Content

Resolved – That the following
notices of motion be approved.
 
12.2
Leeds Bradford Airport
 
Moved by: Councillor Alex
Ross-Shaw
Seconded by: Councillor
Cunningham
 
That with the addition of the
following words the motion be amended to read as
follows:
 
Council notes:
 
Residents and councillors
affected by flights from the airport are understandably concerned
about the carbon impact and noise and any potential expansion of
the airport’s operations.
 
Leeds Bradford Airport has
submitted five Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development
(CLEUD) applications to Leeds City Council relating to night time
flying.
 
Leeds City Council confirmed on
27th September that it will follow a process set out in
national government legislation and guidance while dealing with the
airport’s CLEUD applications.
 
The applications, which have
been published in full on Leeds Council’s public access
planning system, relate to whether certain aircraft movements are
permitted at night.
 
CLEUD applications involve a
different decision-making process to an application for planning
permission. When dealing with a CLEUD application, local planning
authorities have to adhere to regulations laid down by the Town and
Country Planning Act 1990.
 
These regulations mean that
CLEUD applications – which seek to confirm that an existing
use of land or operational development is lawful – are not
automatically subject to consultation or publication and are
determined purely on the basis of relevant factual evidence
assessed against a legal test.
 
Due to the significant public
interest in the operations of the airport, the council has decided
to undertake a call for evidence. This means that the council is
seeking relevant factual evidence, such as flight data, flight
times, flight frequency and size of aircraft, that relates to the
specific operations at Leeds Bradford outlined in two of the
applications.
 
The call for evidence relates
to the two applications (23/05440/CLE and 23/05442/CLE) for which
the airport has submitted flight movement data. The council is
seeking further clarity from the airport on the remaining three
applications, which are not included in the call for
evidence.
 
With respect to the expansion
of the airport more broadly, we need Government to create a level playing
field for all regions and cities with airports and to include
carbon emissions from aviation in national targets, recognising
that continued growth in aviation nationally is incompatible with
the climate emergency. This recognises the risk of unilateral
action that simply displaces passengers from one airport and its
regional economy to another. We recognise the value of our airport
to the regional economy which is expected to be £460m this
year, directly employing 2,100 people and indirectly supporting
4,500 jobs.
 
Demand for aviation is growing
nationally and globally and Leeds City Council has confirmed it
will continue to proactively engage with residents, interest
groups, the Combined Authority, the airport and central government
on aviation related policies and measures to achieve the necessary
reductions in carbon.
 
As a council we have made great
steps in reducing our own carbon emissions. Since passing our own
January 2010 energy procurement motion with all-party support, we
exceeded our aim of achieving a 40% reduction in carbon emissions
by 2020. We are seeking to build on this progress, including in our
work as part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority which is
committed to achieving net zero by 2038.
 
Council resolves to:
 

·        
Ensure
district councillors are kept informed of the progress of the CLEUD
applications.

·        
Ask Leeds
Bradford Airport to meet with district councillors, town and parish
councils and residents urgently regarding the impact of the airport
on the community.

·        
Ask officers
to seek technical views and any evidence from services including
environmental health on the airport’s applications; and to
consider whether we have appropriate factual evidence to submit
within the scope of Leeds City Council’s call for evidence as
defined in national legislation and guidance.

·        
Work with
the Mayor of West Yorkshire at pace to deliver plans for the 2038
net zero target including the decarbonisation of
transport.
To be
actioned by:  Strategic Director,
Place
 
12.4    Providing a
specialised and accessible menopause service in the Bradford
District
 
Moved by: Councillor Sarah
Ferriby
Seconded by: Councillor Julie
Humphreys
 
Council notes that:
 
Age UK reports that 1 in 4
women will have severe menopause symptoms that impact on their day
to day lives. This means that symptoms of peri-menopause and
menopause could potentially affect approx. 18,000 women in the
relevant age range across the District. As a current “hot
topic” on TV and in the media, women are reporting how
symptoms of menopause are causing some women to leave work, suffer
relationship breakdowns and in extreme cases have severe mental
health issues.
 
Whilst Leeds has a specialist
menopause clinic, there is little specialist provision for the
treatment of menopause across the Bradford District and patients
rely on GP and Gynaecology & Obstetrics services for education
and treatment.
 
