Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor G.R. Jones.

There were no declarations of personal interest.

The Retiring Chair, former Councillor Eirwyn Williams, welcomed distinguished guests, Councillors, staff and friends to the meeting. He thereupon reflected on his year in office and the events and celebrations he had attended with his consort Mrs. Joyce Williams. He thanked the retiring Vice Chair, former Councillor Ken Lloyd, and his consort, Mrs Katherine Lloyd, for their support and invited former Councillor Lloyd to say a few words.

The retiring Vice Chair, former Councillor Ken Lloyd, paid tribute to the retiring Chair, former Councillor J.E. Williams and his consort, Mrs. Joyce Williams, and wished both the Chair-elect and Vice Chair- elect well during their term of office. He expressed his gratitude to all Councillors and staff for their support not only during his term of office as Vice Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council but also over the last 5 years. Finally, he paid tribute to his consort, Mrs. Katherine Lloyd, and thanked her formally for all her support.

The Retiring Chair thanked former Councillor Ken Lloyd for his kind words and wished both he and Mrs Lloyd a happy retirement. He then expressed his gratitude to the Chief Executive for her advice and professional guidance, and to Directors, particularly Chris Moore who had assisted with the Chair’s fundraising, and staff of the authority who had supported the work of the Chair. He thanked his driver Jeff Jones and Eira Evans for her professional and personal support, arranging his events and making sure that everything always ran smoothly. He paid tribute to his consort, Mrs. Joyce Williams, who had been at his side for the last 12 months and thanked her formally for her support. Finally he wished the Chair-elect Councillor Rob Evans and his consort Councillor Nysia Evans well in his year of office.

It was moved by the retiring Chair former Councillor J.E. Williams and seconded by Councillor R. James and UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that Councillor R. Evans be elected Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council for the 2022/23 Municipal Year.

Former Councillor J.E. Williams congratulated Councillor Evans on his election.

Councillor Rob Evans made his declaration of acceptance of office and was invested with the Chain of Office.

Councillor Evans expressed his gratitude to all Councillors for their support in appointing him as Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council and that he was looking forward to his year in office representing the Council. Councillor Evans also paid tribute to the retiring Chair, former Councillor J.E. Williams, and presented the Retiring Chair with a Past Chair’s Commemorative Pendant. 

The retiring Chair’s consort Mrs Joyce Williams thereupon presented Councillor Nysia Evans with her Chain of Office and Councillor Nysia Evans presented Mrs Joyce Williams with a Past Chair’s Consort’s Commemorative Pendant.

Tributes were also paid to the Retiring Chair by the Leaders of the Plaid Cymru, Independent and Labour Groups for the excellent service he had given to the Council during his year of office.

The Chief Executive also paid tribute, on behalf of the Authority’s staff, to the retiring Chair and his consort (former Councillor Eirwyn Williams and Mrs Joyce Williams) who had fulfilled his role with great professionalism and been very active and supportive of the work of the Council. She congratulated the newly elected Chair and Consort (Councillor Rob Evans and Councillor Nysia Evans), and the incoming Vice Chair and Consort (Councillor Louvain Roberts and Mrs Vanessa Rees) on their appointments and wished them a very happy and successful year in office.

It was moved by Councillor J. Tremlett, seconded by Councillor S. Davies and UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that Councillor Louvain Roberts be elected Vice-Chair of Carmarthenshire County Council for the 2022/23 Municipal Year. 

Councillor Louvain Roberts was invested by the former Vice-Chair, Ken Lloyd, with the Chain of Office and made her declaration of acceptance of office. The Vice-Chair expressed her appreciation to the Council on her appointment.

The Vice-Chair’s consort, Vanessa Rees, was presented with a Chain of Office by the former Vice-Chair’s consort Mrs. Katherine Lloyd.

The Chair congratulated the Vice Chair and her Consort on their appointments. 

It was moved and seconded that Councillor Darren Price be elected Leader of the Council.

RESOLVED that Councillor Darren Price be elected Leader of the Council.

The Leader reported that he had considered the appointment of members to serve on the Cabinet and informed Council of the following appointments to each of the portfolios indicated:-

Councillor                                    Portfolio

Linda Evans                     Deputy Leader and Homes

Ann Davies                       Rural Affairs and Planning Policy

Glynog Davies                  Education and Welsh Language

Philip Hughes                   Organisation and Workforce

Gareth John                     Regeneration, Leisure, Culture & Tourism

Alun Lenny                      Resources

Edward Thomas               Transport,Waste & Infrastructure Services

Jane Tremlett                   Health & Social Services

Aled Vaughan Owen        Climate Change, Decarbonisation & Sustainability

NOTED.

In presenting his Annual Report to the Council covering the period 2021/22 the Leader spoke of the need to reflect on what had been achieved to date and consider what still needed to be done. He commented that it was his belief that no individual political party or group had the monopoly on good ideas and that each and every member had a role to play in contributing to the council’s corporate vision. He spoke of the need to have systems in place which enabled good ideas, from whatever source, to see the light of day. Over the next few years he was keen to engage with members from across the chamber on a regular basis to discuss their ideas and concerns and to work together for the common good. He added that he had already met with the leaders of the Labour Group, New Independent Group and each of the unaffiliated members of council setting out his wish to develop an engaging and co-operative relationship.

