Agenda and minutes

Council - Monday, 13th December, 2021 6.30 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: Democratic.Services@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

34/21

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

 

35/21

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

36/21

Announcements

To receive Announcements, if any, from the Mayor, the Leader, Head of Paid Service and Returning Officer.

Minutes:

 

 

 

 

The Mayor

 

The Mayor gave his announcements to the Members of Council.

 

The Mayor stated that it was tradition for all Councillors to be invited for a mince pie in the Town Hall following the December Full Council meeting. Unfortunately, due to the restrictions in place it was not possible to do this this year. If the restrictions allow us to meet in the New Year, then it was hoped that they could meet following the next Full Council meeting in January.

 

The Mayor then gave Council an update on recent Mayoral events that he had attended.

 

  • The first round of the Mayoral Awards took place on 2 November, where he handed out 13 certificates.
  • Just over £6000 was raised towards the Mayor’s Charity Fund at the Camp-Out on 28 November.
  • The Mayor took part in a tree planting ceremony last week, which commemorated the Queen’s Green canopy Initiative celebrating Her majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 by planting 50 Sakura Cherry trees, which were a gift from Japan, at Sanderstead Recreation Ground.
  • Unfortunately, due to the rise in Covid cases, the Christmas Carol Celebration due to have been held on Friday 17 December had had to be cancelled. However, pre recordings of the acts that were scheduled to have been performed would be posted on the Mayor’s social media platforms.

 

The Mayor also informed Members of his upcoming events and asked that if they were interested in attending any of them, to please contact the Mayor’s Office:

 

  • A Bollywood dinner and dance fundraiser in January and the date will be confirmed closer to the time.
  • The Mayor will be holding an event for Bangladesh Victory Day in January 2022.
  • He will be celebrating International Language Week in February 2022.
  • The second round of the Mayoral Awards will be held on Tuesday 1 February 2022 and the Mayor asked colleagues to send through any nominations that they may have for these.

 

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The Leader

 

The Mayor invited the Leader, Councillor Hamida Ali, to make her announcements.

 

The Leader confirmed a Cabinet decision regarding investment in the voluntary sector and that by using Community Infrastructure Levy funds it had been possible to retain the Community Fund in full for this year and the budget will be £2.2 million.

 

In addition, the Leader confirmed support for the businesses supporting the evening and night-time economy. The Leader and Councillor Shahul-Hameed have been working with officers on how to use the £850,000 Additional Restrictions Grant to provide new grants to these businesses together with the cultural and leisure sectors. The Leader also announced details of the Hardship Fund which would be available to those businesses that were severely affected by the restrictions but did not qualify for other forms of support.

 

37/21

The Croydon Debate pdf icon PDF 255 KB

For Members to debate a Borough Petition and a Local Petition.

-        

Minutes:

 

 

 

 

 

Borough Petition

 

A Borough-wide Petition had been  received by the Monitoring Officer as follows:

 

 “Croydon Council please re-open Purley Leisure Centre”.

 

Mr Richard Willmer introduced the petition by stating that support for retaining Purley Leisure Centre was overwhelming in the community with over 3000 signatures on the petition. This had been further shown by the demonstration before the start of the meeting. He also stated that the assumption that people could use Waddon instead was not the case for many and that as it would be catering for 40% of the borough’s residents if it took on Purley’s, Waddon’s position would become untenable.

 

Mr Willmer continued by stating that the statement in the Cabinet report that Purley was the oldest leisure centre was not the case as South Norwood had been built about ten years earlier but this site had undergone a refurbishment in 2002. The cost of £3 million to refurbish Purley Leisure Centre was a huge increase from the £200,000 quoted in 2019 and the report made much of loses at Purley Leisure Centre when there had been loses at the other leisure centres. There had also been no mention in the report of the increase in users such as the swimming school and the gym or of any of the opportunities to increase income. For example, the over 60s now pay for swimming or that the contract with GLL had a cost subsidy model built in so that those facilities that make a profit subsidise those that do not.

 

In his response, Councillor Lewis thanked Mr Willmer and the other campaigners and accepted that there was great sentiment and affection for Purley Pool but that the decision to close the pool had already been taken and it would not be possible to reopen it. It was an aging facility which required a significant investment and it was lose making. It had also been put forward for closure around a decade ago. It would also require ongoing investment over a number of years and there had been degradation of the building which could put public safety at risk. Even if all the work required was carried out to allow it to reopen it would still be a loss making facility.

 

Possible solutions had been looked at to make the facility more sustainable in the future but this had not been possible due to the layout. It was not possible to keep pumping money into it which is why the decision was made to close it. A consultation had been carried out on ways to mitigate the loss of Purley Leisure Centre and a report will be published in due course. Work will continue with the community to provide them with a new leisure centre in that location in the future. The Local Plan which would be voted on later in the meeting, made provision for a new pool to be provided on this site.

