Council

4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 23 April 2024 as an accurate record.

5.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 14 May 2024 as an accurate record.

6.1 Council noted the action sheet.

7.1 The Presiding Member presented a petition on behalf of the Residents of Woodland Park, as follows: ‘We the residents of Woodland Park write to request that you issue compliance notices to Hills Leisure UK Ltd, the park owners, to rectify issues on the park. The lack of care and maintenance of the park over a number of years has led to significant deterioration which is plain to see. This is a petition on behalf of all those signing below, which we hope you will realise how many are totally dissatisfied with the fact you have not issued notices to get works done. You are responsible for ensuring the park is run correctly in line with the licence and we do not feel you are doing this. We have had 2 serious accidents to residents caused by items you are responsible for in that they breach the licence conditions. One resident fell down an unguarded steep drop and another by falling down steps that we have been told are inadequate and dangerous. Providing access to properties on this park is the responsibility of the park owner and they should be done to standard and checked by building control. Guarding steep drops is a condition on the site licence which Hills have totally ignored. The following are other issues that despite you being made aware of you have failed to issue compliance notices for. · Dangerous Trees which need felling as per the report by an arborist · Sewage Drains that need relaying because they are flowing uphill and constantly blocking. · Hard Standings need finishing to industry standard · Roads need resurfacing as they have potholes and poor repairs · Water Supply needs overhauling as there are leaks, flooding and inadequate pressure in areas of the park · Walls need rebuilding and replacing as there are walls bowing and falling down · Rubbish is an ongoing issue. When workmen do any work on site the rubbish is dumped somewhere on site. Ifit can be burnt they light fires and leave the fires unattended. The site licence states no bonfires. · Electrical Installations are generally substandard and recently there was a situation where illegal meters were installed resulting in the electricity board being called when cables were smoking. · Street lighting needs addressing. There are lights not working, damaged and broken and the lighting is inadequate’ 7.2 7.3 The Presiding Member stated that, in consultation with the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, she had decided to reject the petition. She stated that the request had been made on previous occasions including in a petition that was submitted last year and therefore it was considered to be vexatious. The Presiding Member stated that she was satisfied that the Woodlands Park Residents Association was being supported by the council through other channels and that this matter was being considered by officers.

8.1 There were no public questions.

9.1 The Leader: · Thanked all in the community and those involved in organising the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day. He had attended a veteran’s event in Cwmbran and also a beacon lighting in Fishpond Park and he thanked those involved in organising and attending those events. · Congratulated Cwmbran Community Council and all of those involved in organising The Big Event held at Cwmbran Boating Lake, and also Torfaen’s first Pride Event held in Pontypool Park which were both successful and well attended. He also thanked those involved in Picnic in the Park which was held in Pontnewydd Park. · He reminded members of free upcoming events for the community to attend, such as Blaenavon World Heritage Day on 29th June, Relay for Life at Pontypool Park on 6th and 7th July and also Party in the Park on 13th July. · Congratulated Torfaen Tigers, namely Kevin Fellows, Aston Fish, Dylan Gimbert, Dan Saunders, Luke Simmonds, Sam Bowditch and Gareth Sullivan who had been selected for the Wales Disability Physical Rugby League Team. He congratulated Head Coach Rob Davies and all of those involved in Torfaen Tigers.

10.1 The Executive Member Corporate Governance & Performance explained that publication of the Welsh Language Standards Annual Report was a statutory requirement. He commented around the data included in the report referring in particular to the active recruitment and training of Welsh language speakers, and the number of posts advertised requiring Welsh Language skills increasing from nearly 5% to nearly 10%. He commended the work of the Adult and Communities directorate in increasing the Welsh Language offer and in providing high quality translations across the council and for partners. He thanked the Welsh Language Officer for his work. 10.2 The Welsh Language Officer (WLO) outlined the report seeking approval of the Annual Report and progress on its Welsh language commitments during the financial year 2023/24. He explained that the Annual Report attached as an Appendix to the report would be published on the council’s website no later than the 30 June 2024 as per the statutory requirement. 10.3 The Leader thanked the Welsh Language Officer and the Executive Member Corporate Governance and Resources for their work during the year on Welsh Language Standards. He welcomed the training of the workforce, especially around education, and he felt that the Welsh Medium schools in the Borough were a success where the language could be built upon. He was keen to work tougher with the Commissioner and others to move forward. In response to questions asked by members, the WLO commented as follows: · Should standards be broken, and an investigation started, it could take up to 6 months to ratify or to conclude. If investigations are not upheld, then they are concluded quickly. · If standards are broken, recommendations are action points are issued by the Commissioner. Timescales to comply with any recommendations and actions points had increased to year from 3 months. 10.4 Council unanimously agreed that the Annual Report 2023/24 is approved and publicised in line with the Welsh Language Standards.

