Agenda item

Motions on Notice (8.37 pm)

Meeting of Council, Thursday, 17 July 2025 6.30 pm (Item 26.)

To consider the following Motions on Notice under Standing Order B10:

Motions submitted for consideration directly by Council, in accordance with Standing Order B10:

i) From Councillor Rose:

Improving equality of access to elections

“Council notes:

· its approved council motions in recent years on voter engagement and participation, including the December 2022 motion opposing new rules imposed on electors, including the new photo ID requirement, in March 2024 backing the ‘My Vote My Voice’ campaign on equal access to voting, and in July 2024 highlighting disenfranchisement problems resulting from a flawed postal vote system;

· Elections Act 2022 nationality requirements resulting in a lottery of who can vote in different elections, with different treatment of different EU and other citizens in different domestic elections;

· that groups that are more likely to be disenfranchised than others include those with physical mobility challenges, mental health challenges, learning disabilities and neurodivergence; younger people; people from poorer backgrounds; people with fewer educational qualifications; ethnic minorities; residents with other nationalities and primary languages; and private tenants in high-turnover-rate areas (such as high rent or high short-term-lets rates areas);

· that according to 2021 census data York has many people in more highly disenfranchised groups, with a population that are approximately 20% private renters, 17% disabled people, 16% with bad or middling health, 14% 18-24 year olds, 14% social renters, 11% born overseas, 6% widowed, 4% single parents, 4% non-white British, 4% non-white non-British, 3% white non-British, and 0.3% Gypsy, Roma or Traveller;

· the January 2025 IPPR report: Modernising Elections: How To Get Voters Back that recommended many changes including automatic voter registration, removal of Photo ID requirements, non-working day elections, voting rights for permanent residents, compulsory voting, £100k limits for political donors, votes for 16-17 year olds, and sortition for poll workers;

· That Scotland and Wales have implemented residence-based voting rights that give equal rights to vote to all residents, with Manchester, Cambridgeshire, several London boroughs, Liverpool, Sheffield and others all supporting the same rights for England.

Council believes all residents should have equal rights and access to voting, and that the creation of new barriers to voting through the Elections Act 2022 was wrong. Complex voting eligibility and voter ID requirements have since disenfranchised voters.

Council further believes that the government and local authorities should fully engage with the IPPR recommendations and maximise support and encouragement for engaging with democratic processes, and that partners including educational institutions and landlords should do more to encourage voter registration and participation.

Council resolves:

· to request the Council Leader writes to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Deputy Prime Minister, making the case that local election franchising be applied equally to all residents in England, in line with Scotland and Wales;

· to request the Council Leader writes to letting agencies and landlords with significant numbers of properties in York, the University of York and York St John University, seeking greater support in registering more residents to vote, including consideration of automatic registration;

· to request the Council, through the appropriate committee, considers those recommendations of the IPPR in which there is local discretion, and any other viable opportunities to increase voter participation, before making recommendations to the Returning Officer for their consideration, prior to the Local Elections in 2027.”

ii) From Councillor Mason:

Supporting York’s small businesses

“Council notes:

· The Labour Government’s increase to employer’s contribution to National Insurance from 13.8% to 15%, and a reduction in the threshold of which they start to pay it from £9,100 to £5,000 per year.

· The Liberal Democrat campaign to urge Britons to buy locally made products to support businesses in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs

· The adoption in November 2024 of the City of York Council Local Transport Strategy Implementation Plan which included commitments to:

o review parking capacity within a 2km radius of the city centre on an off street, within the Council’s ownership and managed by the private sector, the demand for that parking and the charges for that parking; and

o then specify the parking provision which is needed and the charges which should be levied

· Feedback from the 2025/26 council budget-setting consultation which indicated a preference among respondents for a balanced approach which included revenue-raising, efficiency improvements, and making cuts only as a last resort

· The adoption through the 2025/26 council budget of significantly increased parking charges

· The subsequent Executive decision to amend some of these charges at some locations and to increase the discount for the Minster Badge to 30 per cent of the standard parking charge, at an estimated cost of £115,000

