Meeting

In accordance with Standing Orders, all Notices of Motions on the agenda will, subject to the 6 month rule, automatically be dealt with at this meeting, thereby dispensing with a three-minute presentation from the proposer and subsequent vote to enable its consideration.

Deputations by members of the public may be made on any item where a decision is going to be taken. The request should be made in writing to the contact officer (james.harris@portsmouthcc.gov.uk) by 12 noon of the working day before the meeting (so Monday 16 December 2024 for this meeting) and must include the purpose of the deputation (for example, for or against the recommendations). Email requests are accepted.

The current consultation on the Local Council Tax Support Scheme closes on 9 December 2024, the publication date of this agenda.  The report will therefore be to follow under separate cover.

Proposed by Councillor Lee Hunt

Seconded by Councillor Richard Adair

Portsmouth City Council opposes Post Office plans to close more than a hundred larger crown branches including Cosham and Portsmouth Town Centre.

This City Council supports the Communication Workers Union and staff in the fight ahead as the Post Office confirms details of its transformation plan.

The announcement just before Christmas is a terrible blow and worry for employees and their families.

This Council resolves to write a letter to the Secretary of State and the Minister for Post Offices from the Leader of the Council detailing concerns of the Council at proposed closures of the Post Offices in Cosham and the city centre.

This Council supports petitions and will work cross-party to save the post offices and further resolves to send both Portsmouth MPs the above letter with a covering letter asking them to support Portsmouth City Council in lobbying to keep Cosham and the city centre Crown Post Offices mentioned above open.

This motion will fall under Standing Order 32b(ii) and not be considered at this meeting should the motion titled 'Post Office Closures' at agenda item 10a be proposed, seconded and considered by the Council.

Proposed by Councillor Derek North

Seconded by Councillor George Madgwick

Portsmouth's post offices are at risk of closure after the Government announced 115 branches will be up for sale or closed.  Alongside the announcement of the potential closure of the main Slindon Street branch, it has also been announced the local lifeline for many in Cosham High Street is at risk too.

Hundreds of local people are employed at the local branches. The branches serve as a vital lifeline for many people across the city.  The Cosham branch serves a huge community within the north of the city who don't have access to local banks and building societies. Cosham High Street has had a dramatic decline in local banking and public services in recent history and residents use the post office for more than just mail.

Public services like passport applications, driving license renewals, foreign currency exchange, travel insurance, everyday banking services on behalf of many national banks, bill payments, vehicle tax, cheque deposits & parcel collections for third parties are all services used by local residents.  Many of the residents who use these services are also the most vulnerable people within our communities who will struggle without this local service.

Furthermore, local small businesses use the branches for business banking as well as distribution for their products and services.

Losing our local post offices across Portsmouth is something we can't accept.

The Council Resolves to:

(i)      Ask group leaders to write to the Secretary of State of Business and Trade, along with any relevant junior ministers, to express our concerns of the closure of the branches.

(ii)    Ask our Chief Executive to write to the Post Office Chairman, Nigel Railton, to express our cities concerns and request a meeting to discuss the future of our city branches.

(iii)   For the administration to be prepared and start to gather information and data on how residents will be sign posted and supported with the vital services that may be lost if the branches do close in the future.

This motion will fall under Standing Order 32b(ii) and not be considered at this meeting should either the motion titled 'Post Office Closures' at agenda item 10a or the motion titled ' Future of Portsmouth's Post Offices' at item 10b be proposed, seconded and considered by the Council.

Proposed by Councillor Spencer Gardner

Seconded by Councillor Simon Bosher

Council is disappointed to learn the Post Office has announced 115 branches are at risk of closure, including the branch in Cosham High Street.

The Post Office is a public corporation of the Department for Business and Trade. The Government is the sole shareholder of Post Office Ltd, the company that owns and runs the post office network- it is publicly owned and accountable to the Government.

The Cosham branch is a busy and accessible post office, which is a vital community hub for local residents and businesses yet is under threat of closure. Closure threatens to leave many residents without easy access to essential postal and banking services, which are particularly important for older residents, those who struggle to use online services, small businesses and those without access to reliable public transport.

