Agenda and minutes
Venue: Siambr Dafydd Orwig, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 1SH
Contact: Eirian Roberts 01286 679018
Media
No. | Item |
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ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN To elect a
Chairman for 2019/20. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Edgar
Wyn Owen was elected chair for 2019/20. Councillor Edgar
Wyn Owen signed a declaration accepting the post of Chair of Gwynedd Council
for 2019/20. |
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ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN To elect a
Vice-chairman for 2019/20. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Simon
Glyn was elected Vice-chair for 2019/20. Councillor Simon
Glyn signed the declaration accepting the post of Vice-Chair of Gwynedd Council
for 2019/20. |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence Additional documents: Minutes: Councillors Craig
ab Iago, Anwen Davies, John Brynmor Hughes, Linda Morgan, W.Roy Owen, W.Gareth
Roberts, Hefin Underwood and Gethin Glyn Williams. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Council
held on 7th March, 2019 be signed as a true record. (attached) Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair signed
the minutes of the previous meeting of the Council held on 7 March 2019 as a
true record. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: No declarations
of personal interest were received. |
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THE CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS To receive any Chairman’s
announcements. Additional documents: Minutes: Condolences were
extended to Councillor Linda Ann Jones as her son had recently passed away. It
was also noted that the Council wished to express condolences to everyone
within the county’s communities who had recently lost loved ones. The Council stood as a mark of respect. Councillor Gareth Tudor Morris Jones, the new
member for the Morfa Nefyn Ward, was welcomed to his first meeting of the
Council. The following were congratulated:- ·
The group of Councillors
nominated by Prostate Cymru for an award after raising over £8,000 for the
Prostate Cymru Charity during the "Trôns dy Dad" event in August
2018. It was noted that Councillors
Dilwyn Lloyd, Roy Owen and Steven Churchman would attend the awards ceremony in
Cardiff in April. ·
Mali
Jones from Ysgol y Berwyn, Y Bala for scoring an excellent try for the Wales
under 18 Women's Rugby Team against England recently. ·
Lowri
Howie, form Ysgol Gynradd Llanbedr, for winning the British inter-schools
slalom ski competition recently in Pila, Italy, making her the overall winner
in the under 10 girls category, and who through her endeavours put Ysgol Gynradd
Llanbedr, and Gwynedd, on the map. |
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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 to note. |
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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 to note. |
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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: (The Cabinet Members'
written responses to the questions had been distributed to the members in
advance). (1) Question from Councillor
Kevin Morris Jones “After all the problems
with the parking situation in Llanberis over Easter, I would be grateful to
know what this Council intends to do to improve the situation, bearing in mind
that a balance must be struck between promoting tourism and health and safety
in the area?" Response from the
Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Gareth Griffith "It
is clear that the Department had a busy time over Easter - it was very hot, and
the Member has reported on what we saw in the area, when so many tourists
visited her over Easter. In terms of
what the Department intends to do, it endeavours to carry out work throughout
the entire county. There are parking
restrictions, there are signs, and fines have been imposed and the situation
will be monitored over these periods to improve arrangements, not only for
tourists but also for the residents of Gwynedd.
It is, therefore, difficult work, and since Easter was later this year,
there were more people and the weather was extremely hot and brought people to
the area. The situation will be
monitored and the Department is taking the opportunity to talk to anyone who
has problems in their ward." Ancillary
question from Councillor Kevin Morris Jones "Is it time, perhaps, to bring out the tow
vans and show tourists that we are open and safe for visitors and locals to
visit us?" Response from the
Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Gareth Griffith "The Department is prepared to talk to any
Councillor from any ward. The Department
has been issuing fines. I accept the
point the member is making and we will have a further discussion and will see
how things go over the summer." (2) Question from Councillor
Paul Rowlinson “At
the previous meeting, when discussing the budget, the plans to prevent holiday
homes from transferring to Business Tax in order to avoid the holiday home
premium were outlined. Could the Leader
update us on any lobbying that has taken place to try to tackle this?" Response by the
Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn "Our intention was to prepare evidence, for which work I would like to thank the Chief Executive and the Finance Department, and to gather information from the Counties that are members of the Rural Forum, of which there are nine county members. At our meeting of the 10 April we presented a paper to the Rural Forum highlighting the actual cost, not only to individual councils but to the whole of Wales in revenue, of losing this Domestic Tax from our budgets. I am pleased to announce that the Rural Forum unanimously agreed to support our request to the Local Government Association to undertake the work of submitting our case to Welsh Government on behalf of the Rural Forum. I think that having nine Councils in gives us greater power than if ... view the full minutes text for item 9. |
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MAIN MESSAGES FROM THE STATUTORY DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES REGARDING 2018-19 PERFORMANCE PDF 83 KB To submit
the report of the Statutory Director of Social Services (attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Statutory
Director for Social Services presented a report outlining the main messages
regarding the performance of Social Services, to which attention will be drawn
in the annual report in due course, and she outlined the main challenges and
transformation programmes for 2019/20. The Director explained that:- ·
the annual report would be available in its final form
in July, and would be circulated to all Council members. ·
Due to personal commitments,
she would be unable to attend the Full Council meeting in July to present the
report. This year, therefore, an early high level report was submitted to the
meeting of this Council. The
Director took the opportunity to thank all staff, internal and external, for
their tireless and committed work once again this year. She particularly thanked Marian Parry Hughes
