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Agenda

Agenda

Venue: Virtual Remote Meeting. View directions

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

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Members' Interests

2.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Virtual Council meeting held on 21 July 2020 pdf icon PDF 478 KB

3.

To receive such communications as the Lord Mayor may desire to lay before the Council, including 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 - To receive and consider any urgent and important business from Members of the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order No 26

8.

Recommendations from the Cabinet Meeting held on 15 September 2020 pdf icon PDF 773 KB

To receive and consider the attached report and recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 15 September.

 

The exempt appendix 1 is under paragraph 3 so Council will need to move into exempt business by resolving to exclude the press and public if it wishes to discuss this at that time.

 

(Paragraph 3 relates to information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person or authority)

 

“that, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act, 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act, 1985, the press and public be excluded for the consideration of the following item on the grounds that the report(s) contain information defined as exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972”.

 

The public interest in maintaining the exemption must outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

Under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) England Regulations 2012, regulation 5, the reasons for exemption of the listed item is shown above.

Additional documents:

9.

Recommendations from the Cabinet Meeting held on 6 October 2020 pdf icon PDF 505 KB

To receive and consider the attached report and recommendations (to follow) from the Cabinet meeting held on 6 October.

Additional documents:

10.

Political Proportionality Review on Committee and Panels pdf icon PDF 306 KB

To receive and consider the attached report from the Chief Executive.

Additional documents:

11.

Urgent Decision by the Chief Executive - Use of Standing Order 58 - To adopt revised Standing Order 24 pdf icon PDF 358 KB

To note the attached Decision.

Notices of Motion: Process information

Following the Full Council meeting of 21 July 2020, the Council agreed to change Standing Order (32(d)), meaning all Notices of Motion of the agenda  will automatically be dealt with at this meeting, thereby dispensing with a three minute presentation from the proposer and subsequent vote to enable its consideration.

12.

Notices of Motion

12a

Pyramids pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Proposed by Councillor Luke Stubbs

Seconded by Councillor Linda Symes

 

This council regrets the closure of the swimming pool at the Pyramids.

12b

Hampshire Fire and Rescue pdf icon PDF 357 KB

Proposed Councillor Jason Fazackarley

Seconded Councillor Lee Hunt

 

At the time of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Risk Review in 2016, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) raised serious concerns about future crewing of the appliances in Portsmouth and the ability of the service to be able to function effectively with the reduced crewing levels.

 

They were particularly concerned about the crewing of the Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) and that removing its dedicated crew would limit the ability to deploy this appliance to high rise fires in Portsmouth.

 

After the Risk Review, a compromise was reached after suggestions were made by the FBU to management, that whilst not restoring the crew, did offer some additional flexibility.  This is welcomed by the Council.

 

However, it is becoming clear that the crewing issues now extend beyond those of the ALP and there are wider concerns. This Council would like Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service to provide responses to the following questions:

 

Specifically:

 

1.            Has the service become too lean and does it lack resilience in terms of frontline personnel?

 

2.            Does the service expect that an upcoming round of recruitment will address the crewing shortfalls?

 

3.            Is the service exploring every opportunity to backfill staff shortages through overtime?

 

4.            Can the service confirm that frontline and immediately available appliances are being taken off the runs to backfill elsewhere in the County and that it is cover in Portsmouth and Southampton that is mainly suffering from these diversions to backfill shortfall?

 

5.            Can the service confirm whether any of these occasions where appliances have been diverted to backfill for shortfalls elsewhere in the County have resulted in a longer response time to a fire?

 

6.            Can the service confirm how often these shortfalls in crewing are happening and therefore how often Portsmouth has not had the available crewing levels that were promised in the Risk Review in 2016?

 

7.            Can the service give a categoric assurance that in the event of a high rise fire in the city, that the response time to that incident would not exceed those indicated in the 2016 Risk Review and that the ALP could be deployed.

 

This Council takes the safety of its residents extremely seriously and requests that Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service meet urgently with the Council's representative on the Fire Authority to answer these concerns.

 

The Council requests that an update is provided by the council's representative on the Hampshire Fire Authority at the next meeting of full council in November.

12c

Landlord licensing and the Private Rented Sector strategy pdf icon PDF 206 KB

Proposed by Councillor Cal Corkery

Seconded by Councillor George Fielding

 

The size of the Private Rented Sector in Portsmouth has grown significantly in recent years with YouGov now estimating some 35% of all properties in the city are rented from a private landlord.

 

The rapid growth in the number of privately rented homes has led to a range of issues relating to housing conditions, property management and anti-social behaviour, particularly in areas with high concentrations of privately rented homes.

 

In July 2019 the Labour Group proposed a motion calling on the council to strengthen renters' rights and drive up standards in the Private Rented Sector by implementing Additional Licensing and Selective Licensing schemes.

 

Such licensing schemes allow councils to ensure landlords and letting agents meet 'fit and proper persons' tests in addition to placing responsibilities on them to prove their properties meet decent housing standards.

 

The administration accepted the need to do more to regulate rented housing and tasked council officers with drafting a Private Rented Sector strategy. That draft strategy, approved by Cabinet in March 2020, recommended consulting on introducing an Additional Licensing scheme for small HMOs.

 

However, the draft strategy does not propose to explore the use of a Selective Licensing scheme to cover non-HMO privately rented properties. This is a missed opportunity to improve renters' rights and drive up housing standards in the Private Rented Sector.

 

Full Council therefore:

 

      Supports the progress that has been made toward developing a council strategy for the Private Rented Sector.

 

      Requests Cabinet reconsider its decision not to include Selective Licensing as a policy intervention as part of the Private Rented Sector strategy.

 

      Suggests Cabinet be asked to explore whether more stringent conditions can be put into landlord licensing agreements with regard to responsible property management, for example dealing with anti-social behaviour.

12d

Road Re-routing pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Proposed Councillor Luke Stubbs

Seconded Councillor Linda Symes

 

The temporary closure of the seafront road in Eastney resulted in congestion, severe parking problems and a large number of accidents in Eastern Parade.

 

Council believes that Eastern Parade is not of A Road quality. It therefore asks Cabinet to investigate the possibility of re-routing the A2047 along the seafront.

12e

Hidden Disabilities: Becoming a Sunflower Friendly Council

Proposed by Councillor Tom Coles

Seconded by Councillor George Fielding

 

One in five people in the UK have a disability and 80% of those are hidden.

 

Living with a hidden disability can make daily life more demanding for many people. The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower enables people to discreetly indicate to others that they have a hidden disability and may need additional support, help or more time. The Sunflower is recognised across a huge number of organisations in the UK ranging from transport to retail to leisure.

 

Becoming a Sunflower Friendly Council will promote the city as being welcoming of those with hidden disabilities. Studies have shown localities supporting the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower are seeing an increase in footfall from wearers of the Sunflower.

 

As a Sunflower Friendly Council, Portsmouth will:

 

      Support local people with hidden disabilities

 

      Assist local businesses to benefit from an increase in visitors and revenue

 

      Demonstrate that the Council is inclusive and enhance the Council’s accessibility credentials.

 

Signing up to recognise the scheme officially will give the Council access to Training webinars as well as access to Hidden Disabilities Sunflower digital assets to promote the Council’s awareness of the Sunflower and support those with hidden disabilities.

 

The Council therefore resolves to sign up to the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme and become an officially recognised Sunflower Friendly Local Authority.

13.

Questions from Members under Standing Order No 17 pdf icon PDF 285 KB