Agenda item - Motions

Agenda item

Motions

Motion 1 in the name of Councillor Maria Alexandrou

 

Cervical Cancer Screening

 

Cervical screening is a way for women to protect themselves from cancer. The sad reality is that fewer women are now having cervical screening. Last year 1.3m women didn’t attend NHS screenings. There are 3,200 new cases of cervical cancer every year and of those 870 women die from it.

 

According to CANCER RESEARCH UK 99.8% of cases are preventable. When Jade Goody fought her cancer battle, nearly 80% of women went for smear tests.10 years later, only 72% of women go. If this rate falls any lower, the rise in deaths will shoot up. In the case of Jade Goody, she ignored letters about her abnormal cells. She needed to go to hospital for surgery to remove those abnormal cells, surgery which most probably would have saved her life.

 

Many young women in their 20s and 30s are dying from cervical cancer and the tragedy is they are leaving behind their partners and young children.  We need to encourage everyone to look after their health and have regular check-ups.

 

Enfield Council therefore agrees to work together with other agencies for a local campaign on cervical cancer awareness and encourage women to attend that important screening test. It only takes 5 minutes at the doctor’s surgery and this test can save your life.

 

Motion 2 in the name of Councillor Maria Alexandrou

 

Low street lighting

 

Residents have raised concerns that the street lighting does
not produce a safe and even level of illumination across the public highways
and footpaths. The streetlights have been replaced with LED fixtures that are not being operated by the council at full capacity. In Bowes Ward the roads from Bounds Green to York Road have dark areas due to the dimmed lighting, creating a threatening situation, especially for women given the recent attacks highlighted in the news, with the potential for other criminal activity. Low level lighting results in an unsafe environment,  residents fear venturing out for walks and daily routines therefore  dark streets are inhibiting active travel which compromises the climate change agenda. Natural surveillance is greatly reduced as there is less footfall and no passing cars since the introduction of the LTNs. This worsens the personal safety aspect.

This chamber agrees to: 
· Listen to residents’ concerns
· Review the effectiveness of the street lighting across the borough and Bowes Ward   in particular
· Make improvements to any deficiencies highlighted by the review
· Consider lighting fixtures with wider light dispersal
· Risk assessment on equality, active travel and crime impact

 

Motion 3 in the name of Councillor Edward Smith

 

This Council supports the findings in the recent letter to all councillors from Andrew Boff, AM, Chair of the London Assembly's Planning and Regeneration Committee dated 2 September, which sets out the many disadvantages of residential high-rise buildings such as life-time costs, excessive density, impact on family lives, quality of design and post Covid 19 issues.

 

Motion 4 in the name of Councillor Andrew Thorp

 

Recently the Scouts announced the launch of a new age group – Squirrels. This is Scouts for 4-5year olds, and it is particularly targeting wards disproportionately affected by the pandemic to help ensure all children have access to the same opportunities. Will the Council join me in welcoming the launch of Squirrels and help to promote uniformed youth organisations across the Borough so that they can reach the children and volunteers that need it most?

 

Motion 5 in the name of Councillor Mike Rye  

 

This Council resolves:  

·         to require all public firework displays within the local authority boundaries to be advertised in advance of the event, allowing residents to take precautions for their animals and vulnerable people

·         to actively promote a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people – including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks

·         to encourage local suppliers of fireworks to stock ‘quieter’ fireworks for public display.

 

Motion 6 in the name of Councillor Joanne Laban   

 

This Council resolves:

 

Enfield's Labour Administration does not believe it is important to discuss encouraging women to get tested for cervical cancer.

 

The fact that the Labour Administration has not deemed it important enough to discuss is shown by the way that it has failed to allow Cllr Maria Alexandrou's motion on the subject to be debated despite it being on the agenda 9 times over the last 18 months.

 

It is particularly worrying as due to the pandemic women have waited longer for their appointments and it is therefore even more pressing for the council to encourage residents to attend them. 

 

Motion 7 in the name of Councillor Ian Barnes

The residents of our borough are suffering a cost of living crisis and it is about to get much, much worse.

-     Household gas and electricity bills are heading for a massive 50% increase in April leaving an average household paying £700 more a year. This follows on from a brutal price rise last October.

-     Enfield families saw inflation rise to a 10-year high in November.

-     Food costs have increased because businesses are having difficulties recruiting workers to drive lorries and to pick and process food.

-     National Insurance contributions are set to increase in April.
 

The huge increase in heating costs now means that millions of families are forced to choose between being warm or being fed on a daily basis.

 

The Government can and should act now to prevent even more of our residents dropping into fuel poverty because of a global gas shortage and the fact we only store a fraction of what is needed in the UK, leaving us open to political manoeuvres from the energy-producing nations.

 

This Council calls on the Government to immediately:

-       Invest £billions more into properly insulating homes and providing alternative heat sources thus removing our reliance on fossil fuels and protecting us from further inevitable price shocks going forward.

-       Introduce a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies to help limit the expected April hike in household gas and electricity bills.

-       Remove VAT on domestic energy costs for a year and significantly increase the warm homes discount for poorer households.

-       Demand the energy companies freeze prices for the next 3 years for the most vulnerable in our society.

 

Motion 8 in the name of Councillor Nesil Caliskan

Last Christmas, despite the country being in lockdown, number 10 Downing Street and the Conservative London Mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey, attended Christmas parties.

 

Witnesses have also said that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson attend a party for 100 people, at a time when the rule was that people were not allowed to meet more than one other person outdoors.

