Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

The Chair congratulated pupils from Carmarthenshire who had achieved success at the recent Urdd Eisteddfod.

There were no declarations of personal interest.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Executive Board held on the 7^th and 13^th May, 2019 be signed as correct records.

The Chair advised that no questions on notice had been submitted by members.

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

Further to minute 7 of the Executive Board meeting held on the 4^th June 2018 consideration was given to the updated Corporate Strategy 2018-23 following a review of the Well-being Objectives. It was deemed to be good practice to ensure the Strategy was up to date to ensure resources were allocated to priorities. Furthermore the Authority was legally bound to publish its Improvement Objectives and review the Well –being Objectives annually.

Members commended the layout and content of the document.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL THAT:

6.1     the Corporate Strategy adopted in June 2018 be reaffirmed;

6.2       the same set of Well-being Objectives be retained for 2019/20  subject to minor corrective adjustments.

The Board considered a report detailing a proposal to extend the existing Public Spaces Protection Order 2016 [Carmarthenshire Dog Orders] for the county of Carmarthenshire. The original Order had come in to force on the 1st July 2016 for a period of 3 years and was due to expire. It was considered therefore that it needed to be extended otherwise the current controls would no longer apply from the 1st July.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

7.1 that the duration of the Carmarthenshire County Council (Dog Control) Public Spaces Protection Order 2016 be extended for a further period of 3 years with effect from the 1^st July 2019;

7.2 that the Council makes an Extension Order to give effect to the above extension and endorses the 2016 Order with suitable wording to reflect the fact that the duration of the 2016 order has been extended.

The Executive Board considered the revenue budget monitoring report which provided an update on the latest budgetary position as at the 28^th February, 2019.

Overall, the report forecast an end of year underspend of £1,118k on the Authority’s net revenue budget, with an overspend at departmental level of £855k. The Housing Revenue account was predicting to be on target for 2018/19.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the budget monitoring report be received.

The Executive Board considered a report providing an update on the capital programme spend against the budget for 2018/19 as at the 28^th February, 2019.

A net spend of £49.318m was forecasted compared with a working net budget of £55.993m giving a £-6.675m variance.

The Chair advised that there were no items of urgent items.

THE REPORTS RELATING TO THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE NOT FOR PUBLICATION AS THEY CONTAIN EXEMPT INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH 14 OF PART 4 OF SCHEDULE 12A TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS AMENDED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) (VARIATION) (WALES) ORDER 2007. IF, FOLLOWING THE APPLICATION OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST TEST, THE BOARD RESOLVES PURSUANT TO THE ACT TO CONSIDER THESE ITEMS IN PRIVATE, THE PUBLIC WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM THE MEETING DURING SUCH CONSIDERATION.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED, pursuant to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information)(Variation) (Wales) Order 2007, that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item as the report contained exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

Following the application of the public interest test it was UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED, pursuant to the Act referred to in Minute 11 above, to consider this matter in private, with the public excluded from the meeting, as it would involve the disclosure of exempt information contained in the report which contained financial information relating to the RIBA stage 3 design services to be provided. Although the public interest test would normally favour transparency and openness, this was outweighed by the public interest in maintaining confidentiality in this case so as to protect the commercial interests of the provider in the wider market, as well as the Authority’s interests for the purposes of further portions of design services to be sought.

The Executive Board considered a report which provided an update on the progress and future delivery timescale for the Llanelli Wellness and Life Science Village and detailed the need to commission further design development work for the City Deal and the Carmarthenshire County Council leisure elements of the Village in order to maintain programme.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

12.1to note the project dependencies and timeline implications for alternative scenarios to fund phase one delivery of the Village. Phase one to include the City Deal and Carmarthenshire County Council Leisure elements;

12.2to acknowledge the process milestones and commissioning requirements for the alternative scenarios and the impact on completion dates;

12.3to agree to progress to RIBA stage 3 on a phased basis. The proposal is to divide this work into separate phases with the first element costing £600,000. The work will further refine the detailed space, functionality and design linked to academic and health partner commitment. A subsequent report will follow successful completion of this first element to seek approval to complete RIBA Stage 3 work;

12.4to approve the expenditure of £600,000 on phase 1 of the RIBA stage 3 design worksand approve the funding via the City Deal Earmarked Reserve.

Mr. Mark James C.B.E., Chief Executive

The Chair commented that this had been Mr. Mark James’ last meeting of the Executive Board and, on behalf of the Members, he thanked Mr. James for all his guidance and wished him well for the future. Mr. James thanked members for their good wishes.