Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors E. Dole, P. Edwards, A. Fox, C.J. Harris, H.B. Shepardson, B. Thomas and J. Tremlett.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL INTERESTS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor/Officer

Minute Number

Nature of Interest

K. Lloyd

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Holds shares in Carmarthenshire Energy Ltd.;

C.A. Davies

8.2 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Gareth John

The Towy Valley Cycle path, which will benef from the Levelling Up Fund, passes through Cllr. Davies’s farm;

C.A. Davies

 

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Farmer;

T.A.J. Davies

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner and Farmer;

K. Madge

7.1 – Minute 8 of Cabinet Minutes 11th October, 2021 

Daughter works in Social Care;

J.A. Davies

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

K. Broom

7.2 – Minute 7 of Cabinet Minutes 25th October, 2021 

Footpath passes through Cllr. Broom’s land;

K. Broom

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

M.J.A. Lewis

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Farmer;

J.K. Howell

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

G.B. Thomas

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Farmer;

A. James

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Farmer;

J.M. Charles

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

S.M. Allen

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

W.T. Evans

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

D.E. Williams

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Farm owner;

C.A. Campbell

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Landowner;

S.L. Davies

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Mother is landowner;

J.E. Williams

8.3 – Notice of Motion by Councillor Alun Lenny

Farmer.

 

3.

CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·       The Chair extended his deepest sympathy, on behalf of Elected Members and Senior Officers, to Councillor Jane Tremlett and her family on their recent losses;

 

·       The Chair welcomed back Cllr. Jim Jones following his recent illness;

 

·       The Chair thanked Cllr. Edward Thomas for his invitation to an afternoon tea in Llandeilo on the 23rd October 2021;

 

·       The Chair informed Council that on 30TH October 2021 he and his wife Joyce had enjoyed a performance of ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ by Burry Port Youth Theatre. He thanked the Youth Theatre for the invitation;

·       The Chair extended his congratulations to Cllr. Ann Davies and her team on their success at the recent Meithrin’s Annual Awards Ceremony;

 

·       The Vice-Chair, Cllr Ken Lloyd stated that he had recently represented  the Chair at the launch of the Annual Poppy Appeal in Carmarthen Town and a charity evening with the Mayor of Llanelli;

 

·       Cllr. Ann Davies announced that the Council had again received accreditation from the White Ribbon Campaign in recognition of the work it had undertaken and planned to undertake. The Council, as part of its commitment, would be marking White Ribbon Day on the 25th November 2021 as it had done in recent years and Cllr. Davies urged all members to sign up to the White Ribbon Campaign promise;

 

·       Cllr. Jeanette Gilasbey thanked everyone, including the Council, NRW and emergency services, who had helped residents following the recent floods in Kidwelly;

 

·       Cllr. Hazel Evans congratulated Nicola Olsson, Assistant Road Safety Officer, on the award she had received from the British Horse Society in recognition of the work she had undertaken in developing a road sign to protect horses. The sign had since been approved by the Wales Road Safety Partnership;

 

·       Cllr. Hazel Evans thanked and congratulated everyone involved in the successful bid for the Levelling Up Fund from the UK Government of £16.7 m for the Towy Valley Cycle Path including Jonathan Edwards MP for Carmarthen East & Dynefwr and Simon Hart, Secretary of State for Wales. Cllr. Evans also thanked all officers responsible for preparing and submitting the bid and paid tribute to the Corporate Management Team and Cabinet for their vision to support the project;

 

·       Cllr. Rob James congratulated a group of Llanelli-based County Councillors led by Cllr. Rob Evans who had stepped in to sell poppies on behalf of the Royal British Legion when veterans had not been in a position to do so;

 

·       The Deputy Leader, with the Chair’s permission provided an update on the Covid situation in Carmarthenshire. On Monday Carmarthenshire recorded 483.1 cases per 100,000 compared to 537.2 per 100,000 in the previous 7 days – a decrease of 54.1 cases per 100,000. The figure on the 11th October 2021 had been 579.5 per 100,000 and in the last 4 weeks therefore, there had been a decrease of about 100 incidents per 100,000. Whilst things were moving in the right direction it was considered that there was still a long way to go  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

MINUTES - 13TH OCTOBER 2021 pdf icon PDF 505 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of Council held on the 13th October, 2021 be signed as a correct record.

5.

COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL'S SCRUTINY, REGULATORY AND OTHER COMMITTEES AND THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO SERVE UPON THEM pdf icon PDF 227 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 Councillor S. Najmi from the New Independent Group and becoming an unaffiliated member. It was noted that as a consequence of the resignation, the New Independent Group’s representation on committees would reduce by two and the unaffiliated members representation would increase by two. The allocation of seats held by the Plaid Cymru Group, the Independent Group and the Labour Group were unchanged.

 

In response to the required changes, as set out in table 3 within the report, the New Independent Group had agreed to relinquish their two seats on the Planning Committee which would be re-allocated to the unaffiliated members.

