SALFORD CITY COUNCIL 17Th September, 2014 Meeting Commenced

SALFORD CITY COUNCIL

17th September, 2014

Meeting commenced: 9.30 a.m. “ adjourned: 11.00 a.m. “ re-commenced: 11.15 a.m. “ ended: 12.30 p.m.

PRESENT: Councillor Christine Hudson (Ceremonial Mayor) - in the Chair

Mr Ian Stewart - City Mayor

Councillors Howard Balkind Neil Blower, Paula Boshell, Adrian Brocklehurst, Tanya Burch, Eric Burgoyne, Val Burgoyne, Andy Cheetham, Christopher Clarkson, Stephen Coen, Jillian Collinson, Graham Compton, Peter Connor, Richard Critchley, Jim Dawson, Paul Dennett, John Ferguson, Jane Hamilton, Stephen Hesling, Bill Hinds, Ann-Marie Humphreys, Jimmy Hunt, David Jolley, Roger Jones, Joe Kean, Tracy Kelly, Jim King, David Lancaster, Bernard Lea, Iain Lindley, Charlie McIntyre, Ray Mashiter, Gena Merrett, John Merry, Margaret Morris, John Mullen, Michelle Mullen, Joe Murphy, Stephen Ord, Bernard Pennington, Sue Pugh, Gina Reynolds, Brendan Ryan, Pat Ryan, Lisa Stone, Les Turner, John Warmisham, Michael Wheeler, Peter Wheeler, George Wilson, and Ronnie Wilson

1. URGENT ITEMS OF WHICH THE CHAIR HAS BEEN NOTIFIED

The Chair indicated that she had not been notified of any urgent items.

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Derek Antrobus, Peter Dobbs, Sareda Dirir, Karen Garrido, Robin Garrido, John Walsh, Barry Warner and Paul Wilson.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor David Lancaster declared an interest in the item entitled Questions or Comments on the Discharge of Functions of Joint Authorities and Outside Bodies (as detailed in Minute 11 below) in that, he was a Trustee of the Lowry.

4. MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

The minutes of the meeting held on 11th June, 2014, were approved as a correct record.

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 5. RECEIPT OF PETITIONS/COMMUNICATIONS

Councillor Iain Lindley submitted a petition on behalf of local residents, seeking a review of the give way system introduced on Old Clough Lane, Walkden.

Councillor John Ferguson submitted a petition on behalf of local residents, asking that measures be put into place to prevent members of the traveller community parking on The Green, Clifton.

6. PUBLIC QUESTIONS

The following question was received from a member of the public:-

Mental Health Services in Salford

Stephen Cullen asked:-

“Why is Salford City Council in favour of reducing mental health beds, secure beds and community beds?”

“What does the City Mayor think of the impact to service users?”

Councillor Peter Connor, Assistant Mayor for Adult Services and Services for Older People said in response that in redesigning mental health services, there was a commitment to move such care away from a traditional hospital environment and instead provide 24/7 intensive support in users’ homes. Councillor Margaret Morris, Assistant Mayor for Health and Wellbeing, added, that the reduction in beds had not been significant. Work was also being done, in conjunction the Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, on preventative initiatives, which would in the long term reduce the need for this type of hospital based care.

The City Mayor said the aim was to redesign and improve the service, with the focus wherever possible, on care being provided in local communities, with users in their own homes with their families, as they had expressed a preference for.

7. STATEMENT OF THE CITY MAYOR

The City Mayor made a number of announcements, highlighted issues and reported on some of the key areas of work he had been involved with since the last meeting of the Council as follows:-

(a) Jim Taylor was welcomed to his first City Council meeting following his appointment as City Director.

(b) Thanks and best wishes were extended to Gani Martins, who was soon to be leaving the authority. Particular reference was made to the work Gani had been involved with, in improving child safeguarding in Salford. Councillor John Merry added his own personal thanks to Gani for the support she had

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 provided to him in his role as Assistant City Mayor for Services to Children and Young People.

(d) David Herne was congratulated on his recent appointment as Director of Public Health.

(e) He had attended the Salford Youth Awards Evening, which, together with the third annual Youth Day held on 12th August, 2014, provided a showcase for the many talented young people of the City, whose achievements and contribution to the community, often went unnoticed. Particular mention was made to Lauren Bullock, who had won the Contribution to the Arts Award.

(f) He had spoken at the BT Global City Leader’s Summit, which looked at promoting economic growth at a time of austerity. The selection of Salford Quays as the venue for an event of such importance was a great honour and raised the profile of the City.

