Agenda item

i)             Councillor Ashraf to propose and Councillor Stone to second:

BAME (Black and minority ethnic) women are disadvantaged, economically, socially and politically. They are also subject to increasing levels of domestic slavery and domestic abuse. There is a growing issue with women and their children without recourse to public funds. We know there is an issue with FGM. We therefore call on Northampton borough council to establish a working group with and for BAME women to examine the issues, and with partners, to suggest solutions.

ii)            Councillor Smith to propose and Councillor T Eales to second:

Period Poverty has long been recognised as an issue for women with those who can least afford it, suffering the most. There are several national campaigns that aim to support women and make a stand against period poverty such as “Bleeding Insane Campaign” and “Red Box”.

We think that is a disgrace that in 2018 anyone should have to choose between buying food and buying Tampons, or that women and girls are missing work or school because they cannot afford sanitary products. The average cost to a women is £4,800 during their life for sanitary products.

We call on the council to become ambassadors and set a great example for other businesses to follow by

1.    Provide free sanitary products in all council work place bathrooms.

2.    Establish a red box donation point and join the Red Box Project.

3.    Work with our local to communities to raise awareness of this issue

iii)           Councillor T Eales to propose and Councillor Stone to second:

Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service (formerly women’s aid) do valuable work to support victims of domestic abuse. They currently run 5 refugees with 21 beds, which will not be funded from April 2019. Partner organisation Eve is at risk of losing 13 beds. NDAS have launched a fundraising campaign to raise £100k by March to keep the refuges open for 12 months. Losing these refuges will mean that the responsibility of helping these victims out of abusive homes will fall onto NBC. 

We therefore call upon this council to not only recognise NDAS for the service they have been providing to domestic abuse victims but to give some much needed financial assistance.

iv)           Councillor B Markham to propose and Councillor Beardsworth to second:

This Council recognises the value of openness and transparency in communicating with the public about air quality and the steps that it is making to monitor and to reduce air pollution.

This Council notes that other authorities, such as Kings Lynn and West Norfolk District Council, make effective use of corporate websites to share information about air quality monitoring in an accessible way, including regular monthly publication of raw data from air quality monitoring tubes.

Northampton Borough Council resolves to review the accessibility, frequency of update and timeliness of the air quality data and activity published on its own website in order to match the openness and transparency achieved by other local authorities.

Anne Wankiiri addressed motion i) and noted that many BAME women were affected by domestic abuse and that was exacerbated by a number of conflicts such as their immigration status; she explained that many women form African countries were distrusting of the police, due to their experiences of corruption in their countries of origin) and were therefore not able to access the help that they needed.

Marianne Kimani stated that the difference between domestic abuse of white women and BAME women was that there were many instances of forced marriages, rape within the extended family and honour killings and asked that a working group be established to specifically address such issues.

Maheepjot Kaur commented that whilst there were numerous incidents of domestic abuse, there was a distinct lack of support for the victims. She stated that BAME women could be abused by extended family members and that this was exacerbated by guilt and shame; some women lacked faith in established systems and referred to the financial controls that their abusers had, which forced them to remain in the abusive relationship or face destitution.

i)             Councillor Ashraf proposed and Councillor Stone seconded:

“BAME (Black and minority ethnic) women are disadvantaged, economically, socially and politically. They are also subject to increasing levels of domestic slavery and domestic abuse. There is a growing issue with women and their children without recourse to public funds. We know there is an issue with FGM. We therefore call on Northampton borough council to establish a working group with and for BAME women to examine the issues, and with partners, to suggest solutions”.

Council debated the motion.

Upon the requisition for a recorded vote there voted for the motion: Councillors Ashraf, Beardsworth, Birch, Cali, Chunga, Davenport, Duffy, G Eales, T Eales, Haque, Joyce, B Markham, Marriot, McCutcheon, Roberts, Russell, Smith and Stone.

There voted against the motion: Councillors Aziz, Bottwood, Eldred, Flavell, Golby, Hibbert, Hill, Kilbride, King, Lane, Larratt, M Markham, Nunn, Oldham, Parekh, Patel, Sargeant, Shaw and Walker

There abstained the Mayor.

The motion was lost.

