Agenda and minutes

Council - Thursday, 24th November, 2022 6.00 pm

Venue: Central Hall, Dolphin Centre, Horsemarket, Darlington. DL1 5RP

Contact: Paul Dalton, Elections Officer, Operations Group  Email:  [email protected] or Telephone 01325 405805

Items
No. Item

32.

Minutes - To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of this Council held on 29 September 2022 pdf icon PDF 376 KB

Minutes:

33.

Declarations of Interest.

Minutes:

34.

Sealing.

Minutes:

35.

Announcements.

Minutes:

36.

Questions - To answer questions (where appropriate notice has been given from):-

Minutes:

36a

The Public;

Minutes:

36b

Members to Cabinet/Chairs;

Minutes:

37.

Council Reports.

Minutes:

37a

Interim Review of Polling Districts, Polling Places and Polling Stations pdf icon PDF 545 KB

Report of the Group Director of Operations

Additional documents:

Minutes:

37b

Interim Review of Policies and Conditions relating to Hackney Carriages, Private Hire Vehicles and their Drivers and Operators pdf icon PDF 391 KB

Report of the Group Director of Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

38.

Cabinet Reports. pdf icon PDF 384 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

39.

Council Tax Support - Scheme Approval 2023-24 pdf icon PDF 371 KB

Report of the Group Director of Operations

Additional documents:

Minutes:

40.

Council Tax Exemption for Care Leavers 2023-24 pdf icon PDF 376 KB

Report of the Group Director of Operations

Minutes:

41.

Treasury Management Annual Report and Outturn Prudential Indicators 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 646 KB

Report of the Group Director of Operations

Minutes:

42.

Darlington Transport Plan, Darlington Town Centre Transport Plan and Darlington Parking Strategy pdf icon PDF 398 KB

Report of the Group Director of Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

43.

Cabinet Urgent Decisions pdf icon PDF 364 KB

Report of the Chief Officers Executive

Minutes:

44.

Scrutiny Reports - To consider Scrutiny Overview Reports:- pdf icon PDF 362 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

45.

Notice of Motion

Minutes:

45a

To consider a Motion submitted by Councillor Snedker, and seconded by Councillor Holroyd

 

Preamble :-

 

If Darlington is to achieve the ambitions of its Climate Change Action Plan and meaningfully contribute to the national zero net carbon emissions target, then improving the relative attractiveness of local bus services as a transport option is one of the quickest, cheapest and most effective way to improve the trajectory of emissions from transport.  This applies both over the shorter-term in enabling modal shift away from higher emissions-per-head forms of transport, as well as over the long-term as fleets are electrified.

Bus services, and “modal shift” (to lower emission forms of transport) more generally, is critical for achieving our net zero targets and levelling up our area.

 

England’s urban bus networks provide a net economic benefit of £2.5 billion, half of which reflects benefits to bus users including employment and amenities, and half of which benefits non-users, related to reductions in congestion and pollution.  With the soaring cost of living, well-funded, accessible and regular bus services are critical to assisting our residents during this time.

 

Council Resolves to :-

 

1.      Recognise the importance of a properly funded public transport system in solving the climate emergency.

2.      Recognise the importance of a properly funded public transport system in delivering levelling up for Darlington.

3.      Ask the responsible Cabinet Member to consult with the Transport and Capital Projects team to agree a figure which is ring-fenced specifically for the support of local bus services and report to Council on the outcome no later than January 2023.

 

4.      Ask the responsible Cabinet Member to write to the Department for Transport to ask for further support for bus services.

 

 

Minutes:

45b

To consider a Motion submitted by Councillor Holroyd, and seconded by Councillor Layton

 

Crustacean Deaths

 

Preamble

 

First dead crustaceans were washed up on our region’s beaches, followed by dead seabirds and emaciated seal pups.  More recently, vast amounts of seaweed, dead razor clams, and fish washed up.  It is an environmental and economic disaster in the short term.

The report of the Government joint agency investigation into the crab and lobster deaths was published – inconclusively -in May 2022, but as healthy animals were being found, the investigation was closed.  It is considered that the decision to close the investigation was premature.

A number of universities have undertaken research on the loss of marine life.  Newcastle University research identified high levels of pyride – a chemical with a long history of release into the river Tees, a by product of the coking process in steel production, and petro-chemicals – in tissues of the dead crabs on the North East and North Yorkshire coasts, and in Tees surface sediments.

More must be done to investigate the cause of the mass deaths of sea creatures on the Teesside coast from October 2021 to the present day.

Council Resolves :-

1.      That it writes to the Government and demands that it re-opens its Joint agency investigation into the crab and lobster deaths swiftly to consider the reasons for the initial and on-going deaths of marine life around the Tees mouth in light of further independent analysis.

2.      That it joins the special joint working group which is being set up by each Tees Valley Council to monitor the on-gong situation.

3.      That it works with the Tees Valley local authorities to commission a new independent report, to further examine the issues in the light of the inconclusive official report and new evidence of the presence and acute toxity of pyridine to crustaceans for presentation to Government.

4.      That it writes to the Tees Valley Combined Authority and other organisations involved with high risk disturbance activities in the Tees estuary such as piling and demolitions at Teeswork and non-maintenance dredging in highly contaminated parts of the Tees and asks for all works to be paused until the cause of the marine die offs is determined and a risk assessment and plan for how to safely proceed with these developments is created, if needed.

5.      That it writes to the appropriate bodies (which should include EA, Cefas, NEIFCA, MMO, FSA and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Teesworks and the TVCA) to :-

(i)                  detail what action or recommendations can, or have been taken to support the future of our region;

(ii)                explain how they will improve monitoring and regulation to prevent contamination events from occurring in the UK – particularly whether the suite of chemicals tested for is adequate given the Tees’ industrial heritage

 

 

Minutes:

46.

Membership Changes - To consider any membership changes to Committees, Subsidiary Bodies and Other Bodies.

Minutes: