Agenda and minutes

Venue: Chamber - County Hall, Carmarthen. SA31 1JP. View directions

Contact: Janine Owen  01267 224030

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S.A. Curry,  C.A. Davies, K. Davies, D.C. Evans, D. Harries, J.P. Jenkins, B. Thomas,  B.D.J. Phillips, D. Nicholas, J.G. Prosser and G.B. Thomas.

 

2.

DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL INTERESTS.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor

Minute Number

Nature of Interest

R. James

12.1 –

Independent Remuneration Panel For Wales (IRPW) Annual Report (February, 2019)

He is in receipt of the reimbursement of costs of care.

 

3.

CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         The Chair extended his sincere condolences to the family of the late Gerald Meyler.
 

·         The Chair referred to recent events which included:

 

­   the official Opening of the new link road between Nantyci and Trinity University/St David's;

 

­   the completion of the essential roadworks in Ammanford town centre;

­   Completion of the New Primary School at Llangadog and the new extension at Pontyberem Primary School;

 

­   The unveiling of a blue plaque, in Bancyfelin to honour one of the children of the village who became a highly respected Rugby world player, Delme Thomas;

 

­   The unveiling of a notice board and road signs to provide due attention to Twm Sion Cati’s cave near Rhandirmwyn;

 

­   Congratulations to all the winners at the 2nd County's Culture award evening in particular to Cerys Angharad, who was awarded the young talent award and to Gwyn Nicholas, Llanpumsaint for his lifetime contribution to the world of music and to his community;

 

­   Congratulations was expressed to all those who were honoured for various commendable contributions at an awards evening in the village of Penygroes, which included Councillor Dai Thomas receiving an award for a lifetime contribution to his community.

 

·         The Chair extended his congratulations to the following in achieving awards in the Slow Food Wales’ Awards:-

 

­   Carmarthen Market for being awarded ‘Best Market in Wales’;

­   Wrights Emporium, Llanarthne for being awarded the Best Deli/Grocer;

­   Blasus Delicatessen, Carmarthen for being awarded the Best Cheesemonger. 

 

·         The Chair expressed his congratulations to Owain Baxter and Owen Bailey from the Kidwelly ward who had been chosen to play cricket for Wales.

 

·         The Chair reported that this year’s 2019 UK Sportshall Athletics Award was to be presented to the Dyfed Schools Secretary, Hedydd Davies, at the UK finals in Sport City Manchester on Saturday, 13 April 2019.

 

·         The Chair wished to express his best wishes to the Deputy Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys Police Richard Lewis upon his recent appointed to be Chief Constable of Cleveland Police.

 

 

 

·        The Chair extended his Congratulations to Côr Ysgol Gymraeg Teilo Sant who had won the Côr Cymru Cynradd competition.

 

·        The Chair wished to highlight the birthday celebrations of Mudiad Meithrin

·         The Chair extended his Congratulations to Ysgol Pum Heol for:-

­   winning the Carmarthenshire Netball Championship proceeding to represent Carmarthenshire in the Welsh final.

­   winning the Llanelli & District Regional of the Urdd Primary Schools Football Competition and proceeding to play in the Welsh Finals in Aberystwyth on the 11th May.

­   the Rugby Team going through to the Llanelli Schools Final.

 

·         The Chair wished to extend his best wishes to Councillor Edward Thomas, who as part of his Mayoral role was raising funds for three charities by undertaking a sponsored walk on 19th May 2019. 

 

·         The Chair expressed his thanks to those who have supported his chosen charities. 

·        Reference was made to Dr David Nott who was born in Priory Street Infirmary, Carmarthen and lived with his grandparents in Trelech, until the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

TO APPROVE AND SIGN AS A CORRECT RECORD THE MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON THE

Additional documents:

4.1

20TH FEBRUARY 2019 pdf icon PDF 678 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Council noted that Councillor Karen Davies was in attendance at this meeting and that the minutes would be amended to reflect this.

 

RESOLVED that subject to the abovementioned amendment, the minutes of the meeting of Council held on the 20th February, 2019 be signed as a correct record.

 

4.2

6TH MARCH 2019 pdf icon PDF 238 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of Council held on the 6th March, 2019 be signed as a correct record.

 

5.

TO CONSIDER NOMINATIONS FOR THE CHAIR OF COUNCIL FOR THE 2019/2020 MUNICIPAL YEAR

Additional documents:

Minutes:

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that Councillor Kevin Madge be nominated Chair Elect of Carmarthenshire County Council for the 2019/20 Municipal Year.

