1)
Our schools are the
future
The closure of rural schools in North
Yorkshire has many significant negative social impacts on residents, communities and children.
The loss of schools and other associated
infrastructure leaves villages without the necessary services to support
families now and into the future.
We call on this council to place a
moratorium on any school closures until the new North Yorkshire local plan is
developed.
Proposed Cllr Steve Mason
Seconded Cllr Andrew Murday
2)
Hospice funding
This Council recognises:
1. The invaluable care that
the Hospice movement provides to people at the end of life and the tremendous
public support that they command.
2. The unfortunate, but
inevitable demographic changes in our society that has led in recent years,
notwithstanding the impact of COVID, to increasing numbers of people who could
benefit from Hospice, Palliative and End of Life Care, particularly for people
with complex needs or who experience high levels of frailty in their last year
of life.
3. The desire of the
Hospice sector to protect its independent status whilst having its contribution
to supporting people at the end of life recognised through fair and consistent
funding arrangements across and within the new Integrated Care Board statutory
responsibility to commission Hospice, Palliative and End of Life Care services.
This council therefore regrets that ICB
funding for Hospices has not kept up with inflation, and it recognises the
detrimental effect this is having on Hospice service provision across North
Yorkshire. We call on the local ICB to ensure that it meets its statutory
requirements, and that it commits to paying Hospices the full cost of any
commissioned clinical services that would be otherwise be provided by the NHS.
Further, in fulfilling its own
responsibilities to improve the health and wellbeing of its population this
Council is concerned that the failure to adequately fund the sector will
undermine its own ability to fulfil that responsibility.
We therefore request that the Leader of the
Council writes to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ask her
to ensure that NHS England gives greater support to Integrated Care Boards,
enabling them to better understand their responsibilities for Hospice and End
of Life Care services, and thus ensuring a fair contribution for the work they
do and greater consistency across England, taking note of changing needs.
Proposed Cllr Peter Lacey
Seconded Cllr Andrew Lee
3)
Care Leavers
Young people leaving social care are
already in a vulnerable situation, and they are often subject to discrimination
when attempting to get a job or find a place to live. Indeed, some housing
providers directly stipulate “no care leavers”.
The effect of this discrimination is to
push these young people, who are already vulnerable, into hostels and shelters
where they are easy targets for exploitation and victimisation by criminal
gangs.
We call on this council to join over sixty
other local councils in the UK by treating care experience as if it is a
protected characteristic by:
• Ensuring that during
development of future policy and service provision, impact on those who have
had care experience is considered alongside impact on those with other
protected characteristics.
• Including care leavers
and children in care in its equality objectives and reports, alongside those
with other protected characteristics.
• Proactively seeking out
and listening to people who have experience of care, especially when
considering decisions which affect them.
• Formally calling on
central government to add care experience as a protected characteristic in the
Equality Act, as recommended by the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s
Social Care.
• Formally calling on
other bodies, such as academy trusts, housing providers, and the new combined
authority to treat care experience as if it is a protected characteristic in
similar ways.
Proposed Cllr Andrew Timothy
Seconded Cllr Chris Aldred
4)
Right to Grow
This Council notes:
• Its own commitment to
conserving biodiversity in order to help mitigate
climate change by increasing capture and storage of carbon in ecosystems, and
support adaptation to climate impacts.
• That trees and green
space in urban environments can help prevent floods, cool streets, sequester
carbon emissions, filter air pollution, and provide an important habitat for
insect and plant-life.
• The increasing need to
put the health and well-being of residents at the heart of our Council
strategies.
• The powerful evidence
which demonstrates the link between people’s health and wellbeing and the
availability of fresh locally produced food.
• That the cost-of-living
crisis is creating real hunger reinforcing the need for healthy fresh food at
an affordable price.
• That communities coming
together to grow can radically reduce costs to NHS and social care budgets by
reducing loneliness and providing healthy food.
• That there is plenty of
under-used publicly owned land which could be used for community food growing
while also improving the public realm.
This Council agrees:
• Identify and produce a
map of all Council owned land suitable for community cultivation that is
publicly available at no cost to residents, and actively promoted across all
wards.
• Land should be
considered suitable for cultivation for food or biodiversity unless containing
proven hazards or unless development is due within 24 months.
• Make this land
available for cultivation by a simple license to community organisations at no
cost.
• Ensure the license does
not contain conditions that present a significant barrier to residents in terms
of financial or practical requirements.
• Ensure that where
community groups cultivating on public realm land for food growing or wildlife
spaces, the groups are given an opportunity to bid for the land should it be
tendered to sale.
• Allow the necessary
infrastructure such as access to water and/or for water harvesting to enable
sustainable cultivation for all.