Women across our district have
reported receiving inappropriate treatment or limited advice in
managing their symptoms. The closest specialist clinic is in
Meanwood, Leeds and is so popular it now has a 2 – 3 year
waiting list for Leeds patients. Therefore, being oversubscribed,
it is no longer able to accept referrals from Bradford GPs leaving
Bradford patients with little alternative provision unless they can
afford to pay privately, leading to health inequality in our
District.
 
There is some NHS provision to
provide specific menopause training and improve education for
clinicians within primary care in the Bradford District with plans
to extend this to pharmacists and physician associates. The NHS has
its own guidance for their line managers to offer support to NHS
staff and employment policies and guidance is now being introduced
by many other large employers.
 
Popularity of the Bingley
menopause support group, set up online last year on a voluntary
basis by an NHS nurse who herself suffered severe symptoms, has
grown so much it now has 672 members and the group is now starting
to meet face to face.
 
A considerable amount of work
has been done across council departments to develop menopause
awareness and support for our staff, leading to our application for
Menopause Friendly Employer accreditation jointly with partners
across the Integrated Care Board (ICB), with a decision expected
soon. In recent years the Council has developed and
launched:

·        
a menopause
policy

·        
a menopause
staff network that was established through the Women’s Voices
staff network

·        
Celebrating
World Menopause Day
Our Women’s Voice Staff
Network along with support from our employee health and wellbeing
team have been leading the way and championing menopause support
across the Council and joining up across the West Yorkshire Health
and Care Partnership and Bradford District and Craven Health and
Care Partnership.
 
Our women’s staff network
and monthly support group’s work has also led to the creation
of a new menopause awareness training package, initially designed
for council managers but then rolled out for all staff as part of
the Respect allyship programme. This has been made into a permanent
training resource on the Evolve system and in-person sessions will
begin soon as part of World Menopause Day.
 
Our HR service has provided
menopause guidance for managers which is consistent with the new
training.
 
Council resolves:
 
• Via the Health and
Wellbeing Board, make representations to Bradford District &
Craven Integrated Care Board and other appropriate partners to
review current menopause services across the district.  This should include consideration of a specialist
menopause referral unit to ensure women have access to advice and
education on the range of treatment possibilities, including
alternative therapies such as diet and exercise, so that women can
be fully informed to enable them to manage their own menopause
giving patient choice leading to improved related health and
wellbeing outcomes within the District.
 
• To liaise with all
stakeholders to facilitate the creation of more menopause support
groups and related information and awareness events across the
district, including those in harder to reach
communities.
 
• Ask officers to consider
sharing our staff training toolkit of menopause support with other
employers in the district to help more women share in this model of
good practice.
 
To be
actioned by:  Director of Public
Health/Director of Human Resources
 
12.5    Street
lighting
 
Moved by: Councillor Alex
Ross-Shaw
Seconded by: Councillor Abdul
Jabar
 
That with the addition of the
following words the motion be amended to read as
follows:
 
Council notes that:
·        
The Smart Street Lighting Project is already saving
energy and reducing costs. The programme represents a £45m
investment in street lighting infrastructure across the district
and will see over 56,000 bulbs and over 15,000 lighting columns
replaced. This will reduce energy consumption by two thirds and
reduce carbon emissions by thousands of tonnes. 
·        
Like many councils, Bradford Council employs a
widely used approach of dimming   some of their
streetlights for some time during the hours of darkness. This
approach is refined based on footfall and traffic usage.
·        
Light pollution during the hours of darkness is
harmful to wildlife in every ecosystem and is a key contributor to
the unprecedented global decline in insect numbers which scientists
are referring to as the “insect apocalypse”. The
selection of lighting used for the project was carefully considered
for any potential impact on the local environment in consultation
with the Council’s Biodiversity Officer. 
·        
Some streetlights need to be on overnight for safety
reasons.
Council resolves: 
·        
To complete the Smart Street Lighting Project,
maximising financial and carbon savings, as quickly as
possible

·        
Take a
report to the Regeneration & Environment Scrutiny Committee
outlining progress on the programme and the Council’s
approach to overnight dimming, allowing members to feedback
comments for officers to consider.
To be
actioned by: Strategic Director, Place
 
12.6    Trade
Unions
 
Moved by: Cllr Susan
Hinchcliffe
Seconded by: Cllr Imran
Khan
 
That with the addition of the
following words the motion be amended to read as
follows:
 
Council notes that:
 
The Council strives to be an
excellent employer of its approximately 7,300 staff. Our
partnership working with the Trade Unions plays a vital role in
ensuring a healthy and productive workplace in which organisational
and staff needs are met as efficiently as possible.
 
