Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 4^th March and 15^th May 2024.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meetings held on 4^th March 2024 and 15^th May 2024 be approved and signed as a correct record.   

There were no declarations of interest.

Broadcasting of the meeting

The Mayor announced that the meeting was being broadcast live to the internet and the broadcast would remain available for twelve months, after which it could be made available on request. Anyone addressing the meeting was deemed to be consenting to having their contribution recorded and broadcast and to the use of those recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes.

Item 11, Waiver of Six Month Councillor Attendance Rule

Members were pleased to note that Councillor Chung was in attendance and therefore noted that the Borough Solicitor had withdrawn the report for agenda item 11.  

New Mayoral Escort

The Mayor confirmed that Rena Labongo was to be added to the list of Mayoral escorts.    

Camden Irish Centre

Councillor Simpson announced that Gary Dunne was stepping down after 10 years as the Creative Director of the Camden Irish Centre. Councillor Simpson expressed thanks to Gary for the contribution the Irish Centre had made to Camden during those 10 years.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Callaghan and De Ayala Parker.

Requests to address the Council or to present a petition on a matter in which the authority has functions or which affects the area of the authority must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 12 noon three working days before the meeting.

A deputation was heard from Kirsteen McDonagh of Maitland Park Tenants and Residents Association about Maitland Park Estate Community Hall, as per the deputation statement circulated to Members and published on the website.

Members then asked questions of the deputee and the Cabinet Member for Better Homes then responded to the deputation.

The elect the Leader of the Council to serve until the next annual meeting after the next ordinary whole Council elections.

To hear from the Leader as to their intentions with regards to the Deputy Leader(s) and Cabinet.

The Mayor called for nominations for the position of Leader of the Council, to serve until the annual Council meeting after the next whole Council elections. 

Councillor Greenwood moved the following motion and made a speech in support of Councillor Olszewski: 

THAT Councillor Richard Olszewski be elected Leader of the Council for the remaining term of this Council and until the annual meeting after the next ordinary whole Council elections.

Councillor Olad seconded the motion and made a speech in support of  Councillor Olszewski’s nomination. 

On being put to the vote it was:

RESOLVED –

THAT Richard Olszewski be elected Leader of the Council for the remaining term of this Council and until the annual meeting after the next ordinary whole Council elections.

Councillor Olszewski, Leader of the Council, made a brief speech in which he indicated that he would be making appointments to the Cabinet in the next few weeks.

The Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care will introduce the topic.

There will then be contributions from experts and community representatives, followed by questions and discussion.

Finally, the Cabinet Member will sum up.

Councillor Wright introduced the report and the Council then heard from the following speakers:

Arun Kumar spoke about the many challenges of being a carer and that at some point in all our lives we would either be a carer or be cared for. It was therefore important for the Carers Action Plan to set the standard for everyone involved in care in Camden. As a single parent carer of a child with severe learning needs and autism, Arun described the demands of the role that was often not taken on by choice.  There were very few male carers; it was socially  isolating and incredibly hard work; personal health took less priority; careers were put on hold; sleep deprivation took its toll; and there was financial hardship with the additional impact of the cost of living crisis. Arun called on the Action Plan to raise awareness of who carers were and what they did. There should be better collaboration between service providers and improvements made to respite services, with proper assessments of the support carers needed in order to achieve a carer friendly Camden.

Angela Tebe spoke about experiencing different carer roles over the last 25 years, as a daughter, a mother and as someone who had only relatively recently described themselves as a carer. Angela also spoke about: valuing the carer role and ensuring that their needs were met; the challenge of navigating the transition from children services to adult services, and having to seek out services that were available but poorly signposted. Angela hoped that the Carers Action Plan would address these issues as well as issues around the built environment, where physical accessibility and mobility obstacles created additional problems for carers, and made them reliant on cars or isolated if they did not have a car. If these changes were made, they would benefit everyone in the borough.    