• Ensure that allotment
provision adheres to the 1969 Thorpe Report which recommends a minimum
provision equivalent to 15 plots per 1,000 households. In the 2011 census,
256,594 households were recorded in North Yorkshire.
Proposed Cllr Hannah Gostlow
Seconded Cllr Steve Mason.
5)
Home to School Transport
A significant proportion of the NYC Home to
School Travel Service is governed by legislation. However, proposals to bring
the policy in line with the DfE requirements by removing some areas of
discretionary provision has some risks:
• estimated annual
savings of £3.2m are based on a number of assumptions
which are difficult to predict
• the
full financial impact of the changes won’t be seen for seven years
• families with more than
one child could have different eligibility, with children from the same family
being forced to attend schools in different locations
• restricting eligibility
to nearest school only will have a significant & disproportionate impact on
rural communities
• potential changes to
the pattern of admissions at schools where transport provision is a factor
• a house move within the
area could mean children are forced leave their current school.
• North Yorkshire will be
paying other authorities to educate its own children while perfectly good
schools inside the county lose out.
We call on this council to halt the drastic
cuts to free school bus services in the county and to use the £6.2m of
emergency central government funding for its intended purpose of supporting
frontline services.
Proposed Cllr Barbara Brodigan
Seconded Cllr Felicity Cunliffe-Lister.
Minutes:
The
Chair, Councillor Roberta Swiers, advised that five Notices of Motion had been submitted. The Chair confirmed that she had ruled as follows on
each of the submitted motions:
(1) A
call to place a moratorium on any school closures until the new North Yorkshire
local plan is developed – motion to be debated at the meeting
(2)
A
request for the Leader to write a letter to the Secretary of State regarding hospice funding
and support – motion to be debated at the meeting
(3) A
call to join over sixty other local councils in the UK by treating care
experience as if it is a protected characteristic – motion to be referred to the Scrutiny Board to determine the most appropriate overview and scrutiny
committee
(4) A
call to promote un-used public land for the cultivation for food or
biodiversity and expand allotment provision – motion to be referred to the Scrutiny Board to determine the most appropriate overview and scrutiny
committee
(5) A
call to halt the proposed cuts to free school bus services in the county (Home
to School Transport policy) - motion to be referred to the Executive
89 Our schools are the
future
(1)
The closure of rural schools in North Yorkshire
has many significant negative social impacts on residents, communities and
children.
The loss of schools and other associated
infrastructure leaves villages without the necessary services to support
families now and into the future.
We call on this council to place a moratorium on any school
closures until the new North Yorkshire local plan is developed.
Proposer - Cllr Steve
Mason
Seconder - Cllr Andrew Murday
The
notice of motion was moved by Councillor Steve Mason and seconded by Councillor Andrew Murday.
The motion was then debated.
On a vote being taken 15 Members voted for the motion, 68 against and there was one abstention. The motion therefore fell.
89 Hospice Funding
(2)
This Council recognises:
1. The invaluable care
that the Hospice movement provides to people at the end of life and the
tremendous public support that they command.
2. The unfortunate,
but inevitable demographic changes in our society that has led in recent years,
notwithstanding the impact of COVID, to increasing numbers of people who could
benefit from Hospice, Palliative and End of Life Care, particularly for people
with complex needs or who experience high levels of frailty in their last year
of life.
3. The desire of
the Hospice sector to protect its independent status whilst having its
contribution to supporting people at the end of life recognised through fair
and consistent funding arrangements across and within the new Integrated Care
Board statutory responsibility to commission Hospice, Palliative and End of
Life Care services.
This council
therefore regrets that ICB funding for Hospices has not kept up with inflation,
and it recognises the detrimental effect this is having on Hospice service
provision across North Yorkshire. We call on the local ICB to ensure that it
meets its statutory requirements, and that it commits to paying Hospices the
full cost of any commissioned clinical services that would be otherwise be
provided by the NHS.
Further, in
fulfilling its own responsibilities to improve the health and wellbeing of its
population this Council is concerned that the failure to adequately fund the
sector will undermine its own ability to fulfil that responsibility.
We therefore request
that the Leader of the Council writes to the Secretary of State for Health and
Social Care to ask her to ensure that NHS England gives greater support to
Integrated Care Boards, enabling them to better understand their
responsibilities for Hospice and End of Life Care services, and thus ensuring a
fair contribution for the work they do and greater consistency across England,
taking note of changing needs.
Proposed – Cllr
Peter Lacey
Seconded
– Cllr Andrew Lee
The notice of motion was moved by Councillor Peter Lacey and seconded by Councillor Andrew Lee. In moving the
motion Councillor Lacey proposed that in the final paragraph after the words “End of Life Care services” the words “encouraging
collaboration at a local level” be added and this was
accepted.
