Agenda item

“Pay Day Loan” Shops

It was moved by Councillor Neale Gibson, seconded by Councillor Ben Curran, that this Council:-

(a)       condemns and opposes plans of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP, to change planning rules which could see Payday Loans shops, fast food takeaways and betting shops open with no planning permission required from the Council;

(b)       notes that last year 1,800 leisure, retail and services shops closed in England and many were replaced by pay day loan shops, which saw a 20 per cent increase in openings;

(c)        is extremely concerned by the growth in payday lenders, some of which charge extortionate rates of interest of over 4000% APR and  can often lead to people being engulfed in debts that they cannot pay;

(d)       welcomes the proposal by the Leader of the Opposition, The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP, to change planning law to give local authorities new powers to stop the development of payday lenders in town centres; and

(e)       calls upon Eric Pickles to abandon his plans and instead adopt proposals outlined by Ed Miliband MP.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Ian Auckland, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the substitution of the following words therefor:-

(a)       supports genuine measures to tackle chronic issues of debt in Sheffield;

(b)       however, regrets that measures agreed in the previous Government’s Gambling Act 2005 removed the need for betting shops to prove a local demand before opening another one;

(c)        furthermore, notes comments by Citizens Advice Chief Executive, Gillian Guy, that proposals from The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP, would do “little” to control the much “bigger problem” of predatory payday lenders online;

(d)       notes that the actual purpose of these Government proposals is to allow empty buildings to be converted into much-needed housing, avoiding the need to concrete over treasured green spaces; and

(e)       calls upon the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government to fully consider all the implications of this policy and directs that a copy of this motion is forwarded to him.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

The original Motion was then put to the vote and carried, as follows:

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)       condemns and opposes plans of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles MP, to change planning rules which could see Payday Loans shops, fast food takeaways and betting shops open with no planning permission required from the Council;

(b)       notes that last year 1,800 leisure, retail and services shops closed in England and many were replaced by pay day loan shops, which saw a 20 per cent increase in openings;

(c)        is extremely concerned by the growth in payday lenders, some of which charge extortionate rates of interest of over 4000% APR and  can often lead to people being engulfed in debts that they cannot pay;

(d)       welcomes the proposal by the Leader of the Opposition, The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP, to change planning law to give local authorities new powers to stop the development of payday lenders in town centres; and

(e)       calls upon Eric Pickles to abandon his plans and instead adopt proposals outlined by Ed Miliband MP.

(Note: Councillors Simon Clement-Jones, Shaffaq Mohammed, Rob Frost, Sylvia Anginotti, Colin Ross, Joe Otten, Keith Hill, Penny Baker, Diana Stimely, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Denise Reaney, Ian Auckland, Bob McCann, Anders Hanson,David Baker and Trevor Bagshaw voted for Paragraph (c) and against Paragraphs (a), (b), (d) and (e) of the Motion and asked for this to be recorded.)