 

The public are rightly angry.

 

For a second year, Enfield residents made sacrifices during the festive period, not meeting family and cancelling social events like work Christmas parties.

 

At a time when we need the public to continue to listen to important Public Health messages in order to help stop the spread of the virus, the public have lost trust and confidence in Prime Minister and the Conservative party.

 

It is critical that Enfield Council continues to take steps to minimise the public health risk at this time.

 

Enfield Council recognises that the Covid-19 vaccination is the best protection we have available against the virus and therefore, we will continue to support our local NHS partners in rolling out the booster programme across the borough.

 

Enfield Council also believes Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) play a vital role in our defence against Covid-19.

 

Motion 9 in the name of Councillor Christine Hamilton

The House of Commons health and social care select committee report states that the NHS is hugely understaffed and facing an ‘unquantifiable challenge’ in tackling the backlog. The NHS is short of 93,000 workers and there is no sign of any government plan to address this.

 

The report says the staffing crisis was ‘entirely predictable’.   There was already a serious staffing crisis, with a burnt-out workforce before the pandemic.

 

Due to the government's underfunding and lack of support for the NHS over the last 10 years they are now only able to deliver little more than day-to-day firefighting until this government wake up to the scale of the staffing crisis facing the NHS.

 

Currently, nearly six million people in England are waiting for routine operations and procedures - many of whom are in pain.

 

The Council call on the Government to recognise, understand and deliver the long-term plan now to fix the damage they have done in the NHS and manage the staffing crisis in the NHS NOW.

 

Motion 10 in the name of George Savva

 

Millions of families are forced to choose between food, heating, or even clothing.

 

The energy prices in September 2021 and further rises in energy prices in 2022 means that the increase is totalling more than 100% rise.

 

This has a tremendous negative impact on many- it affects elderly, children and those living in deprivation.

 

We call upon the Government to intervene and put pressure on energy companies to put a halt on this lunacy of continues rises and ask these companies to freeze prices for the next 3 years at least.

 

Motion 11 in the name of Councillor Mahmut Aksanoglu

 

CLADDING

 

Enfield Council Supports the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign and calls for the government to provide active remedies to resolve the cladding scandal in the country which is affecting leaseholders and residents in Enfield.

 

The Council Notes:

·         The Government has made it a requirement to remove all cladding that presents a fire risk and remediation of unsafe wall systems on the walls of existing residential buildings of any height after the Grenfell disaster. This is affecting not only buildings with the ACM Cladding used on Greenfell, but many other buildings incorporating materials which could be flammable – including balconies and wooden panels.

·         The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the UK Council of Mortgage Lenders agreed an industry-standard External Wall System fire review process, which takes place through a EWS1 form.

·         An EWS1 form shows that the building is “safe”. Lenders often value properties at £0. Many leaseholders are unable to secure a mortgage over their properties. leaseholders are trapped in their ‘unsafe’ homes unless they are able to pay the huge sums of money often required to address the fire safety issues highlighted in the EWS1 form. Many people face bankruptcy by this even before remediation bills can be passed on.

·         It is estimated that at the current rate it will take over 150 years to complete the remediation work required to the number of known unsafe properties over 18 metres.

·         Whilst the Government has provided some funding to support the remediation of unsafe cladding, this only covers a bare minimum number of buildings requiring remediation works.

·         For buildings under 18 meters tall, the Government has provided no funding at all as a result of this funding shortfall the costs of remediation works are being passed on to leaseholders, who are blameless for this situation and bought their properties in good faith.

·         There are many Enfield residents affected by this issue including Prowse Court in Edmonton and many leaseholders are facing high bills to rectify the issue.

 

Council also notes:

 

That giving leaseholders loans to pay for the repairs, whatever the terms, is not an acceptable solution, as this is placing the long-term financial burden on them.

 

Council calls for:

 

·         The council supports the end our Cladding Scandal Campaign, which makes the following 10 demands:

 

1.    The government must lead an urgent national effort to remove all dangerous cladding from buildings by June 2022.

2.    The Building Safety Fund must cover all buildings, regardless of height, and a range of internal and external fire safety defects, not just cladding.

3.    The government should provide the money up front and then seek to recover it from any responsible parties or via a temporary levy on development.

4.    Social housing providers must have full and equal access to the fund.

5.    The government must compel building owners or managers to be honest with residents about fire safety defects.

6.    The government should cover the cost of interim safety measures.

7.    The government should act as an insurer of last resort and underwrite insurance where premiums have soared.

8.    A fairer, faster process is needed to replace the EWS form and funding is necessary to ensure all buildings requiring a form are surveyed within 12 months.

9.    Mental health support must be offered to affected residents.

10. Protecting residents from historic and future costs must be a key commitment of new building safety legislation.

 

The council calls for the Government to impose adequate funding to cover the costs of safety measures.

 

Minutes:

Urgent motions in the name of Councillor Erbil and Councillor Uddin were withdrawn.

 

Following the decision, the urgent motion in the name of Councillor Caliskan was AGREED:

“On the 25th January 2022, Commissioner Cressida Dick confirmed that the Metropolitan Police have launched an investigation into parties held in No 10 during the coronavirus pandemic. At a time when we need the public to continue to listen to important Public Health messages in order to help stop the spread of the virus, the public have lost trust and confidence in Prime Minister and the Conservative party. Enfield Council calls on the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign.”

 

Under the gullotine arrangements the remainder of the motions set out on the agenda were not heard.

Supporting documents: