Agenda item

RESOLVED, that – the public minutes of the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 21 January 2021 be approved, subject to the following changes:-

·         Item (4) – as the Covid Debrief Paper had been agreed, the resolution should read that “Member-level decision making would be required” and “civil resilience training should be offered to Members”. 

·         Item (6) - Marianne Fredericks had abstained from speaking or taking part in the decision on the statues by virtue of her serving on the Planning and Transportation Committee and that did not want to pre-determine any future applications for Listed Building Consent.

Matters arising:

Item 6: Tackling Racism Taskforce Final Report

The Chief Commoner challenged the historical accuracy of the reported rebellion of slaves on Beckford’s plantations in Jamaica, which was outlined on page 6 of the minutes. Whilst recognising that this was an accurate recording of the statement made, he disputed, during his own research, that the historic event was accurate. He reported that his own research had found no evidence of Beckford’s involvement in the rebellion referred to, and one account had suggested he was caring towards his slave workforce. There was a strong challenge by some Members in respect of the comment describing a slave owner as ‘caring’. The Member responded by reiterating his belief that slavery was barbaric but explaining that he was quoting the work that had been used by an historian in terms of describing some slave owners as being more ‘caring’ than others.  

The Chair noted that there would be a report later on the agenda to discuss this in more detail, which also proposed that more research would be needed as the work progressed.    The Chair stressed the seriousness with, which the Policy & Resources Committee views all forms of slavery, which had been evidenced by the firm decision it had taken at its last meeting. 

Item 22d: Non-public minutes of the Hospitality Working Party

Following a question, the Chair advised that the March meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee would receive a report in respect of scheduling meetings during the recess periods over Easter, Summer and Christmas. At this stage, it is was not intended for this to cover half-term holidays, given the large number of City Corporation meetings.  However, should the number of meetings reduce as a result of the implementation of the Lisvane review, this could be revisited to allow for a more family-friendly approach.