Agenda, decisions and minutes

Everyone was welcomed to the meeting and the opportunity was taken to recognise Plaid Cymru's victory in the Senedd Election earlier this month. The First Minister was congratulated on his appointment, along with former elected members of this Council as well.

The Council's Elections Team, and all the staff involved in the Election were thanked for their work.

 

No apologies were received. 

 

There were no declarations of personal interest.

 

There were no urgent matters.

 

There were no matters arising from overview and scrutiny.

 

The minutes of the meetings held on 10 March 2026 were accepted as a true record. 

 

The content of the report on the outcome of the statutory consultation (Consultation Report) on the proposal to close Ysgol Nebo on 31 December 2026 and provide a place for learners at Ysgol Llanllyfni from 1 January 2027 was considered, and the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal was approved, in accordance with the requirements of Section 48 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013.

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Dewi Jones.

 

 

DECISION

 

The content of the report on the outcome of the statutory consultation (Consultation Report) on the proposal to close Ysgol Nebo on 31 December 2026 and provide a place for learners at Ysgol Llanllyfni from 1 January 2027 was considered, and the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal was approved, in accordance with the requirements of Section 48 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013.

 

DISCUSSION

 

The report was presented stating that it was the result of a very long, thorough and emotional process. Those who participated in the consultation were thanked.

 

Reference was made to the importance of rural schools to the communities of Gwynedd, but it was noted that there was also a responsibility to consider the reality of the situation honestly. Attention was then drawn to the significant reduction in the number of children in Gwynedd, highlighting that this reduction was also true across the country. The impact this would have on the sustainability of schools within the County was reiterated. It was explained that there were several reasons for the decline in births, citing matters related to second homes, a lack of good jobs in rural areas and the ongoing cost of living crisis.

When referring to Ysgol Nebo in particular, the educational, financial and operational challenges arising from the low numbers of pupils were acknowledged. It was stressed that this was not a reflection of the quality of work of the staff or the commitment of the community. The contentious and difficult nature of a decision of this nature was highlighted, but the need to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for the children of Gwynedd and to safeguard the future of education in the county was stated.

 

Should the Cabinet agree to move forward with the process, there would be a formal objection period of 28 days before the matter was brought back to the Cabinet. It was assured that steps would be taken to undertake the transition carefully and supportively for the children, and the wider School community.

 

The Local Member for the Clynnog Ward was welcomed to the meeting. The community, staff and the Governing Body were thanked for the constructive and respectful way they had dealt with this difficult situation. The low numbers in the School and the high costs facing the Council were acknowledged, but there was concern that the discussion about the School's future had been narrow and focused solely on numbers. It was believed that the proposal put forward by the Governing Body, namely the development of Nebo as a more nurturing provision for children with social, emotional and well-being needs, had deserved more consideration. In light of the increasing pressure on children and adult services, it was proposed by the Local Member that schools such as Nebo should be considered as part of early intervention and prevention. In addition, there was concern about the impact of closing the School on the Welsh language in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The content of the report on the outcome of the statutory consultation (Consultation Report) on the proposal to close Ysgol Baladeulyn on 31 December 2026 and provide a place for learners at Ysgol Talysarn from 1 January 2027 was considered, and the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal was approved, in accordance with the requirements of Section 48 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013.

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Dewi Jones.

 

DECISION

 

The content of the report on the outcome of the statutory consultation (Consultation Report) on the proposal to close Ysgol Baladeulyn on 31 December 2026 and provide a place for learners at Ysgol Talysarn from 1 January 2027 was considered, and the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal was approved, in accordance with the requirements of Section 48 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013.

 

DISCUSSION

 

The whole community was thanked for their contribution to the consultation process.

It was noted that the Cabinet respected and recognised how much the School meant to the people of the area.  

 

The change in the County's demography was reported with the number of births having dropped significantly in recent years. This meant that fewer children now lived in Gwynedd. It was recognised that this would have a direct impact on the sustainability of the County's schools, and reference was made to the need to re-examine the organisation of education to ensure sustainable provision. It was emphasised that small schools were often strong schools with very passionate communities around them, but it was noted that there were educational, financial and operational challenges in maintaining a school with very low numbers for a long time. It was accepted that the decision in question was difficult, but that the future of education for the whole County had to be considered.

Should the Cabinet agree to move forward with the process, there would be a formal objection period of 28 days before the matter was brought back to the Cabinet. It was assured that steps would be taken to make the transfer supportive and respectful for the children, and the wider School community.

 

The Local Member for the Llanllyfni Ward was welcomed to the meeting. Officers from the Education Department, the Cabinet Member, and the school community in Nantlle were thanked. It was recognised that the number of children attending Ysgol Baladeulyn was not sustainable, but it was believed that the way forward would be to federate the School with Ysgol Talysarn and add a specialist area for children with specialist learning needs. There was concern about the impact of closing Ysgol Baladeulyn on the social use of the Welsh language in the community, and the potential impact of this on the housing market in the village.

 

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       It was asked whether the community and the children had been given sufficient opportunity to voice their opinions. It was confirmed that the Department had visited the School three times, and held sessions to discuss the challenges, the preferred options, and then to look at the Department's findings. It was highlighted that a drop-in session had also been held, which had given the community the opportunity to ask any questions and receive more information. It was added that the children's views had also been received.

·       In response to a question about mitigating any negative impact on the children as a result of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Resolved: 

 

a) To commission the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Council Leader, and where relevant, the Monitoring Officer, to proceed with the further investigations and reviews noted in part 4 of this report following the publication of the Our Bravery Brought Justice report, including:

 

(a) Agreement on the terms of reference and operational steps

(b) Identify and appoint an external independent investigator where required

(c) Arrange for the receipt of final reports and take steps to submit them to the relevant committees and forums

 

b) To authorise the Chief Executive to continue to communicate with other relevant bodies and partners about what action and investigations they are undertaking and the lessons learnt that may benefit the Council

 

c) To authorise the Chief Executive to divert staff resources to support independent investigators to complete the work

 

ch) To authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Head of Finance and Cabinet Member for Finance, to prioritise and approve allocations from the fund established through the 2026-27 One-off Bids system to fund the investigations.

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Nia Jeffreys.

 

DECISION

 

Resolved: 

 

a) To commission the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Council Leader, and where relevant, the Monitoring Officer, to proceed with the further investigations and reviews noted in part 4 of this report following the publication of the Our Bravery Brought Justice report, including:

 

(a) Agreement on the terms of reference and operational steps

(b) Identify and appoint an external independent investigator where required

(c) Arrange for the receipt of final reports and take steps to submit them to the relevant committees and forums

 

b) To authorise the Chief Executive to continue to communicate with other relevant bodies and partners about what action and investigations they are undertaking and the lessons learnt that may benefit the Council

 

c) To authorise the Chief Executive to divert staff resources to support independent investigators to complete the work

 

ch) To authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Head of Finance and Cabinet Member for Finance, to prioritise and approve allocations from the fund established through the 2026-27 One-Off Bids regime to fund the investigations.

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

It was highlighted that the Council fully accepted the Our Bravery Brought Justice Report, and that it intended to act on all recommendations in the Report. The victims were thanked for their courage and apologies were made for the Council's failures. It was emphasised that the victims were at the forefront of everyone's minds when discussing this topic.

 

It was noted that the purpose of commissioning this work was to add to the messages of the Our Bravery Brought Justice Report, and to examine some topics in more detail. It was explained that several considerations had been made here such as impact on the victims, the lessons learnt, and what the Council could achieve.

 

Reference was made to the number of investigations listed that were already underway or had been completed. It was confirmed that these investigations had identified lessons to be learnt. The need to properly understand everything that had happened to be able to improve was highlighted, and the importance that the Council finished carrying out all investigations that were within its power.

 

It was stated that the review into the Council's governance arrangements considered the missed opportunities, the recommendations set out in the Our Bravery Brought Justice report, and established whether there were governance lessons to be learnt.

The culture review was then discussed, noting that it would involve pulling together work culture matters through multiple sources. It was added that this would draw on several pieces of information that the Council already had. It was intended to complete this work in two parts, and the importance of receiving input from current Elected Members and those elected in the 2027 local elections, staff and other stakeholders was emphasised.

