Agenda item

Note:

Under the Council’s constitution, 30 minutes are available for the consideration of motions. In practice, this realistically means that there is usually only time for one, or possibly two motions to be considered. With the agreement of the Lord Mayor, motion 1 below will be considered at this meeting, and motion 2 is likely to be considered, subject to time. Details of other motions submitted, (which,

due to time constraints, are very unlikely to be considered at this meeting) are also set out for information.

 

 

MOTION 1 – TACKLING PERIOD POVERTY IN BRISTOL

(LABOUR GROUP GOLDEN MOTION)

 

Motion to be moved by: Cllr Helen Godwin, Southmead Ward, Labour

 

“Full Council notes:

1.     One in 10 girls and women aged 14-21 are unable to afford sanitary products while even more have had to improvise sanitary wear using items such as socks, tissues, newspaper, napkins, and/or toilet paper.

2.     Almost 140,000 girls and young women, particularly amongst girls who are in receipt of Free School Meals, have missed school in the UK the last year because they cannot afford to buy sanitary products.

3.     91% of girls and young women say that they have been asked to buy a pad or tampon for a friend.

4.     Research which shows that a majority of women who have suffered period poverty also experienced bullying, while many also feel that it has affected their mental wellbeing and physical activity.

5.     That, in 2001, the then-Bristol South Labour MP Dawn Primarolo reduced the applicable VAT on such products to 5%, following a 1991 high of 17.5%.

6.     Despite years of campaigning by women such as Laura Coryton, sanitary products are taxed as ‘luxury’ rather than ‘necessary’ products – while private helicopters and antiques are exempted.

7.     The early successes of ongoing campaigns by Unite the Union and NASUWT around period dignity and period poverty, and the work of Labour-led Milton Keynes council and the Scottish Government in this area.

8.     Hey Girls’, whose Buy One Give One model donated almost 1.4 million boxes of menstrual products to girls and women in need in the UK in just six months, and other social enterprises and companies including Fareshare, the Red Box Initiative, and Always, have been at the forefront of tackling period poverty.

9.     Increasing awareness of environmental sustainability issues, particularly amongst girls and young women, around organic and reusable products such as period pants and menstrual cups.

10.  Work with local trades unions and employers – including Unite, the CWU, and Unison – being led by Bristol City Council which could deliver tens of thousands of pounds to provide free sanitary products at school for all girls in the city.

 

Full Council believes:

 

1.     Periods are natural and female health is important; neither should be taboo subjects, in this chamber or anywhere else.

2.     Having a period should not be considered a luxury, it is not a choice but a decades-long and expensive reality of being a women.

3.     Everyone who needs sanitary products – including tampons, towels, pads, and other items – should have access to them.

4.     Education for children and young people within science and PSHE lessons is crucial to eliminate misplaced stigma and awkwardness.

 

Full Council resolves:

 

1.     To endorse Bristol City Council’s efforts to work with civil society and other partners to ensure that nobody in Bristol suffers from period poverty.

2.     To ask the relevant executive members to continue to encourage local schools, including primary schools given the increasing number of girls beginning their periods as early as age 8, to complete the Health Protection Badge which includes the provision of sanitary products.

3.     To ask the relevant cabinet members to carefully consider the results of the Bristol Pupil Voice report, due to be published by the end of the year, and other data with colleagues from across the ACE directorate to monitor experiences and attitudes into the future.

4.     That its members should, while endorsing the work of the Labour administration to provide free sanitary products for all who need them in schools and civic buildings, reach out to local employers in their wards to encourage them to provide them on site for staff and visitors.”

 

MOTION 2 - DECLARE A CLIMATE EMERGENCY

 

Motion to be moved by: Cllr Denyer, Clifton Down ward, Green Group

 

Full Council notes:

1. Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt around the world. Global temperatures have already increased by 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO₂ levels are above 400 parts per million (ppm). This far exceeds the 350 ppm deemed to be a safe level for humanity;
2. In order to reduce the chance of runaway Global Warming and limit the effects of Climate Breakdown, it is imperative that we as a species reduce our CO₂eq (carbon equivalent) emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to less than 2 tonnes as soon as possible;¹
3. Individuals cannot be expected to make this reduction on their own. Society needs to change its laws, taxation, infrastructure, etc., to make low carbon living easier and the new norm;
4. Carbon emissions result from both production and consumption;
5. Bristol City Council has already shown foresight and leadership when it comes to addressing the issue of Climate Breakdown, having met its corporate carbon reduction target three years early, published the City Leap prospectus and committed to making the city carbon neutral by 2050;
6. Unfortunately, our current plans and actions are not enough. The world is on track to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit before 2050;^{2, 3}
7. The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, published last month, describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise, and told us that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities³;
8. City Councils around the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency.⁴

Full Council believes that:

1. All governments (national, regional and local) have a duty to limit the negative impacts of Climate Breakdown, and local governments that recognise this should not wait for their national governments to change their policies. It is important for the residents of Bristol and the UK that cities commit to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible;
2. Cities are uniquely placed to lead the world in reducing carbon emissions, as they are in many ways easier to decarbonise than rural areas – for example because of their capacity for heat networks and mass transit;
3. As Bristol is the only UK city that has been a European Green Capital, we have a particular duty to be a leader on environmental issues in the UK;
4. The consequences of global temperature rising above 1.5°C are so severe that preventing this from happening must be humanity’s number one priority; and,
5. Bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities (as well as improved well-being for people worldwide).

Full Council calls on the Mayor to:

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;
2. Pledge to make the city of Bristol carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3)⁵;
3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;
4. Work with other governments (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C;
5. Continue to work with partners across the city and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans;
6. Report to Full Council within six months with the actions the Mayor/Council will take to address this emergency.

References:

1.     Fossil CO₂ & GHG emissions of all world countries, 2017: http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=CO2andGHG1970-2016&dst=GHGpc

2.     World Resources Institute: https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report

3.     The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

4.     Including US cities Berkeley: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/2018/6/13/berkeley-unanimously-declares-climate-emergency and Hoboken: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/2018/4/25/hoboken-resolves-to-mobilize, and the C40 cities: https://www.c40.org/other/deadline-2020

5.     Scope 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol explained: https://www.carbontrust.com/resources/faqs/services/scope-3-indirect-carbon-emissions

 

 

Details of other motions submitted (which, due to time constraints, are very unlikely to be considered at this meeting) are set out below for information:

 

3. SECONDARY SCHOOL PLACES

Motion submitted by: Cllr Stephen Clarke, Southville ward, Green Group

“Full Council notes that:

·       as a result of ongoing government cuts, schools in Bristol will have lost £19.3m funding (equating to £403 per pupil in the period 2015-2020) and have seen an increase in class size over the same period with extremely negative consequences,

·       three new secondary schools are proposed for Bristol in Lockleaze, the Knowle area and the Temple Meads area;

·       despite these new schools, because of the planned increase in pupils currently going through the local primary schools, it appears that there will be a period in 2020/21 when;

o    there may be a shortage of places in some areas in Bristol,

o   more parents may not be able to get their children into their first choice school.

 

Full Council resolves to ask the Mayor to ensure that:

·       this administration urgently completes all necessary actions to ensure that there are sufficient places available in secondary schools for pupils from Bristol in 2020/21;

·       reports back to members on the situation within the next six months and at regular intervals thereafter.”

 

 

4. A CITY-WIDE ‘BAN’ ON SINGLE-USE DISPOSABLE PLASTICS

Motion submitted by: Cllr Fodor, Redland ward, Green Group

“Full Council notes that:

-        Single use, disposable plastics such as polystyrene takeaway containers and plastic cups are a cause of litter, a waste of resources, and a problem for future generations. Plastic residues are already identified in most food chains.

-        They waste fossil fuels and create unsightly streets, and their persistence and take up of chemicals causes untold harm for wildlife on land and at sea. This is a significant cause for concern.

-        While accepting that there are a few cases where single-use plastics are essential, such as in medical treatment, for most uses there are alternatives.

-        To achieve this, many people have to play their part, including users, traders, and those organising events and providing services in the city.

-        Government and the EU have already developed strategies to tackle plastic waste, but action is also needed at the local level

-        Many major companies are already making commitments to reduce or eliminate single use plastics, and local campaigners have been active in pressing them to do more and faster.