(g) Various events had been held as part of Armed Forces Week which had commenced on 23rd June, 2014 and marked with a flag raising ceremony.

(h) He had attended the official opening of Scanlon Lane in Pendleton, which was named after Albert Scanlon, the former Manchester United football player who had survived the Munich Air Disaster in 1958 and been a Salford resident until his death in 2009.

(i) He had visited Harrop Fold School, Little Hulton and paid tribute to staff, pupils and the board of governors, the latter chaired by Councillor Bernard Pennington, all of whom had worked together to ensure the ongoing improvement of standards and achievements at the school.

(j) He had visited the Morson Group, whose head offices are in Eccles and had received the 2012 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade. The Morson Group are a leading global provider of technology-driven engineering, from concept design to project implementation and brought high paid and high quality employment opportunities to Salford.

(k) He had attended the opening of Vimto Gardens development off Chapel Street, Salford.

(l) A ceremony had been held to unveil a plaque at 77 Duchy Road, Irlams o’ th’Height, the former home of writer Shelagh Delaney and most noted as the author of “A Taste of Honey”. More events were planned to celebrate her life and work, as part of the inaugural Shelagh Delaney Day on 25th November, 2014. Connected with this, Salix Homes had also created The Shelagh Delaney Creativity Star, which would be awarded annually to a group, or individual, from Salford, who have shown exceptional creative talent and innovation.

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 (m) Manchester and Cheshire Construction Limited had held the official reopening of their refurbished offices on Oldfield Road, Salford. They had also been awarded the City Mayor’s Charter Mark for Employment, the first private company in the City to do so.

(n) Commented that the City Council’s Audit and Accounts Committee, at its meeting held on 27th August, 2014, had considered the report of the Monitoring Officer, following the internal audit investigation into the circumstances around the decision taken to meet match day costs in relation to Salford Red Devils RLFC’s use of the AJ Bell Stadium. All the recommendations of this report, around the strengthening of governance procedures, had been accepted by the Committee and would be implemented. The independent District Auditor had also reviewed the report and endorsed its findings, as well as indicating there were no matters which were of a public interest requiring further investigation.

(o) The fourth International Conference on Building Resilience had been held at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, between 9th and 11th September, 2014. A total of 31 cities had been represented at this prestigious event and the selection of Salford to host it, was another demonstration of the City’s standing both nationally and internationally.

8. GENERAL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS TO THE CITY MAYOR AND ASSISTANT MAYORS

Q1. Councillor Gena Merrett, Assistant Mayor for Housing and Environment, commented that, she, along with Councillor Derek Antrobus, had attended the Salford Strategic Flood Forum, which had formed part of the wider International Conference on Building Resilience, referred to earlier by the City Mayor. She said Salford hosting this event, was an excellent showcase for the City and paid tribute to the foresight of the City Council to invest in what had once been a derelict area of the City in economic decline, to transform it into the vibrant Salford Quays which existed today.

Q2. Councillor Margaret Morris, Assistant Mayor for Health and Wellbeing, expressed thanks to employees who had been involved with the various events staged to mark Armed Forces Week. She added similar appreciation to staff from the Youth Service who had organised events for the annual Youth Day.

Q3. Councillor Les Turner referred to the meeting of the Audit and Accounts Committee held on 27th August, 2014 and particularly that, the City Mayor had not attended this. He commented that he felt the findings of the report considered by the Committee were damaging to the City Council, showing a failure to conduct matters in a transparent way and was something the City Mayor should accept responsibility for. He continued by saying that he was not happy with the outcomes agreed by the Committee and felt there was a need for an independent public inquiry on the dealings of the City Council in relation to the AJ Bell Stadium.

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 The City Mayor replied that it would have been inappropriate for him to have attended the meeting, as the Audit and Accounts Committee were specifically considering the report detailing the internal audit investigation. He continued by saying the report, the recommendations of which had been accepted by the Committee, had concluded there had been no wrong doing with regard to the decision taken to meet Salford Red Devils RLFC’s match day costs. The only issue was the failure to issue a formal decision notice for this, which had been purely an oversight and would be rectified. These findings had all been endorsed by the independent District Auditor.

