Agenda item

Motion A

Title: Recognising the Latin American community in Haringey

Proposer: Cllr Ruth Gordon

Seconder: Cllr Ajda Ovat

This council notes that:

·       The Latin American community is one of London’s fastest growing and is among the largest non-UK born populations.

·       Latin American is used to define an ethnic group encompassing people from countries in North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, who share common cultural, historical, and linguistic roots.

·       It is a highly diverse community, comprising people from many different countries and migration statuses, and UK-born second-generation or first-generation local descendants.

·       The Latin American community in Haringey has grown significantly over the past decade. Haringey ranked 6th in London for Latin American population according to the 2011 Census. By 2021, this number had more than doubled to 10,012 residents, making Haringey the third borough for Latin American population in London - after Lambeth and Southwark.

·       Latin Americans are not recognised as an official ethnic category in the UK Census, and are routinely placed in the “Other” ethnic group, resulting in statistical invisibility.

·       Despite high rates of education and employment, Latin Americans face low pay and workplace exploitation. 70% earn less than the London Living Wage and they are concentrated in low-paid sectors, particularly cleaning, hospitality and care work.

·       Lack of monitoring makes it more difficult to understand the take-up, targeting and effectiveness of public services. During Covid-19, Latin Americans were excluded from national monitoring.

·       Other London boroughs, including Lambeth, Southwark, Islington, Hackney and Newham, and the Greater London Authority, have officially recognised Latin Americans and include the category in ethnicity monitoring.

·       We are proud of and grateful for the contributions made to our local workforce, cultural sector, and community and civic infrastructure by residents from a range of Latin American backgrounds.

·       The contribution of the Latin American community in Haringey is particularly evident at the Seven Sisters Market. Otherwise known as ‘Latin Village’, the Market plays a strong role in Tottenham’s identity and history and has a unique economic, social and cultural value for Latin Americans across London and the diverse communities that live and work in Tottenham.

·       This Council believes that:

·       Residents from across Latin America have made Haringey their home in increasing numbers and play a valuable and welcome role in the borough.

·       Low pay and workplace exploitation contribute to multiple challenges for Latin Americans, including child poverty, housing insecurity, poor mental and physical health and barriers to public services, especially for families and carers.

·       Poor access to translated information, limited engagement from some public services, and language barriers severely affected outcomes during Covid-19 and continues to do so in other areas.

·       Inclusion of Latin American as a category in the monitoring forms of the Council and its partner organisations will help ensure services are appropriate and effective.

·       National recognition of Latin Americans, particularly by the Office of National Statistics, would ensure effective comparison across public agencies.

·       The re-opening of the Seven Sisters Market is a significant moment for the community, Council and Borough, and is testament to the resilience and tireless campaigning of the market traders and Seven Sisters Market Tenant Association.

·       The Community Plan has laid the foundations for a new gateway to Tottenham that directly responds to its existing social and cultural fabric and protects the tangible and intangible heritage of a celebrated and unique community asset.

·       Learning from the Market’s original success, the Community Plan will deliver new much-needed low-cost retail, small business, community and cultural space in the heart of the West Green Road/Seven Sisters town centre.

This Council resolves to:

o   Officially recognise the Latin American community in Haringey.

o   Add a Latin American category to internal and external monitoring forms across council services.

o   Engage with Haringey residents from a range of Latin American backgrounds to understand how to best represent them in our categorisations

o   Develop a programme of work with staff across the organisation to promote the use of equalities monitoring forms and robust data collection for all our residents.

o   Work with London Councils and the GLA to implement a consistent Londonwide approach.

o   Support the inclusion of an official Latin American category in the next UK Census.

o   Share data on the local Latin American population with community groups in accordance with the principles of GDPR.

o   Work with other communities that are or feel excluded from council and wider categorisations to better reflect their identity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motion B

Thames Water

 

Proposer: Cllr Dawn Barnes

Seconder: Cllr Pippa Connor

 

Council notes that:

• The Water Act 1989, which privatised existing water authorities and was opposed by both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, made England and Wales the only countries in the world with a fully-privatised water and sewage disposal system;
• Despite the government writing off the debts of the water authorities and injecting over a billion pounds of public money into the new private companies, those companies had, by 2024, accumulated £60 billion of debt whilst paying out £78 billion in dividends;
• Thames Water is the worst performing water company according to the Consumer Council for Water;
• After securing a £3 billion ‘rescue loan’ at an interest rate of 9.75% earlier this year - despite a legal challenge led by Liberal Democrat MP, Charlie Maynard - Thames Water’s debts stand at over £19 billion, the highest of any UK water company;
• In May 2025, Thames Water was hit with £123 million in fines from Ofwat, including £104 million for environmental breaches involving sewage spills and £18 million for paying out unjustified dividends;
• Thames Water has been allowed dispensation to increase customer bills by 35% by 2030, despite its poor performance;
• Thames Water currently loses around one quarter of its drinking water through leaks in its own system, and leaks are frequently not properly repaired;
• Thames Water has paid out millions of pounds in bonuses to its executives in recent years, and Adrian Montague, the company’s Chairman, recently told the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Select Committee that “we have a bonus scheme to protect our most precious resource, which is the senior management team.”

 

Council believes that:

• The way water companies have essentially been asset stripped by investors is a national scandal;
• The government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill was a welcome first step in strengthening the regulator and blocking bonuses for executives who pollute the UK’s waterways, but did not go far enough;
• Ofwat should be replaced with a far stronger regulator, which is needed regardless of whether companies are public or privately run;
• Creditors, not customers, should bail out any water company which enters special administration;
• The government should not support Thames Water’s efforts to apply for more loans unless it can guarantee that the taxpayer will not end up being liable for repayment further down the line;
• Proposed bill hikes are totally unjustifiable given both Thames Water’s dreadful performance and the cost of living crisis severely impacting Haringey residents;
• The continuing failure of Thames Water to properly address leaks, resulting in days of road closures around the borough as the same problems are patched again and again instead of solved, or repair sites are left unattended by Thames instead of being prioritised for fixing and reopening, is unacceptable;
• Thames Water management’s attitude to billpayers is contemptible, and no executive should receive bonuses whilst the company they run’s performance is so poor.

 

Council resolves to:

• Declare that it has no confidence in Thames Water;
• Write to the government outlining the impact Thames Water’s low performance and high bills are having on Haringey residents, and requesting that Thames Water is put into Special Administration in order to write down its unsustainable debts and protect billpayers;
• Request that government scraps the private ownership model with a single operator per area for water companies, replacing it with either public or mutual companies, and including customers, employees and environmental experts on boards.