Agenda, decisions and minutes

Statement from the Leader of the Council. Before we start today’s meeting I would like to make a short statement. This is the first time that this committee has met since the violent disorder that we saw across the country and in South Yorkshire earlier this month.

What we saw in that week was not protest, but far-right hate. I utterly condemn those who tried to divide us by targeting asylum seekers, Muslims and minority communities and I condemn everyone who engaged in criminal acts of violence and hate on our streets and online. What we saw was racist and Islamophobic.  It was an attack on what we stand for as a city. Like everyone here, I am proud that Sheffield is a welcoming city for people seeking asylum and proud that we are a City of Sanctuary. Our diversity is our greatest strength.

I am proud of the citywide response to the violence and would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. To the people of Sheffield who came together to reject racism and hate and show that it has no place in our city. To Sheffield City Council staff for their hard work to support communities, particularly the Local Area Committee staff who coordinated the response in our communities.

To our partners in the voluntary, community, social enterprise and faith sector for their commitment and dedication to protect and reassure communities, to calm tensions and ensure that people did not come to harm. To South Yorkshire Police for their critical role to protect and support local communities. I know we all send our best wishes to all officers who were injured in the line of duty. And to the criminal justice system for their ongoing work to take swift action against those who broke the law and who will now feel the full force of the law.

While we can be proud of our response, we cannot be complacent. People are still fearful and there is much to do to work with our partners to strengthen and develop community cohesion in our city. We will continue to celebrate our diversity and to stand firm against all forms of racism and Islamophobia, discrimination, and violence. We must work in partnership with the voluntary, community and faith sector, the Police, health organisations and with Government to engage with communities, promote unity, bring people together and ensure that Sheffield remains a welcoming city.

I know that there is cross party resolve to do that and so in that spirit I’d like to invite the other group leaders to give a short statement each.

Councillor Crossland gave a statement on behalf of the Leberal Democrat Group.  The country has rightly been appalled and outraged at the disrespectful and despicable actions by a tiny minority of people who rioted and carried out racist and Islamophobic attacks. They are facing the full force of the law and rightly so.  We do also welcome the new measures announced by the government to clamp down on criminals attempting to terrorise our communities. Everyone has the right to feel safe in their homes, neighbourhoods and places of worship. Thugs, rioters and racism will never triumph in this country and it is however heartwarming to see so many people from all different backgrounds and cultures and all different walks of life coming together to bring their communities together in solidarity against racism and violence. We are indebted of course to our police officers who put themselves in harm's way to protect our communities and to protect our families and friends.  People from all backgrounds and all walks of life have come together to condemn these riots and they're the ones who represent our country, they are the best of Britain and we need to say thank you to all of them.

Councillor Johnson Leader of the Green Party gave a statement. I agree with the statements made by others, it is important to condemn those who committed the violence.  The behaviour that we saw was disrespectful, upsetting and a cause of fear and terror across our communities. Conversely, I want to thank all the people who stood up to the violence.  This was a real test for people in Sheffield to stand up against those values of violence, intimidation and hurt that we saw.  People did step up to that, people turned out to demonstrate against anticipated far right demonstrations in the counter demonstrations.  They went there with some fear of what they were going to. A lot of us have a history of going to demonstrations but we don't normally go there thinking there's a possibility that things could turn violent, we are used to peaceful demonstrations in this city, and of course so it turned out to be.  The so-called protests by the far right were a damp squib. The people of Sheffield prevailed, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. So, thanks to everyone involved, there are people in this room and also lots of people outside this room. I completely agree with the comments made so far and thanks to the Leader of the Council for saying those. We had the bizzare trigger for this event with a completely unrelated horrific set of murders in Southport that translated to this, somehow. There's no logical reason for that.   This did not happen in a vacuum.  Firstly, there's the policy of austerity which drives deprivation, which drives hatred which derives intent, neighbour upon neighbour.  We have experienced many years of that on those big estates across South Yorkshire where people have been left behind or socially excluded. Secondly, the actions of some people in positions of power, responsibility and influence, mainstream politicians and mainstream media. We take it for granted that people can say overtly racist remarks to wide audiences, in the headlines of newspapers and utterances from the previous Prime Minister and I have to say it, politicians of the Labour Party to. These utterances single out communities who are particularly vulnerable and that is disgraceful.  As a community, a society and at a national level in particular, we need to see a building of social cohesion. We need to ask the question why we have a system of segregation in this country, that treats asylum seekers unfairly and not in the same way as others when it comes to homelessness, access to work and to social care.  This leads to an increase in segregation and avoids integration, which is not a good thing.  This is a challenge for government at every level to address those.

Councillor Hurst gave a statement on behalf of the Sheffield Community Councillors’ Group. Sheffielders are rightly proud that we were the first city of asylum and we are proud of the work that we've done over the years to develop a genuinely multicultural society.  However, the events of the past month lead us all to be aware that we can't stop in our efforts to build a genuine multicultural, supportive society, where everyone can thrive. I hope we direct our efforts to that going forwards.

To identify items where resolutions may be moved to exclude the press and public.

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

To approve the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 24 July 2024

(NOTE: There is a time limit of up to 30 minutes for the above item of business. Please see Document 5 for details on Public Petitions, Questions and Statements).

To receive any questions from Members of the committee on issues which are not already the subject of an item of business on the Committee agenda – Council Procedure Rule 16.8. (NOTE: a period of up to 10 minutes shall be allocated for Members’ supplementary questions).

Report of the Director of Policy and Democratic Engagement

Report of the Director of Policy and Democratic Engagement

Report of Executive Director City Futures

Report of Director of Finance and Commercial Services

Report of Director of Public Health

Report of Director of Policy and Democratic Engagement

Report of Executive Director City Futures