To submit
the report of the Head of Corporate Support
(attached).
Minutes:
The Leader submitted a
report which recommended that the Council approve the document as a balanced,
fair and accurate reflection of the Council’s performance in 2015/16, and to
adopt the report.
The Leader thanked the Chief Executive and the team of
officers involved with the work.
Members were given an
opportunity to ask questions or make observations. During the discussion, the following main
matters were highlighted:-
·
The proprietorial
rights in England to turn empty farm buildings into permanent dwellings were
referred to and an inquiry made into the possibility of having the same rights
in Wales. In response, the Leader noted
that the former minister, Jane Davidson, had taken legislation through the
Assembly at the time to make it easer for developments, such as residential
dwellings, to take place on farms. He
suggested that he could undertake some work jointly with the Cabinet Member for
Development to see whether that legislation had created opportunities, and if
not, this could be submitted to Government as evidence.
·
The Council was congratulated on producing a user friendly report, using
images to highlight facts.
·
Referring to the
Opinion of the Residents' Panel (page 21 in the agenda), the importance of
concentrating on the negative was emphasised (e.g. the 17% who are of the
opinion that the Council does not meet their needs, rather than the 83% who
believe the opposite) using any complaints as a resource for improving the
service, in accordance with the culture of Ffordd Gwynedd.
·
Referring to National
Strategic Measures EDU/002i (the percentage of all pupils (including those in
local authority care)... who are leaving compulsory education, training or work
based learning, without a recognised external qualification) and EDU/002ii (the
percentage of pupils in local authority care,... who leave compulsory
education, training or work based learning, without a recognised external
qualification) (page 41 in the agenda), it was noted that it would be
beneficial to obtain a comparative figure in future in order to see whether the
situation is deteriorating across the range of all pupils or this group only.
·
In response to a query about the impact that losing European funding
would have on the Council's budget, it was noted that Gwynedd Council had
created an investment of £300,000,000 as a result of European funds over the
years in the form or core / match funding or private sector investment and that
there was a 'danger' that the county would never see such sums again. There was mention that regions such as north
west Wales and the Valleys, who had been in receipt of this core funding, would
neither be considered nor be given special designation and that these areas
were in need of funds that corresponded to that which Objective One and
Convergence funds provided. The question
was raised as to what the councillors could do to help the Council. In response, the Leader noted that he
intended to write to the leader of the Wales Local Government Association who
sits on a committee set up by the First Minister of Wales, requesting that the
representative submit a letter to that committee. A letter could also be written to the Prime
Minister and to the Secretary of State for Wales and his Vice-secretary. Councillors could also raise awareness of
this within their communities, and if correspondence was shared with members,
this could form the basis of letters from town councils, groups of community
councils, organisations etc. He noted
further that he would consider the best way of harnessing this and of including
an element of collaboration across the board so that the message was completely
clear.
·
An observation was made that the percentage of those questioned (page 22
of the agenda) stood at around 1% of the population of Gwynedd and the question
was posed as to whether this figure would likely be increased. An enquiry was also made as to the
cross-section of men / women and the age of those questioned. In response, the Leader explained that it was
the Gwynedd Residents Panel who formed the basis of this questionnaire and the
opinion thereupon. He added that
research could be conducted into ways of extending the questionnaire on the
Performance Report, especially over the internet and twitter, going after
specific cohorts, such as young people, as was done with the consultation on
Her Gwynedd.
·
Concern was expressed about the increasing tendency to remove condition
106 agreements at this Council and at the National Park Authority. In response, the Leader noted that, in order
to prevent people from succeeding at appeal, the condition had to be robust in
the first place. He added that the
Communities Scrutiny Committee had been looking at the 106 conditions and on
affordable houses and had concluded that the system worked quite well.
·
Schools' staff and the Department of Education were thanked for the great
steps taken to improve the standards of education in the schools and reference
was made to specific examples of that success, such as the 13.5% improvement in
the TL2+ since 2012 and the improvements in pupil attendance. The £56m investment in buildings was also
referred to and it was noted that an open day would be held for all members of
the new Ysgol Hafod Lon in Penrhyndeudraeth on Saturday, 19 December.
RESOLVED to approve the report as a balanced, fair and
accurate reflection of the Council’s performance in 2015/16, and to adopt the
report.
Supporting documents: