The following motions have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 16:

 

1.    The following motion has been received from Councillor Julian Dean and is supported by the Green Group:

Decarbonising our homes

Council recognises the urgent need to decarbonise heating and power in homes. Shropshire Climate Action Partnership estimates 20,000 homes per year need to be made zero carbon ready, whilst Friends of the Earth suggest 9,000 homes need insulation upgrades and 5,500 need fossil-fuel free heating systems annually. The collapse of the Green Homes Grant and the failure of the government so far to provide long term dependable finance & market shaping for this purpose make this task more challenging & more urgent. 

 

Council further recognises the ‘green recovery’ opportunity presented by the need to decarbonise our homes. LGA Inform estimates there could be 1700 jobs in Shropshire by 2030 in low carbon heating and energy efficiency work. 

 

We note that Shropshire Council has improved the SAP rating for its own on-grid stock to above that for the country as a whole, which given the age of the stock is a credible achievement, but much more remains to be done.

 

We welcome the council’s initiatives to bring together partners to develop countywide retrofit work, and call on Cabinet to publish a retrofit strategy for the county in early 2022. 

 

We recognise that, to begin with, establishing the skills and firms to retrofit our homes will rely on developments in the social housing sector. We therefore call on the portfolio holder, Asset Assurance Board and Star Housing Board to consult tenants and seek their approval to design and cost a programme of work that would decarbonise the council's housing stock by 2030. We recommend that all options be considered in the implementation of this programme including partnerships with neighbouring authorities, social housing providers & innovative social & private sector enterprises. 

 

We recognise that the cost of this investment in our future may exceed the resources of the HRA so we also call on the DCLG to provide the funding necessary to implement this scheme as recommended by the recent Environmental Audit Committee report and we ask the County’s MP to support this request.

 

2.    The following motion has been received from Councillor Julian Dean and is supported by the Green Group:

A Partnership between Local Government and National Government to tackle Climate Change

Background

In 2018, at COP24, the UK Government signed up to having ‘domestic institutional arrangements, public participation and engagement with local communities’ so localities can play their part in delivering the UKs ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ in the Paris Climate Agreement.

In May 2021 Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26 said Collaboration would be a key objective of the climate summit

"Governments, business and civil society (sometimes called ‘non-state actors’ and including local government) need to work together to transform the ways we power our homes and businesses, grow our food, develop infrastructure and move ourselves and goods around"

Despite these agreements and statements there is still no formal relationship allowing a joint partnership working between Local and National Government on climate action. 

This Council resolves to

·         In this year of COP26 add our voice to calls by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport& others for a joint local & national government Task Force to plan action to reach ‘net zero’ emissions. Such a partnership can set appropriate regulations, benchmarks and targets and create the much-needed long-term funding mechanisms to enable local communities and economies to decarbonise whilst remaining resilient and sustainable 

·         Write to Alok Sharma MP, President for COP26, the Prime Minister and the Leadership Board of the LGA informing them of our support for a joint Local/National Government Climate Change Partnership Taskforce and asking for one to be established as soon as possible.

3.    The following motion has been received from Councillor Duncan Kerr and is supported by the Councillors Julian Dean, Julia Evans and Mike Isherwood:

 

Waste Minimisation

 

“Shropshire Council has a recycling rate inside the top 50 in England (source: https://www.letsrecycle.com/councils/league-tables/2019-20-overall-performance).

Unfortunately the same data puts us in the top 5 authorities in the country when it comes to total household waste arisings per household. The consequence of this is that we are at the top of our family group for the costs of waste collection and disposal. There may be all sorts of nuances and caveats to these figures, but the result is that we are producing a lot of household waste and it is costing a lot to process and that has environmental and economic impact. Indeed Shropshire with a recycling rate of some 55% sends almost as much waste to landfill (222kgs) as neighbouring Herefordshire with a recycling rate of just 41% (228kgs) (source lets recycle data for 2019.20). That’s why the waste hierarchy places waste minimisation at the top and why is a key part of the fifth Carbon budget from the Committee for Climate Change (https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/5CB-Infographic-FINAL-.pdf).

 

Back in 2010 Shropshire Council approved a waste minimisation plan which aimed to reduce total waste arisings per person by 10% by 2015. The target was not reached then and has still not been reached some eleven years later. Currently we are still producing some 490kgs of waste per person.

