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1 ATTENDANCE Councillors: Rose Seabourne (Chair) Stuart Ashley Alfie Best Catherine Bonera Ron Burnett Nick Byrne Richard Clark (Deputy Leader) Lynda Clarkson Fiona Cross David Daniels Giles Davies Steven Evans Joanne Gauden Karl Gauden Elizabeth Haynes Jon Horlor Nick Horler Anthony Hunt (Leader) Gaynor James Jon James Janet Jones Mark Jones Peter Jones Sue Malson Rosemary Matthews Susan Morgan Jason O’Connell Amanda Owen Norma Parrish Caroline Price Nicholas Simons Alan Slade Colette Thomas David Thomas Jayne Watkins David Williams Lucy Williams Nathan Yeowell Officers: Nigel Aurelius, Deputy Chief Executive Rachel Beale, Personal Assistant to the Leader and Deputy Leader Steven Honeywill, Partnerships, Policy and Equalities Manager Rebecca Fahey-Jones, Team Leader Scrutiny Tim James, Chief Legal Officer Rachel Jowitt, Strategic Director, Economy and Environment Dave Leech, Strategic Director, Adults and Communities Jason Lewis, Director Corporate Services and Head of Democratic Services Robert Murray, Principal Planner Lyndon Puddy, Head of Public Services Support Unit Dominique Redman, Team Leader Democratic and Member Services Tom Roberts, Business & Democratic Support Services Manager Jason O’Brien, Strategic Director, Children and Family Services Chris Slade, Assistant Democratic and Member Services Team Leader Also Present: Rhodri Guest, Chair of Ethics and Standards Committee
2.1 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Liam Cowles and Chris Tew.
3.1 The Chief Legal Officer (CLO) advised that he wasn’t aware of any interests that members should declare. He referred in particular to the following items: In the CLO’s view, Members of the Committee were not required to declare any interests. Whilst some members declared personal interests in their role as community councillor when the Local Development Plan was considered, this report related to the delivery agreement of the Replacement Local Development Plan and therefore, in the CLO’s view, the members concerned were not required to declare any interests. This was an annual report of all committees and therefore, in the CLO’s view, members were not required to declare any interests.
4.1 Subject to the following amendment, Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 13 June 2023 as an accurate record: · Record apologies for Councillor Jayne Watkins.
5.1 Council noted the action sheet.
6.1 There were no petitions.
7.1 There were no public questions.
8.1 The Leader: · Congratulated all of those involved with the Fire Cadets who were holding their pass out ceremony at Cwmbran Fire Station this evening. · Congratulated all of those involved with Blaenavon Bowls Club who were celebrating their centenary season this year and were through to the semi-finals of the Carruther’s Cup. · Congratulated all runners who competed in Torfaen Mic Morris 10k event at the weekend and thanked all of those involved in the organisation of the event which raises money for athletes and sports stars in the local area. · Thanked officers involved in the unveiling of James Prosser’s portrait and thanked those that had attended the unveiling of James’ portrait which he felt was a fitting tribute to him. Similar events would be arranged for the unveiling of Kyle Adams’ and Michael Thacker’s portraits. He felt assured that Councillor Gaynor James in her post of Armed Forces Covenant Champion would continue the work of both delivering for the armed forces community and also remembering all of those who had served. · Referred to the recent update from Cllr Richard Clark on the encouraging visit from Estyn this spring. He thanked Cllr Clark, his officers, Cllr Seabourne and other scrutiny members, and everyone involved in the council’s improvement journey. He recognised there was still more to do, however, he was encouraged by the work being done. · On the last week of term, he thanked all teaching and support staff in schools for their hard work for the young people in Torfaen. · Informed members that Welsh Government Support for free school meals children in school holidays which was introduced during the pandemic, was due to come to an end this summer. In recognition of the need to support the most vulnerable families through the cost-of-living crisis, he announced that the council was in the process of securing approval for a cost-of-living payment of £50 per child for families who qualify for free school meals. He informed Council that this would help almost 4,300 young people in Torfaen during a difficult time. He explained that this help was in addition to the Food and Fund Scheme run through Torfaen Play with 400 attendees per week signed up, at 13 venues across Torfaen. He thanked Torfaen Play for their continuing and inspiring work for young people. He highlighted a range of support available for those experiencing financial difficulties and he encouraged them to contact the council for help and advice.
