Venue: Multi-location Meeting - Siambr Hywel Dda, Council Offices, Caernarfon / Virtually on Zoom
Contact: Eirian Roberts 01286 679018
No. | Item |
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CHAIR To appoint
a Chair for 2023/24. Additional documents: Decision: To elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as Chair of
this committee for 2023/24. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as
Chair of this committee for 2023/24. |
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VICE-CHAIR To appoint
a Vice-chair for 2023/24. Additional documents: Decision: To elect Councillor Paul Rowlinson as
Vice-chair of this committee for 2023/24. Minutes: 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Richard Glyn Roberts asked that his name be withdrawn as he would not have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. |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: An
apology was received from Colette Owen (The Catholic Church). |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declarations of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received. |
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URGENT BUSINESS To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair
for consideration. Additional documents: Minutes: None to
note. |
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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. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair
signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 23 March
2023 as a true record. |
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REGIONAL EMERGENCY PLANNING SERVICE PDF 437 KB Cabinet
Member – Councillor Menna Trenholme To consider
a report on the above. Additional documents: Decision: To accept the report and to note the
observations. Minutes: 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. |
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GWYNEDD TOWN CENTRES PDF 407 KB Cabinet
Member – Councillor Nia Jeffreys To consider
a report on the above. Additional documents: Decision: To accept the report and note the
observations, and receive an update on the matter within a year. Minutes: 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. |
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EDUCATION AND ECONOMY SCRUTINY COMMITEE FORWARD PROGRAMME 2023/24 PDF 348 KB To present
the Committee’s draft forward programme for 2023/24 for adoption. Additional documents: Decision: To adopt the committee's work programme for
2023/24. Minutes: 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. |
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CORPORATE SUPPORT AND LEGAL PERFORMANCE CHALLENGE MEETINGS PDF 217 KB To nominate a representative
to attend the Corporate Support Department and Legal Service Performance Challenge Meetings. Additional documents: Decision: Minutes: 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. |