Full Council believes that:

-        The Council should set an example as the local representative body for the city, and a main service provider for over 400,000 people in the west of England

-        The Council should also use its influence with others

-        It can and should play a leading role as champion, active supporter, regulator, and service provider in ending the prevalence of single use, disposable plastics.

Full Council resolves to call on the Mayor to:

-        take all practical steps* to make Bristol an exemplar disposable plastic-free city.

-        support and enforce a ban on single use plastic packaging and containers, including through events licensing, as a provider of services, as a partner working with other organisations, and through media and education.”

* Things the Mayor can do include:

·       Specifying how the council’s own events and facilities are run – setting a better example!

·       Changing events rules.

·       Procurement choices that specify alternatives.

·       Offering drinking water at Council outlets

·       Helping bulk buy compostable packaging for traders possibly through  Bristol Waste Company or BIDs [Business Improvement Districts].

·       Better promotion of recycling and composting facilities and services where they are

needed.

·       Licensing rules being amended for street traders and takeaways.

·       Better enforcement of littering sanctions.

·       Educational initiatives.

·       Using council media work to promote the ban.

·       Lobbying government for better powers to control waste.

Notes

Over 4,000 people have now signed the petition, either on 38 degrees, on the Council’s website or signed a hard copy. See:

·       https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/a-city-wide-ban-on-single-use-disposable-plastics?source=facebook-share-button&time=1530320133

https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=13&RPID=1964100&HPID=1964100&%24LO%24=1

 

 

5. MOTION ON ENFORCING PLANNING POLICY ON PROVISION OF AFFORDABLE HOMES

Motion submitted by: Cllr Eddy, Bishopsworth Ward, Conservative Group

 

“This Council is becoming increasingly alarmed that local policy guidelines on the amount of Affordable Housing to be included in new developments appear to be regularly undermined, circumvented or ignored.

 

For example, the recently approved plans by Legal & General to build 120 flats at Temple Quay was originally granted on the basis that 23 of these units would be reserved or retained as ‘affordable’ homes.  This modest figure (20%) was subsequently radically reduced or downgraded to just 4 properties or (3%) of the total build.

 

Council is concerned that this kind of revisionism sets a dangerous precedent for private developer housing provision.  Moreover, acceptance of this practice could have implications in relation to the any future redevelopment plans for the vacant Arena Island site.

 

To avoid any misunderstanding on this issue, Council reiterates the conviction that any planning application to redevelop the land by Temple Meads for housing must comply with the principles contained in our adopted Local Plan and policy framework.  Aside from very special dispensations granted by the Authority to deviate from the norm on a case-by-case basis, it is essential that such developments uphold our policy commitment of 40% Affordable Housing in the central areas of the city.”

 

 

6. MOTION SUPPORTING LOCAL SHOPS

Motion submitted by: Cllr Graham Morris, Stockwood Ward, Conservative Group

 

“Council has growing concern over the future vibrancy of many of Bristol’s high streets.

 

Nationally, one study found that we are losing 16 shops per day through closure with an estimated 50,000 jobs lost or expected to go between January and June in this year alone. Some of the latest casualties include such well-known retail chains as Toys-R-Us, Maplin and most recently Debenhams.

 

This is due to a ‘perfect storm’ of many contributing factors including (i) spiralling rents; (ii) rising business rates; (iii) increased labour costs; (iv) declining foot-fall; and (v) the choice, convenience and competition provided by the internet.

 

With local authorities more dependent than ever before on retention of business rates to balance their budgets, Council believes it is essential that more is done to support struggling small businesses in secondary or satellite retail areas around the city.

 

The Chancellor’s cut in business rates by one third for two years for small businesses

and the creation of a Future High Streets Fund and new High Streets Taskforce is a welcome

step in the right direction.  A planned 2% tech-tax targeted at online retail giants should also

help to level the playing field between digital shopping outlets and traditional bricks & mortar stores.  However, more needs to be done locally.

 

To this end, Council calls on the Mayor to allocate resources from his capital budget to actually invest in these precincts to make them attractive places to visit.  As one designer has put it, these destinations need to become ‘galleries of experience’ to draw people to them.

 

Consequently, consideration needs to be given to changing the city’s parking strategy/priorities, more free short-term parking provided at these locations, and improved CCTV coverage to increase public safety.

