Issue - meetings

The following motions listed on the agenda lapsed due to lack of time:

12.3   In the name of Councillor Orhan:

“Following the campaign in the Londra Gazette and my letter to the Schools Minister urging him to intervene and force the AQA and OCR exam boards to reconsider the decision to scrap “A” levels and GCSEs of certain community languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Polish and Turkish, it has been disappointing that other than a reprieve of a year no firm announcement of a commitment has been made by the Government that a u-turn has been achieved.  It begs the question who is in charge of education in the UK and if this Government is committed to providing language skill opportunities much in demand in business and much in need by an outward facing country.

As this is of a huge interest for Enfield residents I ask the Council to fully support me in a letter urging the government to make a public statement that community languages will be taught in school beyond 2017.”

12.4   In the name of Councillor N.Cazimoglu:

“The country, particularly London, is facing a housing crisis and residents in Enfield are feeling the effects.  This Council believes that the only real solution is to build more homes.

House building is at its lowest since the 1920’s; private rents have increased by 37% in the past five years and the government continue to use billions of pounds of public money to subsidise private landlords through housing benefit.

This Council believes that government is complacent about the housing crisis which is affecting many of our residents in Enfield.

We call on the government to grant local authorities the powers and financial ability to increase the supply of housing for our residents.  The government should go further than they already have in lifting the cap on borrowing for Housing Revenue Accounts.  Council’s must be given the financial flexibilities they need to be able to scale up housing development, both in partnership and directly.”

12.5    In the name of Councillor Laban:

“Enfield Council does not support any proposal for female only train carriages on trains. The idea amounts to nothing more than gender segregation and does nothing to address any of the issues of sexual harassment - those people travelling within the borough of Enfield should feel safe on trains, isolating women and treating them as the problem is not the answer.”

The following motions listed on the agenda lapsed due to lack of time:

1.1    In the name of Councillor Stewart:

“This Council recognises the distress and costs brought on to Enfield residents because of the Home Secretary’s crisis at the Passport Office.  This Council calls on the Passport Office to refund all those residents who had to incur extra fees and costs because of the Home Secretary’s poor management of the agency.  The Leader of the Council should write to the Home Secretary to pass on our view.”

1.2    In the name of Councillor Oykener:

“The Council welcomes the establishment of a local authority company to develop own and manage a portfolio of properties to be made available for private rent.”

1.3    In the name of Councillor Neville:

“The Council welcomes the completion of the purchase of the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.  The Council notes that this is the first piece of potentially positive news in the chequered history of Chase Farm for a very long time!

The Council shares both, the Royal Free’s assessment that the site needs to be redeveloped and it’s acknowledgement that parts of the site are “no longer suitable for the delivery of modern health care”.  The council is concerned however to see that the £100million of government investment in the site is actually delivered, and as quickly as possible.  It looks forward to working with the Royal Free to secure this much needed and long overdue redevelopment, for the benefit of Enfield residents.”

1.4    In the name of Councillor Neville:

“The Council calls upon the Cabinet to implement Labour’s election pledge “to encourage residents to shop locally” by firstly implementing a 20 minute free parking at Pay and Display bays in town centres, and secondly ensuring that in designing the Cycle Enfield project existing on-street parking spaces are not reduced.”

1.5    In the name of Councillor Taylor:

“Enfield Council welcomes

·                An increase in nurses

·                Better access to housing

·                Fairer taxation

·                An increase in the minimum wage

·                A freeze of gas and electricity bills until 2017

Enfield residents will benefit from changing the economic conditions currently creating a fall in incomes. Enfield residents will benefit from the safeguarding of the NHS promised by a change of Government.”

1.6    In the name of Councillor Stewart:

“Enfield Council is extremely concerned about the Government’s mismanagement of Employment and Support Allowance. Large backlogs, an increasing number of sanctions and poorly administered Work Capability Assessments are having a devastating effect on the most vulnerable in Enfield. The Leader of the Council is requested to write to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, to raise our concerns.”

1.         Councillor Neville moved and Councillor Laban seconded the following motion:

"This Council notes the recent decision of the High Court in the case of Attfield v L B of Barnet, which ruled that increases in charges for residents permits by Barnet Council in 2011 were unlawful because Barnet's primary reason for imposing the increase was to raise additional income for highway maintenance and to contribute to the cost of concessionary fares.

This Council further notes that the report of the Director of Environment to Cabinet on 14 June 2010 proposed increases to residents parking permit charges and on street parking charges which the Cabinet approved. The June 2010 report which the Cabinet accepted, made plain the reason(s) for the proposed increases which were identical to those in the Barnet case, and must therefore be regarded as unlawful, which were repeated by Cllr Stafford, Cabinet Member for Finance, at a public meeting which was properly minuted by Democratic Services.

The Council notes that Barnet have as a result of the High Court ruling, decided to refund not just the claimant, Mr Attfield as they were ordered, but also to refund all residents who had paid the increased charges since their introduction. In the light of this the Council instructs the Director - Environment to make immediate arrangements for similar refunds to all affected Enfield residents."

As a result of comments relating to the potential for legal action against the Council made during the motion being moved by Councillor Neville, Councillors Bond & Taylor reported that they had been advised it would be inappropriate (in terms of defending the interests of the Council) to engage in any further debate on the motion unless an assurance was provided that no legal action was planned against the Council on this issue.

As no assurance was provided the motion was put to the vote without any further debate and not approved, with the following result:

For: 19

Against: 29

Abstentions: 0

2.      Councillor Charalambous moved and Councillor Sitkin seconded the following motion:

“This Council notes that Enfield residents will be better off under a One Nation Labour Government rather than with the divisive policies being put forward by the other parties.”

Following a debate the motion was put to the vote and agreed with the following result:

For: 30

Against: 20

Abstentions: 0

3.         Councillor Sitkin moved and Councillor R. Hayward seconded the following motion:

“Enfield Council's 2020 Action Plan seeks a 40% reduction in the borough's CO2 emissions by 2020 vs. a 2005 baseline, reflecting our conviction that it is a public responsibility to help incentivise eco-investment. In Enfield, this approach is contributing to the creation of new career opportunities in the construction and manufacturing sectors; our workforce is being equipped with useful, high value skills; even as we are doing what we can to fight global warming.

This Council invites representatives from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65