Agenda item - Notices of Motion

To consider the Notices of Motion received.

(a) That the Notice of Motion from Councillor Attridge and Kevin Hughes be supported as follows: “The disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on 15^th April 1989 led to the deaths of 96 innocent people who had left their homes that morning to watch a football match. Due to crowd control mismanagement, those fans, whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years old, lost their lives. This disaster directly affected families in Flintshire. It is saddening to compare the behaviour of those who were in positions of responsibility and public trust with the dignity and courage displayed by the families of the 96, who have continued since 1989 to fight for justice whilst coping with the loss of their loved ones. The council cannot overlook the hurt and distress caused by the lies and smears printed in The Sun at that time – especially to the families of the 96. Neither can we overlook The Sun’s stubborn refusal to apologise properly for the hurt it caused unit it became clear to the newspaper that public opinion demanded such an apology. On April 26^th 2016 a jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing in relation to each victim. It is this Council’s hope that in due course the conclusions reached by the Hillsborough inquest will come to finally result in justice for the victims of this tragedy. We express our support for those affected by the disaster and commend the continuing efforts of relatives and friends of the victims in their search for justice. We condemn the behaviour of The Sun newspaper and we as a Council will support any Flintshire retailer or newspaper vendor that choose not to sell The Sun newspaper. We lend our support to the campaign “Total Eclipse of The Sun” in solidarity with fellow councils in the North West of the United Kingdom.”; and

(b) That the amendment to the Notice of Motion from Councillor Carver as put forward from Councillor Aaron Shotton, including the successful amendment by Councillor Peers, be supported as follows: ‘“That this Council calls upon both UK and Welsh Government (WG) to ensure that adequate funding is forthcoming to address local GP capacity, due to the requirement by the WG to further promote the building of more houses whilst at the same time not ensuring that NHS Wales has sufficient GP doctor’s surgeries or the capacity to cope with the existing population, let alone the increase in population that these houses will bring”.

Two Notices of Motion had been received:

(i) Councillors Bernie Attridge and Kevin Hughes:

“The disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on 15^th April 1989 led to the deaths of 96 innocent people who had left their homes that morning to watch a football match

Due to crowd control mismanagement, those fans, whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years old, lost their lives. This disaster directly affected families in Flintshire.

It is saddening to compare the behaviour of those who were in positions of responsibility and public trust with the dignity and courage displayed by the families of the 96, who have continued since 1989 to fight for justice whilst coping with the loss of their loved ones. The council cannot overlook the hurt and distress caused by the lies and smears printed in The Sun at that time – especially to the families of the 96.

Neither can we overlook The Sun’s stubborn refusal to apologise properly for the hurt it caused unit it became clear to the newspaper that public opinion demanded such an apology.

On April 26^th 2016 a jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing in relation to each victim. It is this Council’s hope that in due course the conclusions reached by the Hillsborough inquest will come to finally result in justice for the victims of this tragedy.

We express our support for those affected by the disaster and commend the continuing efforts of relatives and friends of the victims in their search for justice. We condemn the behaviour of The Sun newspaper and we as a Council will support any Flintshire retailer or newspaper vendor that choose not to sell The Sun newspaper. We lend our support to the campaign “Total Eclipse of The Sun” in solidarity with fellow councils in the North West of the United Kingdom.”

This was seconded by Councillor Kevin Hughes.

In support of their joint Motion, Councillor Attridge spoke about the terrible events at Hillsborough which had led to the deaths of 96 innocent football fans due to crowd mismanagement and how the disaster had affected the lives of residents in Flintshire. Councillor Attridge said that it was saddening to compare the behaviour of those in a position of responsibility and trust to those families that had been fighting for justice while coping with the loss of their loved ones. He said that the Council could not overlook the lies printed in the Sun Newspaper at that time or its stubbornness to print an apology to the families, and that the Council express support to those affected by the disaster and commend the continuing effort of relatives and friends in their search for justice. He concluded that the Council would support any newspaper vendor who chose not to sell the Sun Newspaper.

Councillor Kevin Hughes in formally seconding the Motion clarified that the reason for submitting the Notice of Motion was that in July 2016 the inquest into the tragedy at Hillsborough found that the 96 victims had been unlawfully killed. He explained that the Notice of Motion did not seek a ban of the Sun Newspaper as had been speculated but was to support Flintshire families who had been affected and outlined a recent article which had appeared in the Sun Newspaper, which he felt did now show that lessons had been learnt.

Councillor Neville Phillips, whilst commenting on the terrible events at Hillsborough, felt that he could not support the Notice of Motion as the Liberal Democrat Party, for which he was a Member, stood for liberty and freedom for any individual and therefore felt that it would be hypocritical to support banning the Sun Newspaper.

A number of Members spoke against the Notice of Motion, citing their concern of taking away people’s freedom of choice in buying the Sun Newspaper. Councillor Hilary McGuill commented on the financial burden that would be placed on newsagents who decided not to sell the Sun Newspaper and asked if the Council would be reimbursing them as part of the support outlined within the Notice of Motion.

Councillor Clive Carver questioned why the Notice of Motion being debated differed from the version which had been published on social media earlier in the year. The Chief Officer (Governance) reported on the process for Members to submit Notices of Motion and explained that amendments to the original Motion had been suggested by himself and the Chief Executive.

A number of Members spoke in support of the Notice of Motion, citing the principles to support families affected by the Hillsborough disaster. Councillor Aaron Shotton explained that the Motion did not seek newsagent to not stock/sell the Sun Newspaper but would support any that chose not to.

Councillor Woolley moved an amendment that the Notice of Motion end at “The Sun Newspaper“ in the second line of the last paragraph. This amendment was not accepted by Councillors Attridge and Hughes. The amendment was seconded by Councillor Richard Jones who commented that he supported the sentiment of the Motion but had to agree with previous comments around taking away peoples freedom of choice.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

In his right of reply, Councillor Attridge said that the campaign ‘Total Eclipse of the Sun’ had contacted all Council’s asking for their support and a number of Council’s across the Country had already passed similar Motions. He asked that all Members support the Notice of Motion as shown in the agenda and requested a recorded vote. The requisite number of Councillors stood in support of this.

The substantive motion was then put to the vote and carried.

The following Councillors voted for the Notice of Motion:

Bernie Attridge, Glyn Banks, Sean Bibby, Chris Bithell, Helen Brown, Geoff Collett, David Cox, Paul Cunningham, Ron Davies, Ian Dunbar, Andy Dunbobbin, Carol Ellis, David Evans, George Hardcastle, David Healey, Gladys Healey, Cindy Hinds, Dave Hughes, Kevin Hughes, Ray Hughes, Joe Johnson, Paul Johnson, Christine Jones, Mike Lowe, Dave Mackie, Billy Mullin, Ted Palmer, Michelle Perfect, Vicky Perfect, Aaron Shotton, Paul Shotton, Ralph Small, Ian Smith, Carolyn Thomas, Martin White, David Williams and David Wisinger.

The following Councillors voted against the Notice of Motion:

Clive Carver, Bob Connah, Chris Dolphin, Neville Phillips, Tony Sharps and Owen Thomas.

The following Councillors abstained from voting on the Notice of Motion:

Mike Allport, Sian Braun, Jean Davies, Rob Davies, Adele Davies-Cooke, Rosetta Dolphin, Mared Eastwood, Veronica Gay, Patrick Heesom, Andrew Holgate, Dennis Hutchinson, Rita Johnson, Richard Jones, Tudor Jones, Colin Legg, Brian Lloyd, Hilary McGuill and Mike Peers.

(ii) Councillor Clive Carver

“This Council decries the Welsh Government for promoting the building of more houses whilst at the same time not ensuring that NHS Wales has sufficient GP doctor’s surgeries to cope with the existing population, let alone the increase in population that these houses will bring”.

In speaking on his Notice of Motion, Councillor Carver commented on the requirement by the Welsh Government for the Council to have a supply of land for building and the work on-going on the publication of the Local Development Plan (LDP) which would focus on delivering sustainable development in the County for the next 15 years. He said that the Welsh Government required growth but does not, through NHS Wales, provide adequate funding to support this. He outlined cases where the number of GPs has reduced but the number of patients had increase due to building of more houses and how this was being repeated across the County.

Councillor Peers proposed an amendment to the Notice of Motion to replace the words ‘to cope with the existing population’ with ‘for the capacity to cope with the existing population’. This amendment was seconded by Councillor Veronica Gay who spoke in support of the Notice of Motion based on the current lack of facilities in the ward in which she represented.

Councillor Heesom said that he could not support the Notice of Motion due to the shortage of housing within the County and commented on the need to continue to build homes with the adequate infrastructure.

A number of Councillors spoke in support of the amendment, citing the difficulties in getting GP appointments especially in rural areas of the County. Councillor Chris Bithell commented on the need for an increased housing supply and also the shortage of qualified GPs which was a countrywide problem.

Councillor Aaron Shotton spoke in support of the amendment but gave notice of a further amendment.

Councillor Richard Jones spoke in support of the amendment and said that residents had a right to services. He did not understand why Welsh Government had made a ruling on planning policy TAN1, which he felt had created the problem and commented that if houses continued to be built, services would be ‘watered down’. He agreed that houses were needed but alongside that consideration was needed for appropriate services.

In response to comments around the LDP, the Chief Officer (Governance) explained that the Council asked developers if they had any sights they wanted to be included in the LDP. The Council then assessed those sites which were then reported to Planning Strategy Group which was a private meeting. Those documents would become public at the appropriate stage. It was designed to plan for all public services required and the Planning team engaged NHS Wales to plan for the expected levels of growth.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried. The substantive motion was now “This Council decries the Welsh Government for promoting the building of more houses whilst at the same time not ensuring that NHS Wales has sufficient GP doctor’s surgeries for the capacity to cope with the existing population, let alone the increase in population that these houses will bring”.

Councillor Shotton moved a further amendment that the following wording be added to the beginning of the Notice of Motion:-

“This Council calls upon UK Government and Welsh Government to ensure that adequate funding is forthcoming to address local GP capacity, due to the requirement by the WG to further promote”.

The remaining Notice of Motion was to remain the same following the deletion of the wording “This Council decries the Welsh Government for promoting’.

In speaking to the amendment, Councillor Shotton said that the Council should not decry the Welsh Government. He recognised there was a need for additional GPs and about the balance that was needed. Without the resources of funding to NHS Wales, there would be no change. There needed to be adequate funding initially from UK Government to Welsh Government to ensure that there was sufficient GPs to meet the need.

Councillor Carver felt the word “decry” should remain due to NHS Wales using funding for other projects and not sufficiently for the NHS. Councillor Ellis said that an increase of housing being built also had a detrimental effect on hospitals and suggested that health and social care across Wales needed to be reviewed.

On being put to the vote, the amendment as circulated by Councillor Aaron Shotton, including the successful amendment by Councillor Peers, as read out by the Chief Officer (Governance) for clarity, was carried.

Councillor Carver requested a recorded vote but was not supported by the requisite number of Members.

On being put to the vote, the amendment became the substantive motion and on being put to the vote, was carried.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Notice of Motion from Councillor Attridge and Kevin Hughes be supported as follows: “The disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on 15^th April 1989 led to the deaths of 96 innocent people who had left their homes that morning to watch a football match. Due to crowd control mismanagement, those fans, whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years old, lost their lives. This disaster directly affected families in Flintshire. It is saddening to compare the behaviour of those who were in positions of responsibility and public trust with the dignity and courage displayed by the families of the 96, who have continued since 1989 to fight for justice whilst coping with the loss of their loved ones. The council cannot overlook the hurt and distress caused by the lies and smears printed in The Sun at that time – especially to the families of the 96. Neither can we overlook The Sun’s stubborn refusal to apologise properly for the hurt it caused unit it became clear to the newspaper that public opinion demanded such an apology. On April 26^th 2016 a jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing in relation to each victim. It is this Council’s hope that in due course the conclusions reached by the Hillsborough inquest will come to finally result in justice for the victims of this tragedy. We express our support for those affected by the disaster and commend the continuing efforts of relatives and friends of the victims in their search for justice. We condemn the behaviour of The Sun newspaper and we as a Council will support any Flintshire retailer or newspaper vendor that choose not to sell The Sun newspaper. We lend our support to the campaign “Total Eclipse of The Sun” in solidarity with fellow councils in the North West of the United Kingdom.”; and

(b) That the amendment to the Notice of Motion from Councillor Carver as put forward from Councillor Aaron Shotton, including the successful amendment by Councillor Peers, be supported as follows: ‘“That this Council calls upon both UK and Welsh Government (WG) to ensure that adequate funding is forthcoming to address local GP capacity, due to the requirement by the WG to further promote the building of more houses whilst at the same time not ensuring that NHS Wales has sufficient GP doctor’s surgeries or the capacity to cope with the existing population, let alone the increase in population that these houses will bring”.