Trade Unions are an important
part of managing industrial relations. If we didn’t have
Trade Unions, we’d have to invent them.
 
Over six million people in the
UK are members of Trade Unions.
 
Our work with the Trade Unions
saves the council considerable amounts of money because it is the
most cost-effective way to manage the workplace.
 
Trade Unions have made clear
that they recognise the unprecedented constraints on council
finances due to more than a decade of government austerity. They
have repeatedly asked government to fund pay awards so that
hardworking council staff can be retained and rewarded.
 
The latest annual Service
Excellence Awards on 12th October demonstrated again the
brilliance of our staff who are public service heroes and go to
incredible lengths to serve the public, despite the incredibly
challenging circumstances the council and country finds itself
in.
In several years since 2010
there were real terms wage reductions in the public sector through
pay freezes or rises limited to 1%. Trade Unions therefore campaign
for improved pay and conditions on behalf of their members who have
experienced several challenging years of upward pressure on
workloads and downward pressure on pay, reflected in the
recruitment and retention challenges seen across large parts of the
public sector.
 
Council resolves to:
 

·        
Continue to
fully participate in the Regional Employers Forum which feeds into
the national pay bargaining structure.

·        
Repeat our
calls on government to reform local government finance, including
for government to fully fund the pay increases that council staff
earn and deserve.

·        
Continue to
work constructively with the Trade Unions as a responsible employer
that recognises that our people are our most important
asset.
To be
actioned by:  Strategic Director,
Corporate Resources/Director of Human Resources/Director of
Finance
 
12.7
Local government finance
 
Moved by: Councillor Martin
Love
Seconded by: Councillor Matt
Edwards
 
Council notes:
 
Councils across the country are
reaching breaking point in their finances due to a perfect storm of
Conservative government austerity cuts, inflation and rising
demands for children’s and adults social care.
 
Bradford Council has had to
find over £350m in per year cuts and savings since 2010 with
a cumulative impact of over £2bn.
 
The Local Government
Association has identified a funding gap of £3 billion in the
funding of local authorities over the next two years just for
services to stand still.
 
Cllr Sir Stephen Houghton,
Chair of the Specialist Interest Group of Municipal Authorities
(Sigoma), said the funding system is “completely
broken”. He called on government to provide additional
in-year funding for the biggest pressure, children’s
services.
 
The independent Macalister
Review found that £2.6bn should be invested over five years,
including £1bn over the first two years, to overhaul the
children’s social care system nationally. The government
subsequently allocated just £200m over two years.
 
An official report by the
Competition and Markets Authority last year found the UK has a
dysfunctional market for children’s social care in which
local authorities are forced to pay excessive fees for private
services and an overhaul is needed to ensure better value
services.
 
Sigoma research has found that
the top 10% of England’s most deprived councils have received
cuts almost three times as high as the richest 10%. Bradford has
received cuts of around 28% compared to Surrey’s
8%.
 
We have robust controls in
place to ensure effective financial management of the council
through these exceptionally challenging times.
 
Officers have been challenged
to review all spending and identify opportunities to further reduce
costs and generate income given the unprecedented situation in
which councils find themselves.
 
Cipfa are doing a review of this
council’s and the Children and Families Trust’s
finances which we welcome. Any recommendations coming from the
review will be actioned.
 
The Leader is writing to the
Chancellor setting out our ask in advance of his Autumn Statement,
which must provide significant new funding for local government and
deliver long-awaited reform of how that funding is
distributed.
 
Council resolves to:
 
Continue our work to further
reduce spending through a range of measures.
Task officers to provide an
asset disposal plan. This will identify council-owned land and
assets that may be deemed surplus to requirements in order to raise
funds. This to be done in consultation with elected members for the
affected ward.
 
Task officers to continue
working closely with the Bradford Children and Families Trust and
the DfE to ensure its budget is prudent and sustainable and enables
the Trust to deliver on its vital improvement plan as part of the
council’s wider work.
 
Take the difficult decisions
necessary in the upcoming council budget to further reduce the
funding gap.
 
Ask government to urgently
implement the Macalister Review.
 
Ask government to stop the
profiteering of private providers for children’s
placements.
 
Ask government to implement the
long-awaited fairer funding model for local government to link
council funding to social need.
 
 
To be
actioned by:  Chief Executive/Director
of Finance and all Strategic Directors and all other
Directors
 

12.8    Better public transport in West
Yorkshire
 
Moved by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe
Seconded by:  Councillor Alex
Ross-Shaw
 
Council notes:
 
That the Bradford district and West Yorkshire
have had poor public transport connectivity for too long. 
There is now an opportunity to change this with bus, mass transit
and heavy rail.
 
Bus
 
Bus services are critical to many
residents’ lives as one of the most affordable and accessible
means of getting about for work and leisure.
 
Nationally the privatisation of bus services
has been a failure. The Conservative government introduced
legislation in 2017 banning local authority ownership of bus
services. Since then, thousands of bus routes have been lost across
the country as private operators have struggled to make services
financially sustainable.
 
We strongly support the West Yorkshire
Mayor’s work to get buses back under public control and
improve bus travel.
 
We welcome the Mayor’s Fares scheme and
the £1 flat fare recently introduced for Keighley town in
partnership with Transdev.
 
Mass Transit
 
We are an active partner in the plans for a
mass transit service to transform connections in our district and
across West Yorkshire.
 
The Mass Transit Vision 2040 strategy is being
developed at pace,
, we encourage residents and businesses to get
involved.
 
Getting Bradford district on the mainline
 
Our well-publicised ambitions to get Bradford
on the mainline and for better rail connections across our
district.
 
The Government’s welcome commitment to
£2 billion investment in a city centre Bradford station and
connection to the mainline.
 
Our long-running campaign calling on
government and rail operators to introduce the six or seven trains
a day to London from Shipley and Forster Square stations that they
have long been promised.
 
The recent high profile meeting with
SELRAP (Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership) between
the Leader, the Mayor of West Yorkshire and the Shadow Secretary of
State for Transport.
 
Council resolves
to:
 
Work with the Mayor and neighbouring local
authorities to take back control of the West Yorkshire bus
network.
 
To lobby Government for a London style bus
network with the funding from Government to match.
 
Retain the ambition to improve bus
connections, grow the network and reduce ticket prices.
 
Continue working with the Mayor and neighbouring
local authorities towards the vision of West Yorkshire mass
transit.
 
To push for an increased number of London
trains to be introduced into Bradford Forster Square to be
delivered in time for 1st January
2025.
 
To work with Department of Transport and the
Department for Housing, Local Government and Communities to deliver
a new Bradford city centre station and to put Bradford on the
mainline. 
 
To be
actioned by:  Strategic Director,
Place
 
12.9    Fireworks
 
Moved by: Councillor Abdul Jabar
Seconded by: Councillor Nazam Azam
 
Councillors and residents across the district
are angry and dismayed at the antisocial use of fireworks, which
continue to cause distress to people and pets at all hours of day
and night.
 
The council has used its powers to the full
and implemented the recommendations of the 2021 cross-party
Corporate Overview & Scrutiny committee review to curb the
antisocial use of fireworks.
 
The review found action is also needed on a
national level because local authority powers are limited on this
issue.
 
Council officers, councillors, fire crews,
police, VCS organisations and volunteers form a superb partnership
effort around Bonfire Night every year, which helped result in
fewer serious incidents last year. However, fireworks remain a
blight on residents’ lives year round.
 
Conservative government spokesperson Jacob
Rees-Mogg said he was “unsympathetic” to calls for
tougher action on fireworks because they are “a little bit of
harmless fun”.
 
Enough is enough. We need action to be taken
on a national level.
 
There are brilliant low-noise fireworks that
give spectacular displays which are available for people to buy and
enjoy without causing harm to their neighbours. The use of these
and small fireworks would be unaffected by the introduction of
tougher rules outlined below.
 
Council resolves to
ask government:
 
For a complete ban on the sale of Category 3
(as well as Category 4) fireworks to private individuals.
 
Reiterate our calls to reduce the maximum
permitted noise level of fireworks sold to private individuals from
the current 120 decibels down to 90 decibels.
 
For a tougher licensing regime backed up by
additional government funding for local authorities, police, fire
services and Trading Standards to enforce.
 
To introduce these tougher measures as soon as
possible, which will reduce antisocial behaviour and ensure that
larger fireworks such as those in Categories 3 and 4 could only be
used in strictly licensed, well-managed public displays.
 
To be
actioned by:  Strategic Director,
Place
 
12.10  Restoring public spaces and
improving access to recreation in our communities
 
Moved by: Councillor
Ferriby
Seconded by: Councillor
Jabar
 
That with the addition of the
following words the motion be amended to read as
follows:
 
Public spaces have a massive
impact on people.  We are proud of our
green spaces and parks yet 13 years of austerity means council
services to maintain them are not as comprehensive as they once
were. 
 
