Green actions at the September 5th Council

Green councillors are raising lots of issues at this month’s council meeting, including:

• The cost of public grants for private profit at Doncaster Airport
• A sham consultation on spending money from big property developments
• Workers’ rights and employment advice
• Sheffield’s record on recycling
• Official meetings held behind closed doors
• The proposed location for the Central Library
• Access to parks and open spaces
• And Sheffield Castle

Cllr Rob Murphy said

“Whilst our region’s rail network is in crisis, it appears Dan Jarvis’ priority is diverting more money and resources towards big business. Sheffield and the rest of South Yorkshire are crying out for investment and improvements in current services. The travelling public not property investors should be top of the city region mayor’s list.”

Cllr Alison Teal said,

The CIL consultation is a prime example of distorting the process to reach a pre-arranged destination. Small wonder that Sheffield residents are aiming to break the cabinet stronghold on decision-making with the “It’s Our City” initiative.”

Cllr Douglas Johnson said,

This consultation is a classic stitch-up. Very much like the consultation about bringing Chesterfield into Sheffield City Region – which was found to be unlawful – it uses leading questions and hides the main proposal: that the Labour Administration intends to divert resources away from the people most affected by massive property developments.”

“We are also calling on the council to fund 3 posts to provide workers with advice on employment rights and to open up more official meetings to the public.

Cllr Kaltum Rivers said,

“Many of our parks and open spaces don’t have good access for physically disabled people. I want to know what the Council has done about this.”

Cllr Martin Phipps said,

“Far from Sheffield being good at recycling, it is one of the worst in the country. Sheffield burns most of its waste, making the incinerator a very high emitter of CO2, which contributes to climate change. Spending millions on new brown bins will not change that.”

Notes:

1. The Green Party’s motion on transport is at http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=154&MId=7002#AI17632
2. CIL is the “community infrastructure levy.” Since 2015, developers have paid it as a contribution to amenities and infrastructure for residents. The administration spends 85% of the money centrally and the consultation is about the remaining 15%, which has not been spent.
3. The CIL consultation runs until 14 September 2018 and can be found at https://sheffield.citizenspace.com/communities-business-strategy/use-of-the-community-infrastructure-levy/
4. Sheffield is ranked 314th out of 350 local authorities for the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting. Sheffield’s recycling rate is less than half of some other authorities
5. Borrowing to pay for the new brown bins will cost the local authority £6.6m over 18 years.