Agenda item

Motion One

 

Councillor P Niblock proposed a motion that was duly seconded, in the following terms:

 

Background

 

Every river in England is now polluted beyond legal limits.

 

An Environmental Audit Committee rated only 14% of rivers as ‘Good’ in 2022.

 

This chemical pollution is mostly caused by sewage discharges from water companies and the run-offs of nutrients from farms.

 

In Derbyshire, water companies released untreated human waste directly into our waterways over 13,000 times for a total of 80 thousand hours in 2022 alone.

 

Government funding to the Environment Agency to monitor river quality, and regulate farms and water companies has dropped 75% since 2010/11.

 

In 2020 just 3.6% of pollution complaints made to the Agency resulted in penalties.

 

Farms are now almost never inspected, water quality is rarely tested, and water companies can pump raw sewage into rivers with virtual impunity.

 

In addition, tyre particles, metals from brake pads, and hydrocarbons from vehicle emissions wash off road surfaces and into rivers introducing potentially carcinogenic material into the water supply.

 

The motion proposed was:

 

Council resolves to request that the Managing Director write to:

 

1)   The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs calling for the Government to:

 

a)   Restore Environment Agency budgets to deliver the necessary oversight;

 

b)   Increase inspection regularity of water companies and farms, and rigorously prosecute offenders through the Environmental Audit Committee and Ofwat;

 

c)    Fund local and highways authorities to introduce systems to prevent road pollutants from entering our water courses;

 

2)   The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee to advocate for greater enforcement of existing regulatory powers;

 

3)   The Chief Executives of Severn Trent, United utilities and Yorkshire Water calling for urgent action to address the impact of waste-water discharges on our local rivers;

 

4)   The Regional Director of the National Farmers’ Union requesting clarification on the action being taken locally by farmers to prevent nutrient run-off.

 

Council further acknowledges that it has a key role as advocate for the protection of the natural environment across Derbyshire and requests the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider it on a regular basis and asks those councillors who sit on outside and partner bodies to act as champions for Derbyshire’s rivers to be cleaner.

 

An amendment to the motion was proposed by Councillor A Dale, duly seconded, in the following terms:

 

The amended motion proposed was: (changes indicated in bold type)

 

Council resolves to request that the Managing Director write to:

 

1)   The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs calling for the Government to:

 

a)   Improve Environment Agency budgets to deliver the necessary oversight and enforcement;

 

b)   Increase inspection regularity of water companies and farms, and rigorously prosecute offenders through the Environmental Audit Committee and Ofwat;

 

c)    Fund local and highways authorities to introduce systems to prevent road pollutants from entering our water courses;

 

2)   The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee to advocate for greater enforcement of existing regulatory powers;

 

3)   The Chief Executives of Severn Trent, United utilities and Yorkshire Water calling for urgent action to address the impact of waste-water discharges on our local rivers;

 

4)   The Regional Director of the National Farmers’ Union to thank local farmers for all their efforts thus far to prevent nutrient run-off but seek their views on what more could be done to deal with the issue and how the Council may be able to assist.

 

Council further acknowledges that it has a key role as advocate for the protection of the natural environment across Derbyshire and requests the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider it on a regular basis and asks those councillors who sit on outside and partner bodies to act as champions for Derbyshire’s rivers to be cleaner.

 

The amendment was accepted by the proposer and seconder so became the substantive motion.

 

The proposition as amended was put to a named vote and declared to be WON and therefore carried.

 

RESOLVED to:

 

Request that the Managing Director write to:

 

·        The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs calling for the Government to:

 

a)   Improve Environment Agency budgets to deliver the necessary oversight and enforcement;

 

b)   Increase inspection regularity of water companies and farms, and rigorously prosecute offenders through the Environmental Audit Committee and Ofwat; and

 

c)    Fund local and highways authorities to introduce systems to prevent road pollutants from entering our water courses;

 

·        The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee to advocate for greater enforcement of existing regulatory powers;

 

·        The Chief Executives of Severn Trent, United utilities and Yorkshire Water calling for urgent action to address the impact of waste-water discharges on our local rivers;

 

·        The Regional Director of the National Farmers’ Union to thank local farmers for all their efforts thus far to prevent nutrient run-off but seek their views on what more could be done to deal with the issue and how the Council may be able to assist.

 

2)   further acknowledge that it has a key role as advocate for the protection of the natural environment across Derbyshire and requests the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider it on a regular basis and ask those councillors who sit on outside and partner bodies to act as champions for Derbyshire’s rivers to be cleaner.