 

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

 

5.1     to adopt the changes to the number of seats held by the New Independent Group and Unaffiliated Members as detailed within Tables 1 and 3 of the report;

5.2     to approve, in accordance with Corporate Procedure Rule CPR 2 (2) (n), changes in Committee membership as a result of resolution 5.1 above (as detailed within the report);

5.3     to note that there are no changes to the number of seats held by the Plaid Cymru Group, Labour Group, and the Independent Group on the Council;

5.4     to note, in accordance with Part 6 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, that the existing arrangements for the allocation of the 5 Scrutiny Seats remains unchanged.

 

6.

TO CONSIDER THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CABINET IN RESPECT OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS

Additional documents:

6.1

ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 2019/21 ADOPTED CARMARTHENSHIRE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN pdf icon PDF 364 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council was informed that the Cabinet, at its meeting held on the 11th October 2021 (minute 12 refers), had considered the Annual Monitoring Report 2019/21 on the Adopted Carmarthenshire Local Development Plan prepared in accordance with the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Local Development Plan (LDP) Regulations 2005. Whilst it had been 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. That had been compounded by the Covid-19 Pandemic and the associated restrictions. In this respect some of the findings of the AMR inevitably reflected the challenges experienced by some sectors and society.

 

It was noted that in accordance with the Council’s statutory duty, the AMR had been submitted to the Welsh Government and published on the Council’s website by 31st October 2021. That would be accompanied by an informal consultation to afford interested parties the opportunity to comment on the key issues raised. Whilst not a statutory requirement, the consultation provided an important opportunity for views to be submittee 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.

 

RESOLVED that the following recommendation of the Cabinet be adopted:

 

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.”

7.

TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE CABINET HELD ON THE:-

Additional documents:

7.1

11TH OCTOBER 2021 pdf icon PDF 315 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[NOTE: Cllr. K. Madge had earlier declared an interest in this item.]

 

RESOLVED that the report of the meeting of the Cabinet held on the 11th October, 2021 be received.

7.2

25TH OCTOBER 2021 pdf icon PDF 391 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[NOTE: Cllr. K. Broom had earlier declared an interest in this item.]

 

RESOLVED that the report of the meeting of the Cabinet held on the 25th October, 2021 be received.

8.

TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING NOTICES OF MOTION:-

Additional documents:

8.1

NOTICE OF MOTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR GARETH JOHN

“Council wishes to put on record its appreciation of the vision shown by our Cabinet and sincere thanks for the immense amount of work undertaken by our professional officers operating within such a tight timescale in difficult circumstances, crucially working with other partners, in successfully securing funding from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund for major projects in Carmarthenshire”.   

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[NOTE: Councillor C.A. Davies had earlier declared a personal interest in this item and was not present during consideration thereof.]

 

Council considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Gareth John:-

 

“Council wishes to put on record its appreciation of the vision shown by our Cabinet and sincere thanks for the immense amount of work undertaken by our professional officers operating within such a tight timescale in difficult circumstances, crucially working with other partners, in successfully securing funding from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund for major projects in Carmarthenshire”.   

 

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.

 

RESOLVED that the Motion be supported.

 

8.2

NOTICE OF MOTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR ALUN LENNY

“RESPONSIBLE AFFORESTATION – A NON-EXPLOITIVE AND SUSTAINABLE APPROACH  

 

Council expresses its concern about the purchase of family farms in Carmarthenshire and the wider region by multinational companies to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets.   

  

While accepting that tree planting on a large scale is recognised as one means of combating climate change, Council regrets that carbon offsetting allows these high carbon-emitting companies to continue with their unsustainable conduct. 

  

Furthermore, Council notes that multinational companies have already claimed over £1.3m from Welsh Government funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation fund, which means that Welsh taxpayers are subsidising the carbon offsetting programmes of companies from outside Wales. 

  

Council supports the principle of responsible afforestation but believes this must be done in consultation with local communities, and should not have a detrimental impact on local employment, culture and community viability. 

  

Councils calls on the Welsh Government to: 

  • Ensure that funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation scheme can only be claimed by active farmers in Wales 
  • Introduce planning development legislation to enable local planning authorities such as Carmarthenshire to control afforestation projects, and to set a limit on the proportion of land on any farm that can be used for afforestation without the need for planning consent  
  • Deliver its afforestation plans by developing a publicly owned arms-length company to manage Wales’ forestry and help reach the Welsh Government’s carbon reduction targets 

Council recognises the opinion of environmental campaigners that tree planting is not a silver bullet to averting climate change and agrees that only rapid reduction of burning fossil fuels can halt the ongoing and alarming rise in global temperatures”.  

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[NOTE: Councillors S.M. Allen, C. Campbell, A. James, K. Lloyd, A.D.T. Speake and D.E. Williams had earlier declared personal interests in this item and were not present during consideration thereof.  Cllrs. K.V. Broom, T.A.J. Davies, J.M. Charles, C.A. Davies, J.A. Davies, W.T. Evans, G.B. Thomas, and J.E. Williams had also declared their interest but remained in the meeting].

