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No. | Item |
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ELECT CHAIR To elect
Chair for 2025-2026. Additional documents: Decision: Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Councillor Annwen Hughes as
Chair of the Committee for the year 2025/26. |
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ELECT VICE-CHAIR To elect
Vice-chair for 2025-2026. Additional documents: Decision: To elect
Councillor Delyth Lloyd Griffiths as Vice-chair of the Committee for the year
2025/26. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Councillor Delyth Lloyd
Griffiths as Vice-chair of the Committee for the year 2025/26. |
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APOLOGIES To receive
any apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies
were received from Councillor Edgar Wyn Owen. |
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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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URGENT ITEMS To note any
items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for
consideration. Additional documents: Minutes: None to
note. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this Committee, held
on 20 March 2025 be signed as a true record.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee
held on 20 March 2025 as a true record. |
|
ENVIRONMENT CABINET MEMBER PERFORMANCE REPORT To report
to the Scrutiny Committee on the performance of the Environment Department. Additional documents: Decision: To accept
the report, noting the observations made during the discussion. Minutes: The report
was presented by the Cabinet Member for
the Environment, the Head of Environment Department and the Assistant Heads of
the Environment Department. It was
reported that the Department led on five projects in the Council's Plan
2023-2028, namely 'Management of second homes and short-term holiday
accommodation' as part of the Homely Gwynedd priority as well as a 'New Local
Development Plan', 'Waste and Recycling', 'Active Travel', and 'Public
Transport' as part of the Green Gwynedd priority. It was elaborated that the
information presented for this meeting set out the Department's progress
against the project milestones for 2024-2025 as well as data on the
Department's services' performance measures. During the
debate, the following comments were made by Members: Waste
and Recycling It was
pointed out that the Department did not meet the Welsh Government's national
targets of recycling 70% of all waste in the County, stating that the Council's
recycling percentage for 2024-25 was 65.3%. It was asked if the Department had
considered adapting the frequency of waste collections to meet this target. In
response, the Assistant Head confirmed that it was hoped to carry out a
consultation to ensure that there was a clear pathway for the Council to
recycle 70% of all waste. However, it was emphasised that no decisions had been
taken to adapt the frequency of waste collection at this time. It was
asked if any financial fines would be imposed on the Council by the Government
for failing to meet this target. The Assistant Head confirmed that a £200 fine
was imposed for every tonne of waste below the 70% recycling target. It was
explained that the Council was approximately 3,000 tonnes below the target in
the year 2024-25. It was explained that the Council was in ongoing discussions
with the Welsh Government to demonstrate that action was being taken to meet
the target and that this would be reflected when determining the amount of any
financial penalty imposed on the Council.
In response
to a further question about starting to recycle soft plastics, the Assistant
Head confirmed that this was not happening now because there was no market for
it. However, it was emphasised that the Welsh Government was currently piloting
this type of collection in south Wales. It was added that there were plans to
recycle more goods such as plastic bags and small electronic gadgets in the
future. The Assistant Head elaborated that a tax was being imposed on companies
on a scale that set out how easy it was to recycle any waste from their
products or packaging, in the hope that this would encourage companies to
ensure that their products could be recycled and to encourage buyers to do so. Sickness levels among service staff were referenced and officers were asked how they dealt with these cases. In response, the Assistant Head confirmed that staff were more likely to be off sick as they get older due to the physical nature of the work. It was reported that sickness ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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HIGHWAYS, ENGINEERING AND YGC CABINET MEMBER PERFORMANCE REPORT An opportunity
for Members to discuss and scrutinise the Departmnet’s improvement priorities
and measures. Additional documents: Decision: To accept
the report, noting the observations made during the discussion. Minutes: The report
was presented by the Cabinet Member for Highways, Engineering and YGC, along
with the Head and Assistant Head of the Highways, Engineering and YGC
Department. It was
reported that the Department was leading on three projects in the Council Plan
2023-2028, namely 'Extending opportunities for play and socialising for the
county's children and young people' as part of the Tomorrow's Gwynedd priority
as well as 'Acting on Flood Risks' and 'Clean and Tidy Communities' as part of
the Green Gwynedd priority. It was elaborated that the information presented
for this meeting set out the Department's progress against the projects'
milestones for 2024-2025 as well as data on the Department's services'
performance measures. During the
debate, the following comments were made by Members: Highway
Maintenance - Condition of Roads The Department
was thanked for submitting data on pothole inspections and were asked for more
information on response times to public enquiries about the condition of roads.
In response, the Head of Department apologised that this data on response time
statistics had not been included in the Report, explaining that this was due to
a problem with the software. It was explained that this data would be included
when reporting to this Committee in the future. It was explained that
inspectors immediately assessed calls concerning the condition of roads and it
was noted that work was carried out on a road within two hours if it was
assessed to be a critical problem. It was reported that other enquiries were
resolved by the end of the following working day in order to
be able to schedule and package work effectively. Confidence was expressed by
the Department that it was able to meet these timetables. Some
Members expressed frustration that road resurfacing after reporting a pothole
did not last in the long term. In response, the Head of Department explained
that every effort was made to cut out a larger section of the road in order to be able to better fill the hole and to a high
standard, but this was not possible on all occasions, therefore staff
resurfaced the road using tar from buckets. It was recognised that this could
have an impact on the quality of the road and the Department would consider the
comments further. It was elaborated that the Department had received grant
funding of £8 million over a two-year period to deal with road condition
issues, noting that reporting on response rates to reports of potholes and
finding ways to prevent them from appearing was key to the application. Street
Services It was pointed out that only 23 Fixed Penalty Notices were paid during 2023-24 for cases of dog owners not clearing up after their dog. In response, the Head of Department shared his frustration with this challenge, explaining that these figures were low because enforcement officers had to witness the dog fouling and the owner not clearing it up. He explained that this was very challenging and added that there were not a lot ... view the full minutes text for item 8. |