To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Meetings of the Council held on 31^st January 2024, the 21^st February 2024 and 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 consider the following petition requiring debate:

We the undersigned petition the Council to to take action with regard to: TAYLOR RD / STOKOE AVE CORNER Stokoe Avenue (off Taylor Road) is proving a dangerous crossing area for our children at Oldfield Brow Primary School. There has been a few near misses reported of careless driving close to our children. Taylor Road alone is also known for speeding vehicles. As a parent of one of those children I also speak on behalf of other concerned parents that our Council needs to act now. ROAD SIGNS / MARKINGS: On Taylor Road there is only ‘one’ sign to warn drivers of a school nearby. This is not enough. Taylor Road has poor visibility due to our many beautiful trees, hence reducing children being seen. More signs are urgently required. CONGESTION / POLLUTION: Taylor Road is heavily congested at school times; although a zebra crossing at Taylor/Stokoe would potentially help reduce traffic, we are still exposed to the pollution from parked cars with engines running (especially at the Crescent).

There were 2,456 children under 16 seriously hurt or killed on Britain’s roads last year. Oldfield Brow has an excellent community. Our roads need to be SAFE and our air needs to be cleaner. Don’t let our road be one of them.

Proposal / Solutions:
• School Crossing Patrol (between hours of 8.15am - 9.15am and 3pm - 4pm) or Zebra Crossing (permanent)
• Speed limit reduced to 20mph and/or Speed bumps / cameras / road chippings / signs
• School Road Signs and/or Children Crossing Signs
• SLOW Road Markings
• Turn Engine Off Signs

To consider a report from the Executive Member for Economy and Regeneration.

To consider a report of the Deputy Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Leisure, Arts, Culture, and Heritage.

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

1.      This Council has often found itself debating issues which it has no operational responsibility for, or influence over, for example national policy on vaping and leasehold properties. 

2.      As Councillors, we are elected to represent residents within the Borough on matters which this Council has control over. We are not elected to be members of a sixth form debating society.

3.      The lack of focus hasn’t gone unnoticed by residents, who, quite rightly, expect those they elect to focus on Trafford and nothing else.

4.      This very simple Motion provides residents with comfort that is all we are focused on and I hope all Members see no need for a prolonged debate wasting even more time on this and support this Motion.

Proposed Motion

This Council resolves to amend section 11.3 of Council Procedure Rules, contained within this Council’s Constitution to include:-

‘Any motion submitted to the Council shall be about matters for which the Council has statutory powers, duties or functions or address the built or natural environment of the Borough of Trafford or address a matter of local, or regional policy that affects the lives of people in the Borough of Trafford. The ruling of the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Mayor shall be final as to the relevance of the motion.’

(NOTE – If the Motion is approved, section 11.3 will subsequently read :-

Any Motion submitted to the council shall be about matters for which the Council has statutory powers, duties or functions or address the built or natural environment of the Borough of Trafford or address a matter of local, or regional policy that affects the lives of people in the Borough of Trafford. The ruling of the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Mayor shall be final as to the relevance of the Motion.)

This Council notes that:

1.    Pothole repairs by Amey and micro-surfacing treatments are often sub-standard, with uneven finishes, obvious potholes extremely close by left un-repaired, or grids blocked by micro-surfacing.

2.    Amey do not seal the perimeter of freshly repaired potholes with bitumen tape, to join the new surface to the old surface – leading to rapid breakdown.

3.    Residents of all ages, from young people with pushchairs to older people who find walking more difficult, can feel unsafe walking on extremely uneven deteriorating pavements, hampering Trafford’s Active Travel strategy.

This Council resolves to:

1.    Conduct random spot inspections of pothole repairs and micro-surfacing treatments to ensure that work is carried out to higher standard – to ensure that snagging issues around grids and junctions are quickly addressed

2.    Ask Trafford’s Amey contractors to improve the quality of their pothole repairs, including the use of bitumen tape, heat sealed around the perimeter of the repair, to seal the join between the old surface and the new surface to prevent rapid deterioration of repairs

3.    Ensure that, when a road receives capital expenditure for significant re-surfacing work, the adjacent pavements either side are also assessed and, if necessary, resurfaced at the same time.

This Council notes that:

1.    Reports of surface water flooding escalate in the autumn when leaf-fall blocks grids and gullies across the Borough, as Trafford does not have enough capacity for pro-active drain clearance.

2.    Trafford has a limited number of machines for clearing street drains and gullies, but purchasing and maintaining another machine is hugely expensive. However, the current gully team – working a full week – would only able to use the machinery for 5 in every 7 days.

This Council resolves to:

-      Implement a programme of street drainage inspections immediately following the completion of the annual leaf clearance programme to ensure that blocked drains are identified and scheduled for clearance, helping to combat surface water flooding.

-      Create a plan to use the gully clearing machinery Trafford already has, beyond the days the existing team is able use it, by hiring or training other staff to use the machines when the current team are not using it.

This Council notes that:

1.    Trafford’s Active Travel strategy encourages students to walk to school and residents to make local journeys by walking, but many such journeys involve rights of way that can become impassable due to stinging nettles and brambles.

2.    The current weed spraying programme only covers the road network and adjacent pavements. Other public rights of way for pedestrians including ginnels and alleyways, have no proactive programme for weed treatment, so stinging nettles and brambles are left to grow until they block the pathway, and moss is left to grow until pavements become slippery.

3.    Issues are only resolved on a case-by-case basis if an individual reports a pathway when it becomes impassable, which hinders the ability of our local residents to walk more often.

This Council resolves to:

-      Develop a proactive scheduled work programme for weed spraying footpaths, ginnels and other public rights of way.

-      Carry out scheduled inspections of pavements and footpaths, identifying any slip hazards, such as moss coverage, so these pavements can be cleaned.

Trafford Council was formed on 1 April 1974 following the merger of Altrincham, Sale and Stretford Municipal Boroughs; Bowdon, Hale and Urmston District Councils; and the parishes of Carrington, Partington, Dunham Massey and Warburton.  A rich and diverse range of places that continues to influence of the Trafford of today.

Over the last 50 years has had 50 mayors, 13 different leaders, Labour and Conservative administrations and periods of no overall control.  Many memorable people have served this Borough since 1974.

Local Government remains a keystone in society and there’s a lot Trafford Council can celebrate.  From attracting national venues such as the Imperial War Museum North and working in partnership with our big sporting arenas to building thousands of new homes for people to live in, meaning that our young people can remain close to the place they grew up. From investing millions into  regenerating our town centres, revitalising our leisure services and transforming Trafford’s biggest park to working with our incredible schools, colleges and now UA92.  From providing support and reassurance to people in our communities through the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis to taking the necessary steps to tackle our climate crisis through active travel, reducing carbon in public buildings and progressing new ideas like district heat networks and greening Trafford Park whilst celebrating Trafford’s mighty industrial heritage.

As we celebrate our first 50 years we must also look to how we shape the future.  We must aim to give every child the best start; ensure people live healthy and independent lives; provide a thriving economy and homes for all; address our climate crisis; and ensure culture, sport and heritage are accessible to all.

Local Government services are integral to our communities and those services are nothing without the workforce providing them- from librarians to social workers, street cleaners to waste collectors, teaching staff to registrars, planners to bereavement service staff.  Those are just a few with many, many more besides.

This council therefore resolves to:

-          Note and celebrate Trafford Council’s achievement on our 50^th anniversary;

-          Thank every council employee, past and present, for their service to this Borough.

Over 1.5 million adults in the UK live with a learning disability, and there are over 700,000 autistic adults. Nevertheless:

40% of the general public don’t know these groups have an equal right to vote.

80% of people feel that polling stations are inaccessible for disabled people as a whole.

As few as 12% of disabled voters were aware of their legal entitlements during the 2023 local elections, in the wake of new rules around voter identification and available onsite support.

(Source: https://www.myvotemyvoice.org.uk/)

There are several important elections set to take place during 2024 and every vote should count.  This Council therefore agrees to sign the My Vote, My Voice Charter:

We will encourage people with learning disabilities and autistic people to use their vote.  

We will do this by:  

·         Sharing accessible resources; 

·         Encouraging people to complete the My Vote My Voice election surveys;  

·         Promoting the My Vote My Voice campaign;

·         Involving people with lived experience in this campaign; 

·         Championing the voting rights of people with a learning disabilities and autism. 

This Council:  

- Expresses deep sympathy for all those affected by the situation in Israel and Gaza.

- Offers our support to those in Trafford who have been affected by the ongoing violence in the region.

- Condemns the murder of Israeli civilians, the taking of hostages by Hamas and the death and destruction.