 

In conclusion Councillor Lewis stated that it had not been an easy decision to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37/21

38/21

Croydon Question Time pdf icon PDF 123 KB

a)    Public Questions (30 minutes)

To receive questions from the public gallery and questions submitted by residents in advance of the meeting.

 

b)    Leader and Cabinet Member Questions (105 minutes)

To receive questions from Councillors.

Minutes:

 

Croydon Question Time

 

The Mayor explained that Croydon Question Time would be taken in two parts.

 

The first part was public questions to the Leader and Cabinet, which was followed by questions from Members to the Leader and Cabinet. Wherever possible, the Cabinet Member provided an answer during the meeting, but if a question required detail that the Cabinet Member did not have with them then a written response would be published on the Council website within the following three weeks.

 

 

Public Questions

 

There were 30 minutes allocated to public questions, firstly from those who were in attendance and had emailed in their questions in advance.

 

The first question was from Mark Samuel.

 

“Will the leader please confirm the time and date when The Queen’s Gardens will be permanently reopened to the public?”

 

In her response, the Leader, Councillor Hamida Ali stated that she expected The Queen’s Gardens to reopen in February 2022 upon completion of the final block. There were some ongoing issues with the Planning Department regarding the potential for providing a café and stepped access to the north west corner of the site but it is not expected that those issues would delay the reopening to the public.  In addition Councillor Ali stated that she would send further details direct to Mr Samuel.

 

In his supplementary question, Mr Samuelasked whether the Leader had any plans for the Borough to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen in 2022.

 

In her reply, Councillor Ali stated that she attended the tree planting event mentioned by the Mayor earlier and that she had had a conversation with the Deputy Lieutenant, Colonel Ray Wilkinson regarding other opportunities for the community to come together in June 2022.

 

 

The next question was from Collette Luke.

 

“Would the Council be prepared to provide free transport for schools, elderly residents and disabled groups to access Waddon Pool safely?”  

 

In his response, the Cabinet Member for Culture & Regeneration, Councillor Lewisstated he had visited year 6 at St Aidan’s School are they were clearly passionate about their swimming lessons and the curriculum more generally. He went on to confirm that the Council was reviewing the responses to the consultation on mitigation following the closure of Purley Pool. Although it would not be possible to offer free transport, the Council did have some transport provision which could be hired outside of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) drop off and pick up times and would be happy to have that discussion with the school to facilitate transport from the school to Waddon Leisure Centre.

 

Councillor Lewis continued by reassuring the Council that the students need for a pool in the Purley area was echoed in the revised Local Plan paper that would be discussed later in the meeting stated that any future development of the site should include a new community leisure facility with a swimming pool.

 

In her supplementary question Mrs Luke asked who should be contacted to book the transport.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38/21

39/21

Council Debate Motions

To debate any motions submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rules.

Minutes:

The Mayor invited the Monitoring Officer to read out the first motion on behalf of the Administration.

 

“This Council expressed alarm at the rise of Islamophobia in recent years across the UK, and around the world. In Croydon we have seen an increase in reports of hate crime, including Islamophobic hate crime incidents, of 35% between 2017-2020. (Croydon Community Safety Strategy 2022-24).

This Council is committed to fighting Islamophobia in all its forms. We welcome the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia, which has been backed by hundreds of organisations and institutions.

The APPG on British Muslims working definition of Islamophobia reads as follows and includes the subsequent contemporary examples of Islamophobia:

Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

Contemporary examples of Islamophobia in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in encounters between religions and non-religions in the public sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

·         Calling for, aiding, instigating or justifying the killing or harming of Muslims in the name of a racist/fascist ideology, or an extremist view of religion.

·         Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Muslims as such, or of Muslims as a collective group, such as, especially but not exclusively, conspiracies about Muslim entryism in politics, government or other societal institutions; the myth of Muslim identity having a unique propensity for terrorism, and claims of a demographic ‘threat’ posed by Muslims or of a ‘Muslim takeover’.

·         Accusing Muslims as a group of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Muslim person or group of Muslim individuals, or even for acts committed by non-Muslims.

·         Accusing Muslims as a group, or Muslim majority states, of inventing or exaggerating Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing or genocide perpetrated against Muslims.

·         Accusing Muslim citizens of being more loyal to the ‘Ummah’ (transnational Muslim community) or to their countries of origin, or to the alleged priorities of Muslims worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

·         Denying Muslim populations the right to self-determination e.g., by claiming that the existence of an independent Palestine or Kashmir is a terrorist endeavour.

·         Applying double standards by requiring of Muslims behaviours that are not expected or demanded of any other groups in society, e.g. loyalty tests.

·         Using the symbols and images associated with classic Islamophobia (e.g. Muhammad being a paedophile, claims of Muslims spreading Islam by the sword or subjugating minority groups under their rule) to characterize Muslims as being ‘sex groomers’, inherently violent or incapable of living harmoniously in plural societies.

·         Holding Muslims collectively responsible for the actions of any Muslim majority state, whether secular or constitutionally Islamic.

