Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor W.R.A. Davies

There were no declarations of personal interests.

There were no declarations of prohibited party whips.

No public questions had been received.

The Committee received a list of forthcoming items to be considered at its meeting to be held on the 29^th September, 2016.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items be received.

The Committee received for consideration a progress report, and associated action plan, in relation to the recommendations of its Task and Finish Group on the review undertaken of empty properties within Carmarthenshire during 2014/15.

The Following issues were raised during consideration of the report:-

Reference was made to the numbers of empty homes within the county that were subject to a mortgage and to whether there was any action available to the Authority to facilitate their return to habitable use. The Housing Services Manager advised that whilst it was unusual for such homes to be mortgaged, or to have no equity, with the vast majority being owned outright, there were a number of options available to facilitate their return to habitable use.  Those included, providing owners with loans, taking enforcement action under Environmental Health legislation and acquiring the property via compulsory purchase.

Reference was made to the issue of long term empty Council owned houses requiring extensive costly renovation works to bring them back into habitable use. Clarification was sought on whether it would be more cost effective and beneficial to undertake those works rather than leave the properties empty. The Committee was reminded that the Task and Finish Group had previously considered that aspect as part of its investigations, and had been advised that when renovation works were required to be undertaken to a council owned property those were evaluated on the basis of merit and housing need in a particular area. If a property requiring works was situated within an area of low need, undertaking extensive renovation works thereto may not be the best course of action, given limited financial resources, whereas, greater emphasis was placed on returning a property to use in areas of high need.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection reminded the Committee that in letting and returning Council properties to use, the Department used the Vangaurd operating system to evaluate its performance. That system was achieving significant savings for the authority with the current average void period having reduced from the previous 80 to 20 days. The number of long term voids in June 2016 was 56, set against a housing stock in excess of 9,000, some of which were hard to let or, situated in areas of low housing need, whilst others required extensive investment. The Department, in evaluating long term voids, considered the most satisfactory course of action for their future, including whether there was a need for a property’s retention within the housing portfolio. If, following that evaluation, the best course of action was considered to be retention, the property would be placed within a waiting list to compete for limited resources against the Council’s target to create up to a 1,000 new affordable homes and for undertaking repairs to the housing stock.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection referred to the use of the Vangaurd system and suggested there would be merit in the Committee receiving a presentation thereon at a future meeting.

Reference was made to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee received a power point presentation providing an update on the upgraded fitness provision within the Authority’s leisure centres at Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford and incorporating details of the following performance themed areas:-

·        Placement of Actif Fitness within the Sport and Leisure Portfolio

·        Historical Performance – The need for Change

·        Impact of Upgrade to date

·        Surrounding strategies for success: promotion and service improvement

·        Performance Management

·        Future Actions.

The Following issues were raised during consideration of the report:-

In response to a question relating to the installation of new fitness equipment and capacity issues within the three leisure centres referred to, the Committee was advised that in relation to the equipment recently installed at the Llanelli Leisure Centre that involved the direct replacement of the old equipment with no additional works being required. For Carmarthen, capacity was being increased by 20%. With regard to Ammanford, reconfiguration works would be undertaken in two phases via the removal of the changing rooms and extending the gym and by relocating the first floor dance studio to the ground floor.

Reference was made to the investment being made to the above leisure centres and clarification sought on whether the cost thereof could be to the detriment of other Council owned leisure facilities in terms of their potential closure over the long term in order to concentrate provision within the three main population centres. The Head of Leisure confirmed that the Council had no such policy at the current time and such facilities outside of the main population centres provided an important role in the community. In that regard, the authority was providing enhanced facilities at those centres including, the relocation of some facilities from Carmarthen Leisure Centre to Newcastle Emlyn, and the installation of new fitness equipment at St Clear’s leisure centre financed from S106 planning receipts. Additionally, the Council was continually exploring every opportunity to improve facilities at all of its leisure centres.

Reference was made to the Council’s charging policy at its leisure centres and specifically, its impact upon two clubs within the Newcastle Emlyn area that had resulted in them having to identify alternative training venues. The Head of Leisure reminded the Committee that in setting charging levels, the Council had to have consistency across its leisure portfolio, whilst also recognising the impact of competition from both the private sector and neighbouring local authorities.

In response to a question on collaborative working, it was confirmed that the authority worked closely with the Health Board thereon and participated in the patient referral scheme. To date, the authority provided for 1200 referrals, mainly from G.P’s, and was actively examining alternative ways of increasing patronage at its leisure centres to promote fitness and well-being which included exercise classes for pre and post baby mothers. With regard to the numbers of referrals, an exercise was currently being undertaken to ascertain the percentage of those who continued to use the council’s facilities following completion of their 16 week programme.

The Head of Leisure referred to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee considered the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Reports relating to Housing, Planning and Leisure and Recreation Services in relation to the 2015/16 end of year position.

The following issues were raised during consideration of the report:-

The Head of Leisure in response to a question relating to the combined £70k overspend on Burry Port Harbour and Pembrey Ski Slope advised that they related to increased dredging costs at the harbour together with a reduction in the value of stock at the ski slope shop. With regard to the harbour, he reminded the Committee that it was council policy to retain and manage the facility, and that dredging works were an integral element of its management. With regard to the ski slope, that involved a reduction in the value and level of stock held at the shop as the council’s emphasis was to provide ski facilities and not clothing sales.

In response to a question on overspends within the Leisure and Recreation Budget being offset against staff vacancies, the Head of Leisure confirmed that the Division did not have any staff on zero hour contracts. However, the service had a large number of casual posts that were necessary to provide service flexibility with those being allocated set hours where possible, with some staff preferring to operate on minimum hours.

In response to a question on the overspend within the Non HRA  - Housing Account, the Committee was advised that it primarily related to a £125k overspend on Supporting People Services, whereby previously, a portion of the Development Fund had been utilised to fund salary costs within that service. However, following the Welsh Government’s decision to amend the fund criteria and claw back some of the funding, use of the fund to finance salary costs was no longer permitted. Consequently, the reduced income had to be met from elsewhere within the Division’s budget and a reconfiguration of the service would enable those costs to be built into future budgets.

In response to the above, reference was made to the fact the Supporting People scheme was operated by a board and a question asked on whether it would be possible for the Committee to receive a report on its service provision and future proposals. The Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that whilst the scheme fell within the remit of the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee, he would enquire on the possibility of providing the committee with the requested report.

In response to a question on reconfiguration of service delivery, the Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that a number of avenues were being implemented/ explored in that regard which, included reducing the number of contracts issued by the council, reducing the numbers of commissioning officers, working collaboratively with Pembrokeshire County Council on regional commissioning and a reduction in back office staff thereby increasing the level of resources available for service provision.

Reference was made to the recent referendum decision for the United Kingdom to leave the European  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee received for consideration the End of Year Performance Management Report for the services within its remit for the period 1^st April, 2015 to 31st March, 2016. The report included an overview of performance by Heads of Service, the approach to measuring performance, Improvement Plan Monitoring – Actions and Performance Measures together with information appertaining to compliments and complaints.

The following issues were discussed during consideration of the report.

The Head of Housing and Public Protection in response to a request for an update on the current position relating to the review undertaken of the Access to Social Housing Policy, reminded the Committee that a number of issues/concerns on the proposals had been raised at a recent member seminar. As a consequence, arrangements were being made for presentations on the proposals to be made to each of the Council’s political groups. Thereafter, the report would be represented to Council in the Autumn for consideration via the normal political process.

In response to a question on Social Lets and the Council operating a scheme to manage private sector homes for landlords, the Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that the Council currently managed 135 homes which it used to re-house homeless households or those under imminent threat of homelessness. Management Agreements regarding fee charges and maintenance arrangements were negotiated with each landlord with maintenance works being undertaken either by the Council or, the landlord depending upon each landlord’s requirements.

In response to a question on the operation of the Pilot scheme in Glanymor and the establishment of a Joint housing and Property team, the Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that 20% of the estate had been checked and initial results were proving encouraging with the intention being to roll the scheme out to the rest of Llanelli and Carmarthen. Whilst 20% of the estate had been checked, it may be necessary, due to delays caused by an initial change of personnel, to increase the numbers of staff undertaking the checks by using properly trained housing officers.

Reference was made to the Council’s contractor framework and to what measures were in place to monitor the quality of works undertaken by sub-contractors. The Head of Housing and Public Protection advised that quality control checks, under the framework, were the responsibility of the contractor. However, a review would shortly be undertaken of the framework to ascertain if there were areas that could be improved upon in light of experience and the need to obtain value for money on the Council’s annual £20m housing maintenance bill.

In response to a question on proposals for the provision of an alternative delivery model to increase the numbers of affordable homes within the County, the Head of Housing and Public Protection stated that it involved the establishment of a Local Authority Housing Company to examine ways of raising additional capital to support the Council’s Affordable Homes Commitment via different procurement and construction methods/specifications to deliver more for less. That company would be wholly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

At 1.00 p.m. during consideration of Minute 9 above, the Committee’s attention was drawn to Corporate Procedure Rule 9.1 “Duration of Meeting” and CPR 23.1 “Suspension”. As the meeting had been underway for three hours, it was,

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to suspend the Council Procedure Rules to enable the remaining business on the agenda to be considered.

The Committee received an Annual Report for its work during the 2015/16 municipal year, noting that it had been prepared in accordance with Article 6.2 of the County Council’s Constitution.

The report provided an overview of the work programme and the key issues considered by the Committee. It also detailed the issues referred to or from the Executive Board, Task & Finish review, development sessions held for members as well as their attendance at committee meetings.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.

The Committee received a report detailing the progress achieved in relation to actions, requests or referrals emerging from previous meetings of the committee.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.