Agenda item

Motion 10.1  In the name of Councillor Alessandro Georgiou

“The people of the United Kingdom have voted to leave the European Union. Therefore the Council resolves that the flag of the EU should be removed from the flag pole on the civic centre premises and replaced with the Union Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”

Motion 10.2  In the name of Councillor Alessandro Georgiou

“This Council resolves that the National Anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should have time reserved to be sung during the beginning of each Full Council Meeting.”

Motion 10.3  In the name of Councillor Terry Neville 

“Borough residents were once again exposed to an unnecessary and pointless 24 hour strike on the London Underground in January, including the Piccadilly Line locally, which brought chaos to our capital and put extra pressure on other transport services. As with previous disputes this strike served only to inflict the maximum inconvenience and misery on hard working Londoners trying to get to and from their place of work.

The Council condemns the actions of the Transport Unions involved, and calls upon the Government to fully implement the relevant provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 to further restrict the ability to take industrial action in the public transport sector.”

Motion 10.4  In the name of Councillor Alan Sitkin 

“Enfield Council calls on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to immediately reverse its decision to close the Upper Edmonton Job Centre Plus (JCP) and commit to collaborating with the Council in providing residents in this part of the borough with the employability services that they merit and require. Enfield Council prioritises the regeneration of this deprived area, including through the excellent local career opportunities we have engineered through the Meridian Water project. JCP is a key partner in this effort and must maintain its high street presence.”

Motions 10.5  In the name of Councillor Ahmet Oykener

“The White Paper helpfully returns to an emphasis on affordable housing of all tenures, both rented and affordable homeownership. The government does now accept that the housing market is “broken” and so in this regard we are disappointed that the Paper did not go further. Whilst the Paper recognises the great role that Local Authorities can play in meeting the serious housing demand challenge it could and should have gone further. In particular we continue to ask for the government to allow councils to borrow against our assets which is the one measure which will truly enable a renaissance in housing building. There are different ways to do this so what I propose is we work together, meet the Minister, and agree a new deal which is right for the people of Enfield”.

Urgent Motion

Council noteed that the Mayor has agreed to accept the following as an urgent motion under Part 4 paragraph 11.6 of the constitution. 

The decision was accepted as urgent, as notice as under Part 4, Paragraph 11 could not reasonably have been given for the following reasons: 

• It was not possible to submit this motion within the normal timescale as notification of the consultation was only received after the deadline for submission of ordinary motions had passed.

• It is not possible for consideration of this matter to await the next Council meeting, as this is scheduled for 6^th April and this next stage of the Boundary Commission for England consultation process concludes before then on 27^th March 2017.

Motion in the name of Councillor Jemal

Councillor Jemal proposed and Councillor Bambos Charalambous seconded the following motion: 

“This Council notes that the second stage of consultation on responses to the initial proposals for the 2018 Parliamentary Constituency Boundary review is due to begin on Tuesday 28^th  February.  The consultation is being undertaken by the Boundary Commission for England and concludes on Monday 27^th March.  The initial consultation closed in December 2016 and the Boundary Commission are now requesting responses commenting on the submissions from this first stage of consultation.

In view of the timescale for the second stage of consultation, Council empowers the Electoral Review Panel to co-ordinate and prepare a response on behalf of the London Borough of Enfield for approval by the Leader of the Council calling on the Boundary Commission to reconsider its initial proposals in order to better reflect the needs of the local area.”

Following a short debate Councillor Neville proposed and Councillor seconded an amendment that the Leader of the Opposition should also approve the response calling on the Boundary Commission to reconsider its initial proposals. 

The amended motion was agreed without a vote. 

CHANGE IN THE ORDER OF BUSINESS

Councillor Stewart moved and Councillor Bambos Charalambous seconded a change in the order of business so that item 10.4 followed by 10.5 should be taken as the next item of business. 

This was agreed with the following result: 

For:  32

Against:  20

Abstentions:  0

Motion 10.4  In the name of Councillor Alan Sitkin 

Councillor Sitkin proposed and Councillor Ekechi seconded the following motion: 

“Enfield Council calls on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to immediately reverse its decision to close the Upper Edmonton Job Centre Plus (JCP) and commit to collaborating with the Council in providing residents in this part of the borough with the employability services that they merit and require. Enfield Council prioritises the regeneration of this deprived area, including through the excellent local career opportunities we have engineered through the Meridian Water project. JCP is a key partner in this effort and must maintain its high street presence.”

During the debate Councillor Stewart proposed and Councillor Taylor seconded a motion that the question now be put.  This was agreed without a vote. 

The motion was then put to the vote and agreed with the following result: 

For:  32

Against:  21

Abstentions:  0