To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 20 November 2024, for signature by the Mayor as Chair of the Council.

To receive any announcements from the Mayor, Leader of the Council, Members of the Executive, Chairs of Scrutiny Committees and the Head of Paid Service.

This is an opportunity for Members of Council to ask the Mayor, Members of the Executive or the Chairs of any Committee or Sub-Committee a question on notice under Procedure Rule 10.2.

To note a report of the Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing and Equalities.

To consider the following motions submitted in accordance with Procedure Rule 11:

This Council recognises the devasting impact that the adverse weather and the subsequent flooding has had on residents and businesses in Trafford over the New Year.

It has been widely reported that a months’ worth of rainfall fell across Greater Manchester within 48 hours, causing the River Mersey and River Bollin to burst their banks.  The weather also caused the Bridgewater Canal to collapse at the Cheshire border for the first time in over 50 years.

This Council recognises, and thanks, Trafford Council officers, Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, One Trafford and other agencies for their initial response to the flooding. We also commend the resilience and community spirit demonstrated by residents and businesses who provided vital support to those in need.

Flooding is much more than just an inconvenience.  It disrupts lives and damages property, creating distress, upheaval and danger and, most critically, it poses risk to life and health. A robust and collaborative multi-agency response is not only essential in the immediate aftermath of such events but also in ensuring we learn lessons and implement effective measures for the future.

The Council therefore resolves:

1.             To arrange an all-member briefing on the Greater Manchester Integrated Water Management Plan.  This is a partnership between Greater Manchester Combined Authority, United Utilities and the Environment Agency that aims to:

-       Accelerate the implementation of natural flood management interventions in key locations identified in the Integrated Water Management Plan. This will help to reduce carbon emissions, improve our resilience to climate change, benefit nature, and improve the conditions and quality of life for people in towns and cities;

-       Reduce the operation of storm overflows so that we can prevent rainwater from entering and polluting the combined sewage system and so improve water quality;

-       Create new jobs, developing skills and apprenticeship roles associated with urban drainage that benefit residents in Greater Manchester;?

-       Ensure new GMCA or TfGM developments are delivered in partnership with United Utilities so that water management measures can be factored in. For example, road or cycle schemes can include solutions to address surface water runoff.

2.             To request the Leader follows up letters he wrote to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency regarding water level gauges at Fairywell Brook, with further correspondence regarding the impact of the recent flooding across the Borough on the effectiveness of existing flood management infrastructure.

3.             To promote the importance of Blue Spaces (for example, wetlands, culverts and waterways) and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, provide information on existing schemes in Trafford, and provide information to residents keen to play their part to help slow surface water run-off.

4.             To welcome the recent launch of the Greater Manchester Five-Year Environment Plan (2025-30), recognise the number of times flooding risk features in the plan, and work with GMCA to achieve the plan’s objectives.

5.             To reaffirm that extreme weather events are a consequence of the climate crisis and that Addressing the  ...  view the full agenda text for item 5a

This Council notes that:

-         In 2013, a Home Affairs Select Committee found that the failure to protect children in Rochdale fell to the police, social workers and Child Prosecution Services (CPS). This is one of multiple examples of findings of institutional failure.

-         In June 2022, the Greater Manchester Independent Assurance Review in relation to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) published its second report which looked into the effectiveness of safeguarding practice in the borough of Oldham.

-         This report was part 2 of a multi-part Assurance Review, with each part covering various areas across Greater Manchester. The first part was published in December 2019 and involved a review of Operation Augusta, a police and social services investigation into CSE in South Manchester following the tragic death of 15 year-old Victoria Agoglia.

