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Resolved – That the
following notices of motion be approved:
 
12.1
– Council (and schools) provision of plant-based
food
 
Moved by: Councillor
Si Cunningham
Seconded by:
Councillor Sarah Ferriby
 
That with the addition
and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion be amended to
read as follows:
 
Council notes:
 
Bradford Council,
together with our partners, is taking a comprehensive range of
actions to tackle the climate emergency, reduce our carbon
footprint, improve our environment and deliver clean
growth.
 
As reported to the
Regeneration and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee on
15 November 2022, we have almost halved the Council’s total
emissions from 42,000 tonnes of CO2e to 22,000 tonnes between
2014-15 and 2021-22 and we are continuing to make
progress.
 
This year the Council
has adopted a Good Food Strategy to improve access to healthy food
and make it more affordable for people across the District to make
informed choices about what they eat. The Strategy
recommends encouraging residents to choose a
more balanced, more plant-based diet.
 
Through our Facilities
Management service to schools we enshrine choice in the offer which
includes plant-based options for students and a full vegan diet for
anyone who requests it. National nutritional guidance still
recommends a balanced diet is most easily accessible to all
children if it includes fish, poultry, meat and dairy products so
we continue to offer those choices too.
 
An increasing number
of our Council-run events – such as the recent Culture and
Climate Symposium and the Culture Is Our Plan showcase – are
already offering fully plant-based catering, and there is a
commitment for future events to satisfy a percentage of plant-based
options.
 
All relevant UN and UK
Climate Change Committee reports emphasise the need to
significantly reduce our use of animal products in response to the
climate crisis. In the UK, for example, approximately 10% of
greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be linked to agriculture,
most of which is the methane produced by livestock.
 
The agriculture sector
has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by around 16% between 1990 and
2020, according to
Defra
data. Whilst this is heading in
the right direction there is clearly much more to do if we are to
meet our Net Zero target.
 
The 2022 Farm
Practices Survey indicated that 64% of farmers thought it important
to consider greenhouse gases when making farm business
decisions.
 
The 2021 National Food
Strategy, led by Henry Dimbleby, set a
ten-year goal of a 30% reduction in meat consumption in the
UK.

 
The West Yorkshire
Combined Authority’s 2020 Emission Reduction Pathway Report
estimates that a 32% reduction in red meat and dairy consumption is
needed across the region if our goal of net zero carbon is to be
met by 2038.
 
Our district is
two-thirds rural and our farmers and food producers make an
important contribution to the local economy and the local
environment by providing good quality local food.
 
Council therefore:
 
Requests that the
Director of Public Health provides a report to Health and Social
Care Overview & Scrutiny setting out the Council’s
progress on delivering our food strategy including how it can
support residents in the cost of living crisis, local businesses in
a changing world and reducing our carbon footprint including any
options for extending plant-based catering across all Council-run
external sites (leisure centres etc.) whilst retaining freedom of
choice for individual dietary preferences or
requirements.
 
12.2
– Animal homelessness crisis and support for pet owners
during the cost of living crisis
 
Moved by: Councillor
Sue Duffy
Seconded by:
Councillor Sarah Ferriby
 
That with the addition
and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion be amended to
read as follows:
 
Council notes:
 
Animal homelessness is
a massive problem that has only been exacerbated by the
Covid pandemic and the current cost of
living crisis. At any given time, there are an estimated 100,000
dogs without homes in the UK. Research from Cats Protection has
estimated that there are as many as 50 stray cats per square
kilometre in some cities.
 
The simplest, and most
effective way to prevent animal homelessness is making sure that
pets are spayed or neutered.
 
There is a network of
remarkable open-admission shelters across Bradford District
accepting every animal in need, caring for them and keeping them
safe, warm, fed, and loved.
 
The cost of living
crisis has created more financial pressures on households with the
cost of feeding and looking after pets being a big concern for many
people.
 
This has meant that
shelters and rescues are more overloaded than ever before with more
animals and there are far more cats and dogs than potential owners.
Local rescues - including ‘Allerton Cat Rescue’ - have
warned the volume of animals they are looking after is creating
unprecedented and unsustainable demands on their
services.
 
The Blue Cross animal
charity has partnered with the retailer Pets at Home to place pet
food donation stations in every store. All donations collected go
to local food banks - and a database of food bank partners is
available on their website. There are currently two food banks
offering this service: Horton Bank Top Community Foodbank and
Bradford North Foodbank in Eccleshill.
 
The RSPCA has also
noted that the cost of living crisis is leading to more pets being
left unneutered, not microchipped, and not receiving medical care
when they need it.
 
