Agenda and minutes

The Worshipful the Mayor spoke of the events in the Middle East and expressed her condolences for the loss of life, and her prayers for the survivors. She advised that she had sent a letter to her friend Carmel Shama, the Mayor of our twin town, Ramat Gan, expressing these sentiments to which she had received a response.

The Worshipful the Mayor committed to ensuring Barnet would always be a secure home for our Jewish communities and that we would defend our diverse borough and ensure that anyone affected by these events was cared for. 

The Worshipful the Mayor then invited tributes from Councillors Woodcock-Velleman and Mire.

The Worshipful the Mayor then asked the Council to stand for a minute’s silence to honour those who had tragically lost their lives.

The Worshipful the Mayor acknowledged the death of former Hale Ward Councillor Sheila Scott OBE who passed away in the USA where she had been living for the last two years. Sheila served as Deputy Conservative Group Leader from 1994 to 1998.

The Worshipful the Mayor also acknowledged the death of former Liberal Democrat councillor Sheila Gottsche who represented the Mill Hill Ward from 1994 up until 2002.

The Worshipful the Mayor then asked the Council to stand for a minute’s silence.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed that Silver Sunday had taken place on 1^st October 2023 with the event having been organised by Age UK and Cllr Sargeant at Middlesex University for the over 50’s. There were exercise sessions, music and dance performances, workshops, and health checks. The Worshipful the Mayor expressed her thanks to everyone who had helped make the event a success.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed members that it was Black History Month and noted that a flag was raised at the Town Hall by Past Mayor Agnes Slocombe – the first black Mayor in the London Borough of Barnet. Agnes served the borough as its first citizen in 1997.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed members of the visit to Le Raincy, France in September whereby Councillors Schneiderman and Hutton, and officers Yogita Popat and Sunita Trehan, presented the BarNET ZERO plans to the residents there. She also informed of photographic competition with residents of the borough and our twin town and would arrange a separate event to present the winning certificates to those who entered. The theme of the competition was ‘Lights and reflections in my city’.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed that she had just returned from a twinning visit to Cyprus to attend the Morphou rally, an annual event to show support to safeguard a solution to protect the rights of Greek and Turkish Cypriots to enjoy peace of a reunited Cyprus. She reported that Councillor Tony Vourou had attended to represented the Leader.

The Worshipful the Mayor informed that on Thursday 26^th October the London Borough of Barnet would be presented with the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award at a ceremony being held at the Royal Air Force Club  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

Apologies were received from Councillors Laithe Jajeh and Elliot Simberg.  

The Worshipful the Mayor was present.

The Worshipful the Mayor invited David Lima-Oredin and Akua Nkansah, members of the Barnet Youth Board to say a few words.

Councillor Rose declared a pecuniary interest in item 14.7 by virtue of employment.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

None.

None.

 Mr Sanjay Doshi was invited to speak on the received deputation.

Members asked questions of the deputation.

Following the questioning of the deputation, debate ensued. Following debate:

Councillor Dean Cohen (Conservative) moved the following proposal from section 18.8 of the Council Procedure Rules: “To note the deputation and take no action.” This was duly seconded by Councillor Thomas.

Councillor Phil Cohen (Labour) moved the following proposal from section 18.8 of the Council Procedure Rules: “To ask officer to provide a written response to the deputation.” This was duly seconded by Councillor Schneiderman.

Upon the Conservative proposal being put to the vote, the votes were as follows:

For: 20

Against: 39

Abstain: 2

Absent: 2

Total: 63

The Conservative Group proposal was therefore LOST.

Upon the Labour Group proposal being put to the vote, the votes were as follows:

For: 41

Against: 20

Abstain: 0

Absent: 2

Total: 63

The Labour Group propsal was therefore CARRIED and it was therefore RESOLVED to ask officers to provide a written response to the deputation.

The following councillors left the Chamber before the debate on the item: Councillors Mittra, Farrier, Rich, Greenspan, Shooter, Mire, Young, Lemon, P Cohen, Barnes, R Cornelius, Chakraborty, Gordon, Vourou and Duschinsky.

The Lead Petitioner, Ms Anuta Zack, was invited to speak on the received petition.

Members asked questions of the Lead Petitioner.