The City Mayor then responded to suggestions that, the Cabinet had been unaware of his decision with regard to the payment of match day costs, by saying this was not the case and both they and senior officers of the Council had been fully involved and appraised of the matter. He added that all elected members, including those from the Conservative Opposition Group, had been offered the opportunity to be given a confidential briefing on the decision and the background to it. With commercially sensitive matters such as this, it was sometimes necessary to maintain strict confidentiality. He said he had taken the decision to cover match day costs because it was integral to securing a tenant for the AJ Bell Stadium, so as to maintain its viability, at the same time ensuring the existence of what was then known as the Salford City Reds Rugby League Club and in turn safeguarding the return, to the City Council, of the historic debt from the former club by the new owner. He commented that, he felt the persistent criticism which certain members of the City Council levelled at the AJ Bell Stadium and its operation, were damaging to what was a successful and valuable asset to the City. Claims that, the City Council’s involvement with the stadium had diverted funding away from essential services were inaccurate. The Stadium’s success and the income it generated would however be used to mitigate the impact of the savings the City Council was now being forced to make.

Councillor Andy Cheetham sought clarification as to whether the payment of match day costs was revenue, rather than capital, expenditure. He also commented although the Conservative Opposition Group had been offered a confidential briefing on this item, which irrespective of the fact they had chosen not to take this up, did not mean they had taken part in the decision process. The City Mayor replied to the second point and said this was accepted and there was no suggestion the Conservative Opposition Group had been involved with the formal decision making process in this regard. In terms of the payment of match day costs, it was correct that these would be met from revenue budgets. The City Mayor said he would be happy to discuss these matters in more detail with Councillor Cheetham, if he wished.

Councillor John Merry commented that he did not feel there was any benefit in an independent inquiry that had been proposed. Not only would it be a costly exercise, but the City Mayor had fully explained the reasoning as to why he had taken the decision to meet the match day costs. The internal audit, which had been endorsed by the District Auditor had identified no wrong doing, other than a decision notice not being published. This failure had been acknowledged and would be rectified. He suggested the Conservative

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 Opposition Group’s request was merely an attempt to uncover non-existent irregularities.

Councillor Roger Jones referred to suggestions that the Audit and Accounts Committee had blocked any further investigation into this matter. He said this was not the case as the Committee had fully considered and accepted all the recommendations of the internal audit report presented to them. Councillor David Jolley endorsed these comments, along with Councillor Joe Murphy, who added it was unwarranted for anyone to question the integrity of members of the Audit and Accounts Committee on the decision they had taken with regard to this matter.

Q4. Councillor Jillian Collinson referred Alexis Jay’s recently published Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotheram and sought reassurance that, everything was being done to prevent such issues arising in Salford.

The City Mayor commented that great improvements had been made in terms of child safeguarding in Salford, paying tribute to the officers involved with this and indicating this would continue.

Councillor John Merry, Assistant Mayor for Services for Children and Young People, said a key finding of Alexis Jay’s inquiry was that there had been a systematic failure when it had come to investigating allegations of abuse and exploitation. This was not the case in Salford where all reports were taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. The City Council were fully co- operating with Project Phoenix, currently being conducted by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and dealing with child sexual exploitation in each of the ten districts of Greater Manchester.

Q5. Councillor John Warmisham referred to the recent events to mark the lives and achievements of Salford citizens Shelagh Delaney and Albert Scanlon and asked if something similar could be done to honour the film director Mike Leigh, who had spent his early life growing up in Broughton.

The City Mayor said it would be appropriate to honour all such people but, with so many famous sons and daughters of Salford this was difficult.

Q6. Councillor John Merry, Assistant Mayor for Services for Children and Young People, referred to Salford Youth Day and reiterated a commitment he had given to ensure young people had an input into determining the nature and delivery of services which were of importance to them.

Q7. Councillor Howard Balkind paid tribute to the staff of the City Council’s Dog and Animal Welfare Team, who had given up their own time to help in providing assistance, following the recent fire at the Manchester Dogs’ Home.

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 9. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: CITY MAYOR’S MID-TERM REPORT

The City Mayor submitted a mid-term report providing a summary of the City Plan and progress to date in delivering its specific objectives. It was indicated the City Plan set out the priorities for Salford over the next three years and the commitments of the City Council during that same period. The Plan had been developed in partnership with local people, partners and stakeholders following extensive consultation.

In presenting his report the City Mayor commented that, since 2010 the City Council had seen a reduction of £97m in the funding it received from central government. This was to be reduced by a further £56m over the next two years, representing a 43% reduction in funding overall by 2017. It was accepted that in the current economic climate savings had to be made, but he felt those being enforced by H.M. Government were too severe and would inevitably have a negative impact on the most vulnerable members of society.

