Meeting Details

Motion One

Nottinghamshire County Council notes the paper ‘Clarifying and Strengthening Trustees’ Investment Duties’ published by the Department for Work and Pensions.  The paper recommended giving pension fund trustees more confidence to divest from environmentally damaging fossil fuels and put their cash in green alternatives.  Until now many pension trustees have been hamstrung by fiduciary duties that they feel requires them to seek the best returns irrespective of the threat of climate change.

This Council further notes that according to recent estimates – Nottinghamshire County Council’s Pension Fund’s total Fossil Fuel investment amounts to £327,312,727 or 7% of the total fund.

This Council calls for Nottinghamshire County Council’s Pension Fund to investigate divestment from direct ownership of equities and corporate bonds, as well as any comingled funds, of companies engaged in fossil fuel extraction and others that do not align with this Council’s moral objectives.

This Council notes that once money has been divested from fossil fuels it can be reinvested in more environmentally sustainable and socially beneficial assets such as renewable energy, energy efficient and socially beneficial housing to address fuel poverty, low carbon transport systems and investment in the transition to a zero-carbon local economy.

Councillor Tom Hollis                   Councillor Rachel Madden

Motion Two

This Council welcomes the Government’s commitment to the much needed A46 Newark by-pass in the recent budget.

However, this council is disappointed that the equally important and much delayed electrification of the Midland Mainline through Nottinghamshire continues to be ignored by the Government.

Therefore this Council resolves to write to the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt. Hon Grant Shapps, to further emphasise the necessity for this project to go ahead and receive appropriate funding.

Councillor Alan Rhodes              Councillor Jim Creamer

Motion Three

This Council believes greater investment in repairing Nottinghamshire’s roads and pavements is urgently needed and that long term, more sustainable solutions must also be found including earlier detection, intervention and better, more sustainable repair materials and technologies.

This Council notes that Nottinghamshire has the highest number of potholes across the whole of the country - with more than 250,000 reported in the space of two years.

This Council further notes that between January 2017 and June 2019, Nottinghamshire County Council received 253,920 reports of potholes.  This is 100,000 more than any other County in the Country.

This Council also believes that the use of ‘Viafix’ has been an abject failure.  Whilst being used to carry out emergency road repairs – the product is clearly failing with many pot-holes left in an even worse condition.

This Council further notes the impact that the Coronavirus Lockdown has had on the Highways Capital and Revenue Programme.

This Council therefore calls for:

1. An urgent investigation into the use of ‘Viafix’ and its effectiveness across Nottinghamshire.
2. A report to come before the Communities and Place Review and Development Committee reviewing this Council’s performance.Further to this, we call for a long-term plan to deal effectively with resident’s complaints.
3. A review into whether the 2020/21 Highways Capital and Revenue Programme is equitable for each Borough and District in Nottinghamshire.
4. The Communities and Place Committee to receive a report into the deliverability of the 2020/2021 Highways Capital and Revenue Programme and the failure of this Council to complete the 2019/2020 programme.