 

Council requests that a report be prepared for Scrutiny which outlines the existing options available for providing temporary business rate relief on particularly hard-pressed retailers. In addition, that this report forms the basis of a submission to the ‘High Streets Fund’ once the full details of the new scheme become available. 

 

Finally, following the outcome of such a review, the Mayor is asked to lobby Ministers to consider a root-and-branch reform of the Business Rates system (which is based on rateable values and ignores important factors such as profit and turnover), to bring it up to date with current economic conditions and in order to save UK retailing.”

 

7. MOTION TO REOPEN LOCAL LAVATORIES

Motion submitted by: Cllr Steve Smith, WOT & Henleaze ward, Conservative Group

 

 “This Council is concerned over the significant shortcomings and economic impact on tourism, and local high streets, arising from the Mayor’s decision to close nearly half of the city’s on-street public toilets.

“Whilst appreciating the rationale behind this move, it was justified as an important money-saving measure, it is clear that the planned replacement of a network of conveniences provided by businesses and organisations signing up to a ‘Community Toilet Scheme’ has been, at best, a mixed success.

“Members of the public and the Council’s own Communities Scrutiny Commission have identified continuing problems with this inadequate provision and many remain unconvinced over this policy.

“As a result of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Budget, which exempts public toilets from business rates, these are now much cheaper to maintain.  To reflect this change in circumstances, Council believes it should now be possible to reopen some of the public amenities – particularly those next or near to parks and formerly serving important local high streets – which have been boarded up.

“Accordingly, Council calls upon the Mayor to recognise the very real and practical need for accessible public toilets at locations where families congregate and urgently reverse some of these closures.

“Until this is done, it is inevitable that Councillors of all Parties and campaigners for those groups especially hard-hit by this short-sighted strategy will continue to press for changes to be made on this basic and most fundamental issue.”

 

8. MOTION TRIAL OF RECYCLED PLASTICS FOR BRISTOL ROADS

Motion submitted by: Cllr Claire Hiscott, Horfield ward, Conservative Group

 

“Council notes with great interest the innovative road surfacing experiment currently being trialled in London which utilises recycled plastics.

 

In 2016, Cumbria County Council became the first authority in the country to use this material on its roads. It was found to be an affordable, more environmentally friendly alternative repair resource to

address their road repair problems. For their project, resurfacing the A7 in Carlisle, the volume of plastic applied was equivalent to 500,000 plastic bottles and more than 800,000 one-use plastic carrier bags.

 

Council understands that many benefits are derived from these 'plastic roads' which can be constructed entirely out of recycled plastic or as a composite mix with traditional mineral aggregates and asphalt. For example, as well as obviously reducing resort to landfill, it uses a material

which is plentiful, cost effective, easy to apply and proven durability.

 

With the LGA estimating it will cost around £11.8 billion to bring the nation's roads up to standard, any viable cheap alternative must be considered by cash-strapped authorities.

 

Accordingly, in order to better evaluate these claims, Council calls on the Mayor to commission a detailed report on this subject for scrutiny members, with particular attention given to the Enfield project and special consideration given to conducting our own trial(s) here in Bristol.

 

Any such local study should also seek to identify those component combinations which maximise surface noise reduction. No doubt, the bad winter weather took a heavy toll on the city’s road

network. So, it would seem to be especially timely to try out these plastic formulations as a repair solution at the earliest possible opportunity.”

 

9. CROWN POST OFFICE, BROADMEAD

Motion submitted by: Cllr Kye Dudd, Central Ward, Labour

 

“Bristol City Council notes with concern that:

