Issue - meetings

To consider any Notices of Motion that have been received in accordance with the Council Procedure Rules.

Consideration was given to the Notices of Motion which had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s Procedural Rules.

1          Fair Tax Declaration

Proposed by Councillor P Williams and Seconded by Councillor N Mannion

Recognising that Cheshire East Council already meets some of the requirements of the Fair Tax Declaration, Council resolves to sign-up to the Declaration in its entirety

RESOLVED:

That the Motion be referred to the Corporate Policy Committee or such other appropriate committee, based upon the constitutional terms of reference

Post meeting note – the Notice of Motion was referred to the Finance Sub Committee.

2          Safe Night-time Travel for Workers

Proposed by Councillor L Smith and Seconded by Councillor S Handley

This Council notes that;

• Shift work is widespread in many industries, particularly hospitality, as well as health and care workers, retail , cleaning, security and porter staff and can often entail late-night working;

• Many workers, especially women, are increasingly worried about their safety travelling to and from work at night

This Council believes that;

• While employers may feel their duty of care to staff ends when an employee finishes a shift, they also need to take into consideration journeys home, especially during unsocial hours;

• The weakness of enforcement of the law against sexual assault, including up-skirting, on public transport is appalling and only 2% of victims go on to report sexual harassment on public transport;

• The Get Me Home Safely campaign - Get ME Home Safely | Make Our Communities & Workplaces Safer , which calls on employers to take all reasonable steps to ensure workers are able to get home safely from work at night, is greatly needed and should be supported;

• Greater numbers of trained staff and stronger enforcement of the law against sexual assault and harassment on public transport are urgently needed;

This Council will;

• Use its powers - as others such as East Dunbartonshire Council - and adopt a policy that our licensing board will ensure the process for approving late night licences will be linked to the provision of free transport home.

• Calls on Cheshire East Council to use its powers - as others have done – to allow our licensing board include additional criteria when considering late opening applications from licensed premises dependent on venues providing free transport home for night shift employees. This will significantly benefit the safety and wellbeing of hospitality workers, particularly women, who often cannot afford, or access, safe transport options late at night and benefit our community.

• Publicly call for improvement to late night and off-peak transport service provision and use the Government’s Safety of Women at Night Fund to provide extra night services, as well as work with employers to use the fund for supplementary taxi travel.

• Publicly call for the lowering of fares and opposition to any cuts to public transport funding and for our local council to use their powers and political platforms to achieve this.

• Publicly call for the municipal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45