To receive reports from, and to put questions to, Cabinet Portfolio Holders:
a. Councillor Stephen Hayes – Cabinet Portfolio Holder: Adult Social Care
b. Councillor Martin Weale – Cabinet Portfolio Holder: Regeneration and Planning:
i. Tourism
ii. Business Support / Regeneration
iii. Planning Function
Minutes:
Members welcomed the opportunity to receive reports from, and to put questions to, Cabinet Portfolio Holders. During update and discussion particular reference was made to:
Councillor Stephen Hayes – Cabinet Portfolio Holder: Adult Social Care
a. Welsh Ambulance Service Trust – the Portfolio Holder had met with Heather Ransom – Ambulance Operations Manager shortly after she came into post. Hopefully there would be good links moving forward
b. Day Centres/Care – there would be a dedicated member briefing on 6th December which would include, during the afternoon, budget information
c. BUPA Homes – BUPA operate a number of homes under contract to Powys (Powys owns the sites). Recently BUPA had been looking to transfer the contract (initially without notifying the Council), to HC1. It would be a legal requirement for BUPA to honour the contract. The position is being very closely monitored by the Authority
d. Fronheulog House, Llandrindod Wells – the home is privately owned and the owner had served notice on the Council for closure. The Authority had engaged with regard to delaying closure until alternative arrangements could be met for those who are cared for at the site. There are very few local alternative sites to accommodate those with care needs. The portfolio holder apologised for not advising and updating the local members for Llandrindod Town in advance of a media release. The Council would work with those families in