Council also notes:
 
A pet can be a great
source of comfort and motivation.
 
In many ways, pets can
help us to live physically and mentally healthier lives.
 
For many people, pets
are family members and simply “getting rid of them” is
not an option.
 
Council resolves to:
 

Use its social media
channels to raise awareness on the importance of spaying or
neutering pets, highlight what financial support is available for
pet owners.
Add a section for pet
owners onto costoflivingbradford.co.uk and any future printed
edition of the ‘Cost of Living Support Booklet’. This
should include what support is available to pet owners including
the £5 cat neutering scheme by Cats Protection and the
services of the PDSA who offer free and low cost veterinary care to
eligible households.
To work with food
banks and the Feeding Bradford Network to identify opportunities to
expand the number of pet food banks operating in the district, to
encourage all food banks to stock pet food where possible and for
Bradford District pet food banks to be published on the
RSPCA’s ‘find a pet food bank’ online
directory.
The Director of
Public Health to liaise with the RSPCA to explore what more we can
do as a local authority to support pet owners and promote good
animal welfare which in turn supports good mental
health.
The Director of
Public Health to present a report to the Anti-Poverty Coordination
Group chaired by the Director of Adult Social Care and to then
share that paper with all members.

 
12.3 – Anti-social
behaviour (ASB) reduction fund
 
Moved
by: Councillor Abdul Jabar
Seconded by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe
 
That
with the addition and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion
be amended to read as follows:
 
This council notes the widespread community concern over antisocial
behaviour and low grade criminal activity.
 
This
council believes local residents and councillors are best placed to
understand the impact of ASB and their views should inform what
measures might be taken to mitigate it.
 
The
large scale cuts in local authority budgets and policing budgets
over the last 13 years of Conservative government which have been
detrimental to all our communities.
 
That in
spite of the funding constraints, together with the police, VCS and
other district partners through the Community Safety Partnership
(CSP) the council undertakes a wide range of activities to prevent
and tackle crime and ASB.
 
Examples of recent CSP activities and investments include: work
at bonfire ASB hotspots; youth intervention work with West
Yorkshire Fire & Rescue; grants in grassroots community
organisations; fencing off ASB hotspots.
 
The
good work of the West Yorkshire Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Crime
and Policing to build a regional approach in tackling crime and its
causes as many communities are facing common
challenges.
 
This Council resolves to:
 
Continue prioritising action against ASB and working with police
and partners in measures to combat it.
 
Request
a report to Corporate Overview & Scrutiny on the
district’s progress in tackling ASB and options for any new
approaches and learning from other areas to build on our measures
to tackle ASB and its causes.
 
The
Council Leader to write to all District MPs asking them to make the
case to Government about the detrimental impact of national funding
cuts on police resources to tackle ASB and community safety
issues.
 
12.4
– Increasing Cancer Screening Uptake Rates in the Bradford
District
 
Moved by: Councillor
Sarah Ferriby
Seconded by:
Councillor Bev Mullaney
                                               
That with the addition
and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion be amended to
read as follows:
 
Council notes:
 

deaths from all
cancers in the under 75’s living in Bradford are worse than
the national average and there is disparity between the communities
across the District, which statistically contributes to poorer life
expectancy and there is disparity between the inner city and rural
wards across the District.
as an example in
March 2022 the Pennine Breast Screening Unit at Bradford Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust sent out approximately 1200 breast screening
invitation letters in the inner city, approximately 600 responded
and attended their mammogram appointments with 5 cancers being
detected.
that on the balance
of probabilities, with a 50 % uptake rate and in line with the
national average of 9.2 breast cancers being detected per 1000
screened, there were a similar number who did not attend who
already had cancer with the likelihood being that they would go on
to present with symptoms at a late stage and have a less favourable
outcome.
Public Health
professionals know anecdotally from experience that some
communities find it easier to access breast screening than others.
Further research will pinpoint where the barriers are and therefore
how they can be overcome to provide better access to
all. 
Data analysis has
already begun to identify which groups in particular are less
likely to take up the offer of screening. The next step is to do
in-depth community engagement.
the screening uptake
rates, not just for breast cancer but also cervical and bowel
cancer, are below national uptake rate levels.
there are fantastic
Living Well and Stronger Communities teams within the Council,
along with NHS partners and groups such as HALE and the Bingley
Bubble Community Partnership, who are already doing great work. The
Council’s Public Health Team has identified staff to
specifically work on increasing health awareness and screening
uptake levels with two more Community Health Development workers
having been recently appointed.
the importance of
this work given that the pandemic has delayed people visiting
health care appointments even before health inequalities are taken
into account.
the Council’s
Executive Assistant on Health is supporting the efforts to take
this work forward with partners to tackle health inequalities
particularly amongst women.