The Post Office's announcement that the Cosham branch is under threat of closure, with no consultation with local people, is extremely concerning.

Therefore:

(i)             This Council firmly opposes any closure of Cosham Post Office. Closure would inconvenience local people and put essential services out of the reach of many vulnerable residents;

(ii)            Council instructs the Chief Executive to write to the Chief Executive of Post Office Ltd setting out the Council's opposition to the Cosham branch being closed and asking for an assurance that it will not be shut; and

(iii)          Council also requests that the Chief Executive writes to Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, to request the Government immediately intervene and protect our local Post Office from closure.

Proposed by Councillor Tom Coles

Seconded by Councillor Mary Vallely

This council notes:

The Government has committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England, to tackle hunger, improve school attendance and alleviate pressure from household budgets.

The breakfast clubs form part of the government’s mission to break the unfair link between background and opportunity - and it has tripled investment in breakfast clubs to help achieve this, to over £33 million for 2025-26. [1]

Recent research by IPSOS Mori finds that over half of parents say they have problems finding formal childcare for their child that is flexible enough to fit their needs. [2]  An additional benefit of breakfast clubs is that they provide childcare ahead of school operating hours, providing parents with additional flexibility with their working hours and jobs.

On 27 November 2024, the government urged schools to sign up for a free breakfast club rollout, with applications now being open for 750 schools to join an ‘early adopter’ rollout. [3]

Families in Portsmouth will soon be able to access 30 minutes of additional free childcare ahead of the start of the school day with the roll-out of the breakfast club initiative, increasing flexibility for school drop-offs.

This council believes:

Breakfast clubs in every Portsmouth primary school will make a huge difference to children, families, and schools - removing barriers to opportunity by helping children learn.

Ensuring children start the day ready to learn, breakfast clubs boost punctuality, attendance and attainment.

Breakfast clubs are a valuable source of childcare for parents at the beginning of the day, boosting parents’ work choices and children’s life chances.  Parents will be able to drop off their children to school earlier, allowing for greater flexibility with their work schedule and other commitments.

Every child in Portsmouth should be able to succeed and thrive, no matter their background. Every child deserves the best chance in life.

This council resolves:

(i)             To ask the Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education to write to all primary schools in Portsmouth to encourage take up of the government’s ‘early adopter’ breakfast club rollout.

(ii)            To ask Corporate Communications to put out promotional information about the breakfast clubs, how they can be accessed and the difference they will make to Portsmouth families.

(iii)          To ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Education to welcome the rollout of breakfast clubs in primary schools across Portsmouth and request that Portsmouth City Council is invited to shape the future of the government’s national breakfast club policy.

References

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-urged-to-sign-up-for-free-breakfast-club-rollout

[2] https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/parent-poll-wave-14-2024-childcare-entitlement-expansion-and-childcare-use

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-urged-to-sign-up-for-free-breakfast-club-rollout

Proposed by Councillor Russell Simpson

Seconded by Councillor George Madgwick

HMOs are a blight on Portsmouth family homes. As part of the current local planning guidance, we have a 10% threshold within a 50m radius of HMO licenses allowance. The council's policy document states that we look for a "Mixed and Balanced community".

However, what many aren't aware of is the large volume of houses, owned by the council, that have multiple unrelated people living within them.  There is no obligation on PCC as landlord/owner to apply for a HMO Licence and these properties are not included within the figures.

Certain buildings, that meet a set regulated criteria, are exempt from HMO regulations, under the Housing Act 2004, that would usually be defined as a HMO. These buildings include, but are not limited to, managed or controlled buildings by private registered providers of social housing, a co-operative society & local authorities.

The above lacuna is never mentioned when considering new applications for HMOs and allows many undeclared properties to exist within communities in Portsmouth that already have a high yield of HMOs. When exempt HMOs are included there are a number of roads across the city that are approaching the 10% threshold or even exceeding it. This also includes excessive HMOs in a row where PCC policy states no more than two next to each other.