Roushanara Khan shared the experience of having provided multifaceted caring roles as a parent to two daughters, each with very different specific special needs, and also caring for an elderly mother who had survived cancer and a son.  Roushanara described it as a roller coaster of emotions, living in survival mode under the stress of financial constraints and unable to make ends meet. Roushanara spoke about a passion for voluntary work with people with special needs and the vulnerable,- that had led to the role of Chair of Camden Carers Voice. It had been a privilege to share in the co-production of the Carers Action Plan, it would provide an A to Z directory for carers and professionals and help to provide better care and services. 

Kate White spoke as a carer for John, who had been Kate’s partner and whose photograph was shown to the Council. John had died 3 years ago at the age of 86. He had lived with Alzheimer’s for 12 years, 9 years of which had been spent in Camden with local neighbourhood support and he had remained very engaged in life. Kate was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Leader of the Council will make a statement, followed by responses from the Leaders of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative Groups and then the Leader to sum up.  There will then be questions from Members to the Leader and Cabinet Members.

(There are no pages for this part of the agenda.)

Councillor Richard Olszewski, Leader of the Council, made a statement to those present.  Councillor Tom Simon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, and Councillor Steve Adams, Leader of the Conservative Group, made statements in response and then Councillor Olszewski made some final remarks.

The Leader and Cabinet Members then took questions from Members as follows:-

·             Councillor Dixey asked the Leader of the Council what proactive steps could be taken in response to the steady closure of bank branches, to support vulnerable tenants and small businesses dealing in cash and whether banking hubs could be the solution. Councillor Olszewski responded that the Council would provide support where it could on the impact of the changing high street, but Camden was not responsible for the banking system and that many of the solutions raised by Councillor Dixey would involve interventions from central government. The Council would continue to support those people who were digitally excluded to acquire skills to help lessen the impact of the reduction of services from the high street. In response to a supplementary question about a recent global IT outage, the reliance on online services and how the Council had been affected, Councillor Olszewski remarked that those affected by the outage were organisations reliant on the cyber security used by Microsoft and that the Council had not been affected.  

·             Councillor Athian asked the Leader of the Council about what been done to build on the role of Camden as a Borough of Sanctuary. In response Councillor Olszewski spoke about how Camden had been a welcoming borough for generations, gave credit to those across the Council that had contributed in the work towards becoming a Borough of Sanctuary in June and the importance of providing reassurance to all communities in Camden. In a supplementary comment, Councillor Athian, thanked Councillor Abdi-Wali, and all those involved, for the work for Camden to become a Borough of Sanctuary for refugees.

·             Councillor Parkinson asked the Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden about the continued mismanagement of e-bikes in Frognal ward where the bikes had been left on pavements and in hotspot areas where the operators had not managed the bays efficiently. When the e-bike contracts were renewed would Camden commit to imposing a small fine on e-bike operators for bikes left outside designated areas to encourage them to take further action?  Councillor Harrison responded that, Camden was one of first boroughs to establish agreements with operators to give itself some contractual powers. Under the contract operators were obliged to remove reported bikes left outside a bay within an hour, and over the past year there had been compliance by the operators but there were still some locations where there had been  overflowing bike bays. The operators had been contacted to manage the bays more effectively and or expand them. Future plans included a move to a London wide a contract with operators that would be managed by Transport for London, with an approach that would be clearer for e-bike users. In response to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Borough Solicitor

Consideration was given to a report of the Borough Solicitor.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Borough Solicitor

As there were no nominations, this report was not considered.

Report of the Borough Solicitor

This item had been withdrawn from the agenda by the Borough Solicitor because Councillor Chung had attended the Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee on 15^th July.

Consideration was given to the following motion, notice of which was given by Councillor Kirk al amendment and which was seconded by Councillor Dixey:-

This Council notes:

1. The UK music industry is a global leader - producing world famous artists and bringing joy to millions. Camden is at its heart. And music is at the heart of Camden life.
2. In the classical and jazz worlds, the Jazz Café, Conway Hall, the Red Hedgehog and the Fidelio Café are all within the Borough. So is the Royal College of Music.  The Royal Opera House, Kings Place and the Barbican lie on its borders. Camden is home to the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and to dozens of semi-professional and amateur orchestras and instrumental groups; the Highgate Choir and scores of others.
3. Many great albums and film scores have been - and are being - recorded in Air Studios or Camden’s other recording venues.
4. In contemporary music, with 28 Grassroots venues Camden has one of the highest concentrations of venues anywhere in the country and is famous for its thriving music scene.  Camden’s music venues have launched the careers of Coldplay, Madness, Amy Winehouse and Dua Lipa among others.
5. Grassroots music venues in London currently operate with average margins of 0.2%. Twenty-seven London venues ceased offering live music during 2023, with 12 closing entirely.
6. The House of Commons Department for Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) report “Grassroots Music Venues”, April 2024, recommended a levy on the largest live music venues to fund grassroots music venues.  It called for a voluntary industry scheme by September 2024, failing which the government to introduce a statutory levy at the earliest opportunity.
7. The “Agent of Change” (AOC) principle was included in the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF) in 2018.  Despite this, abatement notices are still being issued to longstanding venues (e.g. Flying Circus, Newark), and developers are not always held to account for implementing agreed mitigations (e.g. Night & Day in Manchester).
8. The limited inclusion of the AOC principle in the current Local Plan and the strengthening of the principle in the draft new Local Plan.
9. The courts have recognised that musicians have a right to practice at home for five hours a day, three on Sunday [e.g. RBKC v Carrabino (2017)]. But councils have not consistently applied these rulings, and musicians often do not have the resources to take legal action. The well-publicised conflict between Fiona Fey and Lewisham Newham Council is a striking example.
10. There is clear evidence that learning to play a musical instrument not only enriches a child culturally but has a substantial beneficial effect on their academic and social development, and yet participation in, and funding for, music education is both in decline and unequal. Only 15% of state schools pupils received sustained music tuition. The figure is 50% in independent schools.
11. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s call for all children to have the chance to learn a musical instrument at school.
12. AI is a powerful tool for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

During this part of the meeting any Member may make a contribution of up to two minutes primarily on any matter which affects their ward.

(There are no pages for this part of the agenda.)

Contributions were made from the following Councillors:

-        Councillor Chang thanked everyone for the welcoming her back and in particular thanked the Mayor, the Chief Executive, the Borough Solicitor, the former Leader of the Council and the Liberal Democrat Group for the kindness shown during her short period of illness. 

-        Councillor Russell congratulated Councillor Olszewski on being elected Leader of the Council, as well as congratulating Danny Beales, Lloyd Hatton, Georgia Gould and Sian Berry at the start of their new roles as Members of Parliament. Councillor Russell went on to ask if the Council would consider taking part in an upcoming 4 day working week pilot, as it had been shown to improve staff wellbeing, employee retention, productivity and organisational flexibility.  

-        Councillor Simpson spoke about the event that he and Councillor McNamara had attended at the Roundhouse. It had taken place to celebrate the first year of the new centre, that had been officially opened by Sir Keir Starmer, to support young business people and young people with innovative ideas. Councillor Simpson congratulated Marcus Davey and the Roundhouse team for all their work to support young people in Camden and London.

-        Councillor Boyland thanked the Council for supporting the first schools art biennale, held over 6 days with 350 art pieces submitted by Camden school pupils, and attended by 5500 visitors. It had been curated by a team from Central St Martins Art School and school teachers to celebrate the arts in Camden. Councillor Boyland thanked everyone who had contributed to making the event such a success.  

-        Councillor Simon also mentioned how successful the art biennale had been. He also praised Abacus Belsize Primary School, who for the second year running had achieved top SATs results in Camden, despite challenging situations. The results had been quite an achievement and had placed the school in the top 1% of primary schools in London for SATs results.      

There was no urgent business.