Issue - meetings

To consider any Notices of Motion that have been received in accordance with paragraph 1.34 of the Council Procedure Rules

Consideration was given to the following Notices of Motion:-

The Deputy Mayor reported that, although the general approach to Notices of Motion, in line with the Constitution, was for them to be referred to the appropriate decision-making body without comment or debate, due to the subject matter of the Notices of Motion, as proposed by Councillors Corcoran and Fletcher and the second Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Flude, she had decided that these should be debated and dealt with at the Council meeting. 

1.       Breaking Point

Proposed by Councillor S Corcoran and Seconded by Councillor
N Mannion

This Council notes that many council budgets are now at Breaking Point. Austerity has caused huge damage to communities up and down the UK, with devastating effects on key public services that protect the most defenceless in society – children at risk, disabled adults and vulnerable older people – and the services we all rely on, like clean streets, libraries, and children’s centres;

•        Tory cuts mean councils have lost 60p out of every £1 that the last Labour Government was spending on local government in 2010;

•        Councils had to spend an extra £800m last year to meet the demand on vital services to protect children by over;

•        With an aging population and growing demand adult social care faces a gap of £3.5 billion – with only 14% of council workers now confident that vulnerable local residents are safe and cared for

•        Government cuts have seen over 500 children’s centres and 475 libraries close, potholes are left unfilled, and 80% of councils’ workers now say they have no confidence in the future of local services

•        Northamptonshire has already gone bust due to Tory incompetence at both national and local level, and more councils are predicted to collapse without immediate emergency funding

•        Councils now face a further funding gap of £7.8 billion by 2025 just to keep services ‘standing still’ and meeting additional demand. Even Lord Gary Porter, the Conservative Chair of the Local Government Association, has said ‘Councils can no longer be expected to run our vital local services on a shoestring’

This Council condemns Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss for stating on BBC Newsnight on 1^st October 2018 that the government is “not making cuts to local authorities”, when all independent assessments of government spending show that this is entirely false; and that this Council further notes that Prime Minister Theresa May has also claimed that “austerity is over” despite planning a further £1.3bn of cuts to council budgets over the next year;

This Council agreeswith the aims of the ‘Breaking Point’ petition signed by Labour councillors across the country, in calling forthe Prime Minister and Chancellor to truly end austerity in local government by:

•        Using the Budget to reverse next years planned £1.3bn cut to council budgets;

•        Immediately investing £2bn in children’s services and £2bn in adult social care to stop these vital emergency  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36