Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Kevin Thomas  01267 224027

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Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

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Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor E. Thomas

2.

DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL INTEREST

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Minutes:

There were no declarations of personal interests.

3.

TO SIGN AS A CORRECT RECORD THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CABINET HELD ON THE 30TH JANUARY 2023 pdf icon PDF 126 KB

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Minutes:

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on the 30th January, 2023 be signed as a correct record.

4.

QUESTIONS ON NOTICE BY MEMBERS

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Minutes:

The Chair advised that three questions on notice had been submitted by members.

4.1

QUESTION BY COUNCILLOR ROB JAMES TO COUNCILLOR GARETH JOHN CABINET MEMBER FOR REGENERATION LEISURE CULTURE AND TOURISM

Can the Cabinet Member for Regeneration provide an update on the Levelling Up Fund bids for Llanelli and confirm whether it is the intentions of the administration to resubmit the plans during phase 3?’

 

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Minutes:

‘Can the Cabinet Member for Regeneration provide an update on the Levelling Up Fund Bids for Llanelli and confirm whether it is the intentions of the administration to resubmit the plans during phase 3?.

 

Response by Councillor Gareth John – Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure, Culture and Tourism:-

Thank you for the question. Since the question is specifically aimed at the levelling up fund, there’s little I can add really to the statement I made at last Council where I announced that we’d been notified that the two applications, or bids, that we had submitted in respect of the fund, in respect of regenerating Llanelli Town centre and the improved transport links and interchange to and from the centre to the railway station and Pentre Awel had been unsuccessful. As I reported, there were apparently 525 applications, of which, 111 were awarded funding in round two, a total amount amounting to just over £2bn, and this amounts to a 1 in 5 success rate. Again, as I indicated at Council, we are, and we remain naturally disappointed with the news particularly given the clear need, the strength and quality of our submission and the vast amount of time and effort and indeed expense invested in submitting the application.

 

As I reported, we have requested, have been promised, and still await feedback with the aim of supporting future proposals and submissions bearing in mind as we know there will be a promised third round of the levelling up fund in due course. The only thing I would add is at no point was it indicated during any stage of the application process that the authority would be at any disadvantage during the second round of bidding as a result of having been successful in the first. This doesn’t seem to be the case because analysing the awards thereafter it would appear that no authority that had been successful in the first round received bidding in the second round and there are only four local authorities in Wales that have had no success at the both rounds. And, as I indicated to Council, taking both rounds together, Carmarthenshire are second only to Cardiff on the total level of funding allocated to date.

 

We await the feedback as I indicated and we will then assess prior to resubmitting or amending our submission, if eligible, under the promised third round when we receive that feedback from the announcement.  Thank you

 

 

Supplementary Question by Councillor Rob James:-

There was no supplementary question

4.2

QUESTION BY COUNCILLOR ROB JAMES TO COUNCILLOR ALUN LENNY , CABINET MEMBER FOR RESOURCES

‘Can the Cabinet Member for Resources state whether immediate action is being taken to end months of roadworks on Blue Street, Carmarthen, after businesses have been hit financially by the disruption, and will the Council engage with affected businesses to discuss compensation for loss of business?’

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Minutes:

‘Can the Cabinet Member for Resources state whether immediate action is being taken to end months of roadworks on Blue Street, Carmarthen, after businesses have been hit financially by the disruption, and will the Council engage with affected businesses to discuss compensation for loss of business’

 

