Agenda

Members of the Council are requested to declare any interests which they have in any items or issues before the Council for determination.

Minutes of the Budget Meeting of the Council, held on 21 February 2018, are attached.

To receive communications from the Mayor and any announcements by the Leader of the Council or the Chief Executive on matters of interest to the Council.

To answer questions from members of the public, notice of which has been given, on any matter relevant to the Council or its services to the community. Up to 30 minutes will be set aside for this purpose. If time permits, further questions will be invited from members of the public present.

To receive a Statement from the Leader of the Council on the work of the Cabinet and to answer written questions from Members of the Council to the Leader and Cabinet Members on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Borough, provided the necessary written notice has been given.

Verbal questions on the work of the Cabinet since the last Council meeting will be allowed subject to a limit of one question per Councillor.

A report from the Leader of the Council is attached.

(A)        A report from the Council’s representative on the work of the Greater Manchester Fire Authority, Councillor Grimshaw

(B)        Questions (if any) on the work of the Joint Authorities to be asked by Members of the Council for which the necessary notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2

The following Notices of Motion have been received:-

(i)         Our Tax, Our Roads: Vehicle Excise Duty Raised In Bury Should Be Spent In Bury

This Council welcomes the commitment by Bury Labour last year to invest £10m on Bury’s highway network, including £1.5m for pothole repairs. Work is now underway in fulfilling that commitment; the first element of the project being in Ramsbottom.

Despite this much needed investment in Bury’s roads, the Council also recognises that due to an ageing road asset and chronic underfunding by successive Conservative governments, further significant investment would be needed to maintain and improve our highways network.

This Council Notes:

·         That the Bury Local Plan Transport Topic Paper published in August 2017, shows that Bury has 660km of road consisting of approximately:

21km Motorway;

55km of A road;

33km of B road;

38km of other classified road;

540km of unclassified road.

·         That due to underfunding by successive Conservative governments, the Highway Maintenance Strategy shows the current depreciation of Bury’s carriageways and footways stands at around £75m and that over £6m per year would be needed in order to maintain Bury’s roads at their current level.

·         That Bury has over 110,000 registered vehicles which is steadily increasing (10,000 more cars licensed in the last 5yrs) and that a report published by New Economy estimates that the Government receives over £18,000,000 per year in Vehicle Excise Duty (formally known as Road Tax) from vehicles registered in Bury (Bury Residents).

·         That Bury Council only receives around a total of £2m annually from the Department of Transport to maintain transport assets; this includes Carriageways, Footways, Highways Structures, Lighting Columns and Public Rights of Way.

·         That Bury will need to fund the replacement of older, concrete street lights at a cost of £5m.

·         That the difference from what the Government receives in Vehicle Excise Duty and what Bury Council receives in funding from the Department for Transport is significantly different and unfair to the residents of this town.

This Council Resolves to:

Ask the Interim Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council to write to the Department of Transport to ask the Government to allow Bury Council to spend the Vehicle Excise Duty raises from vehicles registered in Bury on our highway network. This would allow the Council to:

·         Spend heavily in bringing the road assets in Bury up to a good standard that residents deserve;

·         Invest in new schemes to tackle congestion;

·         Invest further in green transport schemes in order to reduce our environmental footprint and in line with the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s plan to make Greater Manchester the Greenest City Region in the UK.

In the names of Councillors  P Adams, N Bayley, J Black, S Briggs, R Cathcart, A Cummings,  E FitzGerald, J Grimshaw, S Haroon, T Holt, M James, D Jones, J Kelly, S Kerrison, K Leach, J Lewis, A Mckay, J Mallon, E O’Brien,  C Preston, A Quinn, R Shori, A Simpson, R Skillen, S Smith,  Sarah Southworth, Susan Southworth,  ...  view the full agenda text for item 9.

Questions on the work of Outside Bodies or partnerships on which the Council is represented to be asked by Members of the Council (if any).

Questions on the delegated decisions made by the Regulatory Committees and Scrutiny Committees contained in the Digest of Decision 5 (2017/18) published since the last ordinary meeting of the Council, providing four clear working days’ notices has been given of the question.