Issue - meetings

The Board received a public petition entitled “Fairtrade Bromsgrove”, submitted by Mr. Art Lavelle.  The petition contained approximately 150 signatures.  The petition read as follows:

“This petition asks for support for the Fairtrade Bromsgrove Steering Group.  In signing this you will be-

• Encouraging Bromsgrove District Council to pass a resolution in favour of gaining Fairtrade status
• Considering seriously purchasing Fairtrade products where they are available in Bromsgrove outlets”. 

The Chairman summarised the role of the Board in receiving petitions and outlined the process to be followed in consideration of petitions.  He explained that the Board considered topics concerning the Council and the District and received evidence from various perspectives.

The Chairman explained that the Board was constitutionally independent from the Cabinet and where appropriate could make recommendations to the Cabinet.  He said that the Board would interview key witnesses from different perspectives in respect of the petitions by asking them a series of questions.  The Board would then consider if it wished to make any recommendations and if so what these would be. 

The Chairman invited the Lead Petitioner, Mr. Art Lavelle to present his petition, allowing up to 5 minutes.  Mr. Lavelle explained that the Fairtrade Foundation supported farmers and workers in developing countries to guarantee a minimum income and basic health, educational and community amenities regardless of prevailing market conditions.  He said that between 4-20% of the cost of fair trade products went towards community projects, with spending priorities usually decided on a collective democratic basis. 

Mr. Lavelle stated that the Fairtrade Foundation encouraged towns to achieve fair trade status and there were 454 towns in the UK with Fairtrade status at that time.  He said that there were 5 conditions to achieve Fairtrade status and that one of them was for the Council to support the idea with a resolution. 

Mr Lavelle explained that Fairtrade was not a contradiction to free trade and that the Government supported both free trade and Fairtrade.  He said that the national Conservative Party also supported Fairtrade.  He said that there are 2 billion people world wide that live below the poverty level of $2 a day and that Fairtrade intended to help alleviate this problem. 

Mr. Lavelle indicated that they had contacted local organisations such as churches and the Oxfam shop and started a petition to canvas support and outlined the key reasons why the Council should support the campaign. 

• it was a community project where anyone in the community, child or adult, could join in.
• it was something that the Council could do to show community leadership and engender civic pride. 
• the cost to the council would be limited as the main costs would be in time commitment and promotion rather than direct financial commitment. 
• it would encourage trade in Bromsgrove, as it persuades people to think more about where their food and produce comes from it encourages them to think more about local products produced in their local area as well. 

The Chairman thanked Mr. Lavelle  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17