In order to support mixed and balanced communities as well as allowing for transparency of our planning system and local community demographics, Council requests that the Cabinet Member for Planning Policy & City Development considers a report at a future decision meeting to review the current exempt HMOs alongside the current licensed HMOs to identify any roads/areas where the combined total exceeds the 10% threshold.

With this information, the cabinet member is requested to consider resolving that the planning department includes all exempt HMOs owned by the council and other exempt providers alongside licensed HMOs as a material consideration when private HMO applications are determined.

For information purposes, the report to also detail any roads/areas where the combined total exceeds the 10% threshold or any roads/areas that are close to the 10% limit when inclusive of registered and exempt HMOs.

This motion will fall under Standing Order 32b(ii) and not be considered at this meeting should either the motion titled 'Post Office Closures' at agenda item 10a, the motion titled ' Future of Portsmouth's Post Offices' at item 10b or the motion titled 'Post Office closures- proposed closure of Cosham Post Office' at item 10c be proposed, seconded and considered by the Council.

Proposed by Councillor Asghar Shah

Seconded by Councillor Mary Vallely

The Post Office recently announced a proposal to give up directly running the existing network of crown post offices and this includes the branch in Cosham which is now threatened with closure.

There is widespread concern about the potential loss of the range of services provided by this post office and the impact this could have on an important local shopping centre.

Council notes the first petition to save this post office being organised by the MP for Portsmouth North, Amanda Martin.

Council supports the campaign to save the post office and requests that the administration consider providing help in identifying potential new operators either as partners or independent operators.

Council requests that group leaders write to the Chair of the Post Office to express our concern about the closure and its impact.

Proposed by Councillor Steve Pitt

Seconded by Councillor Darren Sanders

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has stated that the changes to the Employer's NI threshold and increase in Employer's NI contributions, will impact the voluntary and community sector (VCSE) to the tune of £1.4bn next financial year.

They wrote to the Chancellor asking for assistance and her response was to say that making the changes was a 'difficult decision' but not offering anything new to assist the VCSE.

The Chancellor claims that government assessments are that around half of charities will not be worse off due to the increase in the Employer's Allowance to £10,500.

A separate assessment by The Guardian, indicates that this will only help all employers who have up to 4 full time employees.

This is not acceptable. The Chancellor clearly knows the impact this will have and is choosing to ignore it.

Across the country, local authorities work very closely in partnership with the VCSE to deliver vital services to local people.

As suppliers to local authorities, all businesses with more that 4 FTE employees will inevitably need to pass on these increased costs and that will mean increased costs to local authorities.

Is addition, assessments show that the additional money allocated in the October budget for social care will be eaten up by the impact of these costs. Worse, the Nuffield Trust have estimated the increased cost to councils from suppliers, caused by the NI changes, will be around £900m, far outstripping the £600m of new money allocated by the Chancellor.

We have a government which expects local authorities to be cheered by increased funding when their own actions have taken away that funding by increasing supplier costs.

Worse, it is the VCSE which, in partnership with local authorities, provides many of the vital services our residents rely on and many of those will inevitably be pushed towards insolvency by the increased costs, damaging the sector, perhaps irreparably. One locally based charity has already written to the Council forecasting a £400,000 increase in their costs, following the budget.

This spreads much wider than just the direct impact on PCC. Locally, many of our visitor attractions, venues and community centres are run by charities, which are also reporting huge pressure on already stretched resources.

Small business owners and particularly the hospitality industry, already under pressure and struggling to make ends meet, are facing tough decisions in April over their future viability.

The government came into office pledging to focus on growth, yet this raid on both small businesses and the charity sector, is doing the opposite.

The Chancellor has stated that repairing public services is a priority for the government, yet her actions will actually take £1.4bn from the voluntary sector alone, which is so intrinsic to ensuring those services are there for those who need them.

This Council calls upon the Chancellor to do more to support small businesses, care providers and the VCSE and look elsewhere to close the black hole and asks the Leader to write to her to this effect.