9.1 Rhodri Guest, Chair of Ethics and Standards Committee, presented the Annual Report as set out in the Appendix to the report. He thanked former Chair, Mr Andrew Walsh for his contributions during his time on the committee. He commented around the committee’s intentions to be proactive and to have a visible role within the Council and to work with the Monitoring Officer in continuing to strengthen and promote high standard conduct by Councillors. 9.2 Council unanimously agreed to note the Annual Report of the Ethics and Standards Committee as set out in the Appendix to the report.
10.1 The Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) outlined the report presenting an End of Year Performance Update for the Council’s County Plan Delivery Plan 2022-23 (attached at Appendix 1 to the report) for noting. The plan outlined the progress made delivering the Council’s commitments during the 2022-23 financial year 10.2 10.3 10.4 In summary, Councillor Peter Jones, Executive Member Corporate Governance and Performance, commented as follows: · He thanked all officers involved in developing the report. · He referred to the milestones set and the traffic light monitoring system which clearly highlighted the specifics of how the council was performing against each of the nine wellbeing objectives. · He praised the work of the Chief Executive and the Leadership Team who had focussed on transforming the council’s management arrangements. · He referred to the positive report recently received by Audit Wales on the Council’s performance management arrangements, referring in particular to the key headline that ‘The Council has developed new and appropriate arrangements to monitor and report on its performance’. · He made observations around the small number of targets ranked as red which were often related to capital projects. He commented that the rampant inflation currently being experienced was a major factor. · He referred to the highlights included in the report and provided members with an opportunity to ask questions. Members commented and asked questions. In summary, the following main points were noted: · Members praised the work of officers throughout the council and were pleased that the report showed progress since adopting the plan last year. · Work was ongoing to consider how the number of schools involved in the project around fitting photovoltaic panels could be extended. Project Apollo was also considering how thermal heat pumps could assist in schools. · The target date of the end of 2023 for completion of net zero carbon fleet strategy was ambitious, however, every effort was being made to achieve the target. · Two of the three Town Place Plans – Blaenavon and Pontypool had been approved. Cwmbran Place Plan hadn’t moved at pace due to several reasons, those being that Cwmbran Town Centre had recently changed ownership, however, the council had a good relationship with the new owners and there had been opportunities to move forward with various plans. Further detail around transport infrastructure in Cwmbran was also required. It was anticipated that Place Plan would be complete before Christmas. The Leader thanked everyone involved in the report which he felt was an honest self-assessment of where the Council was. He praised the work of the Executive Member, Corporate Governance and Performance and of the Chief Executive, commenting in particular around data intelligence, clear milestones, and the improved grip of performance which enabled the council to honestly assess and build on plans to improve. He commented further around the link between performance and funding and recognised that many teams within the council were carrying out their role with greater demands and fewer people than ever before. He stated that whilst expectations should be high, there was a need to be reasonable in terms of the demands on staff. He also commented around difficult times for residents and the importance of recognising where the council could do better. He thanked staff for their efforts in making Torfaen a better place to live. 10.5 Council unanimously agreed to note the progress made delivering the County Plan Delivery Plan 2022-23.
11.1 The Strategic Director Economy & Environment (SDE&E) outlined the report which: - provided a response to the Council petition received on 25th April 2023 requesting that the Council stop the proposals on introducing three or four weekly residual waste collections; and - outlined the governance arrangements that have been put in place to drive forward and support improvement. 11.2 11.3 11.4 The Executive Member Environment referred to the announcement by the Leader of the Raise the Rate campaign almost three months ago. She commented that after listening to the concerns of residents, the innovative campaign commenced to transform the recycling and collection services and to help residents recycle more. She referred to the governance arrangements outlined in the report which she hoped would ensure a steady course towards the 70% recycling target. She thanked members who had volunteered to sit on the Strategic Partnership Board and she informed members of other work being undertaken such as a detailed blueprint with the help of industry experts and local partnerships; a comprehensive strategy which was due to be presented to Cabinet in the autumn; and a wide-ranging programme of activities to inform the public about recycling services. She commented that whilst great strides had been made in increasing recycling since commencement of the Raise the Rate Campaign, everyone could do more. Discussion ensued around the initial consultation and the Raise the Rate Campaign. In response to questions asked by members, the following main points were noted: · It was right to consult in order to get the right responses. If there hadn’t been a consultation, then the ideas and the drive to progress might not have come forward. · It was too early to establish if there had been improvements in the rates since the start of the campaign. It was important to ensure that every effort was made for the campaign to reach every household. Data would be monitored and there would be further reports to council. · Welsh Government were proposing a ban on some single use plastics. If they were taken out of the residual stream they wouldn’t be collected at kerbside as they were difficult to recycle. These types of materials were mainly aimed at litter prevention rather than waste reduction and these streams would be a tiny percentage of the borough’s waste. · 40% of the refuse bin was still food waste, the council was particularly keen to engage on this and to get it right for the residents. Members recognised that there was more for everyone to do together in order to raise the rate, particularly in relation to food waste. They thanked the team for the actions taken to date. 11.5 Council unanimously agreed to approve the approach to respond to the petitioner, and to note the new governance framework for improving recycling services.