1. On 11 October 2018 it was announced that 74 crown post offices across the UK, including the main Bristol Post Office in the Galleries will be franchised to WHSmith. The Galleries Post Office is the largest in the South West and the last major Post Office in Bristol. Taken together, successive franchise announcements mean the loss of 60% of the crown office network since 2013. This is a privatisation by stealth following the separation of the Post Office and Royal Mail five years ago; the latter was sold off on the cheap by the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition, with the National Audit Office (2014) estimating that the then-Government’s undervaluation saw the taxpayer lose out on some £750 million in just one day.
2. These privatisations are financed using millions of pounds of public money, despite the fact that the public has never endorsed the closures, indeed they have only ever protested against them. In 2014/15 alone, £13 million of public money was used to pay compensation to get rid of post office staff, and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) estimates that the staff compensation cost of the latest privatisation will be at least £30 million, affecting as it does, 800 staff.   
3. Reports by Consumer Focus (2012) and Citizens Advice (2016) have identified issues with the franchising of post offices to WHSmith including poor accessibility for people with mobility impairments, longer queuing times, and inferior service and advice on products.
4. Franchising means the loss of jobs with good terms and conditions at the Post Office. WHSmith replaces experienced post office staff with new employees in typically minimum wage part time roles. This is clearly bad for jobs in the local area and the Post Office workers, many of whom are CWU members
5. The closure of our Crown post offices and relocation to a WHSmith, also means the loss of prime high street stores and this contributes to the demise of our town centres. No explanation has been given as to why the profit-making Crown post offices are being handed to a retailer with an uncertain future, and what will happen to these services if WHSmith folds.    
6. All Crown post offices are under threat of closure and/or franchising in future, and if the latest round of privatisation is allowed to go ahead, it could prove the tipping point for the viability of the entire post office network. 

 

This Council believes that:

1. Our post offices are a key asset for the community and the expertise and experience of staff there is invaluable.
2. The relentless franchising and closure programme of the profit making Crown post offices, points to a lack of vision rather than the plan for growth and innovation that is needed.
3. Government should therefore halt these closures and bring together stakeholders, including the CWU, and industry experts to develop a new strategy that safeguards the future of the Post office.

 

This Council resolves to:

1. Ask the Mayor and local Bristol Labour MPs, who have a record of campaigning to protect and preserve local post office services, to write to the Government to raise concern about the apparent managed decline of the post office network and the impact on high streets across the UK as well as the service in the franchised premises, and the poor quality jobs that result.
2. Calls on the Mayor to seek a meeting with WHSmith and the Post Office to urge a stop to the planned franchise.
3. To join local campaigning to raise awareness of the value of our Post Office and the need for it to remain an asset of and for the people.   

 

Call on all Party Group Leaders to ensure that their members sign the national CWU petition via saveourpostoffice.co.uk and the local Bristol petitionat https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=72&RPID=2952113&HPID=2952113 “

 

 

10. NO VEHICLE IDLING ZONES

Motion submitted by: Cllr Mark Wright, Hotwells & Harbourside ward, Lib Dem

 

“This Council Notes:

1. Bristol, like many authorities, has area of poor air quality and that pollutants in the air can exceed safe limit set by both the European Union and World Health Organisation.

 

2. Air pollution in Bristol has a massive impact on the health of our citizens. In the young and most health-vulnerable it can cause permanent lung damage, and in older people it exacerbates lung and heart diseases. In Bristol this equates to approximately 300 extra deaths each year.

 

3. A very welcome Clean Air Zone is currently in the planning stages as part of the city’s Clean Air Action Plan - which will in future alter journey routes and vehicle purchases, but likely won’t affect driving style. Implementation of the Clean Air Zone is some years away.

 

4. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Public Health England (PHE) produced new guidance last year that recommended “no vehicle idling” areas in places where health-vulnerable people collect, such as outside schools, hospitals and care homes, and in areas where exposure to road-traffic-related air pollution is high.

 

This Council resolves to support and asks the Mayor to implement:

 

1. Introduce, by the end of 2019 an enforceable “no vehicle idling” zone outside every school, and in every park in the city - with at least four pilot zones of each by spring 2019.

 

2. Where practical, to extend the number of “no vehicle idling” zones to cover areas outside children’s play areas where standing traffic is an issue.

 

3. Work with our NHS partners, to look at extending “no vehicle idling” zones outside medical buildings, in hospital pick-up areas, and outside care homes.

 

4. Use the experience of the pilot zones to determine whether these measures should be implemented via enforceable enhancements to existing Council policies, or via a new by-law.

