Agenda and minutes

Members to declare any interests they have in the business to be considered at the meeting.

To receive the record of the proceedings of the meeting of the Council held on 25th March 2015, and to approve the accuracy thereof.

To receive any questions or petitions from the public, or communications submitted by the Lord Mayor or the Chief Executive and to pass such resolutions thereon as the Council Procedure Rules permit and as may be deemed expedient.

5.1       Questions relating to urgent business – Council Procedure Rule 16.6(ii).

5.2       Supplementary questions on written questions submitted at this meeting   – Council Procedure Rule 16.4.

5.3       Questions on the discharge of the functions of the South Yorkshire Joint Authorities for Fire and Rescue and Pensions – Section 41 of the Local Government Act 1985 – Council Procedure Rule 16.6(i).

            (NB. Minutes of recent meetings of the two South Yorkshire Joint Authorities have been made available to all Members of the Council via the following link -

            http://sheffielddemocracy.moderngov.co.uk/ecCatDisplay.aspx?sch=doc&cat=13165&path=0)

To consider any changes to the memberships and arrangements for meetings of Committees etc., delegated authority, and the appointment of representatives to serve on other bodies.

Report of the Executive Director, Resources.

Report of the Director of Human Resources.

That this Council:-

(a)       thanks the people of Sheffield for using their vote in the General and Local elections on 7th May 2015;

(b)       notes that 21 out of the 28 seats that were contested in the local elections were won by the Labour Party and places on record its thanks to the people of Sheffield for their continued support for the current Administration;

(c)        further places on record its thanks to all officials working on the election, who made sure that it was conducted smoothly and efficiently;

(d)       welcomes all new Councillors to the Town Hall and congratulates Sheffield’s new MPs, Harry Harpham and Louise Haigh, on their election to Parliament;

(e)       welcomes the efforts taken by the Council to maximise voter registration, particularly in light of Individual Electoral Registration, and notes that Sheffield has received recognition, particularly for the work with the universities to encourage students to register and resolves that work remains ongoing to encourage as many people as possible to register to vote; and

(f)        resolves to continue to work to improve levels of voter registration in the City and to encourage further engagement with local democracy.

That this Council:-

(a)       welcomes the recent Core Cities ‘Devolution Declaration: A Modern State for a Stronger Britain’, launched in May 2015;

(b)       notes that the Declaration calls for a ‘radical modernisation’ of the UK’s over-centralised state, allowing Britain to succeed at every level from the global to the neighbourhood;

(c)        notes comments from Professor Tony Travers from the London School of Economics and Political Science reinstating the importance that “A new Government, as well as continued devolution to the UK’s nations, makes this a key time for city devolution agenda. The Core Cities have made a convincing argument to Westminster on devolution to cities, now is the time look in more detail at policy and what the cities can actually deliver for the UK.”;

(d)       further notes that independent forecasts say that, with greater freedoms, the eight English Core Cities could alone deliver £222bn extra and put 1.16m jobs into the economy by 2030, which is the equivalent of adding the entire economy of Denmark to the UK;

(e)       notes that under the current Administration, Sheffield has played a prominent role in the Core Cities to ensure the city punches its weight, resulting in its leading City Deal and the city being only second to Manchester in securing a Devolution Deal; and

(f)        believes that as a Core City, Sheffield is well placed to play an important role in the devolution to cities and reconfirms the Council’s commitment to get the best deal for the people of Sheffield.

That this Council:-

(a)       is concerned by the new Government’s plans to scrap the Human Rights Act, replacing it with a ‘British Bill of Rights’, the details of which have not been set out;

(b)       notes that the Liberal Democrats, whilst in the previous Coalition Government, prevented this from occurring for the last 5 years;

(c)        recognises the importance of the Human Rights Act, which enshrines in British law the European Convention on Human Rights and obliges all public bodies within the UK to uphold and respect human rights;

(d)       notes that the European Convention on Human Rights was authored by British politicians in the wake of World War Two and is in line with traditional British values of tolerance, fairness and liberty;

(e)       recognises that the vast majority of people in Sheffield uphold these values and that Sheffield’s status as a City of Sanctuary, welcoming refugees from countries where human rights are not respected, is a reflection of this fact;

(f)        believes this move is particularly worrying in the face of the Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP’s plans to introduce ‘Banning Orders’ and the controversial draft communications bill, the so-called ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ which the Liberal Democrats also blocked in the last Government;

(g)       is deeply concerned by the Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP’s comment to the National Security Council that ‘For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.’;

(h)       notes that a balance needs to be struck between security and liberty, but believes these proposed measures are an unnecessary invasion of civil liberties and go too far in favour of those in power; and

(i)         therefore urges the Government to reconsider its plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and not to introduce other measures which undermine human rights.

That this Council:-

(a)       welcomes the success of the recent World Snooker Championships, noting the 350m worldwide audience, confirming that the event continues to be important for the City;

(b)       notes the success of other recent events such as the half-marathon and food festival and believes that these events are important in contributing to the vibrancy of the City;

(c)        welcomes the support for the events programme, both for city centre and community events, noting that investment for past events was funded through resources from the Keep Sheffield Working Fund to boost the city centre and pro-actively support businesses;

(d)       notes that many events in the city centre are funded by local businesses and thanks local businesses for their contribution;

(e)       welcomes the events that are coming to the City in the summer and encourages local people to come along and enjoy as many of these events as possible, including:

(i)         Doc Fest, 5^th June - 10^th June

(ii)        Sheffield Design Week, 13^th June - 21^st June

(iii)       Sheffield Sky Ride, 5^th July

(iv)       Tramlines Music Festival, 24^th July - 26^th July

(v)        Sheffield by the Seaside in August; and

(f)        welcomes the development of the Business Improvement District (BID) as a private sector initiative, and further notes that the current Administration has supported the efforts of the BID team to date and that this Council looks forward to working in partnership with the BID to improve the vibrancy of the City moving forwards.

That this Council:-

(a)       believes that the 'First Past The Post' electoral system, which discriminates against voters for most political parties and promotes a political culture which ignores voters in safe seats, is unfit for purpose;

(b)       regrets that the General Election on 7th May 2015 has produced the least proportional result in our country’s history, with over 5 million votes cast for 2 parties, UKIP and the Green Party, translating into 2 parliamentary seats;

(c)        notes that UKIP had received 3.86m votes and The Green Party had 1.15 million for one MP each, and the Liberal Democrats received 229,000 votes for each MP, compared with an average of 40,000 for every Labour MP, 34,000 for every Conservative MP and just 26,000 for every SNP MP;

(d)       regrets the hugely disproportionate result in Scotland, with the SNP winning 56 of 59 Scottish seats, despite only half of people in Scotland voting for them;

(e)       welcomes the petition by the Electoral Reform Society calling for a fairer, more proportional system to elect MPs, with over 135,000 signatures demonstrating public support for this issue;

(f)        recognises the need to reform British politics to make it more representative and more empowering of our citizens so it commands greater public confidence and engagement;

(g)       notes the need for change has been recognised, with the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly using the hybrid Additional Member System, to produce more proportional results, and with the British elections to the European Parliament using Closed List Proportional Representation;

(h)       notes that the Single Transferrable Vote system is used for local elections in Scotland and in both Northern Irish local elections and the Northern Ireland Assembly;

(i)         therefore, calls for the introduction of the Single Transferrable Vote system:-

(i)      for local elections in England and Wales;

(ii)     for Westminster elections; and

(iii)    for European Parliament elections; and

(j)         directs that a copy of this motion be forwarded to the leaders of all political parties represented in the UK Parliament.

That this Council:-

(a)      notes the parliamentary majority achieved by the new Government on just 36.5% of the vote;

(b)      notes the large majority on Sheffield City Council maintained by the current Administration on just 41.1% of the vote;

(c)      notes the petition of nearly half a million signatories submitted to 10 Downing Street just 11 days after the General Election calling to 'Make seats match votes';

(d)      agrees with Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, who said “This election delivered the least proportional result in history. That’s because our two-party electoral system cannot cope with the fact that people want to vote for a variety of parties. It’s time we had a fairer voting system that accurately translated votes into seats in Parliament.”;

(e)      believes that the First Past The Post electoral system is becoming increasingly out of date with the refusal of large sections of the public to support the two main parties;

(f)       believes the current system is no longer a representative democracy and effectively disenfranchises millions of voters and encourages millions more to believe their vote would be meaningless;

(g)      supports the campaign by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy for a more proportional voting system in all UK elections; and

(h)      directs that a copy of this motion is sent to all Sheffield MPs and the leaders of the two largest parliamentary parties.

That this Council:-

(a)       believes, as a result of the Tour de France and Tour de Yorkshire,  that Sheffield has seen a dramatic increase of cyclists around the city, which is not only good for the health and wellbeing of cycle users themselves, but also for non-cyclists as a result of the reduction in carbon emissions, etc;

(b)       believes that a respect for both cyclists and motor vehicle users seems to have grown, which needs to be built upon to ensure that this continues;

(c)        notes the expected underspend on the grey to green scheme, and believes that a proportion of that underspend should be used to provide a ‘safe space’ for cycling, as part of the grey to green scheme in Sheffield City Centre, and further believes that, although much has been done in relation to cycle lanes etc., further work to encourage more younger and elderly cycle users could be done;

(d)       supports the need to create a ‘protected cycle track’ around the city, for cyclists, in order to safeguard cycle users in congested areas of high volume traffic, so that people don’t have to cycle with motor traffic or come into conflict with people walking;

(e)       notes that, on a daily basis whilst travelling to and from work, the City is now seeing more and more cyclists using its roads;

(f)        supports such a scheme, which would engage more younger and older cycle users to feel safe and confident on the roads and streets around the City, which it is felt would encourage more people to cycle to and from work/school etc., reducing rush hour traffic; and

(g)       suggests to the Administration that a trial ‘protected cycle track’ is initiated to gauge the strength of feeling for such schemes around the City, which would enhance and make cycling even more attractive, and would further complement Sheffield’s aspirations to hold more cycling events in the near future.

That this Council:-

(a)       thanks all the hard-working volunteers at all of the city’s Associate Libraries;

(b)       recognises that the Associate Library groups need security over funding in order to effectively deliver services; and

(c)        recommends to the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods that the funding for Associate Libraries should continue at no less than the current level in the next financial year.