Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Cllr. J. Tremlett.

There were no declarations of personal interests.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Board held on the 27^th September, 2021 be signed as a correct record.

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

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

The Cabinet considered the Annual Monitoring Report [AMR] for the adopted Carmarthenshire Local Development Plan (LDP) which had been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Local Development Plan (LDP) Regulations 2005. Whilst it was considered that progress had been made in implementing many of the adopted Plan’s policies and objectives there were elements and components which were not delivering as intended. This has been compounded by the Covid-19 Pandemic and the associated restrictions. In this respect some of the findings of this AMR inevitably reflected the challenges experienced by some sectors and society.

In accordance with the Council’s statutory duty the AMR would be submitted to the Welsh Government and published on the Council’s website by 31st October 2021. This would be accompanied by an informal consultation which would afford interested parties the opportunity to comment on the key issues raised. Whilst not a statutory requirement, such a consultation provided an important opportunity for views to be submitted, and where appropriate for those views to contribute to the content of subsequent AMR’s. The content of the current AMR along with that of the previous three documents would be used to inform the preparation of the Revised LDP 2018 – 2033 and its associated evidence base.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL that the Annual Monitoring Report for the adopted Carmarthenshire Local Development Plan (LDP) be endorsed and officers be authorised to make typographical or factual amendments as necessary to improve its clarity and accuracy.

The Cabinet considered the proposed Carmarthenshire Waste Strategy 2021-2025 which detailed the considerations, measures and strategy proposed for future improvement of the waste kerbside collection service to achieve the measures set out in the Welsh Government strategies Towards Zero Waste and Beyond Recycling. Whilst the current service model had enabled the Authority to exceed the statutory 64% target it was deemed that further change was required to meet the 70% recycling target from 2024/25, the expected 80% target by 2030 and provide a base for improvements to achieve zero waste by 2050.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

7.1 to approve the direction of travel for service delivery set out for an interim solution followed by a longer-term service change including the interim proposals of:

·                  the move to weekly recycling collections;

·                  the change to three weekly residual collections;

·                 the separate collection of glass at the kerbside (3-weekly in the interim);

7.2   to commence the procurement of the additional vehicles required for the interim solution;

7.3   to develop the programme of longer-term service change for delivery in 2024 of

·       the move to Welsh Government ”Blueprint” compliant recycling collections;

·       weekly glass recycling as part of the kerbside sort collection methodology;

·       additional material collections – textiles, Small Domestic Appliances and batteries.

The Cabinet was reminded that under the Social Services and Wellbeing Act the ‘Director of Social Services’ had a duty to advise Councillors on – amongst other things – the challenges, risks and circumstances where staff issues affected an authority’s ability to discharge its statutory responsibilities, and to brief the Chief Executive and Councillors on matters likely to cause public concern, and strategies to deal with those situations.

Accordingly, the Cabinet considered a report on the challenges facing Social Care in Wales arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of this on the residents in Carmarthenshire and some of the actions being taken to mitigate this. Although the most acute pressures were in older people services the report also noted pressures in mental Health, learning disabilities and Children’s Services. The report stated that any significant risks going forward would be considered carefully and reported where necessary. The Cabinet was assured that the position was being managed locally but that it was inevitably impacting on individual’s quality and overall provision of care in Homecare. The Authority, it was noted, had a robust system of reporting, decision making and management in place with clear lines of sight corporately and through the political leadership.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to note the content of the report and the implications and the key actions being taken.

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