Venue: Siambr Dafydd Orwig, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 1SH. View directions
Contact: Eirian Roberts 01286 679018
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CHAIRMAN To elect a
Chairman for 2017/18. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Annwen Daniels
was eleceted chair for 2017/18. Councillor Annwen Daniels signed a declaration accepting the post of Chair of
Gwynedd Council for
2017/18. |
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VICE-CHAIRMAN To elect a
Vice-chairman for 2017/18. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Annwen Hughes was
elected vice-chair for 2017/18. Councillor Annwen Hughes signed a declaration accepting the post of vice-chair
of Gwynedd Council for
2017/18. |
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APOLOGIES To receive
any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillors Dewi Owen and
John Pughe Roberts. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Council
held on 2nd March, 2017 be signed as a true record (attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of the Council held on 2 March 2017 as a true record. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: Members had received a briefing note from the Monitoring
Officer in advance about item
13 on the agenda – Financial Remuneration
for Elected Members. As a consequence of the nature of the report on Financial Remuneration for Elected Members, and in order to comply
with the requirements of
the Code of Conduct, the Chair declared a personal interest in the item on
behalf of all members present but, as
it was not a prejudicial interest, members would have the right to participate in the discussion and vote on the matter.
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THE CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS To receive any Chairman’s
announcements. Additional documents: Minutes: (1) Condolences Condolences were extended to Councillor Annwen Hughes and Louise Hughes on the recent passing
of loved ones. Reference was made to the death of Rhodri
Morgan, former Wales First Minister,
who had been at the forefront of establishing the Assembly and who held the post of First Minister for almost 10 years
before stepping down in 2010. It was also noted that
the Council wished to express condolences to everyone in the county's communities who had lost loved
ones recently. The Council stood in
silence as a mark of respect. (2) Congratulations The following were congratulated:- ·
The
members on their success at the recent election and the new members were
welcomed to their first meeting of the Council. ·
The
Principal Librarian, Hywel
James, on receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony at the Cilip Cymru Conference in Llandudno to acknowledge his great contribution to Gwynedd Libraries and also to the public library service nationally. ·
Anne
Thomas of Bala and her team from
Dolgellau Hospital on winning the Royal College of Nursing prize for their
work in developing
health care in rural Meirionnydd. ·
Bala
Football Club on winning the Welsh Cup this year. ·
Pwllheli
Rugby Club on their recent sweeping
success. ·
Gethin
Lloyd Evans from Penrhyndeudraeth on
being selected for North Wales Colleges at the student Rugby League Championships in Sydney, Australia in July. Gethin was studying
para-medicine at Swansea University
and would be graduating this year. (3) Note Members were asked to respond
as soon as
possible to the e-mail recently sent to them about the Review of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission. |
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CORRESPONDENCE, COMMUNICATIONS OR OTHER BUSINESS To receive any correspondence,
communications or other business brought forward at the request of the Chairman. Additional documents: Minutes: None. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items
which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so they
may be considered. Additional documents: Minutes: None. |
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QUESTIONS To consider any questions the appropriate notice for which
have been given under Section
4.19 of the Constitution. Additional documents: Minutes: Question from Councillor
Sion Jones "Very recently,
a company working on behalf of Vodafone installed a 15m high mast at a prominent location on Council land
in Bethel. Planning permission was not required, neither was consultation with local residents. Is this a fair policy?" Answer from the Head of Environment Department (The written
response of the Head of Environment Department to the question was circulated to members beforehand). "It is not usual policy to erect telecommunications masts. This is legislation and the Council, therefore, has no choice as
to whether planning permission is required or not. This comes to us
as law. And
the basis of this legislation is that Welsh Government is very eager for people
in Wales to have access to the best possible 3G/4G phone connectivity to improve our businesses and to improve the economy and so that we are
able to communicate as well as anyone
else. I believe that this is what's
behind this. They are attempting to reduce obstacles for companies such
as Vodafone, or whoever, to install equipment. So planning permission
is not necessary.
The only matter they have to satisfy
is that they have to consult by informing the Planning Authority of their intentions; the only thing the Planning Authority can examine is the setting and appearance of that which they intend
to do. This matter has been
to consultation since the Planning Authority is required to do so, and this consultation has taken place
with the Community Council. Notices have been
placed on the site as required and nearby residents have also been
informed. There were two
objections - one by the local councillor
and the other from one of the nearby residents, but they were not reasons
for refusing the application. The
mast, which stands at 12.5 metres in height,
has now been
installed. There are light
columns and are other columns there
also. I don't believe the setting is poor. We have been to look at the site. It is in accordance
with what the company has been
saying. We did
not have much scope to object to this and to insist that the company put forward a planning
application. Whether the matter is fair or not, this
is up to you as politicians; but we, as officers,
work within the procedures and legislation that are laid out
before us." A supplementary question by Councillor Sion Jones "Was Gwynedd Council given
any money from Vodafone for erecting this mast?" Answer from the Head of Environment Department "The written explanation touches on another piece of legislation which enables companies such as Vodafone, BT, the Water Board, etc. to install equipment. They have the right under the Highways Act and the Streets Act to install equipment on our roads without payment. They do have to inform us of the work they're ... view the full minutes text for item 9. |
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LEADER OF THE COUNCIL To appoint
the Leader of the Council. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn
was appointed Leader of the
Council for the term of this Council. The Leader gave a short address, informing the Council that he was in
the process of appointing nine members to the Cabinet and that he had invited
Councillor Mair Rowland act as
Deputy Leader. |
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AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION PDF 129 KB To submit
the report of the Monitoring Officer
(attached). Additional documents:
Minutes: The Head of Legal
Services / Monitoring Officer
submitted a report suggesting amendments to the Council Constitution:- ·
because of the review of the scrutiny
arrangement; ·
in order to implement changes to the Planning Committee's arrangements deriving from new
legal requirements; ·
to reflect a change to the name of the Regulatory Department to Environment Department. He apologised for some minor typing errors in the documents
and he also referred to the need to make two further
changes to Appendix 1 (Section 7 of the Constitution), namely:- ·
Delete the reference to 'Customer
Care' under the Role and Scope of the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee. ·
Delete the reference to 'Language'
under the Role and Scope of the Communities Scrutiny Committee as it will
be the Language Committee that will be undertaking
the scrutiny of language matters under the new arrangement. During the discussion, some members expressed surprise about the new statutory requirement
to disallow the use of substitutes in the Planning Committee and the Monitoring Officer agreed to convey the message to the Assembly and ask for further
discussion. RESOLVED (a)
Adopt the changes to Section 7 of the Constitution, "Scrutiny Committees" in accordance with the report to implement the review of the scrutiny arrangement, also deleting the reference to 'Customer Care' under the Role and Scope of the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee, and the reference to 'Language' under the Role and Scope of the Communities Scrutiny Committee. (b)
Adopt the changes to the remit of the Audit Committee and the Language Committee in response to the scrutiny review and change the name of the Audit Committee to Audit and Governance Committee. (c)
Note the changes in Section
9 of the Constitution, "Regulatory
and Other Committees" in order to comply
with statutory requirements. (ch) Note the changes to the Constitution to reflect the change in the name
of the Regulatory Department
to Environment Department. |
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THE COUNCIL'S POLITICAL BALANCE PDF 250 KB To submit
the report of the Head of Democratic Services (attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Democratic
Services presented the report
on the Council’s political balance and relevant matters, and the Leader proposed the recommendations of the Business
Group. It was explained:- ·
At the time of writing this report,
the exact political balance of the Council was not known. ·
An update on the political balance was submitted to the Business Group on 15 May in order to agree
on recommendations to be submitted to the Full Council. ·
That all members had received
an additional paper with recommendations
for the Council based on the discussions
of the Business Group and the content
