Agenda item

Details of a late additional urgent motion is attached.

(iii)  Community Safety in our Borough

An Emergency motion had been received in the names of:

Councillors R Caserta, P Cropper, J Daly, I Gartside, D Gunther, J Harris, S Hurst, K Hussain, N Jones, G Keeley, O Kersh, I Schofield, D Silbiger, D Vernon, R Walker, and Y Wright

The Council notes:

Safety in our towns comes before money. Street lighting is vitally important and helps residents feel safe at night.

This week in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chief Constables from across the country discussed ways to improve community safety following the tragic death of Sarah Everard in London.

Yesterday, the government announced it will double its Safer Streets fund to £45 million to provide better lighting and CCTV at night. The increased funding for the scheme will target parks, alleyways and routes from bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

In the February Budget the Labour Group put forward plans to dim streetlights to save £20,000 and reduce energy consumption in 2021/22 and £10,000 in 2022/23

The Conservative Group in February put forward an alternative budget which focused on community safety. This included:

·        Extra funding to install Hi-Tech CCTV

·        Reversing the proposal to dim streetlights

The Council resolves to:

·         Reverse the decision to dim streetlights and ensure all streetlights are switched on full through the night to ensure residents feel safe to walk the boroughs streets

·         A report to be put forward to Overview and Scrutiny Committee to outline how many streetlights are currently not working in the Borough and a full review to take place of the Operations Directorate – Task and Finish Group to be set up from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

·         SLAs to be implemented for streets lights to be fixed within 5 days of them being reported as not working.

·         The Council to conduct a full review of street lighting including alleyways or parks in the borough to ensure no street does not have sufficient lighting.

·         Introduce the Women’s Safety Charter – The charter will be a voluntary pledge for all licensed organisations within the borough, including but not exclusive to, bars and clubs. The charter will include five principles on how they will support women experiencing sexual harassment in their premisses.

This Council thanks Bury’s frontline staff, charities and organisations for their life saving work.

It was moved by Councillor L Smith and seconded by Councillor Susan Southworth as an amendment to:-

Remove:

In the February Budget the Labour Group put forward plans to dim streetlights to save £20,000 and reduce energy consumption in 2021/22 and £10,000 in 2022/23

The Conservative Group in February put forward an alternative budget which focused on community safety. This included:

·        Extra funding to install Hi-Tech CCTV

·         Reversing the proposal to dim streetlights

Amend:

·         Reverse the decision to dim streetlights and ensure all streetlights are switched on full through the night to ensure residents feel safe to walk the boroughs streets

To say:

·        To ensure all streetlights are working to ensure residents feel safe to walk the boroughs streets

Add in:

·        Write to the Home Secretary to demand the funding to replace the 2000 police officers lost across Greater Manchester since 2010.

·        Express our concerns to the Home Secretary that the recent Crime & Sentencing Bill fails to mention domestic abuse, sexual violence or street harassment against women.

·        That the Bury Community Safety Partnership conducts a listening exercise for women and girls in Bury to influence and improve our community safety plan.

On being put, with 26 voting for, 17 voting against and with 4 abstaining, the Mayor declared the amendment carried.

On being put, with 25 voting for, 21 voting against and with the Mayor abstaining, the Mayor declared the substantive motion carried.

(Note: This item, which did not appear on the Summons for the meeting, was allowed by the Mayor to be considered as a matter of urgency).