The Leader suggested that it was the wish of everyone to see Carmarthenshire flourish and that it was the duty of all members to find ways of working effectively together in order to deliver shared objectives.

He commented that it was the administration’s wish to tackle climate change, the cost of living crisis, regenerate the county’s economy and town centres, provide quality housing, raise educational standards, ensure social care support to the most vulnerable, improve public transport, see cleaner streets and deliver quality and effective council services. Whilst these were matters, he added, that were important to all members and needed to be pursued together over the next 5 years he emphasised that much had already been achieved which he outlined as follows:       

Economic Recovery

Early in the pandemic it had been recognised that alongside facing the day-to-day challenges a recovery plan was required. A comprehensive recovery plan had therefore been presented for supporting businesses, people, and communities. Covid-19 had had an impact on the local economy, but there were positive signs of a quicker recovery than originally anticipated and the Leader felt confident that Carmarthenshire’s economy could recover to become one that was even more productive than before.

He considered that the economic recovery plan was unashamedly ambitious – and was determined to do everything to keep Carmarthenshire on track and continuing its journey of growth. The plan realised the ambition to help businesses replace more than 3,000 jobs lost during the pandemic: safeguarding and replacing up to 10,000 at-risk jobs and creating around 1,700 new jobs - as well as supporting thousands of local businesses. Key to the plan was supporting the county’s foundational economy and supporting local people to grow skills and talent in targeted areas so that there was a strong and resilient local workforce.

The town centre recovery plans for Ammanford, Llanelli and Carmarthen would also be delivered - each of them highlighting key issues, opportunities, and specific interventions for the individual towns. The ten towns initiative continued to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Council considered the composition of Regulatory, Scrutiny, Other Committees and Panels and the membership of those committees.

The Chair advised that there was now a vacant Unaffiliated member seat on the Planning Committee by virtue of Councillor Michael Cranham not taking up the seat and that Councillor Fiona Walters had been put forward by the Independent Group for one of the two Independent seats on the Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee. It was noted that as no nominations to these two vacant seats were proposed at the meeting nominations for all vacant seats would be brought to a future meeting for confirmation.

It was duly moved and seconded and

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

9.1 to confirm the allocation of 168 seats on the new Council to be split into 67 Scrutiny and 101 Regulatory and other seats;

9.2 to approve the composition of committees as detailed within the circulated report and the appointment of members to Regulatory, Scrutiny and Other Committees as set out within Appendix 1 of the report or reported at the meeting.

The Council, in accordance with Corporate Procedure Rule CPR 1.1 (n), considered nominations which had been received for the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees for the 2022/23 Municipal Year. 

It was duly moved and seconded and

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the following appointments to Chairs and Vice Chairs of Regulatory, Scrutiny, Other Committees and Panels be made for the 2022/23 Municipal Year:-

The Council was reminded of the requirement for it to review its Constitution on an annual basis and that as part of that process it had established a Constitutional Review Working Group [CRWG] to present any recommended changes.

It was reported that the Constitutional Review Working Group of the previous Council had recommended that the Council should, at its Annual Meeting, consider a report on the possibility of appointing a presiding member. However, it was suggested that this be considered at a future meeting to allow initial discussions to be held with the Constitutional Review Working Group of the new Council in the first instance.

It was further reported that whilst no legislation requiring changes to the Council’s Constitution had been introduced during 2021/22 there was a need for Part 6.1 thereof to be amended to reflect the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales’ (IRPW) prescribed amounts to be paid to Councillors for 2020/21, as detailed within the report.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

11.1 in accordance with the determinations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales, to adopt the Councillors’ and Co-opted Members’ Salaries and Allowances Scheme for 2022-2023, as detailed within Part 6.1 of the Constitution;

11.2 to adopt the Council Constitution for 2022-2023 subject to any necessary changes to the Constitution arising from decisions made earlier in the meeting;

11.3 that the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any minor amendments, correct typographical or drafting errors and ensure all cross-references within the Constitution are correct and that these be reported to the Constitutional Review Working Group as and when necessary.

Council considered nominations received in respect of the appointment of members to serve on Statutory outside bodies, Joint Committees and the Council’s Advisory Panels.

RESOLVED that the following appointments be made:

Further to minute 6 of Council held on the 19th January 2022 it was reported that the Governance & Audit Committee had recommended, following the application process and interviews, that Mrs. Julie James, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald and Mr. David MacGregor be appointed to the positions of Lay Persons of the Governance & Audit Committee for the period 25th May 2022 to 24th May 2027 in order to satisfy the requirement of the Council’s Constitution.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

13.1 to approve the recommendation of the Governance and Audit Committee to appoint the following lay persons to the Governance and Audit Committee for the period 25^th May 2022 to 24^th May 2027:

Mrs. Julie James;

Mr. Malcolm MacDonald;

Mr. David MacGregor;

13.2 to note that the Authority would re-advertise for the remaining Lay Person vacancy.