· The petition signed by over 8,000 people prompted by the Bishopthorpe Road parking charge increase which calls on the council to engage meaningfully with local residents, traders and community groups to find a fairer, balanced solution that supports sustainable travel without punishing people

· The campaigns that have been established in response to concerns about the impact on local businesses of higher parking charges in areas such as Micklegate, East Parade and The Groves

· The reduction in city centre footfall of 30,000 people from May 2024 to May 2025

Council believes:

· That efforts to reduce car dependency, tackle congestion and improve public transport reliability in and around York are to be welcomed

· That key to the success of these efforts will be the availability of affordable, reliable, accessible and safe alternatives to private car use

· That it was a mistake to have significantly increased parking charges without first having undertaken the promised review of parking provision and demand for that provision

· That businesses were not adequately consulted prior to the detail of the parking charge increases being agreed

· That the triple hit of National Insurance increases, Donald Trump’s tariffs and increased parking charges have put serious strain on local businesses

Council resolves:

· To request the Executive to instruct officers to undertake an urgent piece of work to estimate the cost of restoring a lower cost 30-minute stay option at on-street parking sites where this had been available prior to April 2025

· To request that Executive (or an Executive Member Decision Session) seeks a decision paper within 3 months, setting out options for the reinstatement of a lower cost 30-minute stay at these locations

· To ask that the Executive works with local business groups and representative organisations, such as the York Business Improvement District and the Federation of Small Businesses, to understand the impact of recent National Insurance changes in order to be able to lobby Government for mitigation measures.”

iii) From Councillor Merrett:

Non-proliferation of Fossil Fuels

“Council notes its 2019 approved motion declaring a Climate Emergency, supported at that time by each of the council’s main political parties. Much good work has taken place here in York since that time, across multiple council administrations, in the transition towards becoming a net zero city.

Council notes York’s position as one of only 112 cities globally with an A rating from the independent Carbon Data Programme, for the third year running this year.

Council further notes:

· that the impacts of climate change affect everyone everywhere, including York, through hotter summers, longer periods without rain and more flood events;

· improvements made nationally in UK energy consumption, with a trend away from fossil fuels towards renewables and low carbon energy sources;

· and welcomes the ambition for energy security and renewables embodied in Great British Energy;

· the UK’s still significant reliance on gas and oil, which represent around 75% of the UK’s total energy consumption;

· the role advanced economies should play in the transition towards cleaner energy generation and consumption;

· the ongoing Non-Proliferation Treaty on Fossil Fuels campaign, as part of national and international efforts to achieve a just transition to net zero, and to ensure global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels (COP21 Paris Agreement);

· The campaign’s three key fossil fuel aims of non-proliferation, a fair phase out and a just transition.

Council:

· believes all Local and Combined Authorities should do all they can to progress this transition;

· welcomes the Government’s position on stopping new licensing of fossil fuel extraction;

· believes use of fossil fuels needs to be phased out and therefore opposes any new extraction of fossil fuels, including the ‘proppant squeeze’ gas extraction method currently proposed in North Yorkshire.

Council resolves to request the Council Leader:

· give York’s written support to the Non-Proliferation Treaty on Fossil Fuels campaign, confirming York’s position to the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero;

· write to the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire and the city’s two MPs confirming the council’s position on non-proliferation of fossil fuels, and seeking their support in achieving this goal, through both regional decision-making, national energy policy and support for the MP for York Central’s Early Day Motion 111 in support of the above Treaty.”

Minutes:

i. Improving equality of access to elections

Moved by Cllr Rose and seconded by Cllr Coles:

“Council notes:

Council resolves:

Cllr Hollyer then moved, and Cllr Knight seconded, an amendment to the above motion, as follows:

“Under ‘Council notes’, add four additional bullet points after the sixth bullet point:

· ‘That Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly all adopted Proportional voting systems.

· That in 2022 the Electoral Reform Society published research that showed on average that countries that use PR have significantly higher turnout than those that use First-Past-the-Post, with 77% for PR countries vs 67% for non-PR countries.

· That Labour in the 2024 General Election received the lowest vote share of any majority government post-World War Two.

· That the government has recently published the English Devolution and Communities Empowerment Bill that seeks to re-introduce the supplementary vote system for Mayors. This comes after the 2025 Mayoral Elections where no Mayor received majority support and the WECA Mayor was elected on just 25% of the vote.’

