Agenda and minutes

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

Councillor Roger Brown declared a pecuniary interest with regards to the Labour Notice of Motion as he has shares in United Utilities.  He left the meeting, part way through consideration of this item.

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.

The Mayor reported to Council on work undertaken as Bury’s first citizen since the last Council meeting. 

The Mayor, together with Group Leaders placed on record their condolences and observed a minutes silence following the passing of former Councillor, Wilf Davidson and Bury resident Sir Howard Bernstein. 

That the minutes of the last meeting be approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

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.

Notice had been received of the following questions:

Questions without notice:

To receive and consider the recommendations to the Council contained in the following minutes of:

(I)           Cabinet – Budget Update Report

It was moved by Councillor Thorpe and seconded by Councillor O’Brien; on being put with all Members voting for and the Mayor abstaining; that, Council, approves:

· The increase to the fees and charges as set in section 21 and Appendix 1 totalling £444k.

· Note the updated Net Revenue Budget of £224.480m and £1.982m reduction in the use of reserves, from £15.131m to £13.149m.

(II)          Cabinet – Housing Revenue Account – Proposed Capital Works Programme 2024/25

It was moved by Councillor Cummins and seconded by Councillor Thorpe; on being put with all Members voting for and the Mayor abstaining; that, Council, approves:

The proposed Capital Programme to be funded within the HRA, estimated at £19,841,760.

(III)        Cabinet – Implementation of the Children’s Services Leadership Structure

It was moved by Councillor Rafiq and seconded by Councillor L Smith; on being put with all Members voting for and the Mayor abstaining; that, Council, approves:

·         The release of the Strategic Lead (Schools System) and disestablishment of their role following their request for Voluntary Early Retirement with Severance submitted through the consultation process. – This would attract severance costs of £37,409 (which will be met by the Department) and capital costs of £101,325 related to the early release of pension benefits (which will be met centrally by the fund held by the Greater Manchester Pension Fund on behalf of the Council for this purpose). (These costs will vary very slightly dependant on the exact leaving date).

·         The redesignation and revaluation of one of the two Assistant Director (Regeneration Delivery) roles (Chief Officer Band D, £83,865-£90,992) to Director of Regeneration and Project Delivery (Chief Officer Band E, £93,102 - £101,596) to reflect the transfer of responsibility for Schools’ Capital Development to this role and also an expanded remit in relation to housing growth and development following the departure of the former Director of Housing.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation is attached.

Report of Cabinet Member for Housing Services attached.

Report of Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR attached.

To receive a report 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, Cabinet Members and Chair of a Committee 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. (30 minutes)

A member may ask a verbal question of the Leader, any Member of the Cabinet or Chair of a Committee about any matter on the Council agenda and which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Borough.  Only one verbal question per Councillor. (20 minutes)

(a)             Written question (Notice given)

The Leader of the Council, Councillor E O’Brien, made a statement on the work undertaken by him since the date of the last Council meeting.

The Leader and the relevant Cabinet Members answered questions raised by Councillors on the following issues:                                         

Due to the lack of time to answer questions 12 to 15 inclusive, the Leader gave an undertaking that copies of those questions and responses will be circulated to all Councillors. The Leader also gave an undertaking to make these available on the Council Web Site.    

                  b)         Verbal Questions

The Leader received verbal questions from the following Councillors present: Bernstein, M Smith, A Arif, Vernon, Berry, Lancaster, D Quinn and J Southworth.

(A)          A combined authority update report is attached, for information.  The focus of this update is the Greater Manchester Waste Authority.

(B)          The GMWA representative will then be invited to present a verbal update on the work of the Authority (5 minutes).

(C)          Members will be allowed to ask verbal questions on the verbal update (5 minutes).

(D)          Questions (if any) on the work of the Combined Authority to be asked by Members of the Council for which the necessary notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rules. (10 minutes)

The Council received a report on the work of the Combined Authorities and a verbal update from Cabinet Member, Councillor A Quinn on the work of the Waste Authority.

The following questions had been received in accordance with Council Procedure Rules:

Council considered a notice of motion received from Councillors Carol Birchmore, Donald Berry, Andrea Booth, Des Duncalfe, Glyn Marsden, Mike Smith, Mary Walsh and Ken Simpson:

Motion – Reducing discharges from combined storm overflows (CSOs)

Councillors Carol Birchmore, Cllr Donald Berry, Cllr Andrea Booth, Cllr Des Duncalfe, Cllr Glyn Marsden, Cllr Ken Simpson, Cllr Mike Smith and Cllr Mary Walsh.

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) have been seen by the water sector as a necessary ‘safety valve’ in the sewer system to prevent sewage backing up during periods of extreme rainfall.