 
Council resolves:
 

to complete the in
depth data analysis as quickly as possible which is currently being
undertaken by the Public Health Team to understand what the issues
and barriers are to attending screening for the different community
groups across the District.
carry out in-depth
community engagement to understand at first hand the reasons for
not attending breast and cervical screening when invited and
ascertain what additional support mechanisms such as additional
targeted locations for mobile screening vans and help with travel,
would increase uptake.
to work
collaboratively with all partners and stakeholders to educate and
improve knowledge in all communities around self-awareness, the
screening process and promote the understanding that early
detection of cancer will result in a more favourable treatment
outcome.
ensure that the
current service provision, including the new diagnostic centre at
Eccleshill, is accessible for all areas
of the community and is utilised to its full potential in order to
quickly diagnose all types of cancer.
Officers to bring a
report to the Health & Wellbeing Board showing the plans for
how we will address this issue.

 

12.5 – Improving scrutiny,
transparency and accountability at Bradford MDC
 
Moved by: Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe
Seconded by: Councillor Imran Khan
 
That
with the addition and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion
be amended to read as follows:
 

Council notes:
 

Bradford Council has an agreed Constitution that
sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the
procedures that are followed to ensure the Council is efficient,
transparent and accountable to local people.

The Constitution was adopted in accordance with the
requirements of the Local Government Act 2000 following extensive
public consultation. It provides the framework within which the
Executive takes decisions in the discharge of the Council’s
functions, subject to the scrutiny of a number of Overview and
Scrutiny committees. The Executive is collectively responsible for
the decisions it makes and its decision-making arrangements so that
they are open, transparent and accountable.

The Council is committed to realising the
aspirations reflected in the Corporate Plan and the Constitution
sets out the working arrangements that will be followed in pursuit
of these aims.
Political
proportionality is based on Sections 15 (duty to allocate seats to
political groups) and 16 (duty to give effect to allocations) Local
Government and Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government
(Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990
That democracy in
this country gives the winning party more power than those who win
less seats.
That the
Conservatives in the recent local elections lost 1100 seats
nationally and therefore their power in councils across the country
is reduced.
In the 2019 General
Election the Conservatives won with an 80 seat majority and there
was a resulting reduction in the number of Labour voices being
heard in the Chamber and in committees. This will change if voters
make a different decision at the next general election.
That Bradford Council
is a very diverse Chamber with lots of political views represented
and heard, reflecting the decisions at the ballot box made by
residents of this district.
It is the people who
decide who represents their voice, political parties
don’t.
Over 300 Part 1
member questions have been answered at full council in the past
year alone, however Executive members also answer many more
questions and queries from councillors and members of the public on
an ongoing basis as part of our open and comprehensive democratic
processes.

 
Council resolves:
 

To respect the role
of democracy in choosing who represents people’s voice in the
Chamber.
Not to use the cross
party Council Constitutional review to gerrymander more power for
any political group.
To recognise that
upholding the voters’ decision is paramount.
To remain open and
transparent in all our decision-making, being answerable to Full
Council, Scrutiny, the Media, Government, residents and businesses
as any healthy democracy should.

 
12.6
– Clean Air Zone (CAZ) creep
 
Moved by: Councillor Sarah
Ferriby
Seconded by: Councillor Susan
Hinchcliffe
 
That with the addition
and deletion of the appropriate words, the motion be amended to
read as follows:
 
Council notes:
 

Bradford Council has
been legally mandated by national Conservative government to
implement a charging CAZ. The Government will allow the Council to
remove the CAZ once our air quality levels are consistently
improved. We look forward to the day when Government therefore
withdraws its Ministerial Direction.
Bradford Council
secured the highest level of funding for a CAZ of its type anywhere
in the country. The council has successfully allocated
£21.332m so far upgrading 3,788 vehicles, including buses,
taxis, coaches, HGVs and LGVs in the district. Having achieved one
of, if not the cleanest taxi fleet in the UK this should enable
Bradford to comply with the Ministerial Direction as soon as
possible and persuade government to remove the Ministerial
Direction more quickly.
Government-approved
modelling has shown that Bradford would not achieve legal levels of
air quality until 2028/9 at the earliest without a charging CAZ.
This means that the people of Bradford, particularly in the most
underprivileged wards, would be breathing toxic air for
longer.
Cleaner air will have
health benefits for everyone, but especially young children, the
elderly and those with existing health conditions. The council is
committed to putting the voice and needs of children at the heart
of everything we do.
The biggest health
benefits from the CAZ will be felt by the most disadvantaged
communities in Bradford, health research has found.
The CAZ programme
will include reinvestment of revenue to make environmental
improvements, Government do not allow CAZ revenue to be used for
any other purpose.
The CAZ will improve
air quality in every ward in the Bradford District. The data shows
there is no traffic displacement due to the Clean Air Zone and that
our rural villages continue to enjoy some of the best air quality
in the UK.
The proposal to establish the post
of Assistant Director Sustainability on a permanent basis from the
previously titled temporary post of Programme Director Clean Air
Programme has no implications for council base budget as the post
is funded outside base budget. The proposal reconfigures the
responsibilities of the role around the implementation of the
programme of work relating to climate change and transition work,
which require ongoing management and leadership.
The
proposal is also based on the fact that retaining the
sustainability post on a fixed term basis would provide no
advantage given that fixed term posts attract the same employment
rights as permanent posts at their two-year anniversary, with
redundancy eligibility and the associated liability for the council
applying at that stage.

 
Council resolves:
 

To continue
publishing all air quality monitoring in line with government
standards. The Council has submitted our data in line with
requirements to the Government for their approval for 2022 and will
publish once Government have allowed us to.  Live data for the Mayo Avenue station which is the
Government’s own station, is already online.
To continue driving
forward at pace with achieving air quality improvements and rapidly
reinvest funds to further improve the environment for residents and
businesses, therefore achieving compliance with legal air quality
standards within the shortest possible timeframe so that Government
can find no further reason to impose a CAZ on the
district.
For all Groups in the
chamber not to undermine through local disinformation the
Government’s national approach to clean air zones across the
country.

 
12.7
– Children and young people’s mental health
 
Moved by: Councillor
Sue Duffy
Seconded by:
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe
 
Council notes:
 
The emotional health
and wellbeing of children and young people is just as important as
their physical health.
 
The Chair of the
Health and Wellbeing Board has prioritised child mental health and
the Board has been hearing the voices of children and young people
to help shape the district’s response.
 
The beneficial work
the voluntary and community sector (VCS) does in prevention, early
help and support for residents’ mental health.
 
We know from this
engagement with children and young people that better support for
their wellbeing and mental health is their top priority.
 
Mental illnesses are a
leading cause of health-related disabilities for children and young
people and can have adverse and long-lasting effects.
 
National and local
data suggest that the mental health needs of children and young
people have risen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with
nearly 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys having diagnosable levels of
mental health need in Bradford District in 2022.
 
Nationally a record
1.4 million children and young people sought NHS help for mental
health problems last year and the number of school-age children
referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS)
soared by 76% since 2019, according to an analysis of NHS Digital
data by the charity Young Minds.
 
Local authorities,
health services, schools and the VCS are facing significantly
increased pressures as a result and therefore require additional
government funding to meet unprecedented levels of need.
 
Whilst children from
all backgrounds experience mental health problems, the evidence for
tackling the rising rates of mental illness in children and young
people is strongly linked with addressing inequalities and poverty,
issues starkly highlighted by the pandemic.
 
Giving children the
best start in life through universal and targeted interventions is
dependent on supporting their mental wellbeing in childhood and
adulthood.
 
The
council resolves to:
 

Proactively engage
with and listen to people of all ages and backgrounds about what
they need for better mental health and emotional
wellbeing.
Task officers to work
with health partners on the Health and Wellbeing Board to undertake
a focused piece of work to bring together up to date data, insight
and evidence on the mental health and emotional wellbeing needs of
children and young people in the Bradford district.
Agree named leads and
lines of accountability for children and young people’s
mental health and wellbeing in the local health system.
Ensure that every
child, family and school in the district knows how to access
support for their mental health.
Refuse to accept
endemic levels of mental ill health in children and young people as
a “new normal”.
Implement
evidence-based interventions to improve mental health and wellbeing
for all people of all ages.
Call on the
government to publish a national plan for children and young people
backed up by new funding for the local authority, schools, VCS and
health partners. The plan should include a strategy to improve
children and young people’s mental health and support every
single child to achieve their full potential in life whatever their
background.
Sign up to the Office
for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Mental Health
Concordat and through this commit to: increase the focus on
prevention, wider determinants of health and collaborative working
across organisations; draw on lived experiences of people with
mental health problems; build capacity across the workforce in the
prevention of mental ill health and promotion of wellbeing; and
commit to supporting all service providers, employers and the
voluntary and community sector to adopt the concordat.

 
12.8
– Bradford Council is committed to fighting discrimination
and hatred in all its forms
 
Moved by: Councillor
Susan Hinchcliffe
Seconded by:
Councillor Rebecca Poulsen
 
This is a cross-party
motion supported by the Labour, Conservative, Green and Liberal
Democrat groups.
 
We want Bradford
district to be a welcoming district for all.
 
People, regardless of
their protected characteristics, need to have their rights
protected, whoever they are and wherever they live in the district.
We should all be able to enjoy a full and happy life with mutual
respect.
 
This Council has
published a refreshed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Plan
to support people of all protected characteristics to live their
lives in a full and confident way in the district, whether they are
part of the council’s workforce and/or part of our
wonderfully diverse district.
 
Bradford Hate Crime
Alliance is home to innovative, nationally respected work to tackle
hate and build safer and stronger communities.
 
We welcome the Peer
Review from the Local Government Association which has reviewed our
progress so far and focussed our minds on the work still to do.
Staff and community representatives acknowledge that the Council
has made positive changes for its workforce in the last 12
months.
 
In spite of this good
work locally we are very concerned at the latest national hate
crime data. The latest Home Office data shows that hate crime has
increased by 25.5% in a year, with significant increases in hate
crime against the LGBTQ+ community, disabled people and people of
faith (nearly half of these incidents were against Muslims). We
acknowledge that hate crimes are under-reported across our district
so we encourage all those who experience hate crime to report
it.
 
This
Council:
 

Condemns prejudice
and hatred against all people.
Believes that there
is no hierarchy of equalities. Public servants can't pick and
choose which protected characteristics to support.
Asks all elected
members to reaffirm their commitment to fighting hate and prejudice
in all its forms and to ensure all elected members undertake EDI
training in line with the LGA Peer Review
recommendation.
Instructs Council
officers to step up work with police and partners to combat hate
crime.
Accepts all the
recommendations of the LGA Peer Review and instructs officers to
implement these as soon as possible or at the latest by the end of
2024.

 
12.9
– Making our neighbourhoods and green spaces
nature-friendly
 
Moved by: Councillor
Sarah Ferriby
Seconded by:
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw
 
Council notes:
 
Reduced mowing in
carefully planned areas of green spaces as part of ‘No Mow
May’ has been one example of a range of activities we are
undertaking to improve the local environment for residents, boost
biodiversity and tackle the climate emergency.
 
A growing body of
research shows there are substantial positive effects from this
nature-friendly approach, such as increasing plants and insects to
benefit the food chain; extending and connecting nature-friendly
areas creates an important mosaic of habitats especially in urban
and semi-urban areas; and a reduction in pesticides supports a
healthier environment for plants and all living things.
 
The benefits to mental
and physical health of greater biodiversity and a more pleasant
living environment for us all cannot be overstated.
 
There are potential
economic as well as social and environmental benefits from adopting
a more nature-friendly approach and shifting to low carbon
technologies.
 
Making the whole
district more nature-friendly is also a matter of social justice as
part of our work to tackle health inequalities, because national
research shows that the least privileged communities are impacted
the most by environmental harm and a lack of access to nature and
green spaces.
 
Nature-friendly
measures the council is undertaking with partners include but are
not limited to:
 

Reduced mowing to
better meet the needs of people and nature.
Planted a tree for
every child – the creation of new
woodland, school trees and 40 school orchards (blossom for
pollinators).
Encouraging nature
and play opportunities on the doorstep of new housing and
commercial developments.
New wildflower strips
and meadow development.
A shift to herbaceous
planting in the city centre.
The conversion of
conifer plantation woodlands to semi-natural woodlands at St
Ives.
Ilkley Moor
restoration.
Reduced use of
glyphosate.
Measures to clean up
the air we all breathe.
Working with
businesses and partners in the Bradford District Sustainable
Development Partnership.

 
Council resolves to:
 

Declare a
biodiversity emergency – this will help to harness the
collective powers of partners across the district and accelerate
our efforts.
Task officers with
developing a Bradford Parks Strategy with widespread stakeholder
consultation, including the aims of: deepening our partnerships
with Friends groups; formalising our approach to improving
biodiversity and environmental renewal; recognising its strong
links to residents’ physical and mental wellbeing; and
supporting new jobs and opportunities for residents and businesses
through the emergent clean growth economy.
Request officers
present a report to Regeneration and Environment Overview and
Scrutiny Committee assessing the impact to date of the measures we
are taking and setting out new ideas and options for future
activities to build on our progress.