 

6.

TO CONSIDER NOMINATIONS FOR THE VICE-CHAIR OF COUNCIL FOR THE 2019/2020 MUNICIPAL YEAR

Additional documents:

Minutes:

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that Councillor Ieuan Wyn Davies be nominated Vice-Chair Elect of Carmarthenshire County Council for the 2019/20 Municipal Year.

 

7.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS (NONE RECEIVED).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

 

8.

PRESENTATION OF PETITION

“We the undersigned hereby petition Carmarthenshire County Council to overturn their previous decision and agree to adopt the roads at the Machynys East development, Llanelli, SA15.

 

We do not want to live on a private estate, mindful as we are of the possibility of escalating annual management fee costs. As Council Tax payers, it is our belief that the Council should adopt and maintain the estate roads.

 

We therefore ask the County Council to give due consideration to this petition. Of the 226 households on the development, 87% have signed this petition”

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed to the meeting Ms J. Adams, a Member of the Machynys East Residents Association, who had been invited to present to, and address Council on the following petition regarding the ‘Adoption of Machynys East Housing Estate, Llanelli’.

 

“We the undersigned hereby petition Carmarthenshire County Council to overturn their previous decision and agree to adopt the roads at the Machynys East development, Llanelli, SA15.

 

We do not want to live on a private estate, mindful as we are of the possibility of escalating annual management fee costs. As Council Tax payers, it is our belief that the Council should adopt and maintain the estate roads.

 

We therefore ask the County Council to give due consideration to this petition. Of the 226 households on the development, 87% have signed this petition”

 

Ms Adams outlined to the Council the background and the reasons for the petition in relation to the construction of private roads by developer ‘Persimmon Homes’.  The petition demonstrated that the majority of property purchasers within the Machynys East Estate, as Council tax payers, would prefer the roads be adopted by the County Council.

 

Of the 224 households on the Machynys East Estate, 125 were members of the Residents Association and the petition presented to Council contained signatures of 86% of the households, indicating the strength and feeling of the residents on the issue raised.

 

Furthermore, Ms Adams expressed an associated concern, to ensure that Persimmon Homes deliver roads constructed to the standards required by the Local Authority’s highways department and as set out in the planning application.

 

Following her presentation, Mrs Adams formally handed the petition to the Chair of Council.

 

A number of comments were raised in support of the petition.  In addition, several comments were raised that similar problems were being experienced across the County.

 

A statement was made that Welsh Government had established a taskforce to resolve the problem with unadopted roads and that a report was expected shortly.

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that in accordance with Corporate Procedure Rule 10.14 the petition be referred to the Executive Board Member for Environment for consideration.

 

9.

QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS (NONE RECEIVED).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair advised that no questions from members had been received.

 

10.

TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING NOTICES OF MOTION:-

Additional documents:

10.1

NOTICE OF MOTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR JANE TREMLETT

“Over the last year Laugharne has conducted a campaign to make Laugharne plastic free.

 

Local businesses have signed up to eliminate single use plastic, as have local catering establishments, Laugharne Primary School, Laugharne Township Community Council, Laugharne Memorial Hall.  Litter picks have been undertaken on the Foreshore and Ginst as well as around the streets.  Huge amounts of plastic (large and small) have been collected.  With age it becomes brittle and disintegrates in your hands as you pick it up becoming lethal to bird life and small animals.  All this in a triple SSI Conservation area.

Laugharne is the first community in Carmarthenshire to be recognised by the national campaign led by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) as can be seen on the map their website.

 

The local campaign is led by the Plastic Free Laugharne steering group made up of committed local residents.

 

This Motion asks the Council to recognise and support the campaign for Plastic Free Laugharne and promote its objective to reduce single use plastic whenever it can.  It also asks the Council to write to Welsh and National Governments to legislate that commercial and manufacturing companies use only materials that are recyclable.”

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Council considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Jane Tremlett:-

 

“Over the last year Laugharne has conducted a campaign to make Laugharne plastic free.

 

Local businesses have signed up to eliminate single use plastic, as have local catering establishments, Laugharne Primary School, Laugharne Township Community Council, Laugharne Memorial Hall.  Litter picks have been undertaken on the Foreshore and Ginst as well as around the streets.  Huge amounts of plastic (large and small) have been collected.  With age it becomes brittle and disintegrates in your hands as you pick it up becoming lethal to bird life and small animals.  All this in a triple SSI Conservation area.

