillor Cyril North who had recently passed away. Tributes to Councillor North were paid by Members of several Groups.

The Mayor advised Council that his charities would be St Francis Hospice, Clowns In The Sky and the Rainbow Trust. The Mayor had recently attended Remembrance Sunday events in Hornchurch and Romford as well as a Zoom meeting on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and the on-line lighting up ceremony for the Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square. The Deputy Mayor had attended a recent live virtual fundraising auction for King George and Queen’s Hospitals Charity.

The Leader of the Council thanked staff for their hard work during the pandemic period and added that this been recognised by the granting of an extra day’s leave to all staff over the Christmas period.

A total of 30 Covid martials and 7 additional public protection officers had been recruited. The Leader was pleased that the first Covid-19 vaccinations had now taken place at Queen’s Hospital but felt that the coming months would continue to be very challenging.

The Chief Executive advised that numbers of Covid-19 cases in Havering continued to rise and that three mobile testing units would therefore be based in the borough. Secondary school pupils had been targeted for testing with 96% of tests given out in the first tranche. Home tests were also available for pupils or teachers.

More lateral flow asymptomatic tests would be rolled out across London and the Council had requested 30,000 of these for Havering. The Covid response work was taking a lot of officer time and the Chief Executive requested that Members work with officers to support the ongoing response work to Covid-19. An all Member briefing would be arranged in due course to give the latest information to Members.

The following procedural motion on behalf of the Conservative Group was proposed by the Conservative Group:

In view of the Chief Executive’s announcement and update from the Director of Public Health, and in recognition of the considerable work that officers are currently engaged in and need to continue with; I am putting forward the following motion under Council procedure Rule 12.1 (k):

Under Council Procedure Rule 20, Council agrees to partially suspend the Council Procedure Rules for this evening’s meeting. There are petitions under item 7, one report at item 8 as well as members’ questions and motions for debate at items 9 and 10.

i)            The petitions are marked as received

ii)           The report in item 8 be received and a vote only procedure is followed on the proposed amendment and if necessary the recommendation in the report.

iii)          That the answers to Members’ Question be circulated to all Members by email. Any supplementary questions from Members who put forward the questions be sent to Democratic Services and a written response provided in due course which is copied to all Members.

iv)          That the Council follow the vote only procedure pursuant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

To receive any petition presented pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 14.

Councillors Graham Williamson, Natasha Summers and Damian White have indicated a wish to present a petition.

Received from Councillors Williamson, Summers and Damian White.

The following petitions were received:

From Councillor Williamson concerning a request from the residents of Hubert Road, Rainham for a Controlled Parking Zone, from Councillor Summers re a requested relocation of the Covid-19 testing centre on the Cherry Tree Lane car park and from the Leader of the Council re overdevelopment on Romford Seedbed Centre.

To consider a report of the Chief Executive on exemptions to the call-in procedure (attached).

Question on report on behalf of Residents’ Group to be responded to in writing.

Amendment by Residents’ Group NOT CARRIED by 29 votes to 19 with 3 abstentions; deemed motion on behalf of the Administration AGREED as substantive motion, without division.

A report of the Chief Executive summarised, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution, matters exempt from the call-in process between 30 March and 2 December 2020.

A question on the report submitted by the Residents’ Group, together with its response is shown at appendix 1 to these minutes.

Deemed motion on behalf of Administration

That the report be adopted and its recommendations carried into effect.

Amendment by Residents’ Group

An additional recommendation be added to the report as follows:

A report be submitted to the next Governance Committee meeting setting out the current process that is followed to request an exemption to “call in” and to allow for this process to be reviewed to ensure that the process is open, transparent and ensures proper accountability of the decision makers.     

The amendment on behalf of the Residents’ Group was NOT CARRIED by 29 votes to 20 (see division 2) and the deemed motion on behalf of the Administration was AGREED as the substantive motion, without division.

Attached.

15 questions submitted. Answers to be circulated to all Members by e-mail. Supplementary questions from question setters to be responded to in writing, which will be copied to all Members.

In accordance with the agreed Procedural Motion, answers to questions would be circulated to all Members by e-mail. Supplementary questions from question setters would be responded to in writing, which would be copied to all Members.

The questions submitted, with initial answers, are attached as appendix 2 to these minutes.

Attached.

A.   FIRST DO NO HARM

Amendment by Labour Group NOT CARRIED by 31 votes to 6 with 15 abstentions; amendment by Conservative Group CARRIED by 41 vote to 9 with one abstention and AGREED as substantive motion without division.

B.   PUBLIC NOTICE OBLIGATION

Amendment by Conservative Group CARRIED by 30 votes to 18 with one abstention and AGREED as substantive motion without division.

C.   LOWER THAMES CROSSING

Motion withdrawn and resubmitted to January 2021 Council meeting.