-         It is inaccurate and naïve to describe CSE as an ‘historic’ problem, as the GMP acknowledged in the December 2019 Part 1 Assurance Review:

·         ‘As of March 2019, there are 49 multi-victim or multi-offender live CSE investigations across GMP, where there are multiple suspects/victims, or where there is a single suspect with a number of victims, or a single victim with a number of suspects… Of the 49 live investigations, 31 are recent, 16 are historic, and four investigations are a mix of both recent and historic allegations.’ pp. 143-144

-         That Oldham Council have called upon the Home Office to request a further national enquiry into CSE in the borough of Oldham.That a national enquiry was undertaken, authored by Professor Alexis Jay, and published in October 2022, however:

·         this review is intensely focused around a series of victim interviews, which whilst appreciated, consequently it does not cover institutional failings in a particularly detailed manner.

·         the review only covers institutional failings as described by victim interviews, it does not detail any specific institutional failures, nor did it have the power to compel interviews with:

§   Police Officers: who were responsible for a wide variety of Operations involving CSE

§   NHS workers: particularly those working in sexual health clinics as numerous reports have arisen of contraceptive services being issued to underage girls when there were very clear patterns of child sexual abuse however reportedly safeguarding procedures either weren’t followed, were non-existent or reports were ignored

§   Social Services: those involved in the care of vulnerable children have not been queried as to the nature of safeguarding procedures at the time or whether these were followed and properly implemented

§   Council Officers: there are no reports from local authorities as to the extent of their response on child sexual exploitation, despite whistleblowing from social workers alleging utterly inadequate responses from local Councils

§   Consequently- the Jay enquiry does not provide a detailed analysis of the precise nature of institutional failings.

·         The review does not cover the totality of the 50 towns and cities where we now know there have been reports of grooming gangs in operation

This Council further notes:

-         The failure of politicians and institutions to respond  ...  view the full agenda text for item 5b

2025 began with the worst flooding across Trafford for decades.  Whilst the events on New Year’s Day were unexpected, the risk of severe flooding in Trafford has been increasing in recent years. Agencies responsible for flooding resilience have failed to heed warnings and missed opportunities to intervene with targeted investments.  The flood risk posed to some communities in Trafford is not accurately monitored by the Environment Agency and is therefore poorly understood by Trafford Council and emergency responders.

Faced with the growing risk posed by climate change extreme weather patterns, this Council must work with its partners and the government to secure comprehensive flooding resilience investment across all areas of Trafford affected by flooding.  It is clear that without action, things will only get worse.

It is also vitally important that Trafford Council’s service provider is robustly held accountable for the lack of basic maintenance of the borough’s drains so that gullies and grids are not left completely blocked at high-risk times of the year.

This Council notes:

1.    The resolution passed by Council in July 2022, which committed Council to working closely with the Environment Agency and others to mitigate the impact of severe weather.

2.    The decision taken by the Environment Agency in 2024, citing a lack of data, to withhold funding for major flooding resilience measures in the vicinity of Fairywell Brook.

3.    The inadequate leaf clearance and drainage maintenance works, evident across Trafford Borough this winter.

4.    That any Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SUDS) constructed as part of the new housing developments, which are merely designed to maintain current levels of surface water run-off, will not address the fact that water run-off already causes flooding.

However, this Council further notes:

Despite frequent warnings from the Liberal Democrats about the scale of flood risk posed to Timperley and South Trafford, this Council and its partners have failed to understand the local risk factors; leading to a complete lack of preparedness for emergencies and a failure to lobby for meaningful flood resilience investment in the area.   

This Council resolves to:

1. Reassess the performance of our contractors against KPIs for drain maintenance and leaf clearance; and issue penalties for poor performance.

2. Use this set of penalties to pay for a Fixed-Term of extended operating hours at weekends to clear the back-log of blocked drains in Trafford.

3. Publish a plan for flooding emergencies so that everybody is clear about Trafford Council’s role in a crisis and explore ways to enhance Trafford’s ability to respond in a crisis such as by: purchasing pumps; developing contingency plans for temporary accommodation; and providing advice to residents on how to stay safe in a flooding emergency.

4. Lobby the government and the Environment Agency to get a flooding resilience projects for areas of Trafford that are impacted – including Timperley – back on the table.