 

It is therefore proposed that as a matter of urgency the portfolio-holder revisits the waste hierarchy and produces a waste minimisation for the County by December 2021. Given the scale of the climate emergency we now face, and the need to catch-up on previous failed initiatives, it is proposed that the new target should be a 25% reduction in waste arisings per person by 2025. This would take our waste arisings down to 367kgs per person just below the current England average of 373 kgs and assumes no improvement by any other authority. Such a policy would also complement any initiative by the Council to improve recycling by replacing crates with wheeled bins. It is, we suggest, the bare minimum step we should be doing. We are sure that many members of the local community with expertise in this area would assist the Council in developing such an approach and there is much good practice available on-line.

 

Some measures that may be considered if preparing this strategy may have resource implications. The comparative data from CIPFA shows that authorities who produce less waste spend less in processing and disposing of it which is why our comparative costs are so high. Although a very small part of the waste stream is land-filled with a land-fill tax on active waste now £96 per tonne savings from reducing waste can be significant and will more than off-set any upfront costs so it would be a prudent use of the Council invest to save resources”.

 

4.    The following motion has been received from Councillor Rosemary Dartnall and is supported by the Labour Group:

 

Based on data published on Shropshire Council’s website, in late 2020 the average Shropshire house price equates to 6.7 times the annual average income, meaning that our essential and key workers are often unable to live local to their workplace. In recent years both homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation have risen in Shropshire. There is a need for 5,000 genuinely affordable homes not adequately met despite widescale development across the county. Some housing developers seek to undermine the minimum percentage requirements for building affordable homes which is set at either 10, 15 or 20% of the number of homes built. At the recent South Planning Committee meeting, it was revealed that the developer seeking to build 1,000 homes on the Ironbridge power station site has applied to reduce the 20% minimum of affordable homes stipulated in that area to a mere 5%, claiming that this is needed on fiscal grounds despite Shropshire Council’s own value judgment that this particular site could viably support 30% affordable homes. Shropshire Council is hereby asked to investigate making an increase in the requirement for affordable homes in all developments in order to address better the housing need of local people and signal clearly to interested parties that housing built must equate to local need and fulfil the council's minimum requirements.

 

5.    The following motion has been received from Councillor Kate Halliday and is supported by Councillors Rosemary Dartnall, Julia Buckley and Alan Mosley:

 

This council is committed to support an initiative to make Shropshire into a recognised ‘Council of Sanctuary’ welcoming those fleeing violence and persecution in their own countries. We recognise their potential contribution to our county, and also recognise that a comprehensive, co-ordinated and forward-looking approach is needed if the welfare of people moving into the county, and community cohesion between new and existing communities, are to be supported effectively.

 

Local authorities across the political spectrum have been awarded ‘Council of Sanctuary’ status. Shropshire Council is already taking many of the actions required to achieve ‘Sanctuary Status’ through its existing programmes. To become a Council of Sanctuary there are some straightforward steps

 

1 – Contact ‘City of Sanctuary’ to pledge support and connect with them

2 – Join the local authority network. In joining the network we are committing to work towards the Council of Sanctuary Award and are agreeing to sign up as a Supporting Organisation

3 – Produce an Action Plan which focuses on learning, embedding the principles of City of Sanctuary, and sharing good news stories.

4 – Then when ready apply for recognition.

 

More information can be found on the City of Sanctuary website https://cityofsanctuary.org/

 

This council:

 

·         Acknowledges the contribution of refugees and people seeking sanctuary to Shropshire

·         Are willing to add our organisation’s name to the list of supporters of City of Sanctuary

·         This council will work to implement the City of Sanctuary pledges through its actions and policies, and with its partners in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

·         This council is committed to support an initiative to make Shropshire a ‘Council of Sanctuary’

 

The following motions were received in accordance with Procedure Rule 16:

1. The following motion has been received from Councillor Julian Dean and is supported by the Green Group:

 

Decarbonising our homes

 

Council recognises the urgent need to decarbonise heating and power in homes. Shropshire Climate Action Partnership estimates 20,000 homes per year need to be made zero carbon ready, whilst Friends of the Earth suggest 9,000 homes need insulation upgrades and 5,500 need fossil-fuel free heating systems annually. The collapse of the Green Homes Grant and the failure of the government so far to provide long term dependable finance & market shaping for this purpose make this task more challenging & more urgent.

 

Council further recognises the ‘green recovery’ opportunity presented by the need to decarbonise our homes. LGA Inform estimates there could be 1700 jobs in Shropshire by 2030 in low carbon heating and energy efficiency work.

 

We note that Shropshire Council has improved the SAP rating for its own on-grid stock to above that for the country as a whole, which given the age of the stock is a credible achievement, but much more remains to be done.

 

We welcome the council’s initiatives to bring together partners to develop countywide retrofit work and call on Cabinet to publish a retrofit strategy for the county in early 2022.

 

We recognise that, to begin with, establishing the skills and firms to retrofit our homes will rely on developments in the social housing sector. We therefore call on the portfolio holder, Asset Assurance Board and Star Housing Board to consult tenants and seek their approval to design and cost a programme of work that would decarbonise the council's housing stock by 2030. We recommend that all options be considered in the implementation of this programme including partnerships with neighbouring authorities, social housing providers & innovative social & private sector enterprises.

 

We recognise that the cost of this investment in our future may exceed the resources of the HRA so we also call on the DCLG to provide the funding necessary to implement this scheme as recommended by the recent Environmental Audit Committee report and we ask the County’s MP to support this request.

 

Councillor Duncan Kerr seconded the Motion

 

Cllr David Vasmer proposed the following amendment

 

That the following be added at the end of the resolution:  
 
Recognising the need to make heating and power in all our homes cheaper to run and release less carbon, the Council calls on Cornovii and the Star Housing Board to provide decarbonised affordable housing to the highest standards currently available and to set up and publicise an informed campaign to advice householders and landlords how they can decarbonise homes throughout Shropshire. 

 

The amendment was seconded by Councillor Andy Boddington.  The amendment was accepted by Councillor Dean and became part of the substantive motion

 

Amendment 2 from Cllr Steve Charmley 

 

Council recognises the urgent need to decarbonise heating and power in homes. Shropshire Climate Action Partnership estimates 20,000 homes per year need to be made zero carbon ready, whilst Friends of the Earth suggest 9,000 homes need insulation upgrades and 5,500 need fossil-fuel free heating systems annually. The collapse of the Green Homes Grant and the failure of the government so far to provide long term dependable finance & market shaping for this purpose make this task more challenging & more urgent.  

 

Council further recognises the ‘green recovery’ opportunity presented by the need to decarbonise our homes. LGA Inform estimates there could be 1700 jobs in Shropshire by 2030 in low carbon heating and energy efficiency work.  

 

We note that Shropshire Council has improved the SAP rating for its own on-grid stock to above that for the country as a whole, which given the age of the stock is a credible achievement, but much more remains to be done. 

 

We welcome the council’s initiatives to bring together partners to develop countywide retrofit work, and call on Cabinet to publish a retrofit strategy for the county in early 2022.  

We recognise that, to begin with, establishing the skills and firms to retrofit our homes will rely on developments in the social housing sector. We therefore call on the portfolio holder, Asset Assurance Board and Star Housing Board to consult tenants and seek their approval to design and cost a programme of work that would decarbonise the council's housing stock by 2030. We recommend that all options be considered in the implementation of this programme including partnerships with neighbouring authorities, social housing providers & innovative social & private sector enterprises. 

 

We recognise that the cost of this investment in our future may exceed the resources of the HRA. Full Council resolves to continue to lobby MHCLG to ask for the funding necessary to implement this scheme as recommended by the recent Environmental Audit Committee report and thank Shropshire’s MPs for supporting our efforts to secure the funding needed for this scheme. 

 

The amendment was accepted by Councillor Dean and became part of the substantive motion

 

RESOLVED:

 

Council recognises the urgent need to decarbonise heating and power in homes. Shropshire Climate Action Partnership estimates 20,000 homes per year need to be made zero carbon ready, whilst Friends of the Earth suggest 9,000 homes need insulation upgrades and 5,500 need fossil-fuel free heating systems annually. The collapse of the Green Homes Grant and the failure of the government so far to provide long term dependable finance & market shaping for this purpose make this task more challenging & more urgent.  

 

Council further recognises the ‘green recovery’ opportunity presented by the need to decarbonise our homes. LGA Inform estimates there could be 1700 jobs in Shropshire by 2030 in low carbon heating and energy efficiency work.  

 

We note that Shropshire Council has improved the SAP rating for its own on-grid stock to above that for the country as a whole, which given the age of the stock is a credible achievement, but much more remains to be done. 