D.   ORCHARD VILLAGE

Motion withdrawn and resubmitted to January 2021 Council meeting,

Motion on behalf of the Independent Residents’ Group

This Council calls upon the Executive to contact the Prime Minister to lift restrictions and support the full re-opening of all hospitals, doctors surgeries, mental health units and all other medical centres in order to continue to support all those in need of further treatment, operations, mental health support and other health services, that have been withdrawn due to the Government’s Coronavirus Lockdown Restrictions.

Amendment on behalf of the Labour Group

This Council welcomes the lifting of lockdown restrictions and calls upon the Executive to contact the Prime Minister to ensure that the National Health Service and Public Health Authorities are properly funded to cope with the impact of the pandemic as well as delivering the high level of service it committed to deliver in its 2019 manifesto

Amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group

This Council welcomes the steps taken to safeguard local residents against increased exposure to Covid-19; it notes that Havering has had some of the highest rates of infections across all age categories and that the local hospital trust is running at capacity; and calls upon the Administration to write to the Prime Minister to request additional resources are released to Havering and the wider East London Boroughs, to support the continued suppression of the virus whilst the national vaccine roll out is undertaken.

The amendment by the Labour Group was NOT CARRIED by 31 votes to 6 with 16 abstentions (see division 3); the amendment by the Conservative Group CARRIED by 41 vote to 10 with 2 abstentions and AGREED as the substantive motion without division.

Motion on behalf of the Independent Residents’ Group

Local newspapers act as a valuable part of our democratic system, but just like democracy itself cannot be taken for granted and need support to flourish. Many print editions have gone on-line and the Romford Recorder can only survive with guaranteed income mostly through advertising.

However the Government’s “Planning for the Future” consultation (ended 29^th Oct) proposed removing the obligation of councils to advertise Public Notices in local papers. If this happened it would harm local papers and undermine the coverage and transparency they provide about planning matters and local affairs.

To avoid this the IRG called on the Executive to respond to the government’s “Planning for the Future” consultation in favour of retaining the obligation of local authorities to advertise Public Notices in local papers in the interests of local democracy.

Instead the Administration’s submission supported the removal of the Public Notice obligation. and Council strongly disagrees with the Executive decision to support the removal of the Public Notice obligation.

Amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group

This Council welcomes the Administration’s submission to the planning for the Future consultation and awaits the response from the Government.

The amendment by the Conservative Group was CARRIED by 31 votes to 19 with 3 abstentions (see division 5) and AGREED as the substantive motion, without division.

Motion on behalf of the Upminster and Cranham Residents’ Associations Group

Following on from several consultations regarding the Lower Thames Crossing and the responses from this Council (March 2016 and this year) Highways England submitted a Planning Application for a 14.5mile road, including a 2.4 mile tunnel, connecting the M2 near Rochester and the M25 by North Ockendon.

We have been advised that following feedback from the Planning Inspectorate that the Application has been withdrawn and a new one will be submitted.

Therefore we ask that this Council calls upon the Leader to reiterate its concerns to the Government and our Members of Parliament in respect of the following:

• Adverse impact on residential amenity for homes in Havering in terms of noise, disturbance and vibration

• Loss of homes in the North Ockendon area

• Impact on conservation areas and heritage assets in the locality

·           Adverse impact of ongoing works and siting of works compounds.

·           Should the Crossing go ahead as planned, that Havering residents are eligible to a toll discount scheme (on the same basis as received by residents of Thurrock and Dartford for the Dartford Crossing).

Amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group

This Council welcomes the withdrawal of the Lower Thames Crossing planning application following the objections raised by the Administration as part of the public consultation; notes that the previous scheme failed to adequately address the projected increases in noise and air pollution that would result across Havering from increased traffic movements; notes the unwillingness from Highway England to include sufficient upgrades of the strategic highway network as part of the overall design; notes the unwillingness from Highways England to offer Havering residents a user discount,  and calls upon the Administration to take all necessary steps to engage with Highway England, to ensure that these issues are addressed.

With the agreement of Council and in line with the procedural motion agreed earlier in the meeting, this motion was withdrawn and resubmitted to the next meeting of Council.

Motion on behalf of the Labour Group

This Council call upon the Government to increase funding for the safe removal and replacement of the external building cladding at Orchard Village and other residential blocks irrespective of the height of the buildings in order that shared owners and leaseholders are relieved of the substantial costs involved. Clarion Housing Association is urged to bring forward a programme to make all necessary safety works at Orchard Village.

Amendment on behalf of the Conservative Group

     This Council welcomes the £1billion made available by the Government for this financial year to support the remediation of unsafe non-ACM cladding systems on residential buildings 18 metres and above in height, in both the private and social housing sectors. This Council also notes the Government’s publication of the draft Building Safety Bill which lays out the framework and enabling powers to implement a new approach to building safety regulation. Clarion Housing Association is therefore urged to bring forward a programme to carry out all necessary safety works at Orchard Village.

      With the agreement of Council and in accordance with the procedural motion agreed earlier, this motion was withdrawn and resubmitted to the next meeting of Council.  

The record of voting is attached as appendix 3 to these minutes.