of that paper was elaborated upon (see attached document). RESOLVED (a)
To adopt the
political balance and the allocation of seats on the Council’s committees in accordance
with the table in the Appendix:– (b)
Delegate the
power to the Head of Democratic Services to make appointments to the committees on the basis of political balance and in accordance with
the wishes of the political
groups. (c)
Allocate the
chairpersonships of scrutiny
committees on the basis of political balance as follows: Independent Group – 2 members Plaid Cymru Group
- 1 chair (ch) Confirm the allocation of the political groups support officers' posts and the hours of the political groups support officers as follows, and for the duration of this Council unless,
in the opinion of the Business Group, a substantial change takes place
in the political balance of the Council or that a political
group has a less than 10% membership:- Plaid Cymru Group
- 35 hours Independent Group - 20 hours (d)
Confirm the political balance for the outside bodies as follows for
the term of this Council unless a review is required because of changes in the political balance:-
(dd) Nominate Councillor Dilwyn Morgan
(Plaid Cymru) and Eric Merfyn Jones (Independent) as members of the Police and
Crime Panel for the period until the next local government elections. |
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MEMBER REMUNERATION PDF 250 KB To submit
the report of the Head of Democratic Services
(attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Democratic Services presented a report asking that the Council
determine the higher salaries to be paid for the coming year, and the Leader
proposed the recommendations of the Democratic Service Committee. During the discussion, specific attention was given to the recommendation
to retain salary levels of Cabinet Members and Committee Chairpersons at Level
1 (£29,000) during the first year of the Council. Some members expressed their support for the recommendation on the
grounds that it reflected the responsibility and workload involved with the
roles in question and that a decision had been made last year to retain the
higher salaries at Level 1. In contrast, other members noted that Councillors should demonstrate to
residents of the county and Council staff their willingness to share some of
the burden at this time of hardship and an amendment to reduce the higher
salaries to level 2 (£26,000) was proposed and seconded. A registered vote was called on the amendment and over a quarter of
members voted in its favour. In accordance with Procedural Rules, the following vote was recorded on
the amendment:- In favour (32) Councillors Freya
Hannah Bentham, Dylan Bullard, Stephen Churchman, R.Glyn Daniels, Anwen Davies,
Dylan Fernley, Peter Antony Garlick, Alwyn Gruffydd, John Brynmor Hughes,
Louise Hughes, R.Medwyn Hughes, Judith Humphreys, Aeron Jones, Elwyn Jones,
Eric Merfyn Jones, Keith Jones, Kevin Morris Jones, Sion Jones, Eryl
Jones-Williams, Dilwyn Lloyd, Roy Owen, Jason Parry, Nigel Pickavance, Dewi
Roberts, Elfed Roberts, Angela Russell, Mike Stevens, Hefin Underwood, Eirwyn
Williams, Elfed Williams, Gareth Williams and Owain Williams. Against (39) Councillors Craig
ab Iago, Steve Collings, Annwen Daniels, Elwyn Edwards, Alan Jones Evans, Aled
Evans, Simon Glyn, Gareth Griffith, Selwyn Griffiths, Annwen Hughes, Sian Wyn
Hughes, Nia Jeffreys, Peredur Jenkins, Aled Wyn Jones, Anne Lloyd Jones, Berwyn
Parry Jones, Charles Jones, Elin Walker Jones, Huw Wyn Jones, Linda Wyn Jones,
Cai Larsen, Beth Lawton, Dafydd Meurig, Dilwyn Morgan, Linda Morgan, Dafydd
Owen, Edgar Owen, Rheinallt Puw, Peter Read, Gareth A.Roberts, W.Gareth
Roberts, Mair Rowlands, Paul Rowlinson, Dyfrig Siencyn, Gareth Thomas, Ioan
Thomas, Cemlyn Williams, Gethin Glyn Williams and Gruffydd Williams. Abstaining (1): Councillor Catrin
Wager As the amendment had been lost, the members voted on the original
proposal to accept the recommendations of the Democratic Services Committee,
and it carried. RESOLVED (a)
Continue to pay higher wages to the 18
roles noted below:- ·
Leader ·
Deputy Leader ·
Up to 8 other Cabinet members ·
The Leader of the largest Opposition ·
Chairpersons of the Scrutiny Committees (x3) ·
Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee ·
Chair of the Planning Committee ·
Chair of the Licensing Committee ·
Chair of the Pensions Committee (b)
That salary levels for Cabinet Members
and Committee Chairs (as listed in decision (a) above) remain at Level 1 (i.e.
£29,100) during the first year of the new Council. (c)
To carry out a review of the workload
of all chairs within a year to see whether there is room to vary the decision
or reconsider the salary levels. |
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COMMITTEES CALENDAR 2017/18 PDF 292 KB To submit
the report of the Head of Democratic Services
(attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Democratic
Services presented a calendar
for the dates of Council meetings for 2017/18. RESOLVED to adopt the Committees Calendar for 2017/18. |
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Additional documents: |