 

We welcome the council’s initiatives to bring together partners to develop countywide retrofit work, and call on Cabinet to publish a retrofit strategy for the county in early 2022.  

We recognise that, to begin with, establishing the skills and firms to retrofit our homes will rely on developments in the social housing sector. We therefore call on the portfolio holder, Asset Assurance Board and Star Housing Board to consult tenants and seek their approval to design and cost a programme of work that would decarbonise the council's housing stock by 2030. We recommend that all options be considered in the implementation of this programme including partnerships with neighbouring authorities, social housing providers & innovative social & private sector enterprises. 

 

We recognise that the cost of this investment in our future may exceed the resources of the HRA. Full Council resolves to continue to lobby MHCLG to ask for the funding necessary to implement this scheme as recommended by the recent Environmental Audit Committee report and thank Shropshire’s MPs for supporting our efforts to secure the funding needed for this scheme. 

 

Recognising the need to make heating and power in all our homes cheaper to run and release less carbon, the Council calls on Cornovii and the Star Housing Board to provide decarbonised affordable housing to the highest standards currently available and to set up and publicise an informed campaign to advice householders and landlords how they can decarbonise homes throughout Shropshire. 

 

2  The following motion has been received from Councillor Julian Dean and is supported by the Green Group:

A Partnership between Local Government and National Government to tackle Climate Change

Background

In 2018, at COP24, the UK Government signed up to having ‘domestic institutional arrangements, public participation and engagement with local communities’ so localities can play their part in delivering the UKs ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ in the Paris Climate Agreement.

In May 2021 Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26 said Collaboration would be a key objective of the climate summit

"Governments, business and civil society (sometimes called ‘non-state actors’ and including local government) need to work together to transform the ways we power our homes and businesses, grow our food, develop infrastructure and move ourselves and goods around"

Despite these agreements and statements there is still no formal relationship allowing a joint partnership working between Local and National Government on climate action.

This Council resolves to

·         In this year of COP26 add our voice to calls by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport & others for a joint local & national government Task Force to plan action to reach ‘net zero’ emissions. Such a partnership can set appropriate regulations, benchmarks and targets and create the much-needed long-term funding mechanisms to enable local communities and economies to decarbonise whilst remaining resilient and sustainable

·         Write to Alok Sharma MP, President for COP26, the Prime Minister and the Leadership Board of the LGA informing them of our support for a joint Local/National Government Climate Change Partnership Taskforce and asking for one to be established as soon as possible.

 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Julia Evans

 

Councillor David Vasmer proposed the following amendment

 

Under This Council Resolves add an additional section as follows: 

 

·         respond to the Government's call for local government to transform the way we develop infrastructure by reviewing the Council's capital programme. This review should examine ways in which objectives might be achieved by developing alternative capital projects which will reduce the council's contribution to carbon emissions such as replacing the North West Relief Road with improvements to existing roads, park and ride and public transport along with the adoption of active travel measures. 

 

Councillor Alex Wagner seconded the amendment. 

 

On taking a vote the amendment was defeated.

 

RESOLVED:

This Council resolves to

·         In this year of COP26 add our voice to calls by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport & others for a joint local & national government Task Force to plan action to reach ‘net zero’ emissions. Such a partnership can set appropriate regulations, benchmarks and targets and create the much-needed long-term funding mechanisms to enable local communities and economies to decarbonise whilst remaining resilient and sustainable

·         Write to Alok Sharma MP, President for COP26, the Prime Minister and the Leadership Board of the LGA informing them of our support for a joint Local/National Government Climate Change Partnership Taskforce and asking for one to be established as soon as possible.

 

 

3. The following motion has been received from Councillor Duncan Kerr and is supported by the Councillors Julian Dean, Julia Evans and Mike Isherwood:

 

Waste Minimisation

 

“Shropshire Council has a recycling rate inside the top 50 in England (source: https://www.letsrecycle.com/councils/league-tables/2019-20-overall-performance).

 

Unfortunately the same data puts us in the top 5 authorities in the country when it comes to total household waste arisings per household. The consequence of this is that we are at the top of our family group for the costs of waste collection and disposal. There may be all sorts of nuances and caveats to these figures, but the result is that we are producing a lot of household waste and it is costing a lot to process and that has environmental and economic impact. Indeed Shropshire with a recycling rate of some 55% sends almost as much waste to landfill (222kgs) as neighbouring Herefordshire with a recycling rate of just 41% (228kgs) (source lets recycle data for 2019.20). That’s why the waste hierarchy places waste minimisation at the top and why is a key part of the fifth Carbon budget from the Committee for Climate Change (https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/5CB-Infographic-FINAL-.pdf).