 

With the time approaching 5.00 pm and on the motion of Councillor B Lewis, duly seconded it was,

 

RESOLVED:

 

That under rule 4.1 of the Council Procedure Rules the meeting should be extended by up to 15 minutes to continue until 5.15 pm to enable the remaining business on the agenda to be considered.

 

Motion 2

 

Councillor B Lewis proposed a motion that was duly seconded, in the following terms:

 

Background

 

Following the depraved terrorist attacks on Saturday 7th October on Israeli, British and the civilians of other nations, including mass murder at a peace festival and concert, the butchering of children and the elderly, and the kidnapping of hundreds of innocent and vulnerable adults and children.

 

This Council condemns unequivocally the terrorist organisation Hamas along with its allies and cheerleaders, both internationally and here in the United Kingdom.

 

We are disappointed at the British Broadcasting Corporation’s inability to describe the savage terrorist group Hamas as a terrorist organisation. It is recognised that those people who support Hamas, including individuals who describe them as friends, have enabled and can share some responsibility for these attacks and its subsequent consequences that causes concerns to our Jewish communities.

 

This council recognises and understands that the people of Gaza have the right to live in peace, without fear of being bombed or killed, or fear of an armed ground incursion, and deserve good governance by strong leaders supported by the international community.

 

Equally, Israel has the right to defend itself. Indeed, one of the primary duties of any state is the protection of its citizens. Once Hamas is defeated, we call on all sides to work towards a lasting peace based on a two-state solution.

 

Hamas have constructed hundreds of miles of tunnels under civilian areas such as schools, hospitals, and residential buildings so that they can hide behind innocent residents of Gaza. All of this without ever building a civilian shelter or anything of benefit for Gazan citizens and, at the same time, its leaders have become billionaires living in safety away from the war zone.

 

This Council agrees with all right-thinking individuals that the brutal Hamas terrorists, who have controlled Gaza since 2007 and who have diverted and squandered billions in aid, dismantled infrastructure paid for by the EU and UN, at times despite being under the gaze of the latter, should immediately end their reign of terror in Gaza and give the Palestinian people the opportunity to rebuild and live in harmony with their Jewish neighbours.

 

In the wake of Hamas’s appalling terrorist attacks, Jewish people in Britain have experienced the worst wave of hate incidents in modern times, including the targeting of children and schools. This is a shocking indictment of the level of anti-Jewish hatred happening right now in our country and it is even more appalling when it is considered that this wave of antisemitism began as a reaction to a terror attack on Israel that caused the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

 

The motion proposed was:

 

That Council:

 

1)   Denounces Hamas and calls upon these terrorist cowards to stop using the people of Gaza as a human shield;

 

2)   Calls for the terrorist group’s full and unconditional surrender along with the immediate safe release of kidnapped Israelis and other nationals, to end the current conflict and escalating humanitarian crisis they created;

 

3)   Stands by the Government’s commitment to supporting the victims of these atrocious Hamas attacks;

 

4)   Calls upon all authorities to deploy a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. It is totally unacceptable that today many members of the Jewish community are living in fear;

 

5)   Calls upon the police to use the full extent of the powers available to them to deal with all individuals and organisations that seek to intimidate, or that threaten or incite violence, or use hateful or antisemitic language; and

 

6)   Stands with Jewish members of Derbyshire’s communities at this incredibly difficult time.

 

Councillor E Fordham proposed an amendment to the motion which was duly seconded and then subsequently withdrawn.

 

With the time approaching 5:15 pm, and on the motion of Councillor B Lewis, duly seconded, it was,

 

RESOLVED:

 

That under rule 4.1 of the Council Procedure Rules the meeting should be extended by a further 20 minutes to continue until 5.35 pm to enable the remaining business on the agenda to be considered.

 

A vote was taken on the original motion and was declared WON and carried.

 

It was therefore:

 

RESOLVED to:

 

1)   Denounce Hamas and call upon these terrorist cowards to stop using the people of Gaza as a human shield;

 

2)   Call for the terrorist group’s full and unconditional surrender along with the immediate safe release of kidnapped Israelis and other nationals, to end the current conflict and escalating humanitarian crisis they created;

 

3)   Stand by the Government’s commitment to supporting the victims of these atrocious Hamas attacks;

 

4)   Call upon all authorities to deploy a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. It is totally unacceptable that today many members of the Jewish community are living in fear;

 

5)   Call upon the police to use the full extent of the powers available to them to deal with all individuals and organisations that seek to intimidate, or that threaten or incite violence, or use hateful or antisemitic language; and

 

6)    Stand with Jewish members of Derbyshire’s communities at this incredibly difficult time.