Response by Councillor Alun Lenny – Cabinet Member for Resources:-

I’m very grateful to Councillor James for the opportunity to provide an update on the plan to improve Carmarthen bus station, which includes Blue Street, a scheme enabled through Welsh Government Support as part of its strategy to improve public transport infrastructure. The scheme will comply with the new transport strategy that sets out different ways to support public transport. It prioritises passengers and climate change as Lee Waters, MS Deputy Minister for climate change explained Last Wednesday. Once the work is finished, and I’ll get to that in a moment, Carmarthen bus station will be a much more welcoming, engaging and safe place for passengers, including larger bus shelters in Blue Street with electronic boards providing bus times, as there are at railway stations. The work has already made Blue Street a more attractive street with new resurfacing of the pavements and safer places for pedestrians to cross the road. It will also be a much better link between the railway station and the Town. I must acknowledge that the development has not been without its difficulties and I fully appreciate that a few shops in Blue Street say it has adversely affected business. Unfortunately, the work was hampered due to late responses from utility providers. In other words, companies that could have wires or pipes underground. Work was also suspended between mid-November and early January so as not to disrupt local businesses over the Christmas period. Free parking was also provided in Blue Street car park during that period in order to alleviate the impact on businesses. It’s true there had been some barriers to some businesses entrances for inevitable reasons but, that was probably only for a few hours and the contractor endeavoured to offer interim entrances to customers. Work on the pavement outside the shops has now been finished for a couple of weeks and it looks excellent and the work resurfacing the street itself will begin tonight. The work will take place overnight for four nights, weather permitting. Work will then continue to make significant improvements inside the existing bus station area which is away from the street. That will come to an end this spring. Carmarthen Town will then have a top class bus station and that should attract more passengers to Blue Street for the benefit of the shops there and, indeed, the town itself.

 

Turning briefly to the second part of the question, namely, the enquiry about compensation, there is no compensation scheme within the Non Domestic Rates system but, if individual businesses can prove they have suffered financial hardship it is possible that the Council could take that into account under what is called Section  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.2

4.3

QUESTION BY COUNCILLOR ROB JAMES TO COUNCILLOR DARREN PRICE, LEADER OF THE COUNCIL

‘Would the Leader of Council agree with me that where a business has created accommodation - utilising an annex, renovating a disused barn on a farm or other means - that this practice is not removing housing stock from local communities nor is it a second home in the traditional sense, and as such, should not be liable to any Council tax premium?’

 

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Minutes:

‘Would the Leader of Council agree with me that where a business has created accommodation – utilising an annexe, renovating a disused barn on a farm or other means – that this practice is not removing housing stock from local communities nor is it a second home in the traditional sense, and as such, should not be liable to any Council tax premium?

 

Response by Councillor Darren Price – Leader of the Council:-

 

Thank you for the question and I think it’s a good opportunity really to try and explore some of the issues around this. As you will be aware we are consulting at the moment in terms of introducing a Council Tax Premium on both empty properties and second homes and that consultation continues and there will be a report coming to Cabinet and Council over the next few weeks so, its timely. Obviously, you are aware of the detail around this but, I thought it would be an opportunity just to set some context for others who are listening in and may not be as up to date in terms of the context. So, obviously, as I mentioned we are consulting. We have 2,000 empty properties across the county as things stand. We have around 1,000 second homes / holiday homes across the county as well. So, that means we have 3,000 properties across the county which either are not utilised at all or are under-utilised in some cases. The flip side to that, of course, is we know we have over 3,000 people waiting on the housing list and, I think that morally, there’s a duty on us, and national government to try and get to grips with that situation and re-balance the market.

 

I think there’s a unanimous view, I think, nationally that something needs to be done to tackle the problem of empty properties and second homes and, of course the Welsh Government have been clear following discussions with Plaid Cymru, and the inclusion of the Co-operation Agreement, that action needs to be taken on a whole range of issues. Clearly, the Minister, Julie James, is keen to make progress on this and she has been quoted continuously and I will quote her directly, just to provide some context. What she says is ‘that the continuing rise of house prices mean the people, especially younger generations, can no longer afford to live in the communities that they have grown up in. A high concentration of second homes or holiday lets can have a very detrimental impact on small communities and in some areas could compromise the Welsh language being spoken at a community level. That the urgency and gravity of the situation calls for further intervention which means real and ambitious actions are delivered at pace to inject fairness back into the housing system’. I’ve got to say that I agree whole heartedly with those sentiments. I think it’s really important that the Welsh Government is taking action on a number of fronts to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.3

5.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS ON NOTICE

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Minutes:

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

6.

CARMARTHENSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL CORPORATE STRATEGY 2022-27 pdf icon PDF 111 KB

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Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the Council’s Corporate Strategy 2022-2027, that included the Council’s well-being objectives and setting out the direction of travel and priorities for the organisation over the period of the current administration, whilst also providing the delivery framework on the Cabinet’s vision and commitments during the period. The new strategy would focus on a smaller number of population-based objectives whilst identifying the thematic priorities, service priorities and core business enablers that the Council would aim to progress during that period.

