Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P. Cooper, K. Davies, D. Phillips and S. Godfrey-Coles.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of prohibited party whips.  

The Chair advised that no public questions had been received.

The Committee considered a report on the Council’s Revenue Budget Strategy 2025/26 to 2027/28 and which provided Members with the current view of the revenue budget for 2025/2026, together with indicative figures for the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 financial years.  The report was based on officers’ projections of spending requirements and took account of the provisional settlement issued by Welsh Government (WG) on 11 December 2024.

It was reported that whilst significant work had already been undertaken in preparing the budget, the report represented an initial position statement which would be updated following the consultation process.  Accordingly, Members were reminded that the report had been considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 13 January 2025 and members of the Committee had attended recent consultation events which had provided an opportunity to analyse and seek clarification on various aspects of the budget.

The Committee was informed that the announced provisional settlement represented a 4.1% increase for Carmarthenshire, which, taking account of the ‘transfers-in’, equated to £25.1m. While the cash value of the settlement was marginally above the Council’s planning figure, there remained a substantial funding shortfall due to the scale of the additional cost pressures facing Carmarthenshire, particularly in respect of the increase to Employers National Insurance rates.

In terms of Welsh Government Service Specific Grants, most would remain at the same cash value to previous years, thereby resulting in a detrimental impact on outputs due to the increase in general inflation and pay awards.  Welsh Government funding continued to fall short of the true cost of service, effectively meaning the gap would need to be funded the Carmarthenshire taxpayer.  It was reported that the one area of increase related to the Local Authority Education Grants (LAEG), though even here the increase of £22 million was on a like for like basis (circa. 6%) and would be sufficient purely to meet the additional costs of pay awards, but not to actually increase outputs.

The Committee’s attention was drawn to section 3.5 of the budget strategy whereby an overview of the situation regarding schools’ delegated budgets was provided to Members.  The Committee was appraised of the Authority’s ongoing actions to mitigate the budgetary overspend, however the forecast over expenditure remained at a critical level across a large number of schools within the county and had potential to destabilise the Authority’s wider finances. It was therefore considered highly unlikely that a further budget reduction would in fact be delivered/deliverable at this stage. Accordingly, it was proposed that the reduction be met through increased council tax, equating to approximately 3.5%, in order to prevent the situation getting worse whilst urgent action was undertaken to bring expenditure back in line with current resources. The Council was proposing a Council Tax increase of 9.75% for 2025/26.

An overview of the updated position on the current financial outlook, as set out at section 4 of the report, was provided to the Committee which took account of the provisional settlement and also other recent validation changes.

The Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee received the Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP) Annual Statement Report 2024, presented by Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services.  The Cabinet Member highlighted the significant challenges that was being faced by the Authority.

The following questions/issues were raised on the report:-

• The Committee, having already discussed at length the concerns in regard to the continuing budget pressures which was having an impact on the conditions of the roads [Minute 4 refers], acknowledged that without the necessary funds the critical asset would be subject to continual deterioration.  As in previous years, Committee Members once again acknowledged that the deterioration of the roads was as a result of a funding crisis.

• In response to a query raised regarding the costs of the maintenance of cycleways, the Head of Environmental Infrastructure stated that maintenance had been factored within the available budget.  The Highways Asset Manager explained that as cycleways were an integral part of Active Travel and funding streams were sought at every opportunity to support the life costs of the facility. 

Members applauded the recycled nappy initiative which aimed at revolutionising an area of waste management practices while improving sustainable infrastructure maintenance and development.  Through a partnership with Nappicycle, a local waste management company, a project to pave selected highways with recycled nappies and reduce environmental impact in waste management and road construction was underway.  The project involved the repurposing of post-consumer nappies, diverting them from landfill and transforming them into fibrous pellets that were integrated into asphalt for road surfacing.  The Head of Environmental Infrastructure stated that this was a significant step towards promoting a circular, economy, where resources were reused and repurposed rather than discarded after a single use.  It was suggested that it would be beneficial to undertake a PR exercise in order to explain the situation to the public.  The Head of Environmental Infrastructure reported that a press release had been circulated however, he agreed that this great initiative warranted further publicity.

• Reference was made to the Drainage Management section of the report.  Concerns were raised in regard to the drainage network being able to cope with the effects of climate change.  The Highways Asset Manager explained that the conditions of the network that lay under the roads were of concern with some structures failing.  Unfortunately, there was little intelligence to gain a full grasp the scale of the problem, however work was being carried out in order to gain a better understanding.

• Recognition was given to the efforts made to mammoth efforts made in the completing the transfer of all streetlights to LED throughout the County.  This had not only lowered energy costs and improved light quality, it had also reduced carbon emissions by 1,200 tonnes of CO2 each year.

RESOLVED that the Highway Asset Management Plan – Annual Statement 2024 be received.

The Committee received for consideration the Business Plans relevant to the Place, Sustainability and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee for 2025/26 as follows:

• Environmental Infrastructure
• Place and Sustainability
• Service Improvement
• Leisure
• People, Digital and Policy

The following questions/issues were raised in respect of the Environmental Infrastructure Divisional Delivery Plan 2025-26:-

• Reference was made to action related to litter pick events (page 46 of the plan). It was raised that communities had a lot of enthusiasm for litter picking and it was asked if the Council was working with communities to enable and encourage such events.  The Head of Environmental Infrastructure explained that there was an active programme with Keep Wales Tidy and Caru Cymru which works to empower communities to facilitate their own litter picks by way of support, equipment and training. 

The following questions/issues were raised in respect of the Place and Sustainability Divisional Delivery Plan 2025-26:-

• Reference was made to action number 16278.  Further information was requested on who the work was progressing and enquired why there was a red bar on a nature emergency situation.  The Head of Place and Sustainability explained that the red bar came from the public consultation processing as a low scoring in terms of people’s awareness.  Furthermore, it was highlighted that a significant amount of work was underway in conjunction with the Climate Change and Nature Awareness Partnership who had been very successful in securing funding from Local Places for Nature from Welsh Government in terms of land grants.  In addition, work was underway in respect of the wider implications of looking after land for nature which included flooding and land sustainability.

In response to a further query in respect of the action description ‘…. we will change our management practices with the aim to increase the biodiversity of all council owned land…’, the Head of Place and Sustainability confirmed that this included Council owned farms where and advice and support was provided as well as signposting them to available grant funding.

• Further clarification was sought in respect of the action number PLA/020 - % of Planning Ecology responses made to planning consultations within 21 days.  The Head of Place and Sustainability stated that where planning applications required an ecology report, a target of 21 days applied.  Furthermore, at times ecology reports would require a response from the external statutory regulators e.g. NRW which would then be out of the Councils control however, the approach would be taken to encourage them to respond within the timeframe not exceeding 21 days however, this could not be enforced.

• In response to a query, the Corporate Policy and Partnership Manager reported that 3597 residents responded to the 2024 annual resident survey.

• Further information was sought in respect of action ‘Develop in conjunction with digital systems team an approval process for hire and purchase of Vehicles to maximise Ultra Low Emission’.  The Head of Environmental Infrastructure explained that the department was working towards digitising all vehicle requisitions.  Essentially, when a vehicle was being requested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee received a list of forthcoming items to be considered at its next meeting to be held on the 10^th March 2025.

In respect to the following items on the list, officers sought further guidance from the Committee on what information to include:-

• River Pollution
• Transportation in Carmarthenshire.

In considering the River Pollution it was agreed that scrutiny had considered reports in respect of this subject where it was ascertained much of the responsibility lay with NRW.  In addition, the Committee on 29^th January, 2025 had been invited to attend a Members briefing session on the work of Carmarthenshire County Council and the Nutrient Management Boards regarding the progress made to date in addressing nutrient-related challenges in West Wales.  It was agreed to remove this from the Committee Forward Work Plan.

In respect of the Transportation in Carmarthenshire report, the Committee had also been invited to attend a Member Seminar on the 5^th February 2025, this seminar aimed to provide information in regard to the Regional Transport plan, therefore it was agreed that the report would include information as well as the franchise bus model in Wales.

RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting on the 10^th March 2025 with the removal of the River Pollution report, be noted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 20^th November 2024 be signed as a correct record.