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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Siambr Dafydd Orwig, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 1SH

Contact: Eirian Roberts  01286 679018

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Items
No. Item

1.

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.

 

2.

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.

 

3.

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.

 

4.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 346 KB

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.

 

 

5.

DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No declarations of personal interest were received.

6.

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.

 

7.

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.

8.

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.

9.

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.

10.

MAIN MESSAGES FROM THE STATUTORY DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES REGARDING 2018-19 PERFORMANCE pdf icon 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.

11.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HEAD OF DEMOCRATIC SERVICES 2018-19 pdf icon 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.

 

12.

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.

 

13.

SCRUTINY ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 pdf icon 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.

 

14.

THE COUNCIL'S POLITICAL BALANCE pdf icon 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