Agenda item

Motions

Minutes:

Motion (A) – Slough Borough Council Garages

 

It was moved by Councillor Hewitt,

Seconded by Councillor Stokes,

 

“This Council:

 

·  Notes that no accurate record of SBC garages exists and Officers have asked residents to inform Officers of occupied and unoccupied garages.

·  Notes that some residents have been refused garage tenancies because “none are vacant” despite some garages being vacant for years.

·  Notes that SBC does not and has not exercised the contractual right to inspect garages.

·  Notes that some SBC garages are used for storage and/or business purposes in contravention of the conditions of tenancy.

·  Notes that some of the organisations using SBC garages are not local organisations and some organisations run businesses from two or three SBC garages.

·  Regrets that concerns expressed by residents about possible health and safety risks arising from the storage of chemicals and other hazardous materials in SBC garages have been ignored.

·  Regrets that concerns expressed by residents about the possible use of some SBC garages for illegal purposes have been ignored.

 

Accordingly this Council resolves to require Officers to:

 

·  Prepare a comprehensive and accurate record of all SBC garages within three months.

·  Inspect all SBC garages.

·  Identify all breaches of the “Conditions of Tenancy” agreement.

·  Terminate the tenancies of all organisations in breach of the “Conditions of Tenancy” and

·  Thereby alleviate some of the Slough’s car-parking problems by making more garages available to local residents”.

 

The Motion was put and lost by 13 votes to 19 votes with 1 abstention and on a show of hands, a prior request having been made for a record of the voting:-

 

There voted for the Motion:-

 

Councillors Basharat, Buchanan, Choudhry, Cryer, Finn, Hewitt, Jenkins, MacIsaac, Munkley, Plimmer, Shine, Stokes, and Wright ..........................................................................................................  13

 

There voted against the Motion:-

 

Councillors Anderson, Bains, Chaudhry, Chohan,  Davis, A S Dhaliwal, S K Dhaliwal, Dodds, Mann, Matloob, O'Connor, Pabbi, Pantelic, Parmar, Qureshi, Rasib, Swindlehurst, Walsh, and Zarait   . 19

 

There abstained from the voting:-

 

The Worshipful the Mayor ............................................................................................... … 1

 

Resolved – That Motion A – Slough Borough Council Garages be rejected.

 

Motion (B) – The Royal British Legion

 

It was moved by Councillor Cryer,

Seconded by Councillor Plimmer,

 

“This Council:

 

  • Notes the excellent work of the Royal British Legion in campaigning on behalf of our Armed Forces and welcomes and supports the principles of the Legion Manifesto.
     
  • Notes that many Slough Borough Council councillors have seen an increase in the number of service personnel visiting their surgeries and that those personnel face specific problems in their lives and in accessing Council services.

 

  • Notes that although figures for Slough are difficult to come by, MOD figures reveal that there are 23,975 people in receipt of a war pension in the South East – including widows/widowers who have inherited their spouses pension – of whom 18,890 are actual former service personnel.

 

  • Notes that MOD figures also reveal there to be 1,080 service personnel in the South East region who received a lump sum under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, a scheme set up specifically for those injured in the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and which came into force on 6th April 2005.

 

  • Notes that the city centre war memorial located at the rear of St Mary’s Church has been allowed to deteriorate into a state of disrepair and that many veterans would find the Council’s failure to adequately honour their fallen comrades an insult.

 

This Council therefore resolves to:

 

(a)   Request the Chief Executive to write to the Royal British Legion to express the Council's support for the Legion Manifesto Campaign.

 

(b)   Request the Chief Executive and Leader of Council to write the Secretary of State for Defence and the MP for Slough, Fiona Mactaggart, to urge support for the Legion Manifesto.

 

(c)   Request that all Council Members work within their own political parties to further the aims of the Legion Manifesto.

 

(d)   Ask the Chief Executive and Leader of Council for an urgent review of where Slough Borough Council services can be made more accessible and/or effective for ex-military personnel residing in Slough, be they returning to civilian life in the Borough or having returned to it some time ago but still experiencing difficulties, and to consider what more the Authority might do to provide for those to whom return to civilian life is presenting serious challenges.

 

(e)   Urgently commission a survey of the town centre war memorial to evaluate what work needs to be carried out to restore it to its former glory.

 

(f)   Commission any work that needs doing to the town centre war memorial as soon as possible and without delay”.

 

The Motion was put and carried unanimously. 

 

Resolved – That the Council:

 

(a)  Request the Chief Executive to write to the Royal British Legion to express the Council's support for the Legion Manifesto Campaign.

 

(b)   Request the Chief Executive and Leader of Council to write the Secretary of State for Defence and the MP for Slough, Fiona Mactaggart, to urge support for the Legion Manifesto.

 

(c)   Request that all Council Members work within their own political parties to further the aims of the Legion Manifesto.

 

(d)   Ask the Chief Executive and Leader of Council for an urgent review of where Slough Borough Council services can be made more accessible and/or effective for ex-military personnel residing in Slough, be they returning to civilian life in the Borough or having returned to it some time ago but still experiencing difficulties, and to consider what more the Authority might do to provide for those to whom return to civilian life is presenting serious challenges.

 

(e)   Urgently commission a survey of the town centre war memorial to evaluate what work needs to be carried out to restore it to its former glory.

 

(f)   Commission any work that needs doing to the town centre war memorial as soon as possible and without delay.

 

2.  Motion (C) – Recognition of the Sikh Ethnic Group within the Census

 

It was moved by Councillor S K Dhaliwal,

Seconded by Councillor Rasib,

 

“This Council notes:

 

1.  That Sikh ethnicity is recognised in UK law as a distinct community by virtue of the characteristics set out following a ruling by the House of Lords. (Mandla v Dowell-Lee [1983] 2 AC 548 (House of Lords).

2.  That the UK census is carried out to count the population of the country including certain characteristics such as ethnic background, and since 2001, religious belief.

3.  That although Sikh is included as a religious belief, it is not included as an ethnic group.

4.  Notes the answer from the Minister for the Cabinet Office in response to a question by Mark Pritchard on the issue on 4th March 2010, which confirms that the content for the 2011 census has been determined and passed by Parliament.

5.  That Slough has the largest Sikh population in the UK, many of whom wish to be recognised as such in the national census.

6.  Notes the considerable demand from within the Sikh community nationwide, and the support of local community leaders for this change to be implemented.

7.  Further notes that MPs, Parliament, and other organisations should be respectful, sensitive, respective and inclusive to the populations they represent.

 

This Council therefore resolves:

 

(a)  That as an officially recognised and distinct community, members of the Sikh ethnic group should be recorded on the Census.

 

(b)  To lobby the Office of National Statistics and the Minister for the Cabinet Office to include a Sikh option in the ethnic background section of the Census”

 

It was moved as an amendment by Councillor Stokes,

Seconded by Councillor Buchanan,

 

“That the motion be amended by the insertion of ‘c’ to the resolution: 

 

“(c)  To request Fiona Mactaggart MP to raise the matter formally in Parliament”.

 

The mover and seconder of the Motion indicated their agreement to the amendment and the substantive motion was put and carried unanimously.

 

Resolved –

 

(a)  That as an officially recognised and distinct community, members of the Sikh ethnic group should be recorded on the Census.

 

(b)  That the Council lobby the Office of National Statistics and the Minister for the Cabinet Office to include a Sikh option in the ethnic background section of the Census.

 

(c)  To request Fiona Mactaggart MP to raise the matter formally in Parliament.

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