Agenda item
Motions
The following 3 motions have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 16 as follows;
24.1 From Councillor Tracey Huffer
“Sustainability and Transformation Plan
On 28 November, the STP for Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin was published. It lacks detail, especially on finances. The area where it is weakest is on provision of rural services. The STP talks about reviewing community beds across the county. We
all know that ‘reviewing’ is a euphemism for cuts. The STP barely makes a mention of rural maternity services.
This Council requests that the Leader or Chief Executive write to Simon Wright, the area lead for the STP, and Shropshire MPs, calling for a greater emphasis on rural care in the STP, including maternity care.”
24.2 From Councillor Hannah Fraser
“This Council notes with concern that the government's proposals for an Apprenticeship Levy will result in Local Authority maintained schools contributing 0.5% of their budget to the scheme. This authority considers that public funding for education should not be diverted to supporting the Apprenticeship Levy, and that schools should be exempt from the scheme, particularly as children in Local Authority Schools will be disadvantaged compared with children in Academies or Free Schools.
This Council resolves to write to the relevant Government Minister and our Shropshire MPs to express our concern regarding the proposals, and make the case for schools to be exempt from the Apprenticeship Levy.”
24.3 From Cllr Roger Evans/Lib Dem Group
“ This Council notes that the recent Financial Report which was considered and agreed by Cabinet on 9th November proposed some funding be diverted into recycling empty homes. This was to help regenerate Shropshire’s communities. The amount allocated however is just £250,000 for this year with a similar amount for next year. This is not enough.
Council is disappointed to see just this relatively small amount being allocated. When the present Empty Homes Strategy 2014–17 was first proposed in 2014 the Liberal Democrat Group called it in for examination by a Scrutiny Committee. This cross party group of backbench councillors looked at what was proposed and made five recommendations. The fifth recommendation was
“That the Task & Finish Group considers that both additional funding and staff resource in the Empty Homes Team would be of significant benefit to both the Council and Shropshire communities. It is therefore recommended that a business case be produced, to be considered by Cabinet on an agreed date, detailing the level of additional funding required to deliver a more widespread and comprehensive approach to Empty Homes work. This should include the additional staffing resource required to carry out the tasks identified in the report’s findings, and budget required to be able to effectively utilise enforcement powers, including works in default. It should highlight the positive benefits these measures could have for the Council and Shropshire Communities.”
The report including the above statement was presented to and adopted by the Cabinet on 29 July 2015.
It is understood a business case was produced but never published, was kept secret. Resources were in fact reduced and proposals were made to redeploy staff.
A number of our neighbouring local authorities took a different attitude and have so gained both extra cash off the Government by drastically reducing the number of long term empty homes in their areas and of course increasing the number of home available for residents to live in.
Two examples are
· Cheshire East Unitary Authority has reduced the number of long term empty homes since they were formed in 2009 by just over 50%. In October 2009 they had 3,200 long term vacant dwellings. In October 2015 the total had reduced to 1540.
· Herefordshire has also reduced theirs by over 50%. Reducing the number of long term empty homes over a similar period from 845 to 419.
Shropshire by comparison in October 2009 had 1,940 long term empty homes and 1,526 in October 2015. A reduction of just over 20%, equal to just 69 homes per year being made available for families to live in. The staff we have working in this area work hard but lack resources to enable them to do their work as they would wish, as we would wish and importantly as those in housing need want them to.
It is further noted that;
· For 2016/17 this council is receiving £9.2m from our Government in New Homes Bonus. This includes the contribution council receives from Government due to the 35 vacant homes returned to occupation between October 2014 and October 2015.
· The Shropshire Council web page covering this area was last updated in May 2016 with the message
“This strategy is currently under review. An updated version will be made available on this page as soon as possible.”
Council asks Cabinet to look again at their recent decision and allocates sufficient funds to enable more empty homes to be made available for those in need of housing and also increase the amount that this council receives in New Homes Bonus.
