Agenda item

(A) The following motion to be moved by Councillor J.Lill and seconded by Councillor Wire:-

“This Council requests Cabinet to consider that the Mayorhold Car Park be kept open until 1.00am each night with immediate effect in order to meet the needs of the public visiting and utilising town centre night time facilities.”

(B)The following motion to be moved by Councillor Barron and seconded by  Councillor Marriott.-

 This Council welcomes the recent Government white paper as a chance to debate the future structure of Local Government and how it can better serve local communities. We note that there is an opportunity to apply for unitary status and that the towns/cities which are smaller than Northampton in population are considering doing so.

This Council believes success of local democracy partly depends on elected Councillors and the decision making process being brought as close as possible to citizens in their community. We believe taking decision making away from people is incompatible with improving Northampton.

Therefore this Council will oppose any move by Northamptonshire County Council to consolidate decision making with a single Northamptonshire wide unitary authority.

In the light of that,and given the size of Northampton,this council agrees to consult the citizens of Northampton with a view to submitting a proposal to Government to introduce a new Northampton Unitary Authority to provide services to the people of Northampton.

(C) The following motion to be moved by Councillor Church and seconded by Councillor Simpson

This Council notes that:

1. The new Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust has a deficit of £37 million, which the government expects to be cleared this financial year,forcing cuts in mental health and learning disability services,the temporary closure of wards and the loss of access of treatment for infertility,allergies and other specialist care.

2. The Conservative run County Council is making cuts to care services for the elderly and disabled people that compound the effect of the NHS cuts.

This Council requests the Chief Executive to write to Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health,and our local MP’s calling on her to;

1.End excessive interference in the NHS from Whitehall,exemplified by the ten reorganisations of the NHS since Labour came to power.

2.End the demand for Northampton health services to repay their deficits for 2005-6.

3.Ensure that adequate funding is available for healthcare in Northamptonshire without cuts in services to patients.

4.Ensure that adequate facilities are planned for the future increase in Northampton’s population.  

(A)    At this juncture Mr P.Au addressed the Council on the Notice of Motion regarding car park opening hours.  He stated that he represented the business community in Sheep Street and that currently there was a great deal of concern within the business community regarding the car park closing time. The fact that it closed at 8:00 pm had greatly affected the businesses and could well result in the closure of some. He stated that a few years ago the car park had been open twenty four hours but then following its refurbishment the hours were reduced to close at 8:00 pm.  It also was perceived by businesses in Sheep Street that this was almost a forgotten part of the Town, even to the point of having no Christmas lights.  He asked the Council to support the motion and hoped that it would do all that it could to increase car parks opening hours.  He expressed the view that longer opening hours of the car park would only serve to help the Town to develop and thrive.

         Councillor J Lill then moved and Councillor Wire seconded the motion:

         “This Councill requests Cabinet to consider that the Mayorhold Car Park be kept open until 1:00 am each night with immediate effect in order to meet the needs of the public visiting and utilising Town Centre night time facilities.”

         In seconding the motion Councillor Wire proposed an amendment that the twenty four hour opening of the car park be reinstated.  Councillor J Lill as the mover of the motion accepted the amendment.  Following some debate the motion as amended was voted upon and carried and stood referred to Cabinet.  The amended motion is set out below:

         “This Council requests Cabinet to consider that the Mayorhold Car Park be kept open twenty four hours every day with immediate effect in order to meet the needs of the public visiting and utilising Town Centre night time facilities.”

(B)   Councillor Barron moved and Councillor Marriott seconded the following motion:

         “This Council welcomes the recent Government White Paper as a chance to debate the future structure of local government and how it can better serve local communities.  We note that there is an opportunity to apply for unitary status and that the towns/cities, which are smaller than Northampton in population, are considering doing so.

         This Council believes that success of local democracy partly depends upon elected Councillors and the decision making process being brought as close as possible to citizens in their community.  We believe taking decision making away from people is incompatible with improving Northampton. 

         Therefore this Council will oppose any move by Northamptonshire County Council to consolidate decision making with a single Northamptonshire wide unitary authority.

         In the light of that, and given the size of Northampton, this Council agrees to consult the citizens of Northampton with a view to submitting a proposal to Government to introduce a new Northampton unitary authority to provide services to the people of Northampton.”

NB      Councillors B Hoare, Church, Glynane, Tavener, Edwards, Hill, Wire, Yates, Patterson, Eldred, Lane, Hollis and Malpas declared an interest in the above motion as members of the County Council and either abstained from the debate or left the meeting.

         Councillor Hadland then proposed an amendment to the motion which was seconded by Councillor Woods as follows:

         “This Council notes the recent Government White Paper as a chance to debate the future structure of local government and how it can better serve local communities.  We note that there is an opportunity to apply for unitary status and that the towns/cities which are smaller than Northampton in population are considering doing so.  We also note the unrealistic timetable laid down for submitting proposals to change local structures. 

         This Council believes success of local democracy partly depends on elected Councillors and the decision making process being brought as close as possible to citizens in their community.  We believe taking decision making away from people is incompatible with improving Northampton. 

         Therefore this Council will oppose any move by Northamptonshire County Council to consolidate decision making with a single Northamptonshire wide unitary authority. 

         The Council believes that a single Unitary Council to serve Northampton is the appropriate structure to deliver services responsively, efficiently and cost effectively, but recognises that such a Council drawn as required by the White Paper on current boundaries would not serve all the people of a growing Northampton in the short and medium term.

         The Council request the Cabinet to work with the other Councils in Northamptonshire to formulate an enhanced two-tier structure for Northamptonshire to be submitted to the Government in January 2007 designed to:

(1)      Provide simpler and more accessible services

(2)      Provide more efficient services in line with identified priorities

(3)      Ensure that Northamptonshire is not involved in costly reorganisation at the tax payers’ expense.”

         The amendment was duly debated, voted upon and carried.

(C)   Councillors Allen, I Markham and Taylor declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the following motion and left the meeting and Councillors Edwards and Church declared a personal but non-prejudicial interest.

         Councillor Church then moved and Councillor Simpson seconded the following motion:

         “This Council notes that:

(1)      The new Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust has a deficit of £37m which the Government expects to be cleared this financial year, forcing cuts in mental health and learning disability services,the temporary closure of wards and the loss of access of treatment for fertility, allergies and other specialist care. 

(2)   The Conservative run County Council is making cuts to care services for the elderly and disabled people that compound the effect of the NHS cuts.

  This Council requests the Chief Executive to write to Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health and our local MPs calling on her to

(i)      End excessive interference in the NHS from Whitehall exemplified by the ten reorganisations of the NHS since Labour came to power

(ii)     End the demand for Northampton health services to repay their deficits for 2005/06

(iii)    Ensure that adequate funding is available for health care in Northamptonshire without cuts in services to patients.

(iv)    Ensure that adequate facilities are planned for the future increase in Northampton’s population”

Following some discussion Councillor Barron moved and Councillor McCutcheon seconded that the motion be now put.

The motion was carried.

The motion was then voted upon and carried.