 

Guidance proposes ‘no vehicle idling’ zones to tackle air pollution

https://www.localgov.co.uk/Guidance-proposes-%E2%80%98no-vehicle-idling%E2%80%99-zones-to-tackle-air-pollution/43337  

Air pollution: outdoor air quality and health

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng70   “

 

 

 

Motion 1 – Tackling Period Poverty in Bristol

 

Councillor Godwin moved the following altered motion:

 

Full Council notes:

1.       One in 10 girls and women aged 14-21 are unable to afford sanitary products while even more have had to improvise sanitary wear using items such as socks, tissues, newspaper, napkins, and/or toilet paper.

2.       Almost 140,000 girls and young women, particularly amongst girls who are in receipt of Free School Meals, have missed school in the UK the last year because they cannot afford to buy sanitary products.

3.       91% of girls and young women say that they have been asked to buy a pad or tampon for a friend.

4.       Research which shows that a majority of women who have suffered period poverty also experienced bullying, while many also feel that it has affected their mental wellbeing and physical activity.

5.       That, in 2001, the then-Bristol South Labour MP Dawn Primarolo reduced the applicable VAT on such products to 5%, following a 1991 high of 17.5%.

6.       Despite years of campaigning by women such as Laura Coryton, sanitary products are taxed as ‘luxury’ rather than ‘necessary’ products – while private helicopters and antiques are exempted.

7.       The early successes of ongoing campaigns by Unite the Union and NASUWT around period dignity and period poverty, and the work of Labour-led Milton Keynes council and the Scottish Government in this area.

8.       Hey Girls’, whose Buy One Give One model donated almost 1.4 million boxes of menstrual products to girls and women in need in the UK in just six months, and other social enterprises and companies including Fareshare, the Red Box Initiative, and Always, have been at the forefront of tackling period poverty.

9.       Increasing awareness of environmental sustainability issues, particularly amongst girls and young women, around organic and reusable products such as period pants and menstrual cups.

10.   Work with local trades unions and employers – including Unite, the CWU, and Unison – being led by Bristol City Council which could deliver tens of thousands of pounds to provide free sanitary products at school for all girls in the city.

 

Full Council believes:

1.       Periods are natural and female health is important; neither should be taboo subjects, in this chamber or anywhere else.

2.       Having a period should not be considered a luxury, it is not a choice but a decades-long and expensive reality of being a women.

3.       Everyone who needs sanitary products – including tampons, towels, pads, and other items – should have access to them.

4.       Education for children and young people within science and PSHE lessons is crucial to eliminate misplaced stigma and awkwardness.

 

Full Council resolves:

1.       To endorse Bristol City Council’s efforts to work with civil society and other partners to ensure that nobody in Bristol suffers from period poverty.

2.       To ask the relevant executive members to continue to encourage local schools, including primary schools given the increasing number of girls beginning their periods as early as age 8, to complete the Health Protection Badge which includes the provision of sanitary products.

3.       To ask the relevant cabinet members to carefully consider the results of the Bristol Pupil Voice report, due to be published by the end of the year, and other data with colleagues from across the ACE directorate (including observations of Members serving on the Adults, Children & Education Scrutiny Commission) to monitor experiences and attitudes into the future.

4.       That Officers prepare a report on how many education days are lost every year to period poverty in Bristol.  These findings should then be presented to the relevant Scrutiny body and form the basis of a formal submission to Central Government highlighting the educational problems this issue is causing and calling for a comprehensive, coherent and coordinated approach to tackling this inequality.

5.       That its members should, while endorsing the work of the Labour administration to provide free sanitary products for all who need them in schools and civic buildings, reach out to local employers in their wards to encourage them to provide them on site for staff and visitors.”

 

Councillor Hiscott seconded the altered motion.

 

Following debate, upon being put to the vote, the altered motion was CARRIED (56 members voting in favour, none against and no abstentions) it was

 

RESOLVED:

 

Full Council notes:

1.       One in 10 girls and women aged 14-21 are unable to afford sanitary products while even more have had to improvise sanitary wear using items such as socks, tissues, newspaper, napkins, and/or toilet paper.

2.       Almost 140,000 girls and young women, particularly amongst girls who are in receipt of Free School Meals, have missed school in the UK the last year because they cannot afford to buy sanitary products.

3.       91% of girls and young women say that they have been asked to buy a pad or tampon for a friend.

4.       Research which shows that a majority of women who have suffered period poverty also experienced bullying, while many also feel that it has affected their mental wellbeing and physical activity.

