Agenda item

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

 

1)   Religious slaughter of animals

 

To be moved by Councillor Warters

 

Council notes that:

 

·        The ritual slaughter of animals for the production of Halal and Kosher meat and meat products without prior full and un-recoverable stun is intolerably cruel, painful, unnecessary and should end.

·        Recent undercover footage of activities at a Halal and Kosher slaughterhouse is utterly abhorrent and has no place in this country.

 

Council believes that:

 

·        In a civilised country the unnecessary torture of animals should not be a matter of personal dietary choice nor be part of a religious exemption.

·        Indeed, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Greece currently ban non stun animal slaughter.

·        City of York Council should show compassionate and courageous leadership in dealing with this matter in much the same way as Lancashire County Council did some years ago.

 

Council resolves to;

 

·        Instruct the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Dame Angela Eagle MP and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Farming, Food and Fisheries stating the Council’s concern over the production and sale of non and recoverable stun meat and meat products in the UK and to request removal of the religious exemption permitting slaughter without full, unrecoverable stunning to be removed without delay.

·        Ban the procurement of non and recoverable stun ritually slaughtered meat and meat products by City of York Council.

·        Ban the sale and consumption of non and recoverable stun ritually slaughtered meat and meat products on directly operated City of York Council premises.

·        Draft future City of York Council catering contracts and leases for food outlets on City of York Council premises to prohibit the sale and provision of such meat.

·        Inform representative hospitality venues in the city of the view of City of York Council.

·        Inform all food outlets in the city of the view of the City of York Council.

·        Instruct the relevant City of York Council officers to ensure that any procurement of meat and meat products by City of York Council aims to ensure supply is sourced locally and with due regard to the highest possible welfare standards being able to be demonstrated.

 

2)   Tackling Fly-Tipping and Improving York’s Public Realm

 

To be moved by Councillor Waller

 

Council notes:

 

·        That residents rightly expect their neighbourhoods to be clean, safe and well maintained, and that the quality of York’s public realm has a significant impact on residents’ quality of life, the attractiveness of our city and the local economy.

·        York recorded 2,954 reported fly-tipping incidents in 2024/25, an increase from 2,500 in 2023/24 and 2,368 in 2022/23.

·        A further 2,807 incidents were recorded in the first nine months of 2025/26, demonstrating that fly-tipping remains a significant and persistent problem.

·        The Council’s own performance data shows that reported vegetation issues, including weeds and overgrown hedges, increased from 1,993 in 2021/22 to 2,711 in 2023/24.

·        Only 50.8% of standard street-cleaning cases were resolved within the Council’s three-day target in the latest available performance data.

·        Residents should not have to repeatedly report the same problems or accept that visible deterioration of their neighbourhood is simply the way things are.

 

Council believes:

 

·        That clean and well-maintained neighbourhoods should not be a luxury. Residents across York deserve a Council that is proactive in tackling fly-tipping and takes pride in the everyday appearance of the places where people live.

·        That tackling these problems requires a proactive approach, rather than relying on residents to identify and report problems individually.

·        That it is concerning that fly-tipping, litter, overflowing bins, graffiti, weeds and poorly maintained public spaces continue to be raised by residents across York.

·        That the Liberal Democrat budget amendment would have provided an opportunity to invest in practical improvements to York’s neighbourhoods and to demonstrate that council spending can deliver visible benefits for residents. Including £300,000 additional into frontline services, a reduction to the Green Bin Tax, and the introduction of Community Skips.

 

Council therefore resolves to:

 

·        To recognise the increasing scale and persistence of fly-tipping and public-realm problems across York, and the impact these have on residents and neighbourhoods.

·        To reaffirm that stopping the decline in the cleanliness, appearance and condition of York’s neighbourhoods should be a priority for the Council.

·        To call on the Executive to bring forward proposals, as part of next year’s budget, that would increase the resources available to tackle fly-tipping and improve the public realm across York’s neighbourhoods.

 

3)   Building a Care System That Works: York’s role in the National Conversation on Care

 

To be moved by Councillor Coles

 

This Council notes:

 

·        Adult social care is one of the biggest challenges of our time and the system is unsustainable – for patients, their families, communities and for the future existence of councils;

·        The Prime Minister has committed to fixing the broken social care system by working across party lines, setting out a new approach to politics based on problem-solving rather than point-scoring, and drawing a line under decades of governments leaving this issue unaddressed;

·        Baroness Louise Casey, who chairs the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, has launched the Big Conversation on Care, giving the public the chance to help shape the future of adult social care in England, starting with what values and principles a care system should be built on;

·        In June 2026, a national average of 13,600 people a day were medically fit to leave hospital but unable to do so, partly due to the unavailability of social care, while around 3,000 instances of corridor care are occurring daily as a result of pressures on hospital capacity;

·        A&E attendances by people aged 65 and over has risen from 3.3m in 2011/12 to 5.8m in 2024/25, growth far outstripping the increase in the older population, and cuts to adult social care funding between 2010 and 2018 are estimated to have driven around half a million additional A&E attendances a year among people aged 65 and over;

·        In York, the situation reflects the national picture but with acute local pressures that are impossible to sustain:

 

-         Demand: a 28% increase in those eligible for adult social care support in only two years – up 350 to 1616 residents;

-         Frailty and dementia: the number of over 65s with dementia is forecast to increase by 10% between 2025 and 2029; 

-         Complex needs: the number in long-term residential and nursing care has increased by 18% in just two years - up 104 to 671 residents;

-         Workforce vacancy rate: turnover and recruitment challenges remain some of the most significant risks to service stability.

 

·        York Hospital is sometimes operating at extremely high capacity, with a small minority of its patients at times medically fit for discharge, but unable to leave;

·        York’s Neighbourhood Teams and Voluntary Sector organisations are making a positive impact, but the scale of need currently exceeds the capacity of the system, particularly in relation to unpaid carers, people experiencing multiple disadvantage, and those requiring intensive support to remain independent – up 23% in three years, or 22 to 102 residents.

·        The Council continues to face huge financial pressures, with rising placement costs, increased demand for safeguarding and community support, and a fragile provider market that requires sustained national reform rather than short?term fixes. York’s safeguarding concerns numbers also rose substantially – up 27%, or 650 to 3,088 concerns in just two years.

 

This Council welcomes:

 

·        The drive shown by the national Independent Commission on Adult Social Care in working to bring forward its reporting timetable, recognising the urgency felt by residents, carers, care workers, Unions and Local Government, who cannot afford to wait for lasting reform;

·        The Prime Minister's willingness to engage opposition parties in this process, in the belief that a problem of this scale and longevity can only be solved through a settlement built to outlast any single Parliament.

 

 

 

 

This Council resolves to:

 

·        Promote the Big Conversation on Care to residents, staff, carers, providers, trade unions and local partners to maximise participation;

·        Commit its full support and participation in the national conversation through local engagement events, sharing local data and case studies, or any other means it’s considered will support the Commission’s work;

·        Continue to work constructively with all political groups represented on this Council, and with neighbouring authorities, health and care partners, user representatives and trade unions, mirroring national efforts to build a cross-party consensus that will enable social care reform to endure; 

·        Ask the Executive Member for Adult Social Care to report back to Full Council on the outcomes of local engagement with the Big Conversation on Care, and on the Commission's findings as they are published.