For those who can,
voluntary action, adopting/maintaining a public space or sponsoring
this sort of activity has positive effects on a local area. But it
is not universal. For too many residents they open their doors onto
a street or neighbourhood that brings them down rather than lifts
them up. This motion looks to enhance the role of the Council to
improve public spaces in every neighbourhood of our
district.
 
This
Council notes:
 
·        
Local Organisations, residents and community groups
put thousands of hours into their local community, adopting unloved
areas, cleaning neighbourhoods and helping authorities maintain and
improve many of our most loved public spaces. As part of our People
Can offer, we continue to support everyone in our communities,
neighbourhoods, villages and towns to find new ways to work
together, with communities at the heart of this by taking a shared
approach discussing challenges and finding solutions with
community-led opportunities.

·        
The success of our investment of
Covid Environmental Funding in the Environmental Task Force to
improve a broad range of areas across the district. This work
extended from community gardens, allotments, parks, woodlands,
other open spaces, recreational grounds and tackling local
environment eyesores.
·        
After many years of funding cuts from central
government, council budgets are at breaking point. However,
additional new funding streams such as CAZ, Climate Change and
Public Health Small Grants are providing support to communities,
groups, businesses and other partners district-wide including
clean-up projects improving biodiversity, supporting community
groups to start growing food and other environmental wellbeing
initiatives.

 
·        
The Council Department of Place has a City of
Culture 2025 readiness team that is focused on ensuring the major
routes, towns and city centres are clean, repaired and ready to
receive visits from across the district and beyond.
 
·        
In the absence of sufficient and sustained
government funding, grant funding for public spaces and voluntary
action is often shorter term and small in scale.  It can come from many sources and often requires
formalised groups in order to access it. This limits the scope of
what and where it can be implemented.
This
Council resolves to:
 

·        
Offer our sincere thanks to everyone who gives up
their free time to volunteer, clean, clear, restore and maintain
public spaces across the district.

·        
Continue to offer support to individuals, groups and
organisations through our Neighbourhood services.

·        
Area Teams continue to support community groups and
individuals to carry out community clean ups through existing
resources.

·        
Ask officers to continue improving public spaces
through efficient use of our reduced financial envelope, including
through the City of Culture work that will enable similar
activities to those undertaken by the Environmental Task Force to
be delivered. In addition, Cleansing and Area based teams to
continue to work alongside residents, businesses and other
stakeholders to deliver environmental projects that improve the
visual amenity of public spaces.

·        
Locality Plans and Ward Plans to highlight
priorities in relation to a range of environmental improvements
such as public spaces, environment, biodiversity work, air quality,
growing projects and much more as part of a sustainability theme.
These priorities are to be delivered with a range of partners
across the system with residents and other stakeholders at the
heart of many interventions.

·        
Ask officers to ensure community chest grants
continue to be made available to community groups for this
purpose.
To be
actioned by:  Strategic Director,
Place
 

12.11  Regarding the
Recent Killing of Sikh Activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Safety of our
Sikh Community and Human Rights Concerns in India

 
Moved by: Cllr Susan
Hinchcliffe
Seconded by: Cllr Abdul
Jabar
 
That with the addition of the
following words the motion be amended to read as
follows:
 
This
Council notes:
 
The significant contributions
made by the Sikh community to our district. The Sikh community has
enriched our cultural fabric.  Their
values of peace, unity and social justice resonate with our diverse
community.
 
The terrible news of the
shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar has resonated throughout the
world.  Our condolences to his family,
friends and supporters.
The safety concerns nationally
that the Sikh Federation have raised about safety and
security.
 
We should always be informed
first and foremost in Bradford by our Sikh community and will speak
up for them on any issues of concern.
Bradford is a city of
sanctuary. Over many years we have welcomed many people from all
over the world to lead successful, happy lives here. Everyone has
the right to live in peace and mutual respect.
 
This
Council Resolves to:
 

·        
Ask the
Leader of Council to meet with the leaders of our local Sikh
community, thank them for their ongoing contribution to the success
of the district and seek their views and any concerns they may have
at this time.

·        
Always
support the Bradford Sikh community to make sure their voice is
heard.

·        
Reiterate
our support for Bradford Hate Crime Alliance and encourage anyone
who experiences hate crime or hate speech to report it.
To be
actioned by:  Strategic Director
Place/Leader of Council