Agenda item

Climate Emergency

Members are reminded that this Council has declared a Climate Emergency. This is a serious decision and means that, as this is an emergency, all of us, officers and Members have that in mind as we carry out our various roles and tasks for the benefit of our District.

 

Declarations of Interest

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda. Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)     Audio Recording

 

The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council policy this meeting was being audio recorded as well as filmed. The audio recordings would be available to view on Mod.gov and the film recording via the NHDC YouTube channel.

 

(2)     Climate Emergency

 

Members were reminded that this Council had declared a Climate Emergency. This was a serious decision and meant that, as this was an emergency, all of us, officers and Members have that in mind as we carry out our various roles and tasks for the benefit of our District.

 

(3)     Declarations of Interest

 

Members were reminded to make declarations of interest before an item, the detailed reminder about this and speaking rights was set out under Chair’s Announcements on the agenda.

 

(4)     Rules of Debate

 

The Chair reminded Members that the normal procedure rules in respect of debate and times to speak would apply:

 

No speeches may be made after the mover has moved a proposal and explained the purpose of it until the motion has been seconded.

 

When seconding a motion or amendment, a Member may reserve their speech until later in the debate. 

 

In accordance with the Constitution please could Members ensure that no speech exceeded five minutes without the consent of the Chair

 

(5)     Order of Business

 

The Chair advised that he would take Items 1-8 as per the agenda. Item 9 would be introduced and then the meeting would go into Part 2 and consider Item 13. Following which the meeting would return to Part 1 to take the vote on Item 9 and consider items 10 and 11

 

(6)     Charities

 

The Chair advised that his Charities for this year would be Victoria’s Promise and Citizen’s Advice North Herts.

 

The Chair declared that, in relation to a potential interest, that Ed Smith was his Son in Law, who now works for Victoria Promise as a fund raiser following my daughter’s passing, and have been advised that this does not cause an issue in terms of my support for Victoria’s Promise this year.

 

The Chair invited Fiona Eastman and Ed Smith, Victoria’s Promise, to address Council

 

The Chair invited Rose Waters, Citizens Advice North Herts, to address Council.

Audio Recording – 8 minutes 50 seconds

 

(1)     Audio Recording

 

The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council policy this meeting was being audio recorded as well as filmed. The audio recordings would be available to view on Mod.gov and the film recording via the NHDC YouTube channel.

 

(2)     Climate Emergency

 

Members were reminded that this Council had declared a Climate Emergency. This was a serious decision and meant that, as this was an emergency, all of us, officers and Members have that in mind as we carry out our various roles and tasks for the benefit of our District.

 

(3)     Declarations of Interest

 

Members were reminded to make declarations of interest before an item, the detailed reminder about this and speaking rights was set out under Chair’s Announcements on the agenda.

 

(4)     Rules of Debate

 

The Chair reminded Members that the normal procedure rules in respect of debate and times to speak would apply:

 

No speeches may be made after the mover has moved a proposal and explained the purpose of it until the motion has been seconded.

 

When seconding a motion or amendment, a Member may reserve their speech until later in the debate. 

 

In accordance with the Constitution please could Members ensure that no speech exceeded five minutes without the consent of the Chair

 

(5)     Order of Business

 

The Chair advised that he would take Items 1-8 as per the agenda. Item 9 would be introduced and then the meeting would go into Part 2 and consider Item 13. Following which the meeting would return to Part 1 to take the vote on Item 9 and consider items 10 and 11

 

(6)     Charities

 

The Chair advised that his Charities for this year would be Victoria’s Promise and Citizen’s Advice North Herts.

 

Victoria’s Promise was an organisation that supported young women through their diagnosis of cancer and beyond. They had supported his daughter Anna from her diagnosis to her passing.

 

Citizen’s Advice North Herts provided valued services for the people of North Herts he had been in receipt of their support and advice some time ago.

 

The Chair declared that, in relation to a potential interest, that Ed Smith was his Son in Law, who now worked for Victoria Promise as a Fund Raising Manager following his daughter’s passing. He had been advised that this did not cause an issue in terms of his support for Victoria’s Promise this year.

 

Audio recording 13 minutes 1 second

 

The Chair invited Fiona Eastman and Ed Smith, Victoria’s Promise, to address Council

 

Ms Eastman, CEO of Victoria’s Promise, thanked the Chair for the opportunity to address Council and informed Members that:

 

·                Victoria’s Promise supported and empowered young women from 18 to 50 years through their journey with cancer at their most vulnerable and at end of treatment;

·                She had herself been diagnosed with cancer at 30 and her daughter had lost her life at 29;

·                They were based in Hampshire, but had receive funding to provide a service locally, with the aim to support women nationally;

·                They were launching an app called VP Affinity that will enable young women to connect with each other;

·                They hold live workshops;

·                They aimed to have an ambassador in each county to fund raise and hold VP affinity events;

·                They had found an ambassador for Hertfordshire who will fundraise in order to introduce support services in Hertfordshire;

·                Women in this age category were starting careers or had young children. They have concerns for their families but needed somewhere to offload and receive emotional support;

·                The more money raised meant more services could be provided.

 

The Chair thanked Ms Eastman for her presentation.

 

Audio recording – 18 minutes 24 seconds

 

Mr Ed Smith, Fund Raising Manager for Victoria’s Promise, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address Council and informed Members that:

 

·                His wife, Anna was diagnosed in 2017 when their daughter was 6 months old;

·                The family received support and Anna received support of VP Affinity;

·                She met women who had an understanding and attended activities;

·                She created bonds with people that she could talk to;

·                Anna passed away in June 2018;

·                Victoria’s Promise had made a big difference to the whole family;

·                He had started working as Fundraiser for Victoria’s Promise in May last year;

 

The Chair thanked Mr Smith for his presentation.

 

Audio recording – 22 minutes 45 seconds

 

The Chair invited Rosie Waters, CEO of Citizens Advice North Herts, to address Council.

 

Ms Waters thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address Council and informed Members of the following:

 

·                North Herts Citizens Advice had closed their offices in March, due to Covid-19;

·                They were currently providing services remotely with volunteers working from home;

·                They had provided services to 1,500 people during lockdown;

·                They had been proactive by ringing vulnerable clients to see if they need anything;

·                The main enquiries currently were regarding benefits, food banks and relationships;

·                All workers were volunteers;

·                They would soon have a limited opening of the offices in Letchworth, but maintain the remote services;

·                The Government support funding for CAB mainly went to the national body;

·                They expected requests for services to increase;

·                They wanted to be even more accessible;

·                They were proud and grateful to have been chosen as one of the Chair’s Charities.

 

The following Councillors commented and asked questions:

 

·                Councillor Judi Billing;

·                Councillor Paul Clark;

·                Councillor Kay Tart;

·                Councillor David Levett.

 

The Chair thanked Ms Waters for her presentation.