- Condemns the impact on the Palestinian people of the Israeli government’s military action that has resulted in a catastrophic number of deaths, injuries and displacement among the population of Gaza.

- Expresses a deep concern that the UN has stated that a large proportion of Gaza is now uninhabitable, and much of the population is facing hunger and insanitary conditions.

- Believes that the urgent priority must be to stop the deaths and suffering of any more civilians in Israel and Gaza.  

- Hopes for an immediate further release of all hostages and release of Palestinian prisoners held without charge; and an immediate, permanent bilateral ceasefire.  

- Believes people of all faiths and none should feel safe in our borough.  

- Condemns the increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic violence and abuse in the UK and believes all forms of racism have no place in Trafford.

The Council resolves to:

(i) explore how the council can better support and facilitate events for people of all faiths and none, where they can come together and express solidarity and sadness in response to these events.

(ii) stand ready to provide support and open our arms to innocent people displaced and affected by these events.

The council also resolves to ask the Leader of the council to write to the relevant UK Government ministers:

(1)  calling on the UK Government to press all parties:

- to agree to an urgent permanent bilateral ceasefire in Israel and Gaza and to make every effort to resume the peace process;

- to guarantee that international humanitarian law is upheld and that civilians are protected in accordance with those laws;

- to ensure that civilians have access to humanitarian support, including unfettered access to medical supplies, food, electricity, other fuel and water. And to request an urgent update on UK Government action being taken to ensure this.

(2) Sharing the content of the motion agreed at council this evening, which reflects our concern.

(3) Acknowledging the recent national funding provided to help tackle antisemitism and islamophobia, but also requesting additional funding for local authorities to help support community cohesion projects.

Background

No councillor will be unfamiliar with complaints about pavement parking and obstruction of the pavement by vehicles.

Causing obstruction that prevents someone from passing along a footway, cycleway or similar is an offence under the Highways Act 1980 sec. 137 (hereafter ‘S137’)*. This is enforceable only by the police, not by local authority enforcement. An offence under S137 is additional to any contravention of civil driving or parking restrictions such as yellow lines. A S137 offence can occur without the whole of the footway obstructed - if any individual’s “free passage” is prevented, it constitutes obstruction.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, Greater Manchester Police have provided data relating to enforcement of S137. During 2022, across all of Greater Manchester, GMP issued just 267 fixed penalties under S137, and made five arrests, two of which resulted in no further action.

Furthermore, GMP do not record what part of the highway was obstructed. They are unable to say how many of these cases relate specifically to obstruction of a footway or similar.

Council notes that:

·         Reaching its Vision Zero target depends on safe access to footways, cycleways and other non-vehicular infrastructure at all times,

·         Vision Zero cannot be achieved if inadequate data is available about pavement obstructions and enforcement of existing laws,

·         GMP currently do not record data about which part(s) of the highway an obstruction occurred on, when taking action under S137,

·         Across the whole of Greater Manchester, police enforcement of S137 by way of fixed penalties or arrests occurs less than once a day,

·         Parking on pavements, or on any other part of the road other than a carriageway, has been banned across Greater London since 1974**, with provision for local authorities to introduce exempted locations. Local authorities have the power to enforce this legislation. Similar laws were introduced by the Scottish Parliament in 2019***.

Council resolves:

·         That the leader will write to the Mayor of Greater Manchester and to the Chief Constable of GMP, requesting that data is recorded and provided about S137 offences includes:

o   The location of the obstruction, i.e. carriageway/footway/cycleway/shared-use/other,

o   The type(s) of vehicle involved, or detailing as non-vehicular obstruction where appropriate,

o   Geographic data at the level of LA wards or similarly sized ONS areas,

o   The proportion of reported S137 offences that are acted upon with fixed penalties or arrests, the proportion which receive police attention but are not acted upon, and the proportion which do not receive any police attention,

and that this data is made available to local authorities in a timely manner.

·         To ensure that all relevant council staff understand what constitutes an offence under S137 and how to report via non-emergency routes,

·         To work with council contractors to ensure that their staff are similarly informed,

·         That the leader of the council will write to the Secretary of State for Transport, calling for the prohibition of pavement parking in Greater London to be expanded across England.

^* https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/section/137

^** https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/1974/24/section/15

^*** https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2019/17/part/6/crossheading/pavement-parking-prohibition/enacted