Agenda, decisions and minutes

To appoint a Chair for 2023/24.

To elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as Chair of this committee for 2023/24.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as Chair of this committee for 2023/24.

To appoint a Vice-chair for 2023/24.

To elect Councillor Paul Rowlinson as Vice-chair of this committee for 2023/24.

Two names were proposed for the post of Vice-chair, namely Councillors Paul Rowlinson and Richard Glyn Roberts, however Councillor Richard Glyn Roberts asked that his name be withdrawn as he would not have sufficient time to undertake the role.

The proposer withdrew her proposal.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Paul Rowlinson as Vice-chair of this committee for 2023/24.

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology was received from Colette Owen (The Catholic Church).

To receive any declarations of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair for consideration.

None to note.

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 23rd March, 2023 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 23 March 2023 as a true record.

Cabinet Member – Councillor Menna Trenholme

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report and to note the observations.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Support, the Corporate Director, the Head of Corporate Support and the representative of North Wales Councils Regional Emergency Planning Service were welcomed to the meeting.

Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member for Corporate Support inviting the committee to scrutinise the arrangements in place relating to Emergency Planning within the Council, and specifically:

·         How does the regional service contribute to the resilience and safety of communities in Gwynedd?

·         What is the service's current work programme?

·         What is the structure within Cyngor Gwynedd to respond to an urgent or emergency situation?

The Cabinet Member set out the context and the members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. 

It was asked whether there was a coastal pollution emergency plan specific to Gwynedd, as it was crucial that the county itself was a key part of any recovery plan following an incident of pollution.

In response, it was noted that:

·         There was a draft plan that was used for Gwynedd years ago, and that revising the Coastal Action Plan was one of the priorities of the Emergency Planning Service this year. 

·         The Service looked at the best practice across England and Wales with the aim of creating a template that was suitable for Gwynedd.

Concern was expressed that there was a pattern in Gwynedd of not cleaning watercourses or dredging around bridges, and it was noted that there was a desire to see pressure being brought to bear on Natural Resources Wales to undertake regular maintenance work.  It was noted that this was in essence a resource problem within Natural Resources Wales, but it was vital that the work was carried out as minor problems became major problems, if there was no place for the water to go.

In response, it was noted that:

·         There were specific responsibilities that belonged to the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department in this context.

·         It was believed that the Flood Strategy, which would be introduced in the autumn, placed a great deal of emphasis on collaborating with Natural Resources Wales.

In response to a question, it was confirmed that Flintshire contributed less than its share according to population to the Regional Service because it hosted the scheme.

The need was noted to correct the references to 'North Wales Resilience Forum' in the report to read 'North Wales Local Resilience Forum’.

It was noted that one of the risks identified in the report was the Covid-19 Pandemic, and it was asked how resilient our preparations were for such an emergency; how effective was our response in Gwynedd and across the north, and what steps were being taken to learn from the experience and to improve our response in the future in terms of resilience.  In response, it was noted that:

·         It was probably true to say that Gwynedd was as prepared for the pandemic as any other county, and that no one would have predicted the type of emergency that arose during that period.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Cabinet Member – Councillor Nia Jeffreys

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report and note the observations, and receive an update on the matter within a year.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for the Economy, the Assistant Head of the Economy and Community Department and the Regeneration Programmes Manager were welcomed to the meeting.

The report of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for the Economy was presented, inviting the committee to consider the following in the context of the fact that an element of the 'Regeneration of communities and town centres' project in the Council Plan 2023-28 is to prepare Town/City Centre action plans for individual towns:

·         The arrangements for preparing action plans

·         Who is included in their development?

·         How is it intended to measure the effect of the action plans?

The Cabinet Member set out the context, and the Regeneration Programmes Manager elaborated on the content of the report.  Members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and submit observations. 

It was asked what the arrangements were for monitoring that all these multi-layered and cross-departmental plans worked effectively and in a timely manner, and it was asked whether the Council had sufficient capacity to undertake the work.  In response, it was noted that:

·         The Council worked through a cross-departmental forum over the last two to three years, bringing town centre issues together, and that was the intention in terms of this plan, to have input and representation from different departments.