(Head of Children and Families Department) and Aled Davies (Head of Adults,
Health and Well-being Department) for their committed and valuable work
throughout the year. She also thanked
the scrutiny members for their input and Cabinet Members in the care field,
Councillors W.Gareth Roberts and Dilwyn Morgan, for their support over the
year. She also noted that she looked
forward to working with Councillor Dafydd Meurig, who had taken over as
portfolio holder for adults, health and well-being. Individual members noted the following observations:- ·
The report was welcomed and it was noted that the
series of video clips about Hafan y Sêr, Hafod y Gest, Plas Hafan and Dementia
Go, shown as part of the presentation, had brought the work of the service
alive to members. ·
It was noted that the provision had been transformed
in recent years and many new and pioneering plans had been welcomed, such as
the extra care housing at Hafod y Gest, the pilot scheme in Bethesda to
transform domiciliary care and More than Just Words. Hafan y Sêr was specifically referred to, and
it was noted that we should take pride in it as the only Welsh medium and bilingual
provision for disabled children and young people, and share the message across
Wales to show what is possible. ·
It was suggested that every
staff member should visit older people homes in their areas in order to see the
excellent work carried out by staff. ·
A request was made that a
section be included in the full annual report about developments in services
for people with autism. In response to questions from individual members:- ·
That the increase in the numbers of looked after children
reflected our society and the challenges many of the children and their
families were facing. This was why
preventative work and early intervention were so crucial: to make it possible
to offer this support to families and children, by working with the schools,
etc, in the most appropriate way to prevent problems from escalating. Expectations had increased because of work
done to raise people's awareness of safeguarding issues and the fact that
looked after children now continued to live at home with their parents also
contributed to the numbers. · That ... view the full minutes text for item 10. |
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HEAD OF DEMOCRATIC SERVICES 2018-19 PDF 170 KB To submit
the report of the Head of Democratic Services
(attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Democratic Services (Head of Corporate Support Department)
submitted his annual report on behalf of the Democratic Services Committee,
which focused on developments in 2018/19 and the development priorities for
2019/20. The Head of
Department thanked all members of the committee for their support and guidance,
especially the Chair, Councillor Dewi Owen, and Vice-chair, Councillor Anne
Lloyd Jones, and the Democracy team, under the leadership of the Democracy
Manager. During the discussion the following matters were raised by individual
members:- ·
A member noted that he was experiencing ongoing
problems with the Surface Pro. ·
It was noted that the Members' Room was dated and that
it did not have a printer. |
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APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC SERVICES COMMITTEE To appoint
a Chairman 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.] Additional documents: Minutes: The Council was invited to appoint a chair for the Democratic Services
Committee for 2019/20. RESOLVED to elect
Councillor Dewi Owen as Chair of the Democratic Services Committee for 2019/20. |
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SCRUTINY ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 PDF 22 KB To submit
the Scrutiny Annual Report (attached). Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - the scrutiny annual report for 2018/19
by the Chair of the Scrutiny Forum, Councillor Beth Lawton. She explained that the role of the Scrutiny
Forum was to take an overview of the work of all scrutiny committees and she
asked members to contact any member of the forum if they thought a matter
needed to be scrutinised. She thanked
her fellow chairpersons and vice-chairs, and everyone involved with scrutiny,
for their work. A member noted that she was pleased to see that
public toilets were still being given attention, but that she was disappointed
that after 10 years the matter had still not been resolved. In response, it was noted that a new Public
Toilets Strategy was in the pipeline and members were reminded of their right
to call in any matter that was submitted to Cabinet. The Chair of the Scrutiny Forum was thanked for
presenting the report on behalf of the scrutiny chairs. |
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THE COUNCIL'S POLITICAL BALANCE PDF 91 KB To submit
the report of the Head of Democratic Services
(attached). Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - a report by the Head of Democratic Services on the Council’s
political balance and relevant matters. It was noted that the situation had changed since the report was
prepared, as the empty Morfa Nefyn seat had since been filled and that
membership of the Council had returned to 75.
Should a request be made, a further report would have to be submitted to
the next meeting of the Council to reflect that. However, it was noted that the change with
the one seat didn’t lead to any changes to the allocation of seats, and the
situation remained as noted in the report. During the discussion the following matters were raised by individual
members:- ·
The Leader of the
Independent Group expressed her disappointment that the Vice-chairmanship of
the Council had not gone to the Independent Group, the usual arrangement was
that the role alternated between the Plaid Cymru Group and the Independent
Group. In response, the Monitoring
Officer explained that there was no provision in the Constitution to allocate
the Vice-chairmanship to any specific group. ·
There was disappointment that not every group
appointed members to the scrutiny committees and an enquiry was made into the
amount of time they had before they lost those seats. In response, the Monitoring Officer explained
that if the group did not appoint within the timetable, the provision in the
Constitution allowed the Council to appoint members to committees on a general
basis, without adhering to political balance.
However, with any subsequent reviews of the balance, the arrangements
would revert to their original form, and that generated its own problems. In response to an allegation that nothing was
being done about the situation, the Chief Executive noted that he would raise
the issue with the Business Group in order to seek a resolution. 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
Democratic Services to make appointments to the committees based on political
balance and in accordance with the wishes of the political groups. (c)
To allocate the chairs of scrutiny
committees on the basis of political balance as follows: Education and Economy Scrutiny
Committee Plaid Cymru Group Communities Scrutiny Committee
Independent Group Care Scrutiny Committee Independent
Group |