12.1 The Principal Planner outlined the report which: - asked Council to consider approving a new Torfaen RLDP 2022-2037 ‘Delivery Agreement’ (attached at Appendix 2) for submission to the Welsh Government; - provided details of the new Delivery Agreement which included a Timetable and a Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) detailing how the new Replace Local Development Plan (RLDP) is to be produced; and - Noted that approval by Welsh Government would trigger the commencement of Torfaen’s Replacement LDP in line with the Delivery Agreement. 12.2 Council unanimously agreed to: - approve the final Replacement Torfaen Local Development Plan Delivery Agreement (2022-2037) attached at Appendix 2 for submission to the Welsh Government for their approval; and - delegate to the Head of Planning and Development, any final minor amendments / corrections to the Torfaen Local Development Plan Delivery Agreement (2022-2037) prior to submission to the Welsh Government.
Part of an issue followed across 2 meetings
13.1 The Business & Democratic Support Services Manager (B&DSSM) outlined the report presenting Council with the Annual Scrutiny Report for the 2022/23 municipal year. He thanked the Team Leader Scrutiny for her work in collating the report and for being instrumental in shaping and improving the annual report over the past few years. 13.2 13.3 The Presiding Member thanked scrutiny members for their input during the past year which she felt had been successful. Scrutiny Chairs expressed their thanks to all officers, members, partners and residents who had been involved in the scrutiny process. They also referred to the recent training and development opportunities offered to scrutiny members and chairs which they felt was valuable in contributing to good scrutiny. 13.4 Council unanimously agreed to note the content of the 2022-23 Annual Scrutiny Report.
14.1 14.2 The Executive Member, Corporate Governance and Performance introduced the report. In summary, he commented around the council’s strive to remain committed the strategic equality objectives and to ensure that these were demonstrated in the council’s employment practices. He also referred to the council’s commitment to maintaining and improving services protecting the rights of the people in groups that were covered by the equality act. He informed members that work was due to begin on drafting a new Strategic Equality Plan up to 2028, which was due to be published in April 2024. He explained that Cross-Cutting Overview & Scrutiny Committee would have an input, however, he welcomed any ideas or suggestions. He commented around his appreciation for the drive and determination of the numerous officers who had contributed to the report, in particular the Partnerships, Policy and Equalities Manager. The Partnerships, Policy and Equalities Manager outlined the report providing Council with the annual report for 2022 - 2023 on Torfaen Council’s progress on its Strategic Equality Plan. 14.3 Members thanked officers for their contributions to the report. Members also commented around the importance of forward planning, and the need to ensure that the comprehensive and wide-ranging report was taken forward to ensure built-in equality. 14.4 Council unanimously agreed to note the content of the report and to approve the 2022 – 2023 annual progress report on the Council’s Strategic Equality Plan as set out in Appendix 1.