Laugharne is the first community in Carmarthenshire to be recognised by the national campaign led by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) as can be seen on the map their website.

 

The local campaign is led by the Plastic Free Laugharne steering group made up of committed local residents.

 

This Motion asks the Council to recognise and support the campaign for Plastic Free Laugharne and promote its objective to reduce single use plastic whenever it can.  It also asks the Council to write to Welsh and National Governments to legislate that commercial and manufacturing companies use only materials that are recyclable.”

 

The motion was duly seconded.

 

The proposer and seconder of the Motion were afforded the opportunity of speaking in support thereof and outlined the reasons for its submission, as set out in the Motion.

 

A number of statements were made in support of the Motion.

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Motion be supported.

10.2

NOTICE OF MOTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR ROB JAMES pdf icon PDF 44 KB

“That this Council:-

 

a)    endorses both the UK/Welsh Government Independent Review and the Pembrokeshire Council-led Internal Review into the City Deal;

 

b)    accepts that all recommendations within both reports and believes they should be implemented as soon as possible;

 

c)     supports the use of webcasting for all future Joint Committee and Joint Scrutiny Committee meetings;

 

d)    supports legally binding changes to the Joint Committee Agreement to implement the necessary changes.”

 

 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Council considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Rob James:-

 

“That this Council:-

 

a)    endorses both the UK/Welsh Government Independent Review and the Pembrokeshire Council-led Internal Review into the City Deal;

 

b)    accepts that all recommendations within both reports and believes they should be implemented as soon as possible;

 

c)    supports the use of webcasting for all future Joint Committee and Joint Scrutiny Committee meetings;

 

d)    supports legally binding changes to the Joint Committee Agreement to implement the necessary changes.”

 

The Motion was duly seconded.

 

The following amendment to the motion was proposed by Councillor E. Dole and was duly seconded:

 

“That this Council:-

 

a)    accepts and considers all the recommendations made by the UK/Welsh Government Independent Review, the Pembrokeshire council-led Internal Review, the WAO report and the external legal report on the City Deal;

 

b)    ensures the webcasting of all future Joint Committee and Joint Scrutiny Committee meetings, where such facilities are available;

 

c)    supports legally binding changes to the Joint Committee Agreement to implement the necessary changes.”

 

The Proposer and Seconder of the Amendment were afforded the opportunity of speaking in support thereof and outlined the reasons for its submission, as set out in the Amendment.

 

A number of statements were made in support of the both motion and the amendment.

 

RESOLVED that the Amended Motion be supported.

 

11.

TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD HELD ON THE 4TH MARCH 2019 pdf icon PDF 209 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report of the above meeting be received.

 

12.

TO CONSIDER THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC SERVICES COMMITTEE IN RESPECT OF THE FOLLOWING ITEM:-

Additional documents:

12.1

INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL FOR WALES (IRPW) ANNUAL REPORT (FEBRUARY, 2019) pdf icon PDF 178 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[Note: Councillor R James declared an interest in this item and left the Council Chamber prior to the consideration and determination thereof.]

 

Council was informed that the Democratic Services Committee, at its meeting held on the 12th March, 2019 (minute 4 refers) had considered the IRPW’s determinations and recommendations contained within its Annual Report Published in February, 2019 with a view to making recommendations to Council for inclusion within the Councillors and Co-opted Members’ Salaries and Allowances Scheme for 2019/20.

 

Reference was made to the publication options for the reimbursement of the cost of care and the Democratic Services Committee recommendation to adopt Option 2 “the total amount reimbursed by the Authority during the year but not attributable to any member”. 

 

It was proposed and seconded that option 1 be adopted and that details of the amount reimbursed to named members be published.

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the recommendations of the Democratic Services Committee be adopted, subject to publication of the reimbursement of the cost of care being amended to Option 1.

 

13.

COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL'S SCRUTINY, REGULATORY AND OTHER COMMITTEES AND THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO SERVE UPON THEM pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In line with the requirements of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) regulations 1990, as amended, consideration was given to a report detailing the outcome of a review of the composition of the Council’s Scrutiny, Regulatory and other Committees following the resignation of 5 Members from the Labour Group and notification of the creation of a new group to be known as the New Independent Group.  Council considered a report which set out the details of the proposed membership changes received from the Labour Group and the New Independent Group.

