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Agenda

Agenda

Venue: Council Chamber - The Guildhall, Portsmouth. View directions

Contact: Stewart Agland  Email: stewart.agland@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interests under Standing Order 13(2)(b)

2.

Minutes of the Annual Council Meeting held on 14 May and the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 17 June 2019 pdf icon PDF 55 KB

·         the Annual Council meeting held on 14 May 2019;

·         the Adjourned Council meeting held on 14 May 2019;

·         the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 17 June 2019.

Additional documents:

3.

Communications and apologies for absence

4.

Deputations from the Public under Standing Order No 24

5.

Questions from the Public under Standing Order 25

6.

Appointments

7.

Urgent Business pdf icon PDF 182 KB

8.

Response to the Aquind Interconnector Project pdf icon PDF 4 MB

To receive and consider the attached report from Cabinet held on 9 July (recommendation to follow).

9.

Portsmouth Youth Offending Team (PYOT) Annual Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To receive and consider the attached report from Cabinet held on 9 July (recommendation to follow).

10.

Appointment of New Honorary Recorder pdf icon PDF 96 KB

To consider the Chief Executive's attached report.

Additional documents:

Notices of Motion: Process information

Standing Order (32(d)) requires a vote by members before each motion to determine whether or not the motion is to be debated at the meeting or stand referred to the Cabinet or relevant Committee (including Scrutiny) to report back to a future meeting.

11.

Notices of Motion

11a

Fair Trade City

Proposed by Councillor Hugh Mason

Seconded by Councillor Lynne Stagg

 

It is fifteen years since Portsmouth was awarded the status of a ‘Fair Trade City’.  The Council recognises the contribution which fair trade has and is making towards ending exploitation in global supply chains and thereby the endemic poverty experienced in many poorer countries.  The Council wishes to maintain its status as a Fair Trade City

 

The Council therefore reaffirms its commitment to using Fair Trade products at council events and as widely as possible in the Civic Offices and other public buildings which it operates.  It reaffirms its intention to encourage the use of Fair Trade products throughout the City and to promote appreciation of the importance of fair trade.

11b

High-Stakes Testing in Primary Schools

Proposed by Councillor Tom Coles

Seconded by Councillor Graham Heaney

 

Portsmouth City Council welcomes the commitment of national opposition parties to abolish SATs and other high-stakes testing in primary schools.

 

Portsmouth City Council notes that:

 

1)         Statutory testing in primary schools, both in Portsmouth and nationally, has increased since 2010 and is increasing further: by 2020, children will be tested in Reception (the Baseline Assessment), Year 1 (the Phonics Screening Check), Year 2 (SATs), Year 4 (the Multiplication Tables Check) and Year 6 (SATs).

 

2)         The pressures of statutory assessment contribute to the crisis of teacher morale, workload, recruitment and retention; making it difficult for schools in the city to retain staff.

 

3)         Tests are focussed on the requirements of school accountability rather than on support for children’s learning.

 

4)         The pressures of testing in primary schools have a detrimental effect on children’s mental health.

 

5)         Educational research has demonstrated repeatedly that teaching to the test narrows the curriculum and the educational experience of children, focussing on labelling not learning.

 

6)         The National Education Union has agreed to carry out an indicative ballot of its members to ask for their views about the campaign to abolish high-stakes primary testing and whether they would be prepared to boycott statutory high-stakes tests in primary schools.

 

Portsmouth City Council believes that campaigning, by those who work in primary schools, parents and academics, to end the current high-stakes system of primary assessment should be welcomed, in particular the More Than A Score campaign.

 

Portsmouth City Council resolves:

 

1)         To express its support for campaigns against the current system of primary assessment, including those organised by teacher unions and More Than A Score.

 

2)         To call on the Leader of the Council and all Group Leaders to write to the Secretary of State for Education to listen to the growing number of voices who are calling for the abolition of high-stakes testing in primary schools.

 

3)         To ask the Cabinet to call a meeting of Trade Unions, parents and school governors from across the city to discuss the council’s position on these matters and to coordinate a response.

 

4)         To ask the Cabinet to offer support to Portsmouth schools which adopt an alternative approach to assessment (for example by taking the More Than A Score pledge).

11c

Improving Renters Rights Through Landlord Licensing

Proposed by Councillor Cal Corkery

Seconded by Councillor Tom Coles

 

The causes of the housing crisis are complex and varied but it is without doubt that a key factor is a lack of rights for renters, and a failure by the relevant authorities to enforce the few rights that do exist.

 

In Portsmouth 22.1% of households rent their properties from private landlords, compared with 16.3% across the whole of the South East. In a number of Portsmouth council wards that figure is over 40%. This has led to communities that lack balance and the kind of cohesion associated with areas where more settled forms of tenure are the norm.

 

Around the country councils are addressing these issues by implementing selective licensing schemes whereby all private landlords in particular areas are required to be licensed by the local authority. This differs from mandatory licensing which applies only to Houses in Multiple Occupancy.

 

In areas where such schemes have been implemented there have been improved standards in the private rented sector, reduced anti-social behaviour and a decline in the poor management of properties by rogue landlords. In Newham, selective licensing has been used to address poor standards across the private rented sector, to protect tenants and to tackle criminal landlords, resulting in 1,306 prosecutions since the scheme was introduced.

 

Selective licensing is self-financing with income generated through license application costs which can then be spent on the administration of the scheme. Authorities have discretion to set the precise conditions of the licence. These can include conditions relating to the use and occupation of the house, and measures to deal with anti-social behaviour of the tenants or those visiting the property.

 

Our council's own statistics show the single highest cause of homelessness to be the ending of a private sector tenancy. Selective licensing schemes can help to reduce evictions and homelessness approaches by forcing unethical landlords out of the sector and giving tenants greater protections.

 

Landlords who consistently meet their legal and ethical obligations to tenants should have nothing to fear from selective licensing. It is their less scrupulous peers who will become subject to greater scrutiny and enforcement action.

 

Full Council therefore calls on the Cabinet to request that officers' report into the feasibility of implementing a selective licensing scheme in Portsmouth with a view to one being implemented by April 2020.

11d

Parking

Proposed by Councillor Luke Stubbs

Seconded Councillor Linda Symes

 

Council notes the continuing piecemeal expansion of residents’ parking across the city. It remains concerned that this is being implemented in an unplanned and uncoordinated way. It therefore calls on the Cabinet Member for Traffic and Transportation to draw up a strategic plan for the management of parking in residential and non-residential areas covering a period of at least five years.

12.

Questions from Members under Standing Order No 17. pdf icon PDF 142 KB