14.1 14.2 The Executive Member, Corporate Governance and Performance introduced the report. In summary, he commented around the council’s strive to remain committed the strategic equality objectives and to ensure that these were demonstrated in the council’s employment practices. He also referred to the council’s commitment to maintaining and improving services protecting the rights of the people in groups that were covered by the equality act. He informed members that work was due to begin on drafting a new Strategic Equality Plan up to 2028, which was due to be published in April 2024. He explained that Cross-Cutting Overview & Scrutiny Committee would have an input, however, he welcomed any ideas or suggestions. He commented around his appreciation for the drive and determination of the numerous officers who had contributed to the report, in particular the Partnerships, Policy and Equalities Manager. The Partnerships, Policy and Equalities Manager outlined the report providing Council with the annual report for 2022 - 2023 on Torfaen Council’s progress on its Strategic Equality Plan. 14.3 Members thanked officers for their contributions to the report. Members also commented around the importance of forward planning, and the need to ensure that the comprehensive and wide-ranging report was taken forward to ensure built-in equality. 14.4 Council unanimously agreed to note the content of the report and to approve the 2022 – 2023 annual progress report on the Council’s Strategic Equality Plan as set out in Appendix 1.
16.1 The DCS&HODS outlined the report informing Council of the changes agreed by the Chief Executive and the Leader, under delegated powers, to the member nominated to serve on Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre Board of Directors at the AGM in May this year. 16.2 The DCS&HODS explained that Councillor Sue Morgan had stepped down from the Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre Board of Directors and the nominated replacement was Councillor Alan Slade. 16.3 Council unanimously agreed to note that Councillor Alan Slade had been nominated to service on Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre Board of Directors for the remainder of the 2023/24 municipal year.
17.1 Councillor Janet Jones proposed the following motion: ‘BINS FOR MEN Over recent weeks I have read articles, researched, and had conversations which have led me to believe that we as an authority could be doing more to help male residents who are suffering from Crohn’s disease and prostrate illness including prostrate cancer. Those suffering from such illnesses are prone to use incontinence items that they need to dispose of safely and hygienically. Unless they are able access and use disabled toilets this not always possible. Therefore, as we improve, upgrade or build new public toilet facilities, consideration should be given to placing "bins" in the borough’s gents’ toilets. It would demonstrate that we understand the needs of our male residents and show that we do care about their welfare. It is to this end that I put forward for consideration this motion - BINS FOR MEN. The motion is seconded by Cllr Nick.Horler and supported by Cllr Burnett’. 17.2 17.3 The motion was seconded. Members supported the motion recognising that there was a need to make toilets more accessible and to have more changing places and toilets across the borough which would make a massive difference to those living with certain conditions. Members also recalled a previous scrutiny session held on accessibility of toilets throughout the borough. Councillor Daniels thanked Councillor Jones for being a consistent advocate for the older generation and for people with all sorts of living conditions. 17.4 Council unanimously agreed to support the motion. 17.5 Councillor Giles Davies proposed the following motion: ‘This council notes that the LGBTQ+ community is an important part of our society and that it is important to support and celebrate diversity in all its forms. This council also notes that the LGBTQ+ community has faced significant challenges over the years, including discrimination and prejudice. This council therefore resolves to support LBGTQ+ Pride events across the borough in their communications including social media channels, highlighting the importance of Pride and why we must continue to support our LGBTQ+ family members, friends, colleagues, and constituents. This council also resolves to promote equality and diversity in all its forms and to work towards creating a more inclusive society for all’. 17.6 The motion was seconded. 17.7 17.8 The Executive Member Corporate Governance and Performance welcomed the motion assuring members that the council already supported the motion in many ways. He explained that several steps had already been taken to clarify the necessary process around holding a public Torfaen Pride event within the borough. He informed members that a provisional date of 1 June 2024 at Pontypool Park had been scheduled for an event. He further explained that the expectation was for this to be a community led event, however, council officers would continue to support with advice and guidance where appropriate. He commented around his concerns of the rising levels of hatred displayed towards LGBTQ+ persons over the past few years, and the divisive and toxic online discord around gender identity. He stated that council officers would continue to promote awareness of LGBTQ+ and he valued Club FOD’s mission to reduce social isolation within the community. He commented that he was proud of the council who wanted to support these events going forward. The Deputy Leader commented around his personal experiences, and he felt proud of what the council did to support LGBTQ. He fully supported the motion. 17.9 Councillor Giles Davies recognised the support already provided by the council, however he felt formal submission of this motion was necessary as it helped young LGBTQ+ people in the borough and surrounding area feel valued and recognised. He thanked Club FOD for setting up services in South Wales and he also thanked members for their support.
18.1 There were no member questions.
19.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.
20.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 19 September at 10.00am
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