5.       That, in 2001, the then-Bristol South Labour MP Dawn Primarolo reduced the applicable VAT on such products to 5%, following a 1991 high of 17.5%.

6.       Despite years of campaigning by women such as Laura Coryton, sanitary products are taxed as ‘luxury’ rather than ‘necessary’ products – while private helicopters and antiques are exempted.

7.       The early successes of ongoing campaigns by Unite the Union and NASUWT around period dignity and period poverty, and the work of Labour-led Milton Keynes council and the Scottish Government in this area.

8.       Hey Girls’, whose Buy One Give One model donated almost 1.4 million boxes of menstrual products to girls and women in need in the UK in just six months, and other social enterprises and companies including Fareshare, the Red Box Initiative, and Always, have been at the forefront of tackling period poverty.

9.       Increasing awareness of environmental sustainability issues, particularly amongst girls and young women, around organic and reusable products such as period pants and menstrual cups.

10.   Work with local trades unions and employers – including Unite, the CWU, and Unison – being led by Bristol City Council which could deliver tens of thousands of pounds to provide free sanitary products at school for all girls in the city.

 

Full Council believes:

1.       Periods are natural and female health is important; neither should be taboo subjects, in this chamber or anywhere else.

2.       Having a period should not be considered a luxury, it is not a choice but a decades-long and expensive reality of being a women.

3.       Everyone who needs sanitary products – including tampons, towels, pads, and other items – should have access to them.

4.       Education for children and young people within science and PSHE lessons is crucial to eliminate misplaced stigma and awkwardness.

 

Full Council resolves:

1.       To endorse Bristol City Council’s efforts to work with civil society and other partners to ensure that nobody in Bristol suffers from period poverty.

2.       To ask the relevant executive members to continue to encourage local schools, including primary schools given the increasing number of girls beginning their periods as early as age 8, to complete the Health Protection Badge which includes the provision of sanitary products.

3.       To ask the relevant cabinet members to carefully consider the results of the Bristol Pupil Voice report, due to be published by the end of the year, and other data with colleagues from across the ACE directorate (including observations of Members serving on the Adults, Children & Education Scrutiny Commission) to monitor experiences and attitudes into the future.

4.       That Officers prepare a report on how many education days are lost every year to period poverty in Bristol.  These findings should then be presented to the relevant Scrutiny body and form the basis of a formal submission to Central Government highlighting the educational problems this issue is causing and calling for a comprehensive, coherent and coordinated approach to tackling this inequality.

5.       That its members should, while endorsing the work of the Labour administration to provide free sanitary products for all who need them in schools and civic buildings, reach out to local employers in their wards to encourage them to provide them on site for staff and visitors

 

Before starting the second motion, the Lord Mayor proposed and it was seconded and RESOLVED unanimously

 

That the duration of this meeting be extended.

 

 

Motion 2 – Declare a Climate Emergency

 

Councillor Denyer moved the following motion:

 

Full Council notes:

1. Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt around the world. Global temperatures have already increased by 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO₂ levels are above 400 parts per million (ppm). This far exceeds the 350 ppm deemed to be a safe level for humanity;
2. In order to reduce the chance of runaway Global Warming and limit the effects of Climate Breakdown, it is imperative that we as a species reduce our CO₂eq (carbon equivalent) emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to less than 2 tonnes as soon as possible;¹
3. Individuals cannot be expected to make this reduction on their own. Society needs to change its laws, taxation, infrastructure, etc., to make low carbon living easier and the new norm;
4. Carbon emissions result from both production and consumption;
5. Bristol City Council has already shown foresight and leadership when it comes to addressing the issue of Climate Breakdown, having met its corporate carbon reduction target three years early, published the City Leap prospectus and committed to making the city carbon neutral by 2050;
6. Unfortunately, our current plans and actions are not enough. The world is on track to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit before 2050;^{2, 3}
7. The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, published last month, describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise, and told us that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities³;
8. City Councils around the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency.⁴

Full Council believes that:

1. All governments (national, regional and local) have a duty to limit the negative impacts of Climate Breakdown, and local governments that recognise this should not wait for their national governments to change their policies. It is important for the residents of Bristol and the UK that cities commit to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible;
2. Cities are uniquely placed to lead the world in reducing carbon emissions, as they are in many ways easier to decarbonise than rural areas – for example because of their capacity for heat networks and mass transit;
3. As Bristol is the only UK city that has been a European Green Capital, we have a particular duty to be a leader on environmental issues in the UK;
4. The consequences of global temperature rising above 1.5°C are so severe that preventing this from happening must be humanity’s number one priority; and,
5. Bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities (as well as improved well-being for people worldwide).