This Council supports the Executive’s intention to adopt the above definition of Islamophobia as set out by the APPG on British Muslims and will continue to engage with local Muslim community groups and organisations to combat this hatred. This Council calls on the government to follow  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39/21

40/21

Health & Wellbeing Board Annual Report pdf icon PDF 268 KB

To receive the annual report for the Health & Wellbeing Board for 2020-2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The recommendation was put to the vote and was unanimously carried.

 

RESOLVED: Council AGREED the recommendation in the report as below:

 

The Council received and considered the Health & Wellbeing Board’s 2020-21 Annual Report.

 

41/21

Director of Public Health Report 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 234 KB

To receive the independent annual report from the Director of Public Health.

Minutes:

The recommendations were put to the vote and were unanimously carried.

 

RESOLVED: Council AGREED the recommendations in the report as below:

 

1.1   Note the content of the Director of Public Health’s independent Annual Report and

 

1.2 Approve the publication of the Annual Report.

 

42/21

Polling Places and Polling Districts pdf icon PDF 252 KB

Report to follow.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The recommendations were put to the vote and were unanimously carried.

 

RESOLVED:Council  AGREEDthe recommendations in the report below:

 

 

1)    Approve the amendments to the existing schedule of polling districts set out in Appendix A.

 

2)    Approve the revised schedule of polling places set out in Appendix B.

 

3)    Delegate to the Returning Officer authority to approve an alternative polling place in the event that any polling place becomes unavailable or found to be unsuitable in the run up to an election and to make this change on a permanent basis following the election.

 

43/21

Recommendations of Cabinet or Committees to Council for decision pdf icon PDF 282 KB

To consider the recommendations made by Cabinet or Committees since the last ordinary Council meeting relating to the following matters:

 

(i)          Report in the Public Interest – Quarter 2 Update

(ii)         Community Safety Strategy

(iii)       2022/23 Budget and Three-Year Medium Term Financial Strategy

(iv)       Croydon Local Plan Review – publication of the Proposed Submission draft

(v)        The Gambling Act 2005 – Review of London Borough of Croydon Statement of Principles

Additional documents:

Minutes:

  1. Report in the Public Interest – Quarter 2 Update

 

 

The recommendations were put to the vote and were unanimously carried.

 

RESOLVED:Council  AGREEDthe recommendations in the report below:

 

1.1   Note and agree on the progress the Council has made in regard to achieving the recommendations set out by external auditor in the Report in the Public Interest in Appendix 2 [Appendix 1 of the Cabinet report] with 62 out of 99 actions complete;

 

 

1.2   Note the outcome of the first tranche of work to properly evidence what has been achieved so far following the initial internal audit of actions delivered to provide full assurance to members and residents on the changes achieved;

 

1.3   Agree the Refreshed Action Plan including actions marked complete, progress updates against open actions and identification of actions to be embedded going forward as business as usual.

 

  1. Community Safety Strategy

 

The recommendation was put to the vote and was unanimously carried.

 

RESOLVED:Council  AGREEDthe recommendation in the report below:

 

 

1.4   To adopt the Community Safety Strategy, Appendix 5 [Appendix 1 of the Cabinet report].

 

 

  1. 2022/23 Budget and Three-Year Medium Term Financial Strategy

 

The recommendation was put to the vote and was carried.

 

RESOLVED:Council  AGREEDthe recommendation in the report below:

 

 

1.5   To approve the growth and savings schedules included at Appendix 7 [Appendix 1 of the Cabinet Report] as part of the budget approval process. To note that officers will commence planning for the implementation from April 2022 where appropriate, but that any such proposals are subject to approval at February Council.

 

  1. Croydon Local Plan Review – Publication of the Proposed Submission draft

 

The recommendations were put to the vote and were carried.

 

RESOLVED:Council  AGREEDthe recommendations in the report below:

 

1.6   Approve the submission of the Proposed Submission draft of the Croydon Local Plan review (Appendix 1) to the Secretary of State following the conclusion of the statutory 6-week publication period in accordance with Section 20(1) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004;

 

 

1.7   Delegate the agreement of any Main Modifications required by the appointed Planning Inspector to make the Croydon Local Plan Review sound to the Cabinet Member for Culture and Regeneration, in consultation with the Director of Planning and Sustainable Regeneration;

 

 

1.8   Delegate the publication of any Main Modifications required by the appointed Planning Inspector for formal consultation to the Cabinet Member for Culture and Regeneration, in consultation with the Director of Planning and Sustainable Regeneration; and

 

 

1.9   Delegate minor modifications and factual corrections (that are not required to make the draft Croydon Local Plan Review sound) to the Director of Planning and Sustainable Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Culture and Regeneration.

 

 

  1. The Gambling Act 2005 – Review of London Borough of Croydon Statement of Principles

 

The recommendation was put to the vote and was unanimously carried.

 

RESOLVED:Council  AGREEDthe recommendation in the report below:

 

To adopt the Statement of Principles in Appendix 11 [Appendix 5 to the Licensing Committee report].

44/21

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

 

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

 

Minutes:

This was not required,