The motion was then debated.
On a vote being
taken the notice of motion was approved unanimously.
89 Care Leavers
(3)
Young people leaving social care are already in
a vulnerable situation, and they are often subject to discrimination when
attempting to get a job or find a place to live. Indeed, some housing
providers directly stipulate “no care leavers”.
The effect of this
discrimination is to push these young people, who are already vulnerable, into
hostels and shelters where they are easy targets for exploitation and
victimisation by criminal gangs.
We call on this
council to join over sixty other local councils in the UK by treating care
experience as if it is a protected characteristic by:
·
Ensuring that during
development of future policy and service provision, impact on those who have
had care experience is considered alongside impact on those with other
protected characteristics.
·
Including care leavers
and children in care in its equality objectives and reports,
alongside those with other protected characteristics.
·
Proactively seeking out
and listening to people who have experience of care, especially when
considering decisions which affect them.
·
Formally calling on
central government to add care experience as a protected characteristic in the
Equality Act, as recommended by the 2022 Independent Page 5 Review of
Children’s Social Care.
·
Formally calling on
other bodies, such as academy trusts, housing providers, and the new combined
authority to treat care experience as if it is a protected characteristic in
similar ways.
Proposed – Cllr
Andrew Timothy
Seconded – Cllr Andrew Lee
The motion was
moved and seconded and referred to the Scrutiny Board to determine the most appropriate overview and scrutiny
committee.
89 Right to Grow
(4)
This Council notes:
· Its
own commitment to conserving biodiversity in
order to help mitigate climate change by increasing capture and
storage of carbon in ecosystems, and support adaptation to climate impacts.
·
That trees and green
space in urban environments can help prevent floods, cool streets, sequester
carbon emissions, filter air pollution, and provide an important habitat for
insect and plant-life.
·
The increasing need to put the health and well-being of
residents at the heart of our Council strategies.
·
The powerful evidence
which demonstrates the link between
people’s health and wellbeing and the availability of fresh locally produced
food.
·
That the cost-of-living
crisis is creating real hunger reinforcing the need for healthy fresh food at
an affordable price.
·
That communities coming
together to grow can radically reduce costs to NHS and social care budgets by
reducing loneliness and providing healthy food.
·
That there is plenty of
under-used publicly owned land which could be used for community food growing
while also improving the public realm.
This Council agrees:
· Identify and produce a map of all Council owned land suitable for
community cultivation that is publicly available at no cost to residents, and
actively promoted across all wards.
·
Land should be
considered suitable for cultivation for food or biodiversity unless containing proven hazards or unless
development is due within 24 months.
·
Make this land
available for cultivation by a simple license to community organisations at no
cost.
·
Ensure the license does
not contain conditions that
present a significant barrier to residents in terms of financial or practical
requirements.
·
Ensure that where
community groups cultivating on public realm land for food growing or wildlife
spaces, the groups are given an opportunity to bid for the land should it be
tendered to sale.
·
Allow the necessary
infrastructure such as access to water and/or for water harvesting to enable
sustainable cultivation for all.
·
Ensure that allotment
provision adheres to the 1969 Thorpe Report which recommends a minimum
provision equivalent to 15 plots per 1,000 households. In the 2011 census,
256,594 households were recorded in North Yorkshire.
Proposer – Cllr Hannah Gostlow
Seconder – Cllr Steve Mason.
The motion was moved and seconded and referred to the Scrutiny Board to determine the most appropriate overview and scrutiny
committee.
89 Home to School
Transport
(5)
A significant proportion of the NYC Home to
School Travel Service is governed by legislation. However, proposals to bring the
policy in line with the DfE requirements by removing some areas of
discretionary provision has some risks:
·
estimated annual
savings of £3.2m are based on a
number of assumptions which are difficult to predict
·
the full financial impact of the changes won’t be seen for seven years
·
families with more than
one child could have different eligibility, with children from the same family
being forced to attend schools in different
locations
·
restricting eligibility
to nearest school only will have a significant & disproportionate impact on
rural communities
·
potential changes to
the pattern of admissions at schools where transport provision is a factor
·
a house move within the
area could mean children are forced leave their current school.
·
North Yorkshire will be
paying other authorities to educate its own children while perfectly good
schools inside the county lose out.
We call on this council to halt the drastic
cuts to free school bus services in the county and to use the £6.2m of
emergency central government funding for its intended purpose of supporting
frontline services.
Proposer – Cllr Barbara Brodigan
Seconder – Cllr Felicity Cunliffe-Lister.
The motion was moved and
seconded and referred to the Executive.