·         What would be monitored was very dependent on individual action plans within town centres, and it was believed that there was room in every town centre in Gwynedd to either develop or update a town centre plan to identify the priorities and monitor the progress against those priorities.

·         During the first year of the plan, the need to strengthen the data held for town centre areas was seen.  There was some historical data available, but it was believed that there was room to set slightly stronger data for individual towns, rather than counties, so that this was a means of monitoring the trends.

It was asked what would happen if there was a slippage in plans.  In response, it was noted that this work-stream had been identified as one of the priorities of the Council's Plan and that it would be an important part of the Department's performance management arrangements over the next five years.

It was asked how confident were we that there was sufficient funding available from the Transforming Towns programme to realise what we were trying to achieve, which was quite ambitious.  In response, it was noted that:

·         We were currently in year 2 of the three-year Transforming Towns programme, and would have to plan ahead on the basis that there would be a subsequent regeneration programme.

·         UK Government funding, namely the Levelling Up and Shared Prosperity funding, had proved to be significantly greater funding than what the Transforming Towns programme had to offer, but over the last two years it was seen from the UK Government programmes that plans needed to be almost ready to start in order to be eligible for the funding.

·         It was necessary to prepare  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To present the Committee’s draft forward programme for 2023/24 for adoption.

To adopt the committee's work programme for 2023/24.

Submitted - the committee's forward programme for 2023/24.

It was agreed to:

·         Identify items over a period of 18 months, in order to facilitate preparation for the first meetings of 2024/25;

·         Schedule an update on the Gwynedd Town Centres item around this time next year;

·         Add Additional Learning Needs in the mainstream and special schools as a potential item on the forward programme.

The Scrutiny Advisor was asked to discuss the forward programme with the Chair and present the revised forward programme to the next meeting, or before that by e-mail to the members.

Members submitted the following observations in relation to the arrangements for the meetings:

It was suggested that this committee was dominated by education items, and it was asked if it would be possible to establish a system of having one meeting to scrutinise education matters, and a subsequent meeting to scrutinise matters that were of a more economic nature.  In response, it was noted that:

·         An attempt was made to spread the matters across the whole year so that all the pressure did not fall on one department at a certain period.

·         The economy items could be put first on the agenda, but the co-opted members attended for the education items specifically, although they were welcome to stay throughout the meeting.

It was suggested that the presence of the co-opted members for the education items alone was not enough of a reason to put the economy/corporate items last on the agenda each time, and that it was necessary to establish an alternating order, informing the co-opted members when the discussion on the education matters was about to start.

A member noted that she remembered a request being made to separate education and economy matters, and that this had been done neatly in the forward programme, but that consideration needed to be given to achieving a balance in terms of the order of the items on the agenda of Committee meetings.  She elaborated that she would prefer to see two completely separate scrutiny committees, one for the scrutiny of education matters, and the other for the scrutiny of economy/corporate matters, due to the workload.  Another member suggested that economy matters should be scrutinised by the Communities Committee as there was a considerable overlap between the two fields, and that that committee's workload was lighter.

In response to the observations, it was noted that:

·         As a result of the review of the effectiveness of scrutiny in Gwynedd, and interviews with some members, a draft report from Audit Wales was expected soon.

·         A promise was given at the election last year, when the current system of sharing responsibilities between the three scrutiny committees was established, that that system would be reviewed in 18 months.

·         There was an intention, therefore, in the autumn, to review the current system, together with any recommendation in the Wales Audit report, and the members would have input into any changes that would result from that.

A member noted that he was not aware that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To nominate a representative to attend the Corporate Support Department and Legal Service Performance Challenge Meetings.

To nominate Councillor Cai Larsen to attend the performance challenge meetings of the Corporate Support Department and the Legal Service.

Submitted - the report of the Scrutiny Advisor inviting the committee to nominate a representative to attend the Corporate Support Department and the Legal Service's performance challenge meetings, in place of Councillor Paul Rowlinson, who had now been nominated to attend the Finance Department's performance challenge meetings.

RESOLVED to nominate Councillor Cai Larsen to attend the performance challenge meetings of the Corporate Support Department and the Legal Service.