Agenda

That the Minutes of the proceedings of the Meeting of Council held on 5 October 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair of Council Business (or other person presiding) (Minutes attached).

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Council.

The Civic Mayor to make any appropriate announcements.

At this juncture the Civic Mayor will retire from the Chair and the Chair of Council Business shall assume the Chair for the remaining business.

To receive any announcements or communications from the Chair of Council Business, the Executive Leader, Members of the Executive Cabinet or the Chief Executive.

To consider any questions submitted by Members of the public in accordance with Standing Orders 31.12 and 31.13.

To receive the minutes of the meeting of Executive Cabinet held on 27 October 2021 and 24 November 2021 and to agree the following recommendation:

RESOLVED

That it be RECOMMENDED that Council approve the implementation of the Minimum Licensing Standards as outlined in paragraph 4 of the report and in the appendices.

To receive the minutes of the Meeting of the Overview Panel held on:8 November 2021.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Finance.

That further to the recommendation of Senior Staffing Panel (Councillors Warrington, Kitchen and Dickinson) held on 29 September 2021 and approved by Full Council on the 5 October 2021 that the appointment of Alison Stathers-Tracey to the permanent post of Director of Children’s Services be confirmed.

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

That Members note that Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council which we serve is named after and held together by the River Tame that runs through our communities. It has allowed our towns to grow and flourish, bringing industry and prosperity to the population over the centuries.  Now, it is a vital part of our green estate, providing recreation along its banks, wildlife and glimpses of our heritage. We are rightly proud of our river, and united in our desire to protect it.  We call on United Utilities and the Environment Agency to work with us to prevent the ongoing polluting of the River Tame, and help to clean up this waterway.

That this Council notes:

A recent article in the Times highlighted that the River Tame has the dubious honour of having the highest microplastic concentration of any watercourse in the world and the situation is getting worse, not better. The root cause of this pollution is the often-illegal discharge of raw sewage into the river from United Utilities.

Speaking in the Times, Professor of physical geography at Manchester University Jamie Woodward states that there “is much concern that illegal discharges of sewage are now the norm across the industry in England” and that “regulation is utterly ineffective because the Environment Agency is underfunded, and their leadership has set its priorities elsewhere.  The Environment Agency is failing in its duty to police the health of our rivers”.

Since 2010 United Utilities along with every water company have been allowed to self-report their discharges. United Utilities are one of the most prolific sewage dumpers, discharging the equivalent of 12-weeks continuous flow between July 2019 and June 2020, although they dispute these figures and state that it is only the equivalent of six continuous weeks.

A Private Members Bill entitled “Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill 2019-21” introduced by Philip Dunne MP on 5th February 2020 proposed to amend the “Water Industry Act 1991” and place a duty on water companies to ensure that untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers or other inland water bodies. This Bill fell away with the prorogation of Parliament but has now been introduced in an amended format to the House of Lord’s by the Duke of Wellington.

Intermittent discharging into waterways has been permitted under specific circumstances, but privatised water companies have been fined record amounts for unlawful discharges outside of these provisions.

And that this Council therefore RESOLVES:

·         To ask the Chief Executive to write to George Eustice, Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Affairs expressing this council’s support for the Duke of Wellington’s Bill and ask him to support the provisions outlined within. To further ask the Secretary of State to make the case for increased funding to The Environment Agency to allow them to effectively enforce environmental legislation

·         Noting that the Environment and Climate Emergency Working Group have requested United Utilities appear before them to explain their current position, to urge United  ...  view the full agenda text for item 11.

To answer questions (if any) asked under Standing Order 17.2, for which due notice has been given by a Member of the Council.

To consider any other items which the Chair of Council Business (or other person presiding) is of the opinion shall be dealt with as a matter of urgency.