Following the questioning of the petition, debate ensued. Following debate:

Councillor Rose (Labour) moved the following proposal from section 2 of Part 3F Petition Scheme: “Instruct an officer to prepare a report for a future meeting of Cabinet or a Committee on the issue(s) raised with a recommended course of action.’ This was duly seconded by Councillor Houston.

Councillor Mearing-Smith (Conservative) moved the following proposal from section 2 of Part 3F Petition Scheme: “Instruct an officer to prepare a report for a future meeting of Cabinet or a Committee on the issue(s) raised with a recommended course of action.” This was duly seconded by Councillor Wakeley.

Upon the recommendation from both political parties to “Instruct an officer to prepare a report for a future meeting of Cabinet or a Committee on the issue(s) raised with a recommended course of action.”

Upon the option being put to the vote, the votes were as follows:

For: 46

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 17

Total: 63

RESOLVED that officers be instructed to prepare a report for a future meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, as and when a planning application is submitted, covering the issues raised in the petition. 

None.

Answers to the questions submitted were provided as a supplementary paper to the agenda.

Supplementary questions were then asked and answered within the allotted time given for the item.

None.

*Councillor Richard Cornelius left the Council Chamber*.

Councillor Innocenti moved the motion in her name. Debate ensued.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Innocenti were recorded as follows:

For: 40

Against: 19

Abstain: 1

Absent: 3

Total: 63

RESOLVED that:

Council Notes that:

·    Barnet Council declared a Climate Emergency in May 2022, committing to becoming a Net Zero Council by 2030 and a Net Zero Borough by 2042.

·    That man-made climate change represents the greatest risk to the long-term habitability of the planet.

·    That more short-term physical effects include: More frequent and more extreme meteorological disasters; greater shortages of drinking water; increased risk of desertification; greater disruption to supply chains of food.

·    Other effects are likely to include: Increased food inflation; greater refugee and migrant flows; Increased poverty in the developing world; And the submersion of entire countries.

·    That the effects of climate change, including flooding and other extreme weather conditions are also being seen across the UK and Barnet.

·    That the 2050 target for a Net Zero UK – that is, by 2050 the UK should be taking out as least as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it is putting in has been part of the UK political consensus when it was adopted both by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and then Leader of the Opposition David Cameron.

·    That there are fears that the recent measures announced by the Prime Minister will make reaching that 2050 target harder.

·    That Barnet will soon have installed over 2,000 electric vehicle charge points which is set to be more than 1 in 6 of all on-street charge points in London. However, as stated by the Association of Fleet Professionals and Addison Lee, investment in electronic vehicle charging points is at risk following the Prime Minister announcing that the ban on sales of new petrol cars will be postponed.

·    That Barnet has started to retrofit social housing and council buildings, including the installation of heat pumps and solar panels.

·    That the decision to lift the ban on installation of new gas boilers by 2035 has also put at risk investment in the heat pump industry which may have consequences for the price of more environmentally friendly heat pumps.

Council Resolves to:

·        Continue installing EV charging points to enable even more Barnet residents to switch to an electric car.

·       To reach out to other local authorities to make a joint statement on its commitment to EV charging points rollout, to assure the industry that the effect of the Prime Minister’s speech on investment will be minimised.

·      To write to the Prime Minister, expressing dismay at the confusion and concern caused by his speech, and to reiterate the need to re-establish the political consensus on the 2050 Net Zero target, which require a realistic sequence of steps to achieve it.

*Councillor Monasterio left the Council Chamber*

Councillor Grover moved the motion in his name. Debate ensued.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Grover were recorded as follows:

For: 39

Against: 19

Abstain: 1

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The motion in the name of Councillor Grover was LOST.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Hutton were recorded as follows:

For: 39

Against: 19

Abstain: 1

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The motion in the name of Councillor Hutton was CARRIED.

RESOLVED that:

Council Notes that:

·         Council Staff did an excellent job in ensuring that schools in Barnet were checked thoroughly for outdated Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) within days of Government informing schools on 31st August, in some cases only one full working day before the beginning on the School Term.

·         Regrettably, the Government delayed informing schools of the crisis, even though officials first informed ministers of the need for action on the 21st August.

·         If Schools had been informed on the 21st or 22nd August, this would have given a much greater lead in time to the start of the new term to deal with the crisis.