Full Council calls on the Mayor to:

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;
2. Pledge to make the city of Bristol carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3)⁵;
3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;
4. Work with other governments (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C;
5. Continue to work with partners across the city and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans;
6. Report to Full Council within six months with the actions the Mayor/Council will take to address this emergency.

References:

1.      Fossil CO₂ & GHG emissions of all world countries, 2017: http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=CO2andGHG1970-2016&dst=GHGpc

2.      World Resources Institute: https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report

3.      The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

4.      Including US cities Berkeley: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/2018/6/13/berkeley-unanimously-declares-climate-emergency and Hoboken: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/2018/4/25/hoboken-resolves-to-mobilize, and the C40 cities: https://www.c40.org/other/deadline-2020

5.      Scope 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol explained: https://www.carbontrust.com/resources/faqs/services/scope-3-indirect-carbon-emissions

The motion was seconded by Councillor Clarke.

 

Following debate, upon being put to the vote, the motion was CARRIED (56 members voting in favour, none against and no abstentions) and it was

 

RESOLVED:

 

Full Council notes:

1. Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which are being felt around the world. Global temperatures have already increased by 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO₂ levels are above 400 parts per million (ppm). This far exceeds the 350 ppm deemed to be a safe level for humanity;
2. In order to reduce the chance of runaway Global Warming and limit the effects of Climate Breakdown, it is imperative that we as a species reduce our CO₂eq (carbon equivalent) emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to less than 2 tonnes as soon as possible;¹
3. Individuals cannot be expected to make this reduction on their own. Society needs to change its laws, taxation, infrastructure, etc., to make low carbon living easier and the new norm;
4. Carbon emissions result from both production and consumption;
5. Bristol City Council has already shown foresight and leadership when it comes to addressing the issue of Climate Breakdown, having met its corporate carbon reduction target three years early, published the City Leap prospectus and committed to making the city carbon neutral by 2050;
6. Unfortunately, our current plans and actions are not enough. The world is on track to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit before 2050;^{2, 3}
7. The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, published last month, describes the enormous harm that a 2°C rise is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise, and told us that limiting Global Warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities³;
8. City Councils around the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency.⁴

Full Council believes that:

1. All governments (national, regional and local) have a duty to limit the negative impacts of Climate Breakdown, and local governments that recognise this should not wait for their national governments to change their policies. It is important for the residents of Bristol and the UK that cities commit to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible;
2. Cities are uniquely placed to lead the world in reducing carbon emissions, as they are in many ways easier to decarbonise than rural areas – for example because of their capacity for heat networks and mass transit;
3. As Bristol is the only UK city that has been a European Green Capital, we have a particular duty to be a leader on environmental issues in the UK;
4. The consequences of global temperature rising above 1.5°C are so severe that preventing this from happening must be humanity’s number one priority; and,
5. Bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities (as well as improved well-being for people worldwide).

Full Council calls on the Mayor to:

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;
2. Pledge to make the city of Bristol carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3)⁵;
3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;
4. Work with other governments (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C;
5. Continue to work with partners across the city and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans;
6. Report to Full Council within six months with the actions the Mayor/Council will take to address this emergency.

References:

6.      Fossil CO₂ & GHG emissions of all world countries, 2017: http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=CO2andGHG1970-2016&dst=GHGpc

7.      World Resources Institute: https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report

8.      The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

9.      Including US cities Berkeley: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/2018/6/13/berkeley-unanimously-declares-climate-emergency and Hoboken: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/2018/4/25/hoboken-resolves-to-mobilize, and the C40 cities: https://www.c40.org/other/deadline-2020

10.  Scope 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol explained: https://www.carbontrust.com/resources/faqs/services/scope-3-indirect-carbon-emissions