RESOLVED: THAT the report and the progress in taking forward the City Plan and its priorities for Salford, be endorsed.

10. NOTICES OF MOTION

(a) Flying of the Union Flag and Inclusion of the National Anthem in School Assemblies

Councillor Christopher Clarkson moved the following motion, which was seconded by Councillor Iain Lindley:-

That this City Council, via the office of the Director of Children’s Services, would like to encourage our schools (primary and secondary) to fly the Union Flag in or school grounds throughout the City and encourage them to include the National Anthem as part of school assemblies. This would inspire children within the City of Salford to be proud of being British enabling them to appreciate our rich history and great heritage.

Councillor Clarkson and Councillor Lindley both spoke in favour of the motion.

Councillor John Merry, Assistant Mayor for Services to Children and Young People, then moved the following amendment to the motion, which Councillor Neil Blower seconded:-

That this City Council believes it is a matter of discretion for the headteacher and governors of schools to consider how they use the Union Flag, the National Anthem and other materials, to encourage support for our common democratic heritage.

Councillor Merry spoke in favour of his amendment.

The Ceremonial Mayor then put the amendment to Council.

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 RESOLVED: THAT the amended motion moved by Councillor John Merry, as detailed above, be approved and adopted.

(b) Maternity Services in Salford

Councillor Paula Boshell, Assistant Mayor for Learning, Skills and Employment moved the following motion, which was seconded by Councillor Lisa Stone, Assistant Mayor for Communication and Community Engagement:-

That this Council strongly opposes the option to decommission the Midwifery Unit at Salford Royal Hospital. We believe that the place of birth (“Born in Salford”) is an important aspect of our local culture and plays a vital role in sustaining the future of the City of Salford, in addition to encouraging social cohesion and a strong sense of identity amongst our residents and communities.

We ask that the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Board adopt option one, or two, in order to look at how the business case can be improved through increasing numbers and looking at a different way of working.

We are committed to continue working collaboratively to keep this unit in Salford and to improving Early Years services for Salford residents.

Councillor Boshell and Councillor Stone both spoke in favour of the motion, to which Councillor Iain Lindley and Councillor Margaret Morris added their support.

The Ceremonial Mayor then put the motion to Council.

RESOLVED: THAT the motion moved by Councillor Paula Boshell, as detailed above, be approved and adopted.

Councillor Paul Dennett, Assistant Mayor for Humanagement and Workplace Reform, moved the following motion, which was seconded by Councillor Richard Critchley:-

That this council welcomes the significant progress made against the priorities and associated milestones set out within the City Plan 2013-2016 to improve the lives of people living and working in Salford.

The council recognises the clear statement of ambition for Salford and commits to:- building upon the success of Salford’s AJ Bell Stadium, the Pendleton Together development, Salford Quays, Greengate and the investment in social housing created in Little Hulton which has significantly contributed to the city’s growth and long term sustainability; providing investment in social housing for Salford people and future generations;

R:status\admin\omin\councilm170914 continue our campaign to ensure Salford becomes a living wage city; challenging the government on the extent of their austerity measures and welfare cuts which by moving too hard, too fast and too deep are having a devastating consequence for many families in the City of Salford.

Councillor Dennett and Councillor Critchley both spoke in favour of the motion.

At this point in proceedings, Councillor Les Turner proposed and Councillor Andy Cheetham seconded, an extension to the meeting beyond 12.30 p.m., so as to allow more time to be given to the consideration of this motion. The Ceremonial Mayor then put the proposal to Council and on a show of hands an extension of time was not supported.

Councillor Jim King and Councillor Howard Balkind added their support for the motion.

Councillor Iain Lindley highlighted various examples of economic investment which H.M. Government had made in Greater Manchester and specifically Salford.

The Ceremonial Mayor then put the motion to Council.

RESOLVED: THAT the motion moved by Councillor Paul Dennett, as detailed above, be approved and adopted.

11. QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ON THE DISCHARGE OF FUNCTIONS OF JOINT AUTHORITIES AND OUTSIDE BODIES

Updates were provided in relation to the recent activities of the following bodies:-

 CityCo  Groundwork Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford  Local Government Association (LGA)  The Lowry Centre Trust  North West Employers Organisation  City West Housing Trust

RESOLVED: THAT the updates, as listed above, be noted.

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