Agenda item

To submit the report of the Council Leader.

Approval and adoption of Cyngor Gwynedd's Annual Performance Report and Self-Assessment 2023/24.

 

 

In the absence of the Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn, the Deputy Leader, Councillor Nia Jeffreys presented the report asking the Council to approve and adopt the Annual Performance Report and Self-assessment 2023/24.

 

The Deputy Leader thanked all Council employees for their work over the year, during a very challenging period. ⁠ She also thanked the members of the Governance and Audit Committee for their observations and to the Cabinet Team for their work leading on the specific areas.

 

The Deputy Leader referred to some priority areas in the report, namely:- 

 

·         Gwynedd Yfory - nearly 5,000 primary age children received a hot, nutritious lunch, every day in schools.

·         ⁠A Homely Gwynedd - over 200 additional homes had been created for Gwynedd residents.

·         A Caring Gwynedd - the first house had been purchased for the Small Group Homes service for children in the Porthmadog area and the light extra care housing provision for adults had opened in Pwllheli.

·         A Green Gwynedd - work to transform two landfill sites in Gwynedd had led to the restoration of 74 acres at Ffridd Rasus, Harlech and 32 acres at Llwyn Isaf, Penygroes.

 

The Deputy Leader then referred to one story behind the statistics, highlighting the importance of putting a face  to Council work and names to the statistics and also to acknowledge successes.

 

Members were given an opportunity to make observations and ask questions.  The following matters were raised by individual members: -

 

·         It was noted that the story behind the statistics was not at all unique and all the work undertaken by officers made a positive difference to the lives of Gwynedd residents, despite the financial crisis. The Deputy Leader's gratitude was reiterated to all Council staff.

·         Special thanks was given to the Ardal Ni Teams, the street cleaners, street enforcement staff and also the refuse disposal staff for their hard work in all weathers.

·         It was noted that the statistics indicated that 5,400 people had left Gwynedd during the year, and it was asked what the reason for this was.  In response, it was explained that a very high percentage of the 5,400 was as a result of deaths and lack of births, rather than outward migration. Obviously, young people were also leaving the County, however, it was trusted that work opportunities, provision of affordable housing, together with other schemes in the Council Plan would assist to attract them back.

·         It was noted that Osian Rhys, a young officer working on the Arfor Scheme, had given an inspired presentation in a Seren Network evening in Pontio recently on the benefits of returning to this area to live and work. It was intended to give him an opportunity to give this presentation to a wider audience as many young people were bound to identify with him and his passion and wish to see young people returning to Gwynedd. These messages needed to be maximised and disseminated.

·         The Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being was thanked and everyone working to push the Penrhos Site Scheme forward, however the need to keep on working to complete the work was emphasised as there were currently no nursing beds available in Llŷn.

·         It was noted that part of the report that referred to the regeneration of communities and town centres (page 16) stated that Town Centre Plans had been drawn up for Bangor, Caernarfon and Porthmadog and it was asked was there any reason why Pwllheli had not been included.   In response, it was noted that the scheme for Pwllheli was underway in close cooperation with the Town Council.

·         Concern was expressed that the introduction of Article 4 had caused a great deal of problems in Llŷn. It was noted that only 1,000 of the 4,000 respondents to the consultation were in favour of the introduction of Article 4, and it was questioned whether a consultation should work in this way. It was noted that a very significant number of houses had come on the market in Llŷn since the introduction of Article 4, and many businesses were about to or had closed. Reference was also made to wider problems in the area, including the lack of doctors, ambulances and public transport.   In response, it was noted that the consultation was not a referendum, and careful consideration had been given to all the responses.  It was further noted that several references had been made to the data in terms of the impact of Article 4 and the Council Tax Premium, and the report to the Council in December on setting the Premium for 2025/26 would include information regarding the impact, together with the research undertaken over the summer.   

·         The style and language of the report was welcomed, and a hope was expressed that the document would be easily available to Gwynedd residents to see the good work that was proceeding at such a challenging time. 

·         Referring to page 40 of the report, it was noted that the Age-friendly Gwynedd bid submitted to the World Health Organisation had by now been received with great praise given by the Organisation.  Therefore, work would continue under the Age Friendly partnership established within the Council.

·         It was asked how the Council decided where to buy housing. In response, it was noted that the Council would not disregard any location as there was a need everywhere and the members were asked to inform the Department of any opportunities to buy houses in their areas. However, it was noted that the Council had to be very careful and not to compete against local people who also wished to buy those houses.

·         It was noted that there was lack of new houses for rent in the small villages and it was asked whether it was possible for the Council to build some housing themselves.  In response, it was noted that Gwynedd was not an Authority that holds a social housing stock and the Council's role in terms of providing rented housing was to ensure that the housing associations provide as much finance as possible to enable them to do so.  However, the Council itself had started building houses to try and fill the gap in provision where first time buyers were unable to buy their own houses, and should the Council fail to sell those houses for some reason, such as a lack of local people in need and in a situation to buy, then consideration could be given to letting those houses for rent.  

·         It was noted that the areas of Meirion and Dwyfor in the county were amongst the poorest in Wales, if not in Europe, and young people had to leave the area to seek work.  In response, it was noted that the Council was fully aware of the need to create work for all the county's residents and did everything within its powers to facilitate this.   For example, it was noted that the Supporting People programme provided support for people who live in poverty by ensuring that they claimed every benefit owed and benefited from every opportunity.

·         It was noted that there was no active travel scheme in Meirionnydd and a path had been requested for many years from Dinas Mawddwy to Mallwyd. In response, reference was made to the criteria for grants and it was noted that consistent pressure was placed to try and ensure fairness across the county.

·         It was noted that it was very difficult to analyse the self-assessment as it did not evaluate schemes according to the areas they belonged to.  It was felt that this made it difficult to identify the Council's main barriers and what schemes had not been delivered, etc, and the officers were asked to take this into consideration when drafting a report.

·         It was asked what model was used to measure population.  In response, it was noted that Gwynedd was 21st out of the 22 Welsh councils in terms of change in population last year, and this had hit the revenue budget for the coming year.  As part of the work of trying to address the enormous shortfall of £14m facing the Council, the figure for next year had been looked at, and it was seen that Gwynedd was now 5th out of the 22 county councils. It was not known from where this figure had come, however, it was welcomed as it would mean less impact on our budgets next year.  

·         Referring to the aim of A Thriving Gwynedd of creating the best possible circumstances in Gwynedd for community enterprises and businesses to thrive, it was noted that the Llanuwchllyn community enterprise had managed to buy the Eagles public house with funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).  An appreciation of the guidance given by Council officers throughout the process of applying for the grant was expressed, and it was asked what the future forecast regarding this grant was.  In response, it was noted that gratitude should be expressed to such community enterprises as not many schemes could be realised without the cooperation with the third sector, as well as the partnership with officers. However, the Levelling Up Fund, the Shared Prosperity Fund grants and the Arfor funding would end in 2025, despite the promise given of 'not a penny less' during Brexit, and the importance of bringing all the pressure possible to bear on the two governments in this respect.  ⁠ ⁠

·         It was noted that a great deal of the Council's work was unseen in the background and the fact that the report demonstrated the range of services provided was welcomed. For example, it was noted that the work of the Autism Team was not visible to most people, and they were thanked for all their work supporting children and adults with a diagnosis or awaiting diagnosis, not only by providing specific groups for parents and children who were waiting for a diagnosis, or who were concerned about their children's behaviour, but also by training staff. It was also noted that the internal Autism Team would provide training soon for social workers so that they could support foster parents, families and teachers.

·         It was noted, as well as attracting young people back to Gwynedd, that there was a need to consider how to attract people who originated from other parts of Wales, to come and live in Gwynedd.

·         In terms of comments regarding the lack of jobs in Gwynedd, it was noted that there were many opportunities available in the care, health and education sectors. It was also noted that they were looking forward to the establishment of the Gwynedd Care Academy which would be an excellent opportunity to develop a career in the care sector. 

·         In terms of the earlier question in the discussion regarding why Pwllheli had not been included on the list of towns where the Town Centre Schemes had been planned, it was suggested perhaps that there was an unintentional tendency to see what was in front of us and to forget about issues on the periphery.  In response, it was noted that Pwllheli had been included in the 2024/25 Plan and that placemaking schemes for the Welsh Government's Transforming Towns Programme were currently being developed in Pwllheli.

·         It was suggested that there were several references in the report to 'plans were drafted', 'workshops were held’ etc, but successes on paper did not convince people at grassroots level, although it was understood that there were processes to be followed for each development and scheme. In response, it was noted that the frustration could be understood, but there were matters occurring at grassroots level that made a difference.

 

RESOLVED To approve and adopt Cyngor Gwynedd's Annual Performance Report and Self-Assessment 2023/24.