Agenda, decisions and minutes

To elect a Chair for 2021/22.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Simon Glyn as Chair for 2021/22.

Councillor Simon Glyn read and signed the declaration accepting the post of Chair of Gwynedd Council for 2021/22, in the presence of the Chief Executive.

To elect a Vice-chair for 2021/22.

To elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as Vice-chair for 2021/22.

Two names were proposed and seconded for the post of vice-chair, namely Councillor Elwyn Jones and Councillor Peter Read.

          RESOLVED to elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as vice-chair for 2021/22.

Councillor Elwyn Jones read the declaration accepting the post of Vice-chair of Gwynedd Council for 2021/2022. 

The Monitoring Officer explained that, as the Vice-chair was attending the meeting remotely, arrangements had been made for him to sign the declaration in the presence of the Chief Executive.

To receive any apologies for absence

Councillors:- Dylan Bullard, Dylan Fernley, Peredur Jenkins, W. Roy Owen, Jason Parry, Peter Read and Cemlyn Williams.

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the meetings of the Council held on the following dates be signed as true records:-

·         4^th March, 2021

·         23^rd April, 2021 (Extraordinary Meeting)

The Chairman signed the minutes of the previous meetings of the Council held on the following dates as a true record:-

·         4 March, 2021

·         23 April, 2021 (Extraordinary Meeting)

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received.

To receive any Chair’s announcements.

Councillor Selwyn Griffiths paid tribute to the late Maldwyn Lewis, Porthmadog – a former member of this Council and the previous Gwynedd County Council.

The Chairman noted with sadness that they had also heard about the sudden death of former Councillor Dewi Llewelyn, who had been very active in representing local people and his community in Bangor. The Council's sincerest condolences were expressed to his family and friends.

It was also noted that the Council wished to sympathise with everyone within the county’s communities who had recently lost loved ones.

The Council stood in silence as a mark of respect and remembrance.

The Leader was invited to say a few words about the recent Senedd Elections. He noted:-

·         This was the last Annual Meeting of the Council before the members faced elections in May of next year, and he took the opportunity to thank every member for their valuable contribution to the Council's work. He also noted that it had been a pleasure and privilege to be Leader over the past four years, and that he would do his best for the remaining year of the current Council's term.

·         He wished to congratulate Siân Gwenllian and Mabon ap Gwynfor on being elected to represent Arfon and Dwyfor Meirionnydd in the recent Senedd Elections. He expressed his hope that both of them, as former county councillors, would remember local government in their work, and support every effort to empower and protect local government, and to ensure that we received sufficient funding to perform our duties.

·         He wished to state his appreciation of those members of the Council who had stood in the Senedd Elections, and thanked them for participating in the democratic process.

·         He wished Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas well in his retirement from the Senedd after a lifetime of service to Wales, especially to Meirionnydd.  He noted that his work as the Presiding Officer of the Assembly had been key in laying firm foundations and giving status to the body, and he thanked him for all his work, and for representing us for all this time.

·         The people of Wales had put a vote of confidence in the Labour Party, and much of the thanks for that was down to the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, for the measured and honest way in which he had guided us through an extremely difficult time.  The last year had shown that Wales could work more effectively, and more sensibly, than the Westminster Government, and it had also shown very clearly the need for far more powers for Wales.  There was a challenge for the Labour Party to demonstrate that they were ready to stand firm for Wales, insisting on more powers, and to establish themselves as a Welsh independent party, breaking free from their peers in England. As Leader of the Council for the next year, he would take advantage of every opportunity to express this challenge to them.

·         He wished to welcome Dafydd Gibbard to his first meeting of the full Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chair so they may be considered.

None to note.

To consider any questions the appropriate notice for which have been given under Section 4.19 of the Constitution.

No questions were received.

To appoint a Chair of the Democratic Services Committee.

[In accordance with the requirements of Section 14 of the Local Government Bill (Wales) 2011, the Chairperson of the Democratic Services Committee shall be appointed by the Full Council and it cannot appoint a member of a political group which is represented on the executive.]