Minutes:
a) The following Motion was proposed by Mrs T Huffer and seconded by Mr L Chapman
“Sustainability and Transformation Plan
On 28 November, the STP for Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin was published. The plan lacks financial detail and fails to adequately consider the deficit in social care funding. Rural services do not feature strongly enough in the plan and any review of community bed capacity must take account of the needs of all our communities across Shropshire, and the importance of these beds in keeping people out of the acute hospital environment.
This Council requests that the Leader writes to Simon Wright, the area lead for the STP, and Shropshire MPs, calling for all services, including maternity services, in our rural communities to be given the priority they deserve in the STP.”
After debate and on being put to the vote, the motion was carried with the majority voting in favour.
b) The following Motion was proposed by Mrs H Fraser and seconded by Mr R Evans
“This Council notes with concern that the government's proposals for an Apprenticeship Levy will result in Local Authority maintained schools contributing 0.5% of their budget to the scheme. This authority considers that public funding for education should not be diverted to supporting the Apprenticeship Levy, and that schools should be exempt from the scheme, particularly as children in Local Authority Schools will be disadvantaged compared with children in Academies or Free Schools.
This Council resolves to write to the relevant Government Minister and our Shropshire MPs to express our concern regarding the proposals, and make the case for schools to be exempt from the Apprenticeship Levy.”
After debate and on being put to the vote the Motion was not supported with the majority voting against.
c) Proposed by Mr R Evans/ the Liberal Democrat Group, seconded by Mr M Price
“ This Council notes that the recent Financial Report which was considered and agreed by Cabinet on 9th November proposed some funding be diverted into recycling empty homes. This was to help regenerate Shropshire’s communities. The amount allocated however is just £250,000 for this year with a similar amount for next year. This is not enough.
Council is disappointed to see just this relatively small amount being allocated. When the present Empty Homes Strategy 2014–17 was first proposed in 2014 the Liberal Democrat Group called it in for examination by a Scrutiny Committee. This cross party group of backbench councillors looked at what was proposed and made five recommendations. The fifth recommendation was
“That the Task & Finish Group considers that both additional funding and staff resource in the Empty Homes Team would be of significant benefit to both the Council and Shropshire communities. It is therefore recommended that a business case be produced, to be considered by Cabinet on an agreed date, detailing the level of additional funding required to deliver a more widespread and comprehensive approach to Empty Homes work. This should include the additional staffing resource required to carry out the tasks identified in the report’s findings, and budget required to be able to effectively utilise enforcement powers, including works in default. It should highlight the positive benefits these measures could have for the Council and Shropshire Communities.”
The report including the above statement was presented to and adopted by the Cabinet on 29 July 2015.
It is understood a business case was produced but never published, was kept secret. Resources were in fact reduced and proposals were made to redeploy staff.
A number of our neighbouring local authorities took a different attitude and have so gained both extra cash off the Government by drastically reducing the number of long term empty homes in their areas and of course increasing the number of home available for residents to live in.
Two examples are
· Cheshire East Unitary Authority has reduced the number of long term empty homes since they were formed in 2009 by just over 50%. In October 2009 they had 3,200 long term vacant dwellings. In October 2015 the total had reduced to 1540.
· Herefordshire has also reduced theirs by over 50%. Reducing the number of long term empty homes over a similar period from 845 to 419.
Shropshire by comparison in October 2009 had 1,940 long term empty homes and 1,526 in October 2015. A reduction of just over 20%, equal to just 69 homes per year being made available for families to live in. The staff we have working in this area work hard but lack resources to enable them to do their work as they would wish, as we would wish and importantly as those in housing need want them to.
It is further noted that;
· For 2016/17 this council is receiving £9.2m from our Government in New Homes Bonus. This includes the contribution council receives from Government due to the 35 vacant homes returned to occupation between October 2014 and October 2015.
· The Shropshire Council web page covering this area was last updated in May 2016 with the message
“This strategy is currently under review. An updated version will be made available on this page as soon as possible.”
Council asks Cabinet to agree “that Public Protection be allowed to use the existing allocated funding for both capital and revenue purposes to achieve the best outcome of reducing the number of empty properties and maximising income from new homes bonus. In any event the performance of the empty property section be reviewed by scrutiny after 12 months”.
After debate, and on being put to the vote the motion was agreed with the majority voting in favour.