Minutes:
1.1 Following on from consideration of Opposition Business, Councillor Anderson moved and Councillor Chibah seconded the following motion:
“Fly tipping is endemic across the country costing taxpayers up to £850m each year. Earlier this year, the Communities and Local Government Select Committee accused Westminster of a “lack of vigour, if not complacency” on tackling this growing problem.
Though Enfield Council has one of the best records in the country in tackling this scourge, we recognise that more needs to be done. This Council, therefore, calls on the Government to heed the conclusions of the Select Committee report by creating a National Litter Strategy for England with a clear framework for action, underpinned with a coordinating role for local councils.
In addition we ask the Government:
(1) to re-invest the millions from landfill tax receipts into tackling commercial fly-tipping;
(2) to introduce a £1,000 fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping offences and make it easier for local authorities to enforce it; and
(3) to address the outdated, slow and resource intensive process for dealing with waste on private land with a 7 day enforcement process along with higher fines for land owners who fail to comply.”
Having been moved and seconded, Councillor Laban then moved and Councillor Neville seconded the following amendment to the motion:
· To delete the second sentence in the first paragraph and replace the second paragraph with the following:
“We recognise that more needs to be done. Therefore Enfield Council agrees to send a joint letter from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment to the Rt Hon. Elizabeth Truss M.P., Secretary of State for Environment and ask for the creation of a National Litter Strategy to aid in combating the problem of fly tipping.”
In response to the amendment, Councillor Anderson advised that the Majority Group would have no objection to the proposal for a joint letter but would not be willing to accept deletion of reference to the outcome of the review undertaken by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.
Prior to any further debate, John Austin (Assistant Director Governance Projects) advised that if it was not possible to agree a way forward on the amendment then its consideration would to be subject to the usual rules of debate under the Council Procedure Rules.
In order to clarify matters Councillor Laban advised that the Opposition Group would be willing to proceed on the basis of their amendment now requiring the following changes to the original motion:
· Reference to “Westminster” in the second sentence of the first paragraph being amended to “the former coalition government”; and
· To the letter for which approval was being sought in the second paragraph to be a joint letter from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment to the Rt Hon. Elizabeth Truss M.P., Secretary of State for Environment and ask for the creation of a National Litter Strategy to aid in combating the problem of fly tipping.
Councillor Anderson advised that the Majority Group would be willing to support these subsequent changes which as a result were agreed, without a vote.
The substantive motion (as amended and set out below) was then agreed unanimously, without any further debate:
“Fly tipping is endemic across the country costing taxpayers up to £850m each year. Earlier this year, the Communities and Local Government Select Committee accused the former coalition government of a “lack of vigor, if not complacency” on tackling this growing problem.
Though Enfield Council has one of the best records in the country in tackling this scourge, we recognise that more needs to be done. This Council, therefore, agrees to send a joint letter from the Cabinet Member for Environment and the Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment to the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP, Secretary of State for Environment, calling on the Government to heed the conclusions of the Select Committee report by creating a National Litter Strategy for England with a clear framework for action, underpinned with a coordinating role for local councils.
In addition we ask the Government:
(1) to re-invest the millions from landfill tax receipts into tackling commercial fly-tipping;
(2) to introduce a £1,000 fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping offences and make it easier for local authorities to enforce it; and
(3) to address the outdated, slow and resource intensive process for dealing with waste on private land with a 7 day enforcement process along with higher fines for land owners who fail to comply.”
1.2 Councillor Neville moved and Councillor Steven seconded the following motion:
“It has recently come to light that Councillor Nesimi Erbil was convicted of two fraud related offences in relation to his license to drive a London taxi (black cab), the convictions having occurred last September.
The council is of the view that these offences, being offences of dishonesty render Councillor Erbil unfit to serve on the council and accordingly calls upon him to resign his seat forthwith.”
In responding to the motion, Councillor Stewart referred to advice received from the Labour Party setting out the internal process being followed to investigate the matter. Pending the outcome of that process, the councillor had been administratively suspended by the local Labour Group but would still be able to undertake duties as a local ward councillor. In order to avoid predetermining the outcome of the internal Labour Party investigation members of the local Labour Group had been advised to make no further statement and to abstain from any vote on the issue.
As a result of the above statement, the motion was put to the vote without any further debate and was approved. In accordance with section 15.4 of the Council Procedure Rules the Opposition Group requested a roll call vote, with the result as follows:
For: 19
Councillor Erin Celebi
Councillor Lee Chamberlain
Councillor Jason Charalambous
Councillor Lee David-Saunders
Councillor Nick Dines
Councillor Peter Fallart
Councillor Elaine Hayward
Councillor Robert Hayward
Councillor Ertan Hurer
Councillor Eric Jukes
Councillor Joanne Laban
Councillor Michael Lavender
Councillor Andy Milne
Councillor Terry Neville
Councillor Anne Marie Pearce
Councillor Michael Rye
Councillor Edward Smith
Councillor Jim Steven
Councillor Glynis Vince
Against: 0
Abstentions: 34
Councillor Abdul Abdullahi
Councillor Daniel Anderson
Councillor Dinah Barry
Councillor Chris Bond
Councillor Yasemin Brett
Councillor Alev Cazimoglu
Councillor Nesil Cazimoglu
Councillor Bambos Charalambous
Councillor Katherine Chibah
Councillor Gurney Dogan
Councillor Sarah Doyle
Councillor Turgut Esengali
Councillor Krystal Fonyonga
Councillor Achilleas Georgiou
Councillor Christine Hamilton
Councillor Ahmet Hassan
Councillor Suna Hurman
Councillor Jansev Jemal
Councillor Doris Jiagge
Councillor Nneka Keazor
Councillor Bernadette Lappage
Councillor Dino Lemonides
Councillor Derek Levy
Councillor Mary Maguire
Councillor Don McGowan
Councillor Ayfer Orhan
Councillor Ahmet Oykener
Councillor Vicki Pite
Councillor George Savva
Councillor Alan Sitkin
Councillor Andrew Stafford
Councillor Claire Stewart
Councillor Doug Taylor
Councillor Ozzie Uzoanya
Councillor Erbil withdrew from the meeting during consideration of this item.