Councillor M Stead to Move
Council recognises the assistance provided by the government to help County Durham residents with the cost of living crisis including financial assistance to help with energy costs and the re-introduction of the pensions triple-lock.
Council further recognises the assistance we as a council have given this year by freezing the core council tax.
However, with inflation approaching 10%, we recognise there is more to do, and so council commits to holding a cost of living summit bringing together charities, the council and other bodies to co-ordinate plans to help residents.
Further, council calls on government to consider additional help for residents and to recognise that as a county covering 1000 square miles, with hundreds of communities, County Durham should have its funding allocation reviewed to take into account its rurality.
This would ensure as a council we are able to continue to protect frontline services for our residents with the additional funding a rural designation provides.
Councillor L Holmes to Move
This council notes that eating disorders and excess weight are public health concerns for our county and considers that a whole systems approach is required to promote healthy weight by supporting people to reduce excess calorie intake and increase physical activity.
This council will continue to work across the whole system with our communities, families, education settings, employers, and the VCS to address food poverty and to increase access to affordable healthy food, to promote healthy food options and to promote and increase access to physical activity.
The Eatwell Guide is a policy tool used to define government recommendations on eating healthily and achieving a balanced diet.
Given the importance of healthy food this Council calls for partners across the whole system to work with government recommendations on healthy eating and adopt the Eatwell Guide as the standard they aim to achieve for their food offer.
Councillor C Hunt to Move
Council notes the problems caused in our communities by the misuse of nitrous oxide and calls upon the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to respond to the Home Secretary’s request to review the harm caused by nitrous oxide and better understand whether further restrictions on the drug are needed, including whether unlawful possession should be made an offence.
Councillor J Quinn to Move
This council is to request that Livin and other social housing associations open an email address specifically for councillors to direct concerns and work, such as trimming of hedges etc.
Minutes:
The Chair informed Council that there were four Motions for consideration, and these would be dealt with in the order in which they were received as detailed on the agenda.
The first Motion was from Councillor M Stead and was carried over from the previous meeting.
Councillor Stead informed Council that his motion asked for the government to recognise that County Durham was a rural county and be funded appropriately. It further asked for help for government to consider more help for residents and for a summit to be called by the council with relevant organisations to work to do all that could be done to help people.
Councillor Stead was pleased to confirm that the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council had written to the government laying out each aspect of his motion and asking for reconsideration of the County’s rural status and to make sure it considered more help for residents.
Councillor Stead had also received confirmation from Councillor Alan Shield, the Council’s Equalities and Social Inclusion Portfolio Holder that the Council would be doing work on a summit.
Given that every aspect of his motion had been agreed and actioned by the Joint Administration Councillor Stead withdrew his Motion.
Moved by Councillor L Holmes, Seconded by Councillor K Robson:
This council will continue to work across the whole system with our communities, families, education settings, employers, and the VCS to address food poverty and to increase access to affordable healthy food, to promote healthy food options and to promote and increase access to physical activity.
The Eatwell Guide is a policy tool used to define government recommendations on eating healthily and achieving a balanced diet.
Given the importance of healthy food this Council calls for partners across the whole system to work with government recommendations on healthy eating and adopt the Eatwell Guide as the standard they aim to achieve for their food offer.
An Amendment was Moved by Councillor L Hovvels, Seconded by Councillor A Surtees
This
council notes that eating disorders and excess weight are public
health concerns for our county and considers that a whole
systems approach is required to support people who live in food
poverty eat a more healthy diet promote healthy weight by
supporting people to reduce excess calorie intake and increase
physical activity.
This
council acknowledges all the great work and continued support
being provided to our families will continue to work across private,
public and VCS sectors the whole system with our
communities, families, education settings, employers, and the VCS
to address food poverty and to increase access to affordable
healthy food, to promote healthy lifestyles in light of the
current food poverty crisis and increasing cost of living crisis
which is only set to get worse. food options and to promote
and increase access to physical activity.
The Eatwell Guide is a policy tool used to define government recommendations on eating healthily and achieving a balanced diet, however, in order to increase access to affordable healthy food requires the cause of food poverty to be addressed and whilst we may continue promoting healthy food options access to physical activity there is inescapable evidence that for many people, including families with children, there is a gap between available income and the actual cost of securing a nutritious diet.