 

Council considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Alun Lenny:-

 

“RESPONSIBLE AFFORESTATION – A NON-EXPLOITIVE AND SUSTAINABLE APPROACH  

 

Council expresses its concern about the purchase of family farms in Carmarthenshire and the wider region by multinational companies to plant trees for the purpose of creating ‘carbon credits’ which are sold to polluting companies to meet their carbon offset targets.   

  

While accepting that tree planting on a large scale is recognised as one means of combating climate change, Council regrets that carbon offsetting allows these high carbon-emitting companies to continue with their unsustainable conduct. 

  

Furthermore, Council notes that multinational companies have already claimed over £1.3m from Welsh Government funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation fund, which means that Welsh taxpayers are subsidising the carbon offsetting programmes of companies from outside Wales. 

  

Council supports the principle of responsible afforestation but believes this must be done in consultation with local communities, and should not have a detrimental impact on local employment, culture and community viability. 

  

Councils calls on the Welsh Government to: 

  • Ensure that funding via the Glastir Woodland Creation scheme can only be claimed by active farmers in Wales 
  • Introduce planning development legislation to enable local planning authorities such as Carmarthenshire to control afforestation projects, and to set a limit on the proportion of land on any farm that can be used for afforestation without the need for planning consent  
  • Deliver its afforestation plans by developing a publicly owned arms-length company to manage Wales’ forestry and help reach the Welsh Government’s carbon reduction targets 

Council recognises the opinion of environmental campaigners that tree planting is not a silver bullet to averting climate change and agrees that only rapid reduction of burning fossil fuels can halt the ongoing and alarming rise in global temperatures”.  

 

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.

 

RESOLVED that the Motion be supported.

 

9.

PUBLIC QUESTIONS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

10.

QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair advised that no member questions had been received.

11.

THE NEW INDEPENDENT GROUP HAS NOMINATED COUNCILLOR SHAREN DAVIES TO FILL THE SEAT PREVIOUSLY HELD BY CLLR SHAHANA NAJMI ON THE EDUCATION AND CHILDREN SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

Additional documents:

11.1

THE NEW INDEPENDENT GROUP HAS NOMINATED COUNCILLOR SHAREN DAVIES TO FILL THE SEAT PREVIOUSLY HELD BY CLLR SHAHANA NAJMI ON THE EDUCATION AND CHILDREN SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

Additional documents:

Minutes:

12.8

NOTICE OF MOTION SUBMITTED BY COUNCILLOR ROB JAMES pdf icon PDF 266 KB

That Council:

 

-        Notes the decision made by the Plaid and Independent administration in 2016 to "not [respond] to or taking any formal action with regards to requests on private properties regarding Japanese Knotweed and other invasive non- native plants".

-        Recognises that the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014 gave powers to Councils to issue ‘Community Protection Notices’ to tackle knotweed on private land that has a detrimental effect on the quality of life of the locality and is persistent and unreasonable.

-        Acknowledges that proactive Councils, such as Bristol, have utilised these powers to support residents, who have had their lives negatively impacted by the failure of landowners to manage knotweed.

-        Calls on this Plaid and Independent administration to reverse their decision and start utilising CPNs to support to tackle the issue of knotweed on private land causing a detrimental impact residents in many Carmarthenshire communities”.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

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

 

“That Council:

 

-        Notes the decision made by the Plaid and Independent administration in 2016 to "not [respond] to or taking any formal action with regards to requests on private properties regarding Japanese Knotweed and other invasive non- native plants".

-        Recognises that the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014 gave powers to Councils to issue ‘Community Protection Notices’ to tackle knotweed on private land that has a detrimental effect on the quality of life of the locality and is persistent and unreasonable.

-        Acknowledges that proactive Councils, such as Bristol, have utilised these powers to support residents, who have had their lives negatively impacted by the failure of landowners to manage knotweed.

-        Calls on this Plaid and Independent administration to reverse their decision and start utilising CPNs to support to tackle the issue of knotweed on private land causing a detrimental impact residents in many Carmarthenshire communities”.

 

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.

 

The following amendment to the motion was proposed by Councillor D. Thomas and was duly seconded:

 

“Council:

• Notes the decision made by the Plaid and Independent administration in 2016 to "not [respond] to or taking any formal action with regards to requests on private properties regarding Japanese Knotweed and other invasive non-native plants, which was, and still is, in line with the approach of other Welsh councils.

• Recognises that the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014 gave powers to Councils to issue ‘Community Protection Notices’ to tackle knotweed on private land that has a detrimental effect on the quality of life of the locality and is persistent and unreasonable.

• Notes that, outside Wales, Bristol has utilised these powers to support residents, who have had their lives negatively impacted by the failure of landowners to manage knotweed.

• Calls on this Plaid and Independent administration to reverse their decision and start utilising CPNs to support to tackle the issue of knotweed on private land causing a detrimental impact residents in many Carmarthenshire communities. . Calls on Welsh Government to urge other councils to consider taking similar action.”

 

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 both the motion and the amendment.

 

Council was advised that if the Amendment was carried it would become the substantive motion which, if supported, would be referred to the Cabinet.

 

Following votes it was 

 

RESOLVED that the Motion, as amended, be supported and referred to the Cabinet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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