·         The school affected in Barnet – Bishop Douglass – would have been revamped under Labour’s Building Schools for the Future Programme, as agreed by the then Conservative administration of Barnet, if it had not been cancelled by the subsequent Conservative-led Government

·         That central government has communicated poorly throughout the RAAC crisis with local government, even as councils have many of the expertise needed to respond to situations such as this.

Council Resolves to:

·         Write to the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities, to ask if there is a plan to deal with outdated RAAC in the wider public estate, and how the Government intends to communicate to and co-operate with councils in implementing that plan.

·         Thank Council staff for their diligence and swift action in ensuring Barnet Schools were checked for outdated RAAC as quickly as possible.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Longstaff were recorded as follows:

For: 19

Against: 39

Abstain: 1

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The motion in the name of Councillor Longstaff was therefore LOST.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Mittra were recorded as follows:

For: 38

Against: 19

Abstain: 2

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The motion in the name of Councillor Mittra was CARRIED.

RESOLVED that:

Council Notes that:

•     Ten councils have had Section 114 notices issued since 2018, denoting that they had, in effect, run out of money.

•     That the ten councils that have issued 114 notices include Conservative Thurrock, Liberal Democrat Woking and Labour Birmingham.

•     No councils issued Section 114 notices between 2001 and 2017.

•     That the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities – Sigoma – estimate that 26 more councils could issue section 114 notices over the next two years. • The dramatic rise in the number of section 114 notices over recent years appears to be related to central government grants to councils having been cut in real terms by 50 per cent since 2010.

•     That there are media reports that the Government may seek to cut taxes such as inheritance tax. Such cuts in taxes, if not funding by borrowing, could be funded by further cuts to local government, pushing more to issue Section 114 notices.

Council Resolves to:

•      Write to the Prime Minister, pointing out that there has been a cut to Government grants of 50 per cent over the last 14 years, and urging him not to pass on further cuts to local government.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Wakeley were recorded as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The motion in the name of Councillor Wakeley was CARRIED.

RESOLVED that:

Council notes:

1)  That in January, the Council passed a motion that recognises that Refugee & asylum seekers are much more likely to be subject to both criminal and sexual exploitation as well as modern-day slavery and that Barnet Council has a duty of care towards children and vulnerable and trafficked adults in our borough.

2)   In the year ending in June, The Metropolitan Police received 5,435 referrals where a person was a potential victim of modern slavery.

3)  Globally, over 50 million people are in modern slavery, with there being over 100,000 victims in the UK. The latest data provided by the London Modern Slavery Leads Group shows that in the year 2020/2021, there were 72 referrals to the National Referral Mechanism from Barnet. 17 of those referrals were children. In the year 2021/2022 there were 80 referrals.

4)  Those forms of modern slavery, including labour exploitation, criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude, among others, are prevalent in Barnet.

5)   At present, the only information present to officers and members on Modern Slavery are links to external organisations.

6)    A member of the Adult Social Care, Housing and Learning & Development team attended the Human Trafficking Foundation’s modern slavery Train the Trainer training in the summer and the Human Trafficking Foundation was invited to a Safeguarding Adults Managers meeting to raise awareness of indicators and the National Referral Mechanism process.

7)   The Modern Slavery Act 2015 saw the UK become the first country in the world to introduce transparency in supply chain requirements.

8)    Following that, Barnet Council and its subsidiary groups have established their own policies regarding Modern Slavery and are working hard to find and eradicate any form of slavery within Barnet. More, however, needs to be done.

However, considering the latest data, compounded by the impacts of COVID-19 and increased vulnerabilities, especially of women and children, not enough action is being taken.

Council therefore resolves:

1)     Barnet London Borough Council to join the London Partnership on Modern Slavery.

2)     To commit to appointing a multi-stakeholder and intergenerational Modern Slavery Board within the next 6 months, replacing the existing inter-departmental governance model, that co-leads and co-creates the development and implementation of a modern slavery strategy and action plan, focusing on awareness, prevention, and providing support to survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking as seen in authorities such as Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Haringey.

a.    The Modern Slavery Board should also act as the monitoring and evaluation body of the strategy, reporting to the relevant Committees and Cabinet on a bi-annual basis.

3)     To co-create these processes with Councillors, Council Officers, anti-modern slavery organisations, police and NHS wider civil society and young people.

4)    To have a web page on Barnet’s website with information on the current state of a strategy and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Votes on the motion in the name of Councillor Moore were recorded as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The motion in the name of Councillor Moore was CARRIED

RESOLVED that:

This Council notes that:

•     Preventable disease continues to have a massive impact on the public’s health, the NHS and the economy.

•     Tobacco is the biggest preventable cause of cancer and premature death in the UK.

•     With decades of comprehensive policy action, adult smoking prevalence in the UK in 2022 was at a record low at 12.9% but this masks significant inequality. In Barnet, GP records show average smoking prevalence across the Borough is 12.4% but that in some wards it’s as high as 17.4%. 

•     Differences in smoking rates make it one of the leading drivers of health inequalities, responsible for half the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and highest income groups in England.

·      According to the anti-smoking Charity ASH, smoking costs Barnet £105million per year in terms of ill-health, loss of productivity, fires and other costs.

Council therefore:

•     Recognises that through their public health duties, local authorities including Barnet are responsible for improving the health of their population and do this through services including stop smoking services and wider tobacco control activities.

•     Believes that local government must be adequately resourced to fulfil their public health duties.

•     Supports Cancer Research UK’s calls for a Smokefree Fund (a fixed annual charge on the tobacco industry, making the tobacco industry pay for the damage their products cause, without being able to influence how the funds are spent) to fund local tobacco control work and urges the UK Government to consider implementing a Smokefree Fund as part of its efforts to tackle health inequalities.

•     Will write letters to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to that effect.

The votes on the amendment in Councillor Coakley-Webb’s name were recorded as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

The amendment in the name of Councillor Coakley Webb was CARRIED.

Votes on the motion as amended by Councillor Coakley Webb were recorded as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

RESOLVED that:

Council notes:

·         Barnet has been selected to be the Lead LA for the London SEND and AP Change Programme Partnership (CPP).

Council resolves:

·         To thank all the pupils, parents, teachers and officers who are part of the SEND family who have made it such a success in Barnet.

·         To congratulate Cllrs Longstaff, Coakley Webb and other Cllrs over the years for their exceptional work within Children’s and Family Services not just in SEND but overall in our borough’s high education standard.

The Worshipful the Mayor introduced the report. Councillor Moore moved the reception and adoption of the recommendations in the report. Debate ensued.

On the recommendations on the report being put to the vote, the votes were as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

RESOLVED that Council:

1. The Council approve the Constitution amendments as set out in Appendices A to E.

2. That Council authorise the Head of Governance to implement these revisions and publish a revised Constitution.

The Head of Governance introduced the report asking Council to approve the proposed non-executive fees and charges for 2024/25 as set out in Appendix A considering any consultation responses and equality impact assessments.

On the recommendations in the report being put to the vote, the votes were recorded as follows:

For: 39

Against: 19

Abstain: 1

Absent: 4

Total: 63

RESOLVED that the Council approve the proposed non-executive fees and charges for 2024/25 set out in Appendix A considering any consultation responses and equality impact assessments.

The Head of Governance introduced the report, seeking approval of the proposed pay grade for a new Assistant Director, Street Scene role. The creation of the role was approved by Employment Sub-Committee at its meeting of 26 September 2023 and approval of the pay grade is referred to full Council in accordance with the Council’s constitution as the top of the grade is above £100,000.

On the recommendations in the report being put to the vote, the votes were recorded as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

RESOLVED that:

1.         That Council approves the grade six pay grade (£94,685 - £115,352) proposed for the Assistant Director, Street Scene Operations role.

2.         That Council notes the proposed partial restructure of the Street Scene management team.

3.         That Council notes the proposed establishment of a Head of Parking & Parking Enforcement role.

4.         That Council notes the proposed deletion of three existing posts:

c.    Head of Street Scene Operations

The Monitoring Officer presented the report.

The report was noted.

The Head of Governance introduced the report, outlining the various administrative matters for Council’s agreement.

On the recommendations in the report being put to the vote, the votes were recorded as follows:

For: 59

Against: 0

Abstain: 0

Absent: 4

Total: 63

RESOLVED that Council:

1.That Council note and approve the appointments to Outside Bodies in Appendix A.

2. That Council note and approve the updated membership of the Local Pension Board, the Health & Wellbeing Board and the joint venture membership with Kuropatwa Group.