 

Back in 2010 Shropshire Council approved a waste minimisation plan which aimed to reduce total waste arisings per person by 10% by 2015. The target was not reached then and has still not been reached some eleven years later. Currently we are still producing some 490kgs of waste per person.

 

It is therefore proposed that as a matter of urgency the portfolio-holder revisits the waste hierarchy and produces a waste minimisation for the County by December 2021. Given the scale of the climate emergency we now face, and the need to catch-up on previous failed initiatives, it is proposed that the new target should be a 25% reduction in waste arisings per person by 2025. This would take our waste arisings down to 367kgs per person just below the current England average of 373 kgs and assumes no improvement by any other authority. Such a policy would also complement any initiative by the Council to improve recycling by replacing crates with wheeled bins. It is, we suggest, the bare minimum step we should be doing. We are sure that many members of the local community with expertise in this area would assist the Council in developing such an approach and there is much good practice available on-line.

 

Some measures that may be considered if preparing this strategy may have resource implications. The comparative data from CIPFA shows that authorities who produce less waste spend less in processing and disposing of it which is why our comparative costs are so high. Although a very small part of the waste stream is land-filled with a land-fill tax on active waste now £96 per tonne savings from reducing waste can be significant and will more than off-set any upfront costs so it would be a prudent use of the Council invest to save resources”.

 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Mike Isherwood

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the motion not be supported

 

 

4. The following motion has been received from Councillor Rosemary Dartnall and is supported by the Labour Group:

 

Based on data published on Shropshire Council’s website, in late 2020 the average Shropshire house price equates to 6.7 times the annual average income, meaning that our essential and key workers are often unable to live local to their workplace. In recent years both homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation have risen in Shropshire. There is a need for 5,000 genuinely affordable homes not adequately met despite widescale development across the county. Some housing developers seek to undermine the minimum percentage requirements for building affordable homes which is set at either 10, 15 or 20% of the number of homes built. At the recent South Planning Committee meeting, it was revealed that the developer seeking to build 1,000 homes on the Ironbridge power station site has applied to reduce the 20% minimum of affordable homes stipulated in that area to a mere 5%, claiming that this is needed on fiscal grounds despite Shropshire Council’s own value judgment that this particular site could viably support 30% affordable homes. Shropshire Council is hereby asked to investigate making an increase in the requirement for affordable homes in all developments in order to address better the housing need of local people and signal clearly to interested parties that housing built must equate to local need and fulfil the council's minimum requirements.

 

The amendment was seconded by Councillor Tony Parsons

 

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the motion not be supported

 

5  The following motion has been received from Councillor Kate Halliday and is supported by Councillors Rosemary Dartnall, Julia Buckley and Alan Mosley:

 

This council is committed to support an initiative to make Shropshire into a recognised ‘Council of Sanctuary’ welcoming those fleeing violence and persecution in their own countries. We recognise their potential contribution to our county, and also recognise that a comprehensive, co-ordinated and forward-looking approach is needed if the welfare of people moving into the county, and community cohesion between new and existing communities, are to be supported effectively.

 

Local authorities across the political spectrum have been awarded ‘Council of Sanctuary’ status. Shropshire Council is already taking many of the actions required to achieve ‘Sanctuary Status’ through its existing programmes. To become a Council of Sanctuary there are some straightforward steps

 

1 – Contact ‘City of Sanctuary’ to pledge support and connect with them

2 – Join the local authority network. In joining the network we are committing to work towards the Council of Sanctuary Award and are agreeing to sign up as a Supporting Organisation

3 – Produce an Action Plan which focuses on learning, embedding the principles of City of Sanctuary, and sharing good news stories.

4 – Then when ready apply for recognition.

 

More information can be found on the City of Sanctuary website https://cityofsanctuary.org/

 

This council:

 

·         Acknowledges the contribution of refugees and people seeking sanctuary to Shropshire

·         Are willing to add our organisation’s name to the list of supporters of City of Sanctuary

·         This council will work to implement the City of Sanctuary pledges through its actions and policies, and with its partners in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

·         This council is committed to support an initiative to make Shropshire a ‘Council of Sanctuary’

 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Rosemary Dartnall

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the motion be supported