Agenda item

To consider the following motion submitted by Councillors Andrew Kay, Ronnie Kershaw, Oscar Thynne, Claire Cozler and Davie Whittaker.

“Council notes the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill and in our oceans, and is a growing hazard to marine life. Every year millions of single use plastic bottles, nationally are disposed and estimated only 7% are recycled.  Council also notes the fact that 2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away every year in the UK – 10,000 in just 2 minutes.  To protect the environment and in furtherance of our Clean and Green Places priority under the Corporate Plan,Council resolves to;

 1] Promote public awareness of the issue and take steps to reduce plastic bottle use. This could include our partner agencies in primary health care, and local education.

2] Request officers to prepare a report on the practicalities and costs of installing drinking water fountains at key city centre locations in Morecambe and Lancaster.

3] Support a scheme where our local food and drinks provide refills or free drinking water

4] Investigate the viability of the city council launching a promotional Lancaster refillable water container to sell at tourist outlets.

5] Work with businesses and other organisations to promote the use of reusable coffee cups including investigating the viability of a Lancaster district reuseable cup, and encouraging businesses to use genuinely recyclable or eco-friendly cups.”

An officer briefing note is attached.

(During the course of the debate on this item, Councillor Edwards declared an interest as a member of the Lancashire Waste Partnership.)

The following motion, of which notice had been given to the Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15, was moved by Councillor Kay and seconded by Councillor Kershaw:

“Council notes the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill and in our oceans, and is a growing hazard to marine life. Every year millions of single use plastic bottles, nationally are disposed and estimated only 7% are recycled.  Council also notes the fact that 2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away every year in the UK – 10,000 in just 2 minutes. 

To protect the environment and in furtherance of our Clean and Green Places priority under the Corporate Plan, Council resolves to:

(1)   Promote public awareness of the issue and take steps to reduce plastic bottle use. This could include our partner agencies in primary health care, and local education.

(2)   Request officers to prepare a report on the practicalities and costs of installing drinking water fountains at key city centre locations in Morecambe and Lancaster.

(3)   Support a scheme where our local food and drinks outlets provide refills or free drinking water.

(4)   Investigate the viability of the City Council launching a promotional Lancaster refillable water container to sell at tourist outlets.

(5)   Work with businesses and other organisations to promote the use of reusable coffee cups including investigating the viability of a Lancaster district reusable cup, and encouraging businesses to use genuinely recyclable or eco-friendly cups.”

Councillor Kay noted that the title of the motion should have included disposable coffee cups.

An officer briefing note was included on the agenda providing information and advice to facilitate the debate. 

After some debate, an amendment to the motion was moved by Councillor Caroline Jackson, to refer the issues raised by the motion to Overview and Scrutiny for a report. Councillor Edwards seconded the amendment.

Following debate on the amendment, the Mayor called for a vote. The amendment fell, with 14 Councillors voting for the amendment, 30 against and no abstentions.

Councillor Caroline Jackson then proposed inserting the following extra point before point (1) in the original motion:

“(1)    Ask officers to refer back to the 2007 Overview and Scrutiny report about pollution in Morecambe Bay.”

With the agreement of his seconder, Councillor Kay accepted this as a friendly amendment.

Councillor Edwards then proposed that a further point be added after point (5) in the original motion, regarding setting up a working group to oversee implementation of the measures set out in the motion. Councillor Kay indicated that he and his seconder would be willing to accept this as a further friendly amendment.

The Mayor called for a very short adjournment to allow officers to assist Members with wording of the friendly amendment. During the adjournment wording was agreed:-

“(7) Establish a working party to oversee this motion, comprised of Councillors, representatives from the retail sector and officers, as appropriate.”

At the conclusion of the debate a vote was taken on the original motion, complete with both friendly amendments. The motion was carried unanimously.

Resolved unanimously:-

Council notes the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill and in our oceans, and is a growing hazard to marine life. Every year millions of single use plastic bottles, nationally are disposed and estimated only 7% are recycled.  Council also notes the fact that 2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away every year in the UK – 10,000 in just 2 minutes. 

To protect the environment and in furtherance of our Clean and Green Places priority under the Corporate Plan, Council resolves to:

(1)     Ask officers to refer back to the 2007 Overview and Scrutiny report about pollution in Morecambe Bay.

(2)   Promote public awareness of the issue and take steps to reduce plastic bottle use. This could include our partner agencies in primary health care, and local education.

(3)   Request officers to prepare a report on the practicalities and costs of installing drinking water fountains at key city centre locations in Morecambe and Lancaster.

(4)   Support a scheme where our local food and drinks outlets provide refills or free drinking water.

(5)   Investigate the viability of the City Council launching a promotional Lancaster refillable water container to sell at tourist outlets.

(6)   Work with businesses and other organisations to promote the use of reusable coffee cups including investigating the viability of a Lancaster district reusable cup, and encouraging businesses to use genuinely recyclable or eco-friendly cups.

(7) Establish a working party to oversee this motion, comprised of Councillors, representatives from the retail sector, and officers, as appropriate.