 

It was noted the proposed new Council well-being objectives were:-

 

1.     Enabling our children and young people to have the best possible start in life (Start Well)

2.     Enabling our residents to live and age well (Live and Age Well)

3.     Enabling our communities and environment to be healthy, safe and prosperous (Prosperous Communities)

4.     To further modernise and develop as a resilient and efficient Council (Our Council)

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL that the Council’s Corporate Strategy 2022-2027 be approved.

7.

COUNCIL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY pdf icon PDF 125 KB

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Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the proposed Transformation Strategy that aimed to provide the strategic framework to underpin a programme of significant organisational change to support the Council in achieving its wider aims and objectives, as set out in within the Corporate Strategy (Minute 5 above refers). It also aimed to further accelerate the process of modernisation across the Council, thereby allowing it to continue delivering high-quality, cost-effective services within the context of a challenging external environment.

 

It was noted the Strategy encompassed the following 8 thematic priorities:-

·       Workforce,

·       Workplace,

·       Efficiencies and value for money

·       Income and commercialisation

·       Service design and improvement

·       Digital and customers

·       Decarbonisation

·       Schools

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Transformation Strategy be approved.

8.

CARMARTHENSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL'S SIGNING OF THE EDINBURGH DECLARATION pdf icon PDF 153 KB

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Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report on a letter received from Julie James (WG Minister for Climate Change), sent in September 2021, to all Local Authorities in Wales seeking pledges of support for the Edinburgh Declaration that supported the development of the post 2020 global biodiversity framework i.e: “recognises the important role that sub-national governments play in supporting nature and biodiversity”

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

8.1

That the Council sign the Edinburgh Declaration on Global Biodiversity and that the Cabinet Member for Decarbonisation, Climate Change and Sustainability sign the declaration;

8.2

That officers ensure the due process for signing the Declaration is implemented and that the signing of the Edinburgh Declaration is publicised by the Council’s Marketing and Communications Team.

 

9.

HIGHWAY ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN - MAINTENANCE MANUAL PARTS 4.5, 4.6 & 4.7 pdf icon PDF 165 KB

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Minutes:

The Cabinet considered a report on the adoption of sections 4.5 – 4.7 of the Highway Asset Management Plan – Maintenance Manual. While the Plan had been adopted by the Council’s former Executive Board in July 2018, Cabinet was informed that the maintenance manual which formed part 4 thereof, was being developed as a portfolio of specific manuals covering the management of a range of highway assets. Accordingly, Parts 4.1- 4.4 of the manual had been adopted in 2021, and sections 4.5 – 4.7, if adopted, would cover the aspects detailed below, with further sections being developed in future years:-

 

Part 4.5 – Highway Drainage Management

Part 4.6 – Geotechnical Management

Part 4.7 – Highway Emergency Response.

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that Parts 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 of the Highway Asset Management Plan – Maintenance Manual be adopted.

10.

PARTNERIAETH BUDGET 2022 -2023 pdf icon PDF 403 KB

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Minutes:

The Cabinet was informed that the Legal Agreement relating to the establishment of the Partneriaeth Regional Education Consortium provided the following reserved matter to each of its constituent authority’s “Approving the first Annual budget of the Partneriaeth and any subsequent Annual Budget which would exceed the scope of the authority delegated to the Joint Committee within its terms of Reference”

 

In accordance with that requirement, the Cabinet considered the Partneriaeth’s first Annual budget, as endorsed by the Partneriaeth Joint Committee on the 29th April 2022.

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED:-

10.1

To note the assumptions and estimates made in compiling the First Annual Budget for 2022-23 and approve the first Annual Budget for Partneriaeth Regional Education Consortium, including the contributions of each Council, which had been calculated in accordance with the terms of the legal agreement;

10.2

To note that the Joint Committee had resolved at its meeting held on the 29th April, 2022 that the Lead Chief Finance Officer for Partneriaeth (Section 151 Officer of the Lead Council with responsibility for finance) was authorised to make amendments to the first Annual Budget for 2022-23 as assumptions and estimates were confirmed and that that position be approved.

 

11.

ANY OTHER ITEMS OF BUSINESS THAT BY REASONS OF SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES THE CHAIR DECIDES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS A MATTER OF URGENCY PURSUANT TO SECTION 100B(4)(B) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1972.

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Minutes:

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

 

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