Report of Deputy Leader Councillor Sue Murphy

The report provides an overview of work undertaken and progress towards the delivery of the Council’s priorities as set out in the Our Manchester Strategy for those areas within the Deputy Leader’s portfolio.

The Committee received a report of Deputy Leader Councillor Sue Murphy which provided an overview of work undertaken and progress towards the delivery of the Council’s priorities as set out in the Our Manchester Strategy for those areas within her portfolio.

The main themes within the report included:

• Our Manchester;
• Social inclusion;
• Voluntary and community sector;
• Homelessness and rough sleeping;
• International work; and
• Local Government Association (LGA).

The Chair invited Dr Marc Hudson from Climate Emergency Manchester to speak.  He welcomed that the Council had declared a Climate Emergency and encouraged Ward Councillors to take further action within their wards to address climate change.  He outlined the role of his organisation and drew Members’ attention to the reports on its website which, he advised, scrutinised progress made in relation to the Climate Emergency Declaration and proposed other achievable actions which could be taken.  He highlighted that addressing climate change was a collective responsibility and welcomed that the Executive Member for Children and Schools had included a section on the work he had undertaken to address climate change in his report to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.  He encouraged the other Executive Members to do the same in future reports to the relevant scrutiny committees.  In response to a Member’s question on what he felt the Council could do better to tackle climate change, he encouraged Members to read the report his organisation had produced entitled ‘With Love and Rockets’ and advised that he could send this to Committee Members.  He recommended that the Executive, Chief Executive and Ward Councillors communicate more with the public on climate change, including sharing information on what was being done in their wards and what could be done.  He also reported that no carbon literacy training sessions for Members or officers had taken place within the last quarter.  He also expressed concern that the Council needed to do more to tackle emissions related to its own transport.  He offered to speak to any Councillors further on this issue.

Both Deputy Leaders supported the suggestion that future reports from Executive Members include a section on what they were doing to address climate change.  In response to a Member’s question, Deputy Leader Councillor Sue Murphy reported that, through Our Manchester, the Council was funding projects in communities to tackle climate change, such as the Poisonous Playgrounds pilot project which aimed to reduce the impact of traffic pollution on school children in the playground.  She advised that, if this was successful, it would be expanded.  She also reported that, through her international work, she was learning what other cities around the world were doing to address climate change.

In response to a Member’s request for demographic information to show how her work was helping Manchester residents across all the equality strands, the Deputy Leader Councillor Sue Murphy advised that she could look into how this could be better demonstrated in future reports.  In response to a Member’s question, she outlined work taking place to address homelessness, including the learning from a recent LGA event on homelessness.

Decision

To note the report.