Delete the words ‘Council further believes’ and reorder “Council believes” section as two bullet points. In first new bullet point, delete after ‘Complex voting eligibility’ and replace with ‘, First Past the Post and voter ID requirements have disenfranchised voters.’

Add third bullet point under ‘Council Believes’:

· ‘All votes should count equally, therefore the council should support the introduction of a proportional voting system ahead of the next set of local and national elections.’

Under ‘Council resolves’, first bullet point, delete ‘;’ and replace with ‘ , as well as requesting that the voting system used in local and national elections be changed to a proportional system;’”.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared LOST.

Following debate, a vote was taken on the substantive motion, which was declared CARRIED and it was

Resolved: That the above motion be approved.¹

ii. Supporting York’s small businesses

Under Rule B15 (2) Cllr Mason sought Council’s consent to alter his motion to update the final bullet point under ‘Council notes’ to delete ‘of 30,000 people from May 2024 to May 2025’ and replace with ‘of 90,000 people from May and June 2024 to May and June 2025’ after the word ‘footfall’. Council did not consent to the alteration.

Moved by Cllr Mason and seconded by Cllr Fenton:

“Council notes:

· The Liberal Democrat campaign to urge Britons to buy locally made products to support businesses in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs

· The adoption in November 2024 of the City of York Council Local Transport Strategy Implementation Plan which included commitments to:

o then specify the parking provision which is needed and the charges which should be levied

· The adoption through the 2025/26 council budget of significantly increased parking charges

· The campaigns that have been established in response to concerns about the impact on local businesses of higher parking charges in areas such as Micklegate, East Parade and The Groves

· The reduction in city centre footfall of 30,000 people from May 2024 to May 2025

Council believes:

· That efforts to reduce car dependency, tackle congestion and improve public transport reliability in and around York are to be welcomed

· That key to the success of these efforts will be the availability of affordable, reliable, accessible and safe alternatives to private car use

· That it was a mistake to have significantly increased parking charges without first having undertaken the promised review of parking provision and demand for that provision

· That businesses were not adequately consulted prior to the detail of the parking charge increases being agreed

· That the triple hit of National Insurance increases, Donald Trump’s tariffs and increased parking charges have put serious strain on local businesses

Council resolves:

Cllr B Burton then moved, and Cllr Webb seconded, an amendment to the above motion, as follows:

“Under ‘Council notes’:

- After bullet point 3, at the second sub-bullet point add after the word ‘levied’: ‘to ensure demand does not exceed capacity;’ and add a third sub-bullet point:

o ‘ensure that parking charges reflect and match the cost of travel by other means – particularly fares for Park and Ride and other local bus services;’

- At the seventh bullet point, delete ‘calls’ and replace with ‘called’, and after the word ‘people’ add: ‘- engagement the Executive and council officers have subsequently undertaken before approving adjustments to charges in response to public concerns;’

- At the ninth bullet point, delete the word ‘reduction’ and replace with ‘increase’; after ‘footfall,’ add ‘based on the council’s own city centre CCTV monitoring,’, delete ‘30,000’ and replace with ‘almost 18,000’; after ‘people,’ add ‘when comparing the months of’; delete ‘from’ before the words ‘May 2024’, delete ‘to’ from before the words ‘May 2025’ and replace with ‘and’;

- After the ninth bullet point, add three additional bullet points:

· An evidence review, carried out by Sustrans for the Dept for Transport, found that retailers overestimate how many of their customers travel by car by a factor of 100%;

· latest Centre for Cities data showing York’s estimated unit vacancy rates are the fourth lowest in the UK at 9.2%, while the council’s own data shows York’s city centre vacancy rate is even lower, at just 5.9%;

· analysis within the same report that states: “those places with strong high streets have risen to the challenge of out-of-town shopping and online retail by pivoting from retail towards food, swapping redundant shops for cafés and restaurants”.