11.1 The Deputy Chief Executive outlined the report which set out a proposal for closer working, including sharing the Chief Executive function, with neighbouring council Blaenau Gwent, with Torfaen’s Chief Executive performing the role. 11.2 The Leader commended the report and thanked the Chief Executive for his ‘can do’ attitude in approaching the proposal. He felt that the proposal had been put forward for the right reasons and that the biggest risk was to continue with business as usual when there was a need to protect local services. He commented on the importance of considering all opportunities and being innovative. He explained that the ‘discovery phase’, would be a period of uncovering and exploring mutual benefits and forming a genuine partnership between two councils who would unite in their desire to protect frontline services. He commented that this was an example of senior management ‘cutting their cloth’ to protect frontline services. 11.3 Members commended the work of the Chief Executive and his willingness to take on the challenge. Some members commented on associated risks such pressure on other officers, particularly at a time when other senior officers were due to leave the local authority, but in the main, members commented positively and welcomed the collaborative approach. 11.4 In response to questions asked by Members, the following points were noted: · Sharing of the Chief Executive function with neighbouring authorities was not being done elsewhere in Wales. · There had been extensive consideration in terms of capacity, and it was felt that there was full support to enable the Chief Executive to carry out the role. · Recruitment to senior posts was ongoing and progressing well. · During times of significant financial challenges, there was a need to mitigate all risks against potential opportunities. · Expert and specialist resource would be sought to provide support with the collaboration. · Scrutiny’s role in measuring success would be considered and proposals would be put forward in the near future. · The initial proposal was to share the Chief Executive and to explore potential benefits of authorities working more closely together across a range of services whilst maintaining political and financial sovereignty. There were considerable complexities involved in the merging of local authorities and the proposal before Council was not about creating a merged authority. However, every opportunity to create efficiencies and improve services would be considered. · With regards to previous reviews and rejections by Welsh Local Government Association of closer working and merging of local authorities, the proposed approached was a ‘bottom up’ approach which looked more at systems and services as opposed to structures and an imposed all Wales system. There were already many examples of cross county working and future opportunities would be considered on a case-by-case basis, rather than being imposed. 11.5 In summary members felt it would be helpful to receive regular feedback during the nine-month period. Members felt that the Chief Executive had always made himself available and accessible and that whilst it was important to ensure that member impact was considered, members also had a role in tempering their expectations to allow the chief executive to do the best that he could. 11.6 The Chief Executive thanked members for their support. He explained that he had worked hard to ensure that there was a ‘discovery phase’ where opportunities could be explored. He was excited for the opportunity of the role, however he recognised the size of the challenge. He reiterated that the role would not be a part time job in two local authorities, it would be a role to effectively look at how to do things differently and innovatively and he promised to work to the best of his ability for both councils. He commented that over the past two and a half years, he had worked with the best leadership team, and he was confident in Torfaen and increasingly confident in Blaenau Gwent. He felt that new standards could be set in working together with challenges in the future and he was keen to be a part of this. 11.7 The Presiding member wish the Chief Executive and both councils well. 11.8 Council agreed, with the majority voting in favour to: · The sharing of Torfaen County Borough Council Chief Executive with Blaenau Gwent for a period of up to nine months to allow for a ‘discovery phase’ to take place. · Note that a further report would be brought back for decision at the conclusion of the discovery phase. · Note that if the decision after the discovery phase is to cease the arrangement the Joint Chief Executive would continue for a further 6 months to enable Blaenau Gwent time to implement an alternative option.

The Chief Executive left the meeting for this item. 12.1 Further to approval of the proposal at Agenda Item 10, Closer Working with Blaenau Gwent, the Director Corporate Services (DCS) outlined the report which proposed a salary for the Chief Executive for the duration of his tenure in the joint role across Torfaen County Borough Council and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, should the proposal be approved subsequently by Blaenau Gwent Council 12.2 The DCS clarified that should a decision be taken not to continue with the arrangement, beyond the discovery phase, the Chief Executive’s salary would return to his substantive salary. 12.3 With regards to the proposed salary, the DCS explained that in the current circumstances whilst entering into a discovery phase the proposed salary was reasonable. He also explained that there was a need to be mindful of the interest around senior pay within Local Government and the wider public sector and the need to show a level of restraint in determining what was appropriate. 12.4 Council unanimously agreed to the recommended rate of pay for the joint Chief Executive role as specified in paragraph 4.6 of the report for as long as the joint role remains in place.

13.1 There were no motions on notice.

14.1 Member questions with replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.

15.1 Members of the Press and Public were excluded under Paragraph 12 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) as the report contains information identifying individuals which should not be made available at this stage as it would have a detrimental effect on the fairness of the hearing of the complaint if the press and public gave views on the allegations in advance of the hearing, the result of which is required under the protocol to be reported to full Council at a later date so that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs that in disclosing the information.

18.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 23 July 2024 at 10.00am.