Charlotte Creasy spoke on motion ii) and explained that many young girls were having to improvise with their periods as they were experiencing period poverty. She reported instances of women, and girls, using socks and rags as substitutes for sanitary products. She referred to the ‘Red Boxes’ explaining that they were used for all experiencing period poverty to access free sanitary products.  She further reported that the Red Box project had been very successful in schools and she had continued to support and donate sanitary products to foodbanks and youth clubs and expressed her concern that this was an issue being faced by women.

ii)            Councillor Smith proposed and Councillor T Eales seconded:

“Period Poverty has long been recognised as an issue for women with those who can least afford it, suffering the most. There are several national campaigns that aim to support women and make a stand against period poverty such as “Bleeding Insane Campaign” and “Red Box”.

We think that is a disgrace that in 2018 anyone should have to choose between buying food and buying Tampons, or that women and girls are missing work or school because they cannot afford sanitary products. The average cost to a women is £4,800 during their life for sanitary products.

We call on the council to become ambassadors and set a great example for other businesses to follow by:

1.    Provide free sanitary products in all council work place bathrooms.

2.    Establish a red box donation point and join the Red Box Project.

3.    Work with our local to communities to raise awareness of this issue”

Council debated the motion.

Upon the requisition for a recorded vote there voted for the motion: Councillors Ashraf, Beardsworth, Birch, Cali, Chunga, Davenport, Duffy, G Eales, T Eales, Haque, Joyce, B Markham, Marriott, McCutcheon, Roberts, Russell, Smith and Stone

There voted against the motion: Councillor Aziz, Bottwood, Eldred, Flavell, Golby, Hallam, Hibbert, Hill, Kilbride, King, Lane, Larratt, M Markham, Nunn, Oldham, Parekh, Patel, Sargeant, Shaw and Walker.

There abstained the Mayor.

The motion was lost.

Zoe Tatham addressed Council on motion iii) and explained that refuges had no funding in place and that by 2019 they would need financial support and whilst she recognised the importance of the money that the Council had previously given, she requested that Members support the motion and ensure that the refuges stay open.

Natreice Westwood stated that she had been in contact with a victim who had been isolated and the implications of the abuse she had suffered had significantly impacted on her mental health. She reported that once support had been given to the victim and her children, she had been offered support and had been tutored in identifying warning signs in perpetrators of violence.

Nicky Hornby spoke as the development manager of EVE and explained that they offered an holistic approach to supporting both the victims and the perpetrators (who recognised their need to change) and reported that since March 2017 they had received no funding from the Borough Council. She stated that they were currently supporting themselves by using their reserves but noted that they wanted to take steps to prevent closures.

iii)           Councillor T Eales proposed and Councillor Stone seconded:

“Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service (formerly women’s aid) do valuable work to support victims of domestic abuse. They currently run 5 refuges with 21 beds, which will not be funded from April 2019. Partner organisation Eve is at risk of losing 13 beds. NDAS have launched a fundraising campaign to raise £100k by March to keep the refuges open for 12 months. Losing these refuges will mean that the responsibility of helping these victims out of abusive homes will fall onto NBC. 

We therefore call upon this council to not only recognise NDAS for the service they have been providing to domestic abuse victims but to give some much needed financial assistance”.

Council debated the motion.

Upon a vote, the motion was carried.

Brian Hoare addressed Council on motion iv) and stated that he was pleased to support the motion. He commented that he considered the Council’s website as somewhat inadequate as he had found it very difficult to find information on Air Quality management and associated data and asked that consideration be given to the issuing a monthly update on the air quality of the Councils website that would be easy to access.

The Mayor noted that an amendment had been proposed by Councillor Hallam and noted that Councillor B Markham had accepted the amendment. The altered motion had would be seconded by Councillor Hallam:

iv)           Councillor B Markham proposed and Councillor Hallam seconded:

“This Council recognises the value of openness and transparency in communicating with the public about air quality and the steps that it is making to monitor and to reduce air pollution.

This Council notes that other authorities, such as Kings Lynn and West Norfolk District Council, make effective use of corporate websites to share information about air quality monitoring in an accessible way, including regular monthly publication of raw data from air quality monitoring tubes.

Northampton Borough Council resolves to review the accessibility, frequency of update and timeliness of the air quality data and activity published on its own website in order to match the openness and transparency achieved by other local authorities.

This Council also notes that it is important that members of the public understand that the raw data can only be properly analysed and trends assessed after a 12 month period to take account of any seasonality or specific in-month events that might skew the data such as road traffic closure.

Council also notes that this is a highly complex and technical area of work and resolves to work openly with all those with appropriate expertise in this area.

.

Council debated the motion.

Upon a vote, the motion was carried.

At this juncture of the meeting, Councillor Beardsworth thanked the Democratic Services Manager for her work and wished her well in the future.