 

In order to reflect the new arrangements, Council noted that the Labour Group’s representation on Committees would be reduced by 11 seats from 52 to 41, and that the New Independent Group would be entitled to an allocation of the 11 seats. Whilst, the allocation of seats to the Plaid Cymru, Independent and unaffiliated member group remained unchanged, the Independent Group would lose one Scrutiny seat to the Labour Group. 

 

In response to the required changes and as set out in table 2B within the report, the Labour group had agreed to relinquish one seat on the Environment and Public Protection Scrutiny Committee, Education and Children Services Scrutiny Committee, Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee and Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee.  The New Independent Group had nominated 4 members to fill their Scrutiny seats as set out in the report.

 

With regard to the changes impacting the Regulatory seat as set out in Table 3 within the report, the Labour Group had agreed to relinquish a seat on 6 Regulatory and other Committees.  The report sets out the nominations of Members from the Independent Group to fill Labour Groups relinquished seats.

 

Council noted that the New Independent Group had advised that they would not be taking up their allocation of the 2 Planning Seats, and that these seats would remain vacant until the Group advise otherwise.  In light of this, concerns were raised that the reduction of the Planning Committee membership from 20 to 18 could provide some difficulties in cases of apologies coupled with potential declarations of interest elevating the risk of an inquorate Committee.  Discussions would take place in order to identify if this issue could be resolved by the Group.

 

Furthermore, in accordance with Part 6 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, which sets out the requirements for the appointment of Persons to Chair Overview and Scrutiny Committees, Council noted that the calculation revealed one unallocated Chair which would need to be appointed by members of the relevant Committee.

 

The Labour Group, who were previously allocated 2 Chairs, had notified that they would relinquish the Chair of the Community Scrutiny Committee, and the Authority would therefore make arrangements for the appointment of Community Scrutiny Chair to be included on the agenda of the next Community Scrutiny Committee meeting.

RESOLVED that as a result of changes to the overall political composition of the Council,

 

13.1    to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING CHANGES TO MEMBERSHIP OF COMMITTEES:-

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

In accordance with Corporate Procedure Rule CPR 2(2)(n) the following nominations had been received from the Labour Group and was:

 

RESOLVED:

 

14.1     to note that Councillor Fozia Akhtar and Councillor Rob Evans to take Labours vacant seats on the Community Scrutiny Committee;

 

14.2     to note that Councillor Colin Evans would replace Councillor Deryk Cundy on the Community Scrutiny Committee;

 

14.3     to note that Councillor Derek Cundy would replace Councillor Colin Evans on the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee;

 

14.4     to note that Amanda Fox would take Labours vacant seat on the Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee;

 

14.5     to note that Councillor Suzy Curry would take Labours vacant seat on the Appointments Committee ‘A’;

 

14.6     to note that Councillor Andre McPherson would take Labours vacant seat on the Housing Review Panel.

 

 

15.

APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO SERVE ON COUNCIL ADVISORY PANELS AND OUTSIDE BODIES SUBJECT TO POLITICAL BALANCE REQUIREMENTS pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Following the receipt of notice that 5 Members had resigned from the Labour Group and had subsequently formed a new group to be known as the New Independent Group.  Council considered a report which set out the consequential changes to the overall political composition of the Council and reviewed the arrangements for the allocation of seats to political groups.

 

The report outlined that the Labour Group would need to relinquish a seat on the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority to the Plaid Cymru Group, and the Labour Group would need to relinquish a seat on the Cross Party Constitutional Review Working Group to the New Independent Group.

 

Council noted that the changes only impacted upon the allocation of seats to the political groups for the Mid and West Wales Fire Authority and the Constitutional Review Working Group (CRWG). 

Nominations were sought for the new arrangements for representation on the Mid and West Wales Fire Authority and CRWG. 

RESOLVED that:

15.1    to note that Plaid Cymru Group Member Councillor Mansel Charles to replace Labour Group Member Councillor Colin Evans on the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority;

15.2    to note that New Independent Group Member Councillor Jeff Edmunds to replace Labour Group Member John James on the Constitutional Review Working Group (CRWG).

15.3    to note that  no changes were  required to the membership and allocation of seats for the following:

            - Brecon Beacons National Park Authority
            - Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Panel;
            - Pay Policy Advisory Panel.

 

 

Council & Democracy

The Council

Councillors, AMs and MPs

Council departments

Have your say

Committees & Meetings

Strategies and plans