By referring to the Efficiency of the School Governance Procedure, it was highlighted that the current arrangement in terms of the division of statutory responsibilities was not always clear. It was mentioned that the Council had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Resolved:

 

To allocate the additional income from the premium on empty properties and second homes to the priority areas set out in Part 4 below.

 

To commission further work to formulate proposals for the use of the additional premium funding of £914k relevant to 2025/26 and the remaining £4k unallocated in this report.

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Huw Wyn Jones. 

 

DECISION

 

Resolved:

 

To allocate the additional income from the premium on empty properties and second homes to the priority areas set out in Part 4 below.

 

To commission further work to formulate proposals for the use of the additional premium funding of £914k relevant to 2025/26 and the remaining £4k unallocated in this report.

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

The report was submitted stating that councils were required to determine the use of the premium in accordance with the Council Tax Statutory Guidance on empty homes and second homes.

 

It was reported that the Council had followed this principle in allocating to specific purposes and areas; alignment with the statutory guidance on the use of premium income and alignment with the objectives set out in the Council's Plan. 

Several considerations were then listed which also needed to be made when considering the allocation. These included an increased number of enquiries about the premium, further legislative changes to the tax system in 2026-27 which may result in increased enquiries/appeals, the number and timing of appeals to the Valuation Office putting pressure on residents and the administration of the Tax Service, and that the notice to terminate the Welsh Government's empty housing grant from September 2026 meant that there was no income stream for the realisation of the Housing Action Plan's empty housing targets.

 

The need to earmark the additional income resulting from the increase in the Empty Property Premium and the collection of premium income that was above the estimates in 2024/25, was highlighted to priority areas.

A value of £1.2 million was recommended for allocation, which was detailed in the report, stating that this was £1.14 million on a permanent basis and £79 thousand on a one-off basis.  

 

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       The report was welcomed and the importance of the Community Fund was emphasised as it enabled the Council to support communities.

·       Pride was expressed that a column on impact had been added to the report, which provided an opportunity to measure the impact of this funding on the communities and Gwynedd residents.

 

 

 

To accept the report and consider the final financial position of the Council's departments for 2025/26:

 

 

Noting that there is substantial expenditure above the budget by the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department and the Environment Department in 2025/26 (see Column A in the table above). The following financial virements (explained in Appendix 2) were approved –

 

· The departments that are over-spending to receive one-off financial assistance and to limit the overspend that will be carried forward by the Department to £100k (see column B in the table above).

· It was confirmed to provide financial support of £269k above the contracted payment to Byw'n Iach (see column C in the table above).

· To fund the overspend of £1.256 million in the Waste field by using £786k from the Parc Adfer Contributory Earnings Recovery Fund and £470k from the Producer Extended Responsibility Fund for packaging materials (see column CH in the table above).

· To allocate a financial bid of up to £800k to the Housing and Property Department to fund the pressure on the emergency accommodation service in 2026/27.

· On Corporate budgets:

- use from the corporate underspend (£2.8 million) to assist the departments that have overspent in 2025/26.

- the remainder (of £3.174 million) required to fund all requirements to be funded from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund.

– the underspend (of £914k) on Council Tax Premium is transferred to the Council Tax Premium fund for use to be determined by Cabinet.

 

The amounts to be carried forward were approved (the "Adjusted Over/(Under) Expenditure" column in column D above and column D of Appendix 1).

 

To approve the financial virements from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund as outlined in Appendix 3 following a review of the funds.

- £6.6 million being moved to the Council's general balances 

- £1.5 million being moved to the Building Safeguarding Fund.

 

 

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Huw Wyn Jones. 

 

DECISION

 

 

RESOLVED

 

To accept the report and consider the final financial position of the Council's departments for 2025/26:

 

 

Noting that there is substantial expenditure above the budget by the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department and the Environment Department in 2025/26 (See Column A in the table above). The following financial virements (explained in Appendix 2) were approved –

 

· The departments that are over-spending to receive one-off financial assistance and to limit the overspend that will be carried forward by the Department to £100k (See column B in the above table).

· To confirm the financial support of £269k above the contracted payment to Byw'n Iach (see column C in the table above).

· To fund the overspend of £1.256 million in the Waste field by using £786k from the Parc Adfer Contributory Earnings Recovery Fund and £470k from the Producer Extended Responsibility Fund for packaging materials (See column CH in the above table).

