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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED to:- i. receive the 2022/23 final accounts for the Gwent Archives service outlined within this report and at Appendix I; ii. note the financial position as at 31st March 2023 and the balance of the Joint Committee’s reserve as shown in Appendix II; iii. approve the Annual Return for the year ended 31 March 2023; iv. authorise the Chairperson to sign the Annual return.
AGREED to note the contents of the report. 7.6 Councillor Carol Andrews entered the meeting.
1.1 As it was Torfaen’s turn to Chair for the year ahead and with both Councillors not being present, the item was deferred to the next meeting. However, Councillor Peter Strong was nominated to Chair this meeting.
2.1 Apologies were received from Councillors Pat Drewett (Newport), John Morgan (Blaenau Gwent), Hayden Trollope (Blaenau Gwent), Lucy Williams (Torfaen), David Williams (Torfaen), Mr Jack Hanbury Tenison, Jonathan Perons and Russell Deacon. Councillor Simmonds explained that Councillor Andrews would try to join the meeting later on.
3.1 No interests were declared.
4.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2022 were confirmed as a true and accurate record.
5.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2023 were confirmed as a true and accurate record. The CA updated that in relation to the proposed fees and charges for 2023/24, initially there had been proposed increase of 3% but the Joint Committee felt that this was not high enough and that it should be 5% which had been implemented as a result, from 1 April. To date, they had received no negative feedback in relation to the increases. At the previous meeting, the Joint Committee felt that they should discuss any proposed increases earlier on in the year rather than in March. This had been taken forward and would be up for discussion at the December meeting.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to:- i. receive the 2022/23 final accounts for the Gwent Archives service outlined within this report and at Appendix I; ii. note the financial position as at 31st March 2023 and the balance of the Joint Committee’s reserve as shown in Appendix II; iii. approve the Annual Return for the year ended 31 March 2023; iv. authorise the Chairperson to sign the Annual return.
6.1 The LFO presented her report, highlighting key points. 6.2 The Chair asked the CA to give the Joint Committee a brief overview of the New Jerusalems project. She explained that the project was funded by the Wellcome Trust which made available archives of 11 post-war New Towns, which Cwmbran was one of. The application process started a few years ago and originated from West Sussex. The Cwmbran Development Corporation had been catalogued but was only in hard copy or scanned format, and so they had received funds to retro-convert everything and put it onto their Epexio system. They also had funding to conserve the collection which was already in very good condition and they also intended to repackage the photographic negatives to put them in more modern packaging. The project was split into two parts - conservation and making the collection more accessible. 6.3 The Joint Committee AGREED to:- i. receive the 2022/23 final accounts for the Gwent Archives service outlined within this report and at Appendix I; ii. note the financial position as at 31st March 2023 and the balance of the Joint Committee’s reserve as shown in Appendix II; iii. approve the Annual Return for the year ended 31 March 2023; iv. authorise the Chairperson to sign the Annual return.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to note the contents of the report. 7.6 Councillor Carol Andrews entered the meeting.
7.1 The CA presented her report, pulling out key points. Following, she responded to questions from the Joint Committee as follows: · In the main, the maintenance was based around a reactive service to issues. However, the CA had requested a full schedule of works and maintenance for both parts of the building in order to improve the situation. If something were to break it meant a disruption to service and so if they were able to head off any issues, it would be better in the long run. They met as a team quarterly with Blaenau Gwent to update and seek feedback on any issues. Councillor Mayer suggested that the issue could be looked at as a sub-committee. The CA reported that that she was due to meet with Blaenau Gwent soon and so would discuss the issue with them and also inform them that the Joint Committee had suggested forming a sub-committee to work towards getting a maintenance schedule put in place. She would report back to the next meeting to discuss whether more could be done. · Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent were working together on an application to find out whether the service would be eligible for higher level support for utility costs as they were included as a high energy use industry. 7.2 The Joint Committee were satisfied with the way in which outreach and education was reported through the quarterly report. 7.3 The Chair asked the CA to formally pass on the thanks of the Joint Committee to her staff for a positive report. 7.4 The Chair referred to Appendix 1 of the report and highlighted that in relation to Accession 6727, Brian Foster had passed away and so the Abersychan and Garndiffaith Local History Society had closed. He paid tribute to Brian who was a stalwart historian in the area for a long period of time, and that he was truly missed. 7.5 The Joint Committee AGREED to note the contents of the report. 7.6 Councillor Carol Andrews entered the meeting.
8.1 The CA reported that Jonathan Perons (Co-opted Member) was moving on to a new role and so would no longer sit on the Joint Committee. She stated that Jonathan had sent his thanks and said that he had enjoyed being a part of the committee. The Joint Committee sent their formal thanks to Jonathan for his contributions. 8.2 The CA informed the Joint Committee that it was perhaps timely to discuss Co-opted Members. She said that the Agreement stated that the Committee should review it periodically. The Joint Committee agreed to discuss it at the next meeting. However, the DMO asked the CA to discuss it with the Monitoring Officer at Torfaen before putting a report together.
9.1 The date of the next meeting was confirmed to take place on Friday, 29 September 2023. Councillor Simmonds apologised that he would not be able to attend due to a prior engagement. However, he was happy for his name to be put forward as a nominee for Deputy Chair. 9.2 Councillor Mayer reported that local authorities were no longer nominating Executive Members to sit on the Committee, which they always had. The DMO agreed to speak with the Monitoring Officer. 9.3 Meeting ended at 10.43am.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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