Issue - meetings

Motion in the name of Councillor Gwynne:

That this Council recognises that further action must be taken to protect residents and communities living alongside our busiest roads in Tameside from exposure to harmful pollutants. The effects of which include asthma, allergies, heart and lung disease and cancer.

An IPPR report in 2018 condemned air pollution levels in Greater Manchester as “lethal and illegal”, and is believed to contribute to 1,200 deaths a year across the city region. Harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide – and tiny particles of soot and other matter – from vehicle exhausts are among the main causes of this air pollution.

Tameside Council is co-operating with other GM local authorities to prepare a Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan, with the intention of reducing vehicle emissions within our communities. However the Government’s two-tier approach to the mandating of Clean Air plans and charges does nothing to protect some of our residents at greatest risk from the effects of air pollution who live alongside the strategic road network managed by Highways England.

Unbelievably, Highways England is not mandated in the same way as Tameside MBC and other Greater Manchester Authorities to improve the air quality on and around its road network. In particular, residents living and working alongside the A628 (Market Street) in Hollingworth are currently being ignored by both the government and legislation, despite homes and school playgrounds being situated alongside this highly polluted road.

This Council believes:

Highways England should be mandated in the same way as Tameside MBC and other local authorities to develop and execute a Clean Air Plan for its highway network, effectively reducing levels of Nitrogen Dioxide and particulate matter on trunk roads and motorways running through Tameside and in other areas of Greater Manchester similarly affected.

This Council resolves to request that the Chief Executive write to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to demand urgent action by Highways England to reduce the unacceptably high levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulates on its highway network to meet mandated levels on air quality by 2023. There is no time to waste in combating this silent killer that blights our communities.

Motion in the name of Councillor Warrington:

That Tameside Council notes the ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C’, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in October 2018, (a) describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared with a 1.5°C rise, and (b) confirms that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society and the private sector.  This is indeed a climate emergency.

The Council welcomes the climate action taken by the Greater Manchester Mayor and other city authorities around the world to declare – and commit resources to tackling our Climate Emergency.

We also note the action taken to date recognising we need to go further including:

·                The Council’s long-standing commitment to the climate change agenda in  ...  view the full agenda text for item 13.

To consider any motions submitted in accordance with Constitution.

To consider the following motion in the name of Councillor Warrington:

That this Council notes that in Saudi Arabia:

·                Without the permission of a male guardian, women cannot

-  travel abroad;

-  get a passport;

-  get out of prison;

-  get married.

·                     Male relatives can use the courts to force women to divorce;

·                     Women can be denied jobs if their male guardians do not want them to work;

·                     Hospitals can refuse women surgery/other medical help if their male guardians do not consent.

We call on the upon the Financial Conduct Authority not to adopt a proposed change in the rules that would enable Aramco shares to be listed on the London Stock Exchange in the first place for as long as this denial of basic rights to women in Saudi Arabia persists.