Given
the importance of healthy food this Council calls for partners
across the whole system to work with government recommendations on
healthy eating and adopt the Eatwell Guide as the standard they aim
to achieve for their food offer and healthy lifestyles for
our families and the elevation of the north east of England being
identified as the region of highest deprivation in the country
where almost half of our children now live in absolute poverty and
the choice between heating and eating has become a cruel reality
for more families.
This Council calls a food poverty emergency for County Durham and
A Calls on the Government to provide more resource/funding for our communities to enable sustainable living for our residents.
B will lobby government to request more funding for our partners to enable them to support further our communities in providing healthy accessible food in line with the Eatwell Guide for our communities.
Councillor P Sexton, Portfolio Holder for Adult and Health Services considered that the Amendment was a fundamental change to the Motion and sought legal advice on the matter. Councillor Sexton informed Council he would be supporting the Motion. The Deputy Monitoring Officer advised that the amendment had been checked prior to being presented to Council and did not negate the original Motion. The rules on debate allowed for words to be added and words to be taken away and the Amendment clearly related to the original Motion.
Councillors K Shaw, F Tinsley, V Andrews, M McKeon, O Gunn, S Wilson, R Charlton-Lainé and J Miller spoke in support of the Amendment.
Councillor R Bell formally objected to the way in which the Amendment had been brought to Council. It was not acceptable to bring an Amendment without sight to the Members which was incapable of being displayed on the screen as one slide and requested a hard copy of future Amendments be tabled in advance. Councillor Bell informed Council he would be supporting the Motion.
The Deputy Monitoring Officer advised Council that the Amendment would be scrolled through on screen so that Members had sight of it. There was currently no requirement in the Constitution for hard copies of Amendments to be provided although this was something that could be considered by the Constitution Working Group.
Councillor A Jackson informed Council he would be supporting the Motion.
The Deputy Monitoring Officer advised Council that the 30 minute time limit for debating Motions had elapsed.
A named vote on the Amendment was requested.
For the Amendment
Against the Amendment
Abstention
Councillor G Hutchinson
The Amendment was Lost.
A named vote on the Substantive Motion was requested.
A further vote was taken on the Substantive Motion
For
Councillors M Abley, B Bainbridge, A Bell, C Bell, R Bell, J Blakey, D Brown, L Brown, J Cairns, J Charlton, J Cosslett, B Coult, M Currah, T Duffy, J Elmer, D Freeman, D Haney, P Heaviside, L Holmes, C Hood, A Hopgood, J Howey, C Hunt, A Jackson, N Jones, P Jopling, C Lines, C Martin, E Mavin, L Mavin, B McAloon, S McDonnell, M McGaun, P Molloy, J Nicholson, D Oliver, R Ormerod, E Peeke, R Potts, J Quinn, A Reed, K Robson, K Rooney, A Savory, E Scott, P Sexton, A Shield, J Shuttleworth, A Simpson, M Stead, W Stelling, A Sterling, D Stoker, T Stubbs, D Sutton-Lloyd, M Walton, A Watson and M Wilkes.
Against
Councillors E Adam, R Adcock-Forster, V Andrews, J Atkinson, P Atkinson, A Batey, C Bihari, G Binney, R Charlton-Lainé, S Deinali, K Earley, L Fenwick, C Fletcher, J Griffiths, O Gunn, D Hall, S Henig, J Higgins, L Hovvels, M Johnson, C Kay, B Kellett, R Manchester, C Marshall, D McKenna, M McKeon, I McLean, S McMahon, J Miller, D Mulholland, D Nicholls, P Pringle, J Purvis, S Quinn, I Roberts, K Shaw, G Smith, T Smith, A Surtees, F Tinsley, S Townsend, E Waldock, M Wilson, S Wilson, D Wood and R Yorke.
Abstention
Councillors G Hutchinson, L Maddison, S Robinson
The Substantive Motion was Carried.
The Deputy Monitoring Officer informed Council that the two remaining Motions would be carried forward to the next Council meeting in September.