Minutes:
(Cllr G Madden left the meeting at this point)
It was moved by Councillor I McAlpine and seconded by Councillor C Johnston that:
North Tyneside Council:
• Recognises the importance of small businesses to our local economy and the pressure they are under due to the rising cost of living caused by the war in Ukraine.
• Acknowledges some of the great work that already goes on to
encourage residents to shop locally, including the Shop NT project run by the authority and other projects run by the North of Tyne Combined authority through the government’s shared prosperity fund.
• Encourages as many residents as possible to shop locally this
Christmas, because we know when we support local businesses
money is reinvested into our local economy, making our area an even better place to live
• Asks the Mayor to introduce 2-hours of free parking in our town centres for the duration of December, encouraging more visitors to our outstanding small businesses. The scheme should allow all council run town centre parking to have a 2-hour no return option while also protecting the option to pay for longer for those who use our car parks regularly. Council believes this would deliver a well needed boost to our small businesses.
An amendment was moved by Councillor H Johnson and seconded by Councillor C Johnson as follows:
To add the following to the first paragraph ‘Conservative Government mismanaging the economy and’
To remove paragraph 4.
To add the following final paragraph:
‘Asks the Mayor to continue with her policy of free weekend and evening parking in out town centres to support more people to shop locally supporting our outstanding small businesses. Note that while introducing 2 hour free parking during the day time would be positive, it wouldn’t be possible to enforce this without a TRO in place and we couldn’t introduce one at such short notice without consultation. Note that this policy would also need to be fully tested and changing daytime weekday parking arrangements is likely to have a significant impact on residential parking around the town centres.’
The amended motion therefore read:
• Recognises the importance of small businesses to our local economy and the pressure they are under due to the rising cost of living caused by the Conservative Government mismanaging the economy and the war in Ukraine.
• Acknowledges some of the great work that already goes on to
encourage residents to shop locally, including the Shop NT project run by the authority and other projects run by the North of Tyne Combined authority through the government’s shared prosperity fund.
• Encourages as many residents as possible to shop locally this
Christmas, because we know when we support local businesses
money is reinvested into our local economy, making our area an even better place to live
Asks the Mayor to continue with her policy of free weekend and evening parking in our town centres to support more people to shop locally supporting our outstanding small businesses. Note that while introducing 2 hour free parking during the day time would be positive, it wouldn’t be possible to enforce this without a TRO in place and we couldn’t introduce one at such short notice without consultation. Note that this policy would also need to be fully tested and changing daytime weekday parking arrangements is likely to have a significant impact on residential parking around the town centres.
A recorded vote on the amendment was requested by two members present.
Votes for the Amendment:
Councillors G Bell, L Bell, B Burdis, C Burdis, S Burtenshaw, K Clark, D Cox, S Cox, N Craven, J Cruddas, E Darke, S Day, D Drummond, P Earley, S Graham, I Grayson, M Hall, T Hallway, J Harrison, A Holdsworth, Janet Hunter, C Johnson, H Johnson, J Kirwan, F Lott, W Lott, A McMullen, J Montague, J Mudzingwa, T Mulvenna, M Murphy, A Newman, P Oliver, J O'Shea, S Phillips, E Parker-Leonard, B Pickard, W Samuel, J Shaw, A Spowart, M Thirlaway, J Walker, M Wilson.
Votes against the amendment:
Councillors L Bartoli, L Bones, J Johnsson, C Johnston, I McAlpine, P McIntyre, O Scargill, J Wallace
Abstentions:
Councillors C Davis and V Jamieson
The amendment was approved by 43 votes to 8 votes with 2 abstentions.
A further amendment was moved by Councillor C Davis and seconded by Councillor V Jamieson as follows:
In paragraph 1, to remove ‘war in Ukraine’ and replace with ‘obscene profits made by energy companies and banks together with the Government’s incompetence and cuts to local authority funding’.
To insert the following as paragraph 4 ‘Investigate whether the existing costs of car-parking discriminate, in practice, against users in North Shields and whether there should be better provision for disabled drivers.’
The amended motion therefore read:
North Tyneside Council:
• Recognises the importance of small businesses to our local economy and the pressure they are under due to the rising cost of living caused by obscene profits made by energy companies and banks together with the Government’s incompetence and cuts to local authority funding.
• Acknowledges some of the great work that already goes on to
encourage residents to shop locally, including the Shop NT project run by the authority and other projects run by the North of Tyne Combined authority through the government’s shared prosperity fund.
• Encourages as many residents as possible to shop locally this
Christmas, because we know when we support local businesses
money is reinvested into our local economy, making our area an even better place to live.
Investigate whether the existing costs of car-parking discriminate, in practice, against users in North Shields and whether there should be better provision for disabled drivers.
Asks the Mayor to continue with her policy of free weekend and evening parking in our town centres to support more people to shop locally supporting our outstanding small businesses. Note that while introducing 2 hour free parking during the day time would be positive, it wouldn’t be possible to enforce this without a TRO in place and we couldn’t introduce one at such short notice without consultation. Note that this policy would also need to be fully tested and changing daytime weekday parking arrangements is likely to have a significant impact on residential parking around the town centres.
The amendment, on being put to the meeting, was approved by 45 votes to 8 votes.
A further amendment was moved by Councillor L Bones and seconded by Councillor C Johnston as follows:
To add the following paragraph: ‘Asks the Mayor to introduce 2-hours of free parking from next year, for the duration of December, to support our small businesses each and every Christmas.’
The amendment, on being put to the meeting, was rejected by 45 votes to 8 votes.
A recorded vote on the substantive motion was requested by two members present.
Votes for the Motion:
Councillors G Bell, L Bell, B Burdis, C Burdis, S Burtenshaw, K Clark, D Cox, S Cox, N Craven, J Cruddas, E Darke, C Davis, S Day, D Drummond, P Earley, S Graham, I Grayson, M Hall, T Hallway, J Harrison, A Holdsworth, Janet Hunter, V Jamieson, C Johnson, H Johnson, J Kirwan, F Lott, W Lott, A McMullen, J Montague, J Mudzingwa, T Mulvenna, M Murphy, A Newman, P Oliver, J O'Shea, S Phillips, E Parker-Leonard, B Pickard, W Samuel, J Shaw, A Spowart, M Thirlaway, J Walker, M Wilson
Votes against the motion:
Councillors L Bartoli, L Bones, J Johnsson, C Johnston, I McAlpine, P McIntyre, O Scargill, J Wallace
The substantive motion, on being put to the meeting, was approved by 45 votes to 8 votes.