Experts within the water sector disagree on the level CSOs are being used within their permitted conditions, and how much they are abused as a cheap alternative to treating sewage.

CSOs combine raw sewage with other pollutants in rainfall runoff from pavements and roads, they discharge a wide range of contaminants such as faecal pathogens (including bacteria resistant to antibiotics), industrial chemicals, sanitary products, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, heavy metals, oils, and solids such as wet wipes. This cocktail,discharged into our rivers, has negative impacts including:

• Risk to public health through contact recreation in rivers and potential risk via airborne bacteria and pathogens.
• Chronic and acute effects upon aquatic wildlife.

The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan updated: 25 September 2023, relating to the Water Industry Act 1991, presents a target that water companies will only be permitted to discharge from a storm overflow where they can demonstrate that there is no local adverse ecological impact. It is difficult to believe that you can discharge into any body of water without an “adverse ecological impact”, and it is important that this stipulation is not seen to only apply to rural idyl sites but rather to assign ecological importance to all water bodies. The report gives a target as limiting pollution, to ensure that all storm overflows would only be used in the rare case of unusually heavy rainfall, if at all.

In December 2023 the Government reported that 100% of storm overflows across the water network in England have now been fitted with Event Duration Monitors (EDMs). As a result of the monitors being fitted, the Environment Agency is now able to provide data for each of the CSOs.They can identify number of spills (discharges) and the total number of hours the spills lasted. The map makes it easy to view the data and it provides the location of each of the CSOs. The map shows that there are around 27 frequently used CSOs within Bury MBC which includes around 8 in Radcliffe positioned along the River Irwell. The data for 2023 showsincreasing discharges compared to 2022, and 2021 when monitoring of CSOs was first introduced.

The data from the EDMs shows that the number of “spills” in 2023 from CSOs at Blackford Bridge WTW and the CSOs along the River Irwell in Radcliffe is 702, for a total duration of 6,845 hours, which is equivalent to 285 days or 78% of the time. Despite the weather in  ...  view the full agenda text for item C. 9

1.    Combined Storm Overflows

Councillor considered a Notice of Motion from Councillors; Birchmore, Berry, Booth, Duncalfe, Marsden, M Smith, Simpson and Walsh, details of which were contained in the Council summons.

The Notice of motion was moved by Councillor Birchmore and seconded by Councillor Berry and it was proposed that, this Council resolves to:

• Request a meeting with United Utilities and local councillors to discuss concerns and explore local solutions to the discharging of sewage into rivers which either flow through or feed into rivers that flow through Bury MBC.
• Write to our two local MPs outlining the concerns raised about the effective regulation of  United Utilities and continued spills/discharges from CSOs.
• Write to the Regulator the Environment Agency asking that priority is given to addressing the discharge into all rivers not simply those in river bathing areas.
• Write to the Regulator the Environment Agency requesting direct engagement between concerned members to establish what they are doing to improve water quality in our Borough and prevent further unnecessary spills.

Members considered an amendment moved by Councillor A Quinn and seconded by Councillor Staples Jones that:

This Council welcomes the new Labour Government’s proposals to take speedy action on this issue too. Including:

• Requesting Ofwat make sure funding for vital infrastructure is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefitting customers and the environment. In addition, that any money not spent is refunded to customers and not given as bonuses for bosses, dividends or salary increases.
• An expectation that companies to change their ‘Articles of Association’ – the rules governing each company – to make the interests of customers and the environment a primary objective.
• Proposing that customers gain new powers to hold water company bosses to account with new customer panels that will allow water users to summon board members and executives.
• Proposing, subject to consultation, that the amount of compensation customers are legally entitled to when key standards are not met will more than double.

This Council resolves to:

• Request a meeting with United Utilities and local councillors to discuss concerns and explore local solutions to the discharging of sewage into rivers which either flow through or feed into rivers that flow through Bury MBC.
• Write to our two local MPs outlining the concerns raised about the effective regulation of  United Utilities and continued spills/discharges from CSOs.
• Write to the Regulator the Environment Agency asking that priority is given to addressing the discharge into all rivers not simply those in river bathing areas.

Write to the Regulator the Environment Agency requesting direct engagement between concerned members to establish what they are doing to improve water quality in our Borough and prevent further unnecessary spills

1. Invite United Utilities to address members before a full council meeting to discuss concerns and explore local solutions to the discharging of sewage into local rivers.

2. Write to our two MPs to congratulate the new Environment Secretary for taking urgent action to address these concerns and request that water companies must stop discharges  ...  view the full minutes text for item C. 9

Attached.

None.

There were no scrutiny review reports and specific items "called in" by scrutiny committees.

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).

There were no questions on the work of outside bodies or partnerships.