Council

4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 17 September 2024 as an accurate record.

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 those involved in the TVA Awards which were held recently. He referred in particular Leo Morgan and Bex Forest who had received special awards from the Lord Lieutenant. He thanked the dedicated volunteers within the community, and he congratulated nominees, winners and all who had played a part in the organisations that were mentioned. · Paid tribute to Kerry Waters, much loved and respected Headteacher of Pontnewydd Primary School who had recently passed away. He conveyed condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and to all of those who knew him. · Thanked residents and crews for the progress made with recycling across Torfaen with over a 6% rise in performance. He also thanks residents for their patience during the introduction of red recycling bags which he hoped that together, would keep everyone moving towards the 7% target without the need to change collection frequencies. Roadshows would held and leaflets would be distributed to all homes. · Presented Lane Thompson and Rudi Thompson with a Civic Award nominated by Councillor Tew in recognition of their sponsored litter pick across the borough to raise money to purchase PE kits and sports items for their school, Ysgol Bryn Onnen.

9.1 Mrs Kathryn Pegington, Chair of Governance & Audit Committee, presented the report which outlined the work of the Governance and Audit Committee for the 2023-24 municipal year. 9.2 Members thanked all committee members for their hard work over the past year and also acknowledged the work of the lay members on the committee. As a member of the committee, Cllr David Williams welcomed input from other members on any issues or concerns they wished to raise. The Leader recognised the strong governance and audit processes in place that ensured the safety of the council and those who lived in Torfaen and he thanked the committee for the report. 9.3 Council unanimously agreed to notes the work of the Governance and Audit Committee for the 2023-24 municipal year.

10.1 The Principal Planner (PP) outlined the report seeking approval of the 2024 Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) of the Torfaen Local Development Plan (LDP) for its submission to the Welsh Government (WG) on or before the 31st October 2024 and publication on the Council’s website. 10.2 Council unanimously agreed to: (i) Approve the Torfaen Local Development Plan Annual Monitoring Report 2024 (attached at Appendix A) and its submission to the Welsh Government on or before the 31st October 2024; and (ii) Delegate any final minor amendments of the Annual Monitoring Report 2024 to the Team Leader - Planning Policy & Implementation prior to submission to the Welsh Government and publication on the Council’s website.

11.1 The Chief Executive outlined the report seeking council approval to adopt the Annual Self-Assessment and Well-being Report 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report. He thanked the Business & Democratic Support Services Manager and his team for their hard work and support. 11.2 In response to questions asked by members, the following points were noted: • Torfaen was one of the first two local authorities in Wales to receive the £5million funding from UK Government awarded through the through the Health Determinates Research Collaboration Fund. The funding was collaborative and would be spread over a five year period on work around research by universities, work with the health board and also data collection. This would allow the authority to frame real research around what was driving well-being in the borough. • The staff skills audit had been undertaken in relation to the Welsh language which was a statutory duty of the authority. A skills audit for other languages had not been explored, however, discussions could be held with the community cohesions team could advise how much value may be gained from this. • Information contained on page 163 of the report in relation to revenue budget figures and actual spend would be made clearer going forward. • Opportunities to work at scale across Gwent were always explored and this was done through the work of the Public Service Board (PSB) where possible. In practice, it was easier to work collaboratively with other individual councils across Gwent and the PSB assisted with this. Working as five authorities was a particular challenge, however, this would continue to be explored, particularly when working with partners who represent all five authorities such as the NHS and the Police. • With regards to the low number of complaints received by the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) in comparison to other local authorities, this was due to the different approaches taken by the council around managing complaints. The council was proactive when hearing from residents or members and aimed to be as responsive as possible before anything formalises through the complaints process. The council was always looking to learn from any stage in the complaints process or the pre complaints process to ensure that they were operating as efficiently and effectively as possible. This was reflected in the way that the council reports performance through the performance framework. • With regards to the scrutiny process, officers worked hard to ensure that scrutiny work programmes aligned with the wider work of the Council including key issues being taken forward as part of the Council's County Plan delivery plan. This integration of work plans ensured that the scrutiny process played a critical role in feeding into the Council's self-assessment processes. The Leader: · Commended the overarching report and commented on the scale of the services run by the council, the complexity of those services, and the work undertaken with the community and in the community by council staff. · Highlighted the summary and commented that it presented the considerable information contained within the report in a more accessible way. · Commended the wellbeing objectives and commented that they were cross cutting, they were based within the communities, they recognised the need for the council to be more enabling and capitalising as an organisation, and they recognised the value of early intervention and prevention work. · Referred to the work of community connectors and organisations such as MYST which improved and stemmed demand on public services and also improved outcomes for people. · Commented around ongoing work across the council which could sometimes go unnoticed, particularly in relation to dealing with acute services, where unless you had a demand for those services personally, you might not witness those services. He recognised the importance of this work which could transform people’s lives and make services more sustainable in the long run. · Referred to the council’s approach to self-assessment which he felt was honest, ambitious and determined. · Recognised that the high targets could feel intense at times and also demanding on members of staff who did a huge amount of work above and beyond the call of duty. He commented that although there was sometimes a push for more, this did not mean that the hard work of staff to get the best for communities was not recognised. 11.3 Council unanimously agreed to approve: - the Annual Self-Assessment and Well-being Report 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 1, - the adoption of a newly defined well-being objective in the 2023-24 SelfAssessment and Well-being report as in paragraph 3.5.7 of the report, - the summary of the Annual Self-Assessment and Well-Being report 2023/2024.

12.1 The Senior Licensing Officer (SLO) outlined the report seeking council approval of the draft statement of gambling principles for the period 31 January 2025 to 30 January 2028 as endorsed by the Licensing Committee, and to advise Council of its statutory power to make a resolution to not issue casino premises licences. 12.3 Council unanimously agreed to: (i) the draft statement of principles (included as Appendix B to the report) for the period 2025- 2028, subject to incorporating any agreed amendments. (ii) To not resolve to not issue casino premises licences and continue with the approach of considering individual applications on their merits.

13.1 The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager (B&DSSM) outlined the report seeking council approval of the Family Absence Policy (attached as Appendix 1 to the report) for elected members, noting that there are certain requirements set out in the Policy which must be followed by law. 13.3 Council unanimously agreed to approve the Family Absence Policy presented in Appendix 1 to the report.

14.1 The B&DSSM outlined the report seeking Council approval of the proposed amendments to the Petition Scheme attached at Appendix 1 to the report. 14.2 Council unanimously agreed: (i) To approve the proposed amendments to the Petition Scheme attached at Appendix 1 to the report. (ii) That the Monitoring Officer be granted delegated authority to make the necessary changes to the Constitution.

15.1 There were no motions on notice.

15.1 There were no motions on notice.

17.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.

18.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.

19.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 19 November 2024 at 10.00am.