Improving the efficiency of the city council’s housing stock, raising wages for some of the council’s lowest-paid workers and cleaning up areas with high rates of fly-tipping are among the changes Green Party councillors want to make to services provided by Norwich City Council over the next year.
The council will meet next Tuesday evening to agree its priorities and budget for the coming year and Greens are proposing a raft of improvements to what the Labour administration has planned.
Councillor Sandra Bogelein, deputy leader of the Green Group said:
“The Labour cabinet is taking a short-sighted approach when the council should be thinking long-term. Greens want the council to prioritise differently and focus on improving homes so they use less energy. This is vital right now as gas and electricity prices are soaring. Long-term planning of retrofitting is needed now to save the council and its tenants money in the future. We want to employ a new housing efficiency manager to start this important work. And we would make the provision of energy-efficient homes a core part of the council’s corporate plan by adding a specific pledge on this to the corporate plan.”
Greens are taking action on energy efficiency further, also seeking to offer new support to community centres by setting up a special grant scheme which the centres can use to pay for energy efficiency improvements or retrofitting.
Councillor Lucy Galvin, Leader of the Green Group at City Hall, said:
“Our community centres weren’t designed to be energy-efficient; yet they provide important services for our communities. Centres are already facing huge bill increases, one, for example, from £156 to over £400 per month, as they do not benefit from the domestic cap. Having recently been surveyed, our centres have specific identified needs which they could take forward – for instance extra insulation. This amendment will help to do that.”
The Green budget amendment includes a range of other actions to make life better for Norwich residents. Given the amount of fly-tipping around Norwich, Green councillors want the council to collect this waste for free to discourage further fly-tipping and improve residents’ quality of life, reducing costs in the long-run.
Councillor Bogelein added:
“Generally, we want to see the city cleaner and its people healthier. The council could easily install more litter bins, air quality monitors and gym equipment in parks which would all help. We also want the council to take steps to provide more solar panels and electrical charging in car parks.
“We know that residents want the city to be cleaner and healthier. Our plans include cleaning up Prince of Wales Road and making parts of the city centre more family-friendly. Especially as we’ve all been out so little during lockdown, it would be good for everyone to be able to enjoy the city centre more and support the businesses there.”
Further information from:
Councillor Sandra Bogelein 07506 761124 s.bogelein@cllr.norwich.gov.uk
Councillor Jamie Osborn 07975 881585 j.osborn@cllr.norwich.gov.uk
Councillor Lucy Galvin 07954 428437 l.galvin@cllr.norwich.gov.uk
Notes:
1: The full Green Group budget amendment February 2022
Councillor Bogelein to move and Councillor Osborn to second the following amendment: –
“In addition to the below amendments, the council should make a commitment to supporting its company NCSL in improving terms and conditions for NCSL workers. The council should commit to funding increases in pay for workers, should NCSL not be able to fund these increases initially. It was not possible to phrase this commitment as an allowable budget amendment due to the fact that the pay award is a company decision.”
To increase the following budget items:-
Revenue
| · * (HRA) – Create a new role of Housing Efficiency Manager 2022/23 only· · The post is proposed to be funded from the invest to save reserve on the basis that additional grant funding can be secured in future years to fund either revenue or capital expenditure from 2023/24 onwards. The role can only continue once ongoing funding is secured for later years. This will save money as it will mean the council can take a holistic and long-term-planning approach to retrofitting housing rather than having to return to properties to do works on them several times over as standards rise. It will be crucial for dealing with the cost of living crisis. | 60,000 | ||
| ** Reinstate waste amnesty collections in areas with high numbers of fly-tipping incidents. Impact on costs of fly tipping to be assessed throughout 2022/23 prior to any ongoing commitment being incorporated into the MTFS | 50,000 | ||
| ** Carry out a review of electrical charging and solar energy creation in car parks | 20,000 | ||
| *** Install outdoor gym equipment in Chapelfield ParkExample provided in the link below:Mini Fitness Package (sunshinegym.co.uk) | 5,000 | ||
| *** Install two new litter bins in areas that need them, such as Gertrude Road. The request for bins in this location is that walkers come off Mousehold Heath and put dog faeces into residents’ wheelie bins. It is assumed that the marginal costs of collection can be absorbed within the current contract arrangements. | 2,000 | ||
| *** Scope a new vision for Prince of Wales Road, to encourage new daytime businesses to locate to the area, to provide new storage areas for commercial bins and to develop a commercial food waste collection scheme, and for Gentleman’s Walk to encourage family-friendly early evening activity. | 20,000 | ||
| *** Develop a community air quality sensor scheme: where individual members of communities or organisations such as schools or community centres can apply for funding to host air quality sensors in their communities and the council has access to the results | 5,000 |
Revenue Funding:
| * contribution from invest to save reserve | 60,000 | ||
| ** contribution from business change reserve | 70,000 | ||
| *** contribution from General Reserves | 32,000 |
Capital
| · Repayable grant for community centres · Energy improvements/retrofitting | 100,000 |
Capital Funding:
| Contribution from capital receipts reserve | 100,000 |
2. The Green Party Corporate Plan Amendment: –
Councillor Galvin is amending the corporate plan as follows:-
Inserting the following words “and provide energy efficiency” at the end of the following priority in Aim 3, Norwich has the infrastructure and housing it needs to be a successful city; “Actively manage and invest in our Housing Revenue Account homes so they are safe, well maintained, and provide modern facilities.”
So that the revised aim becomes:-
Aim 3 – Norwich has the infrastructure and housing it needs to be a successful city
To deliver this we will:
- Refine and deliver the strategic framework for city development.
- Develop and regenerate areas such as East Norwich and Anglia Square.
- Provide and encourage others to provide new homes, open spaces and infrastructure for residents.
- Secure and manage funds from a range of sources to invest in the city.
- Make the best use of our Housing Revenue Account assets and resources, maximizing our income and spending wisely to provide easy to access, high quality services and support for our tenants and leaseholders.
Actively manage and invest in our Housing Revenue Account homes so they are safe, well maintained, and provide modern facilities, and provide energy efficiency.
Norwich Green Party has ten councillors on Norwich City Council, where it forms the main opposition party, and three on Norfolk County Council, representing the wards of Mancroft, Nelson and Thorpe Hamlet in Norwich.
