Agenda item

Motions on Notice

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Minutes:

Housing Needs

Members considered the following notice of motion submitted by Councillor S. R. Colella.

That Bromsgrove District Council suspends any discussions with Birmingham City Council and the Combined Authorities into taking any number of housing from the West Midlands conurbation until the impacts of delivering this council’s own objectively assessed housing needs have been determined and demonstrated via a full public consultation.

The motion was proposed by Councillor S. R. Colella, with a request for a named vote and seconded by Councillor P. M. McDonald.

In presenting the motion Councillor S. R. Colella highlighted a number of areas of concern and asked Members to support his motion. These included:

· The duty to co-operate with other bordering local authorities and with Birmingham City Council in particular.

· The need to consider the Council’s own housing needs before agreeing to provide for other local authorities.

· The Foxlydiate development on behalf of Redditch Borough Council.

· The understanding that Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council had suspended its Green Belt review.

· The lack of a Transport Plan and the number of Air Quality Management Areas within Worcestershire.

· How land for development will be identified.

· The impact these developments would have on the infrastructure.

In speaking to the motion Councillor P. M. McDonald also advised that it was his understanding that a commitment had been made by this Council to provide housing under the duty to co-operate agreement and reiterated Councillor Colella’s concerns around the need to address this Council’s housing needs before considering the needs of other local authorities. He also made reference to areas within his Ward which were earmarked for development and the concern that there was the potential for these to be allocated to other authorities. It was reaffirmed that any such negotiations should be put on hold under the Council was able to meet the needs of its own residents.

During the debate which followed a number of areas were discussed in more detail:

· The duty to co-operate should be in line with this Council’s timetable and not dictated to by others.

· Whether there was a conflict of interest in respect of the Portfolio Holder chairing the Strategic Planning Steering Group meetings.

· The need to ensure that we have the skills and abilities to challenge the duty to co-operate approaches from other local authorities. This had been done in other areas.

· The need to withdraw from any discussions until the housing needs of the Council had been agreed.

· The understanding that an agreement had been reached with Birmingham, following information provided at a Strategic Planning Steering Group meeting.

· The need to put the development plans of Bromsgrove and its housing needs first.

· Take action to slow down the process of duty to co-operate.

· Clarification as to whether the Council could withdraw from the meetings or whether these could be suspended

Councillor C. B. Taylor, as Portfolio Holder for Planning and Strategic Housing reassured Members that there had been no agreement or promise to take any houses and that the residents of Bromsgrove were the Council’s priority. As it had been explained in the Strategic Planning Steering Group meetings, the Council had no option but to co-operate with other authorities under the legislation. The Council needed to be involved in any discussions in order to ensure that any agreement reached was what the Council was happy with. There would be consultation at various stages of the review process and there would be opportunity for everyone to have their say. The timetable for that review was considered at this evening’s meeting and Members also had the opportunity through the Strategic Planning Steering Group to feed into the process.

In summing up Councillor Colella highlighted that he believed that the housing allocation taken on behalf of Redditch Borough Council had not been made clear to residents, and expressed concerns that officers were involved in over-arching discussions around potential allocations from other local authorities. The implications of LTP4 were also of concern as it appeared from information received that these were based on national statistics and not from local information and knowledge. The importance of the Council putting its residents first was also reiterated

For the recommendation Councillors Baxter, Bloore, Buxton, Colella, Hotham, Jenkins, Mallett, Peter McDonald, Christine McDonald, Peters, Shannon, Thompson, Turner and Van der Plank (14).

Against the recommendation Councillors Allen-Jones, Cooper, Deeming, Denaro, Dent, Glass, Laight, May, Sherrey, Taylor, Thomas, Mike Webb, Shirley Webb, Whittaker and Spencer (15).

Abstentions NIL

The Chairman declared the motion to be lost.

Housing Needs

The Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor P. M. McDonald was withdrawn.

NHS Crisis Hitting Bromsgrove Residents

Members considered the following notice of motion submitted by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett.

Council notes the national crisis in the NHS which has seen growing queues at A&E wards in Worcestershire Hospitals and across the UK. With December showing the lowest percentage of patients in A&Es in England treated within the 4 hour government target ever.

Recent reports of ambulance queues outside Worcestershire hospitals – with the high pressure on the county’s hospitals meant there were more than 1,200 times when paramedics had to wait for more than 30 minutes outside sites in December. At points in December the Royal was running at close to a 10 hour wait in A&E.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust has slashed budgets to reach savings targets and open up an extra 29.6 million in Government funding. This funding has however been delayed – meanwhile local services are failing.

These cuts have resulted in a greatly reduced and damaged service – with, for example key services, moving from the Alex and growing waiting times and pressure at the County’s hospitals.

Council resolves that the Leader should urgently write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care:

· highlighting Council’s dismay and concern for the impact that cuts and underfunding are having upon our local hospitals and the risk this presents to Bromsgrove patients;

· and demanding the immediate release of promised funding for our local hospitals.

The motion was proposed by Councillor L. C. R. Mallett and seconded by Councillor C. J. Bloore.

In presenting the motion Councillor Mallett advised that Councillor Denaro had proposed an amendment to it, as detailed below:

Council resolves that the Leader should urgently write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care:

· Highlighting the Council’s concern about the funding issues that were impacting on the local hospitals and the risk this presented to Bromsgrove patients; and

· Requesting the immediate release of promised funding for the local hospitals.

Councillor Mallett indicated that he would be happy for the amendment to be made.

In presenting the amended Motion Councillor Mallett highlighted a number of areas of concern, these included:

· Ambulance waiting times at the Worcester Royal Hospital.

· The number of patients who had waited more than 12 hours in the Accident and Emergency Department at the hospital.

· The number of vacant posts at the hospital.

· The number of targets being missed by the hospital.

· The continued inadequate rating of the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust by the CQC.

Councillor Mallett urged all Members to support this motion as the funds which had been promised to support the hospitals were needed urgently. Councillor Denaro spoke to his amendments, but confirmed that he widely supported the Motion put forward and the need to exercise pressure on the Secretary of State to release the funds as soon as possible.

A query was raised in respect of Councillor B. Cooper Disclosable Interest (DPI) Form and he clarified that he was now retired from the NHS and apologised if he had not updated his online DPI form.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared to be carried.

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