15 March 2018
We’re proposing two motions to March 2018 council meeting. One about matching spare rooms with people in housing need, and another relating to providing public drinking fountains in the city to reduce single use plastic bottles. Here’s the full text of those motions. You can also find a press piece in the Evening News on Wednesday March 14th about the water fountains motion. Online version here.
Motion – Matching spare rooms with people in housing need
Proposer: Councillor Bögelein
Seconder: Councillor Raby
Norwich has 4,000 people on the housing list, with 300 in hostels. The combination of insecure incomes, high rents and the fact that many letting agencies won’t accept tenants on housing benefit leaves many people unable to rent privately.
Meanwhile, people with spare bedrooms available to rent – including council tenants subject to the bedroom tax – may be unaware of these issues or how they can help.
The council’s role as housing advisor, landlord and conduit between various agencies puts it in a strong position to bring together people in housing need and those who can offer an affordable room.
Council RESOLVES to:
1) note the difficulty experienced by many people in accessing the private rented sector;
2) ask cabinet to:
a) explore options for publicising the need for more rooms available to people in receipt of housing benefit or on low and/or insecure incomes, and for facilitating and publicising the subletting of rooms in council houses;
b) consider establishing a strategic partnership with charities and other local organisations working on housing and homelessness, to explore solutions to this issue;
c) explore other ways of working with the private rented sector to increase housing provision for people in receipt of housing benefit or on low and/or insecure incomes.
Motion – Public drinking fountains for Norwich
Proposer: Councillor Grahame
Seconder: Councillor Jackson
Until around 40 years ago, public drinking fountains were a common sight in UK towns and cities. Most have fallen out of use, and there are no council-maintained fountains in Norwich.
The growing awareness of the damage done by single-use plastics such as water bottles has led to campaigns around the country for fountains to be reinstated. The Mayor of London recently announced that 20 new fountains would be installed in London this year, while several other cities including Hull and Bristol installed new fountains last year in partnerships between councils, water companies and waste boards.
Council RESOLVES to:
1) acknowledge the importance of providing access to free drinking water around the city and the excellent work done by Refill Norwich on this issue, and give its support to the reintroduction of public drinking fountains;
2) ask cabinet to:
a) work with the Business Improvement District and Anglian Water to develop a plan for the funding, installation and maintenance of public drinking fountains;
b) seek residents’ views on desirable locations for drinking fountains.