· To allocate a financial bid of up to £800k to the Housing and Property Department to fund the pressure on the emergency accommodation service in 2026/27.

· On Corporate budgets:

- use (£2.8 million) of the corporate underspend to assist the departments that have overspent in 2025/26.

- the remainder of (£3.174 million) required to fund all requirements to be funded from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund.

– the underspend of (£914k) on Council Tax Premium is transferred to the Council Tax Premium fund for use to be determined by Cabinet.

 

The amounts to be carried forward were approved (the "Over/(Under) Adjusted Expenditure" column in column D above and column D of Appendix 1).

 

To approve the financial virements from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund as outlined in Appendix 2 following a review of the funds.

- £6.6 million being moved to the Council's general balances 

- £1.5 million being moved to the Building Safeguarding Fund.

 

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

 

The report was presented stating that a summary of the final position of all sections was provided in Appendix 1 of the report.

 

The contents of Appendix 2 were detailed, reporting on some of the main points. It was noted that expenditure in the fields of children's out-of-county placements, waste, residential care and domiciliary care continued to be higher than the budget allocated to them. It was highlighted that the underspend on corporate budgets was helping to alleviate the financial position for the Council as a whole. It was added that £3.2 million from the Financial Strategy Fund would need to be used to balance out the departments' financial deficit situation.

 

It was stated that the budgetary deficit of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department had been reduced to £1.4 million, recognising that the pressure on delivery services was responsible for most of the departmental pressure.

 

In reference to the Children and Families Department, it was explained that there had been an increase of 11 out-of-county placements including exceptional cases of unregistered placements. It was reiterated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To accept the report on the year-end review (31 March 2026 position) of the capital programme.

 

The following modifications to the Capital Budget approved on 6 March 2025 and adjusted on 11 November 2025 and 20 January 2026 were approved in terms of the funding methods of the programme (as set out in part 3.2.3 of the report), namely:

- a £35,000 increase in borrowing use

- an increase of £14,058,000 in the use of grants and contributions

- a £485,000 increase in use of capital receipts

- an increase in the use of revenue contributions of £1,313,000

- a £2,493,000 reduction in capital fund utilisation

- a reduction of £667,000 in the use of renewal and other funds.

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Huw Wyn Jones.

 

 

DECISION

 

To accept the report on the year-end review (position 31 March 2026) of the capital programme.

 

The following modifications to the Capital Budget approved on 6 March 2025 and adjusted on 11 November 2025 and 20 January 2026 were approved in terms of the funding methods of the programme (as set out in part 3.2.3 of the report), namely:

- £35,000 increase in borrowing use

- an increase of £14,058,000 in the use of grants and contributions

- £485,000 increase in use of capital receipts

- an increase in the use of revenue contributions of £1,313,000

- £2,493,000 reduction in capital fund utilisation

- a reduction of £667,000 in the use of renewal and other funds.

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

It was explained that the report included a Departmental breakdown of the £164.9 million capital programme for the three years 2025/26 – 2027/28. It added that the report detailed the sources to fund the net increase which was around £12.7 million since the last review.

 

It was reported that the main conclusions were that the Council had managed to spend £83.8 million in 2025/26 on capital schemes, of which £52.7 million (63%) had been funded through specific grants. It was highlighted that an additional £21.9 million of proposed expenditure had been re-profiled from 2025/26 to 2026/27 and 2027/28.

The main schemes that had slipped since the original budget were then listed.

 

Attention was drawn to the list of additional grants that the Council had been able to attract since the last review, which included:

• £3.2 million – Transitional Accommodation Capital Programme (TACP) grant  from the Welsh Government.

• £2.4 million – Additional School Maintenance Grant 2025/26.

• £2.3 million – Additional General Capital Grant from the Welsh Government.

• £1.8 million – Grant from the Welsh Government towards the Learning Disability Community Hub, Canolfan Dolfeurig.

 

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       A number of positive matters arising from the report were highlighted, including the significant value of additional grants the Council had been able to attract. Attention was drawn to the extensive work underway within the Council's departments to draw up the applications for the grants in question. 

 

 

 

The meeting commenced at 1:00pm and concluded at 3:45pm.