Under ‘Council believes’:

- At the first bullet point, after ‘welcomed,’ add ‘but could be significantly undermined by stimulating short, frequent trips through the reintroduction of a 30 mins parking charge option;’

- At the second bullet point, after ‘will be’ add ‘incentivising people to use sustainable travel through’;

- At a new third bullet point:

· ‘that York should take inspiration from strategies elsewhere that consider parking alongside other priorities for public highways use such as climate resilience measures, outdoor space for businesses and improved active travel opportunities;’

- At the original third (now fourth) bullet point, delete ‘That it was a mistake to have’ and add ‘that moving to’; after ‘parking charges delete ‘without first having undertaken the promised review of parking provision and demand for that provision’ and replace with ‘in some areas has felt too much, too soon for many traders and their customers;’

- At the original fourth (now fifth) bullet point, after ‘That’ add ‘while the council undertook its most comprehensive and biggest budget consultation ever, some’; and after ‘businesses’ add ‘felt they’;

- At the original fifth (now sixth) bullet point, delete ‘the triple hit of’; after ‘have’ delete ‘put serious strain on’ and replace with ‘caused concerns for some’; and after ‘businesses’ add ‘but economic data shows York remains a vibrant, high performing and competitive local economy.’

Under ‘Council resolves:’

- At the first bullet point, after ‘officers’ delete ‘to undertake an urgent piece of work’; and after ‘April 2025,’ add ‘and to assess whether this supports the objectives of the council’s approved Local Transport and Climate Strategies;’

- At the second bullet point, after ‘Executive’ delete ‘(or an Executive Member Decision Session) seeks a decision paper within 3 months,’ and add ‘considers’; after ‘locations,’ add ‘following the conclusion and findings from its trader-instigated Review of Parking Charges (under Traffic Management Act 2004 powers);’”.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared CARRIED.

Following debate, on being put to the vote, the amended motion was declared CARRIED and it was

Resolved: That the above motion, as amended, be approved.²

In relation to a point of order raised by Cllr Ayre pursuant to Rule B19 (1) (e), the Monitoring Officer confirmed that he had provided advice, rather than a dispensation, to Cllr Kilbane regarding the interest he had declared in relation to the above motion.

iii. Non-proliferation of Fossil Fuels

As the guillotine had fallen, the below motion submitted by Cllr B Burton on behalf of Cllr Merrett was deemed moved and seconded:

Council notes York’s position as one of only 112 cities globally with an A rating from the independent Carbon Data Programme, for the third year running this year.

Council further notes:

· that the impacts of climate change affect everyone everywhere, including York, through hotter summers, longer periods without rain and more flood events;

· improvements made nationally in UK energy consumption, with a trend away from fossil fuels towards renewables and low carbon energy sources;

· and welcomes the ambition for energy security and renewables embodied in Great British Energy;

· the UK’s still significant reliance on gas and oil, which represent around 75% of the UK’s total energy consumption;

· the role advanced economies should play in the transition towards cleaner energy generation and consumption;

· The campaign’s three key fossil fuel aims of non-proliferation, a fair phase out and a just transition.

Council:

· believes all Local and Combined Authorities should do all they can to progress this transition;

· welcomes the Government’s position on stopping new licensing of fossil fuel extraction;

Council resolves to request the Council Leader:

· give York’s written support to the Non-Proliferation Treaty on Fossil Fuels campaign, confirming York’s position to the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero;

A point of order was raised by Cllr Widdowson pursuant to Rule B19 (1) (e), highlighting that Cllr Knight, who had earlier declared an interest in relation to the above motion, had left the meeting while the motion was under consideration.

The below amendment to the above motion, submitted by Cllr Steward, was deemed moved and seconded:

“Under ‘Council;’, at the third bullet point, delete the words ‘opposes any’ and replace with ‘seeks to limit’.

On being put to the vote the amendment was declared LOST.

A vote was then taken, without debate, on the substantive motion. This was declared CARRIED and it was

Resolved: That the above motion be approved.³

Action Required:
1. To note approval of the motion on improving equality of access to elections and take the appropriate action.	CD/NW/BR
2. To note approval of the motion (as amended) on supporting York’s small businesses and take the appropriate action.	CD/NW/GT
3. To note approval of the motion on non-proliferation of fossil fuels and take the appropriate action.	CD/NW/CF