To elect Councillor Anne Lloyd Jones as Chair of the Democratic Services Committee for 2021/22.

The Council was invited to appoint a chair for the Democratic Services Committee for 2021/22.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Anne Lloyd Jones as Chair of the Democratic Services Committee for 2021/22.

Councillor Anne Lloyd Jones thanked the Head of Democratic Services, the Language and Democracy Manager and the staff of the Democracy Service for all their support over the past year.

To submit the report of the Head of Democracy Services.

To accept the report.

The Head of Democratic Services presented his annual report on behalf of the Democratic Services Committee in respect of support for members.

The Head thanked all the committee members and the officers of the Democratic and Language Services for their support during the last year. He referred in particular to the heroic efforts of the Leader and staff of the Translation Team in ensuring simultaneous translation provision at virtual meetings, not only within this Council but also across the region with other public organisations. The work of the Information Technology officers had also been essential, and had enabled everyone to now take the technology for granted. He also thanked the officers of the Council's Learning and Organisational Development Service for coordinating the training, and he also thanked the members of the Democratic Services Committee and Councillors Dewi Owen and Anne Lloyd Jones as the chairs of the committee for the period of the report in question.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations.  During the discussion, the following matters were raised:-

·         A member expressed concern that the additional cost of working virtually from home could prevent some from standing in an election to become a councillor – we should ensure that we continue to be an inclusive council.  In response, it was noted that the Service was live to this threat, and that the matter would be discussed further at the next meeting of the Democratic Services Committee in June.

·         A member asked whether consideration had been given to offering a translation service to other authorities, as a way of generating additional income to the Council's coffers. In response, it was explained that the Translation Service already provided a translation service to a number of other organisations.  Over the past year the service had also assisted many other local authorities etc., in order to introduce systems that allowed simultaneous translation in virtual meetings. There was already income coming in from organisations for the translation service provided by Gwynedd, but there was scope to consider extending this further.

·         It was noted that Gwynedd Council had been proactive in moving to conduct virtual meetings bilingually from the very beginning, and was an example to other bodies across Wales.

·         It was noted that conducting meetings virtually saved a lot of travelling costs for the Council and travel time for the members, and that virtual meetings should be considered as the way forward in future.

·         Members expressed that the Planning Committee should meet in person in order to maintain its status as a fair and firm committee.  It was also noted that it had not been possible for the members to go on site visits, which were so important in respect of making the correct decisions on planning applications.

·         Members expressed the view that the full Council and Scrutiny Committees should meet in person, but that members should be given the choice of attending other meetings either virtually or in person.  In response it was explained that the Local Government  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To submit the report of the Statutory Director for Social Services.

To accept the report.

The Statutory Director of Social Services presented her annual report regarding the performance of the Social Services in Gwynedd during the previous year.

The Director noted that, due to the pandemic, 2020/21 had been a very different year to previous years, and a year that no-one would wish to see repeated ever again. She sympathised with everyone who had lost loved ones to the virus, and thanked every one of the county's care workers who had gone above and beyond to provide the best possible care for the residents.  She also noted that the joint-working across Gwynedd had been an inspiration for everyone, and that we had seen the best of the people of Gwynedd, be they staff, volunteers, champions in the communities or elected members.

She noted further that despite the challenges faced because of the pandemic, she was proud to note that the performance of social services for the past year had once again been positive.   However, as they had focused on coping with the Covid-19 crisis, some priorities had slipped somewhat, or had been put to one side for the time being.   Consequently, the report focused on how the department had responded to the pandemic and how they had continued to maintain and provide the essential services, and also developed and provided new services.

She explained that there was an army of hard-working staff and managers behind this performance, as well as carers who were family or friends, foster parents and volunteers.   The pandemic had demonstrated that having robust care services in the communities was vital, and it was greatly hoped that policies and arrangements etc. in the future would highlight that the care sector was just as important as the health services.

She emphasised that she and the heads of department would closely monitor the effect of last year on the staff in the long term and the short / medium term.  There was mental health support available for the staff. We must be alert to the needs of individual staff, and try and anticipate any future problems. The pandemic had also left its mark on the county's population in terms of employment, loneliness, depression etc., and the Supporting People Board was looking at well-being issues, and had learned from the experiences of Covid in order to ensure that we responded in the best possible way. 

She added that good performance was not possible without political and corporate support, and she thanked all the members for their work throughout the year in supporting, challenging and offering observations and new ideas.  She thanked the two Cabinet Members involved in the care field, Councillors Dafydd Meurig and Dilwyn Morgan, and thanked the Leader and the rest of the Cabinet, and the Chair and members of the Care Scrutiny Committee for their continued assistance and support.  She also took the opportunity to thank the Head of Adults, Health and Well-being Department and the Head of Children and Families Department, and the senior managers and managers.  She further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

To extend the appointment of Mrs Sharon Warnes as a lay member of the Audit and Governance Committee for an additional year, until the election in May 2022.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented a report which requested the Council to extend the appointment of Mrs Sharon Warnes as a lay member of the Audit and Governance Committee for an additional year, until the election in May 2022, as the current local government term would end in 2022, and since constitutional changes would entail quite significant changes to the committee's membership from May 2022 as a result of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, the Chair and Vice-chair of the Audit and Governance Committee and members of the committee noted that Mrs Sharon Warnes had been a very hard-working member over the years.

          RESOLVED to extend the appointment of Mrs Sharon Warnes as a lay member of the Audit and Governance Committee for an additional year, until the election in May 2022.

To submit the report of the Head of Democracy Services.

(a)   To adopt the list of committees and sub-committees to be established for the municipal year, as noted in the appendix to the report to the Council, and to adopt the allocation of seats in accordance with what is noted in the appendix.

(b)  To delegate the power to the Head of Democracy Services to make appointments to the committees based on political balance and in accordance with the wishes of the political groups.

(c)  To adopt the chairmanships of scrutiny committees on the basis of political balance, as follows:

Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee              Independent Group

Communities Scrutiny Committee                                 Plaid Cymru Group

Care Scrutiny Committee                                                Independent Group

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report on the annual review of the Council’s political balance.

The Head of Democratic Services noted that Councillor Freya Bentham, Member for Harlech / Talsarnau, had tendered her resignation since publishing the report, and he intended to report further on any change to the political balance as a consequence of this to the Council in July, after a by-election had been held.

He also acknowledged that the formula for allocating seats on committees was complicated, but this was a statutory system that was implemented consistently across Welsh Councils.  As such, the Democracy Team and the Communications Team were in the process of producing a short video to assist everyone to better understand the process.

RESOLVED

(a)     To adopt the list of committees and sub-committees to be established for the municipal year, as noted in the appendix to these minutes, and to adopt the allocation of seats in accordance with what is noted in the appendix.

(b)     To delegate the power to the Head of Democracy Services to make appointments to the committees based on political balance and in accordance with the wishes of the political groups.

(c)     To adopt the chairpersonships of the scrutiny committees on the basis of political balance, as follows:

Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee – Independent Group

Communities Scrutiny Committee – Plaid Cymru

Care Scrutiny Committee – Independent Group

To submit, for information, a letter from the Chief Executive of the Snowdonia National Park Authority in response to Councillor Glyn Daniels’ notice of motion to the 1^st October, 2020 meeting regarding the possibility of charging tourists for visiting parts of the National Park.

Submitted for information – a letter from the Chief Executive of Snowdonia National Park Authority, in response to Councillor Glyn Daniels' notice of motion to the meeting on 1 October, 2020, regarding the possibility of charging tourists for visiting parts of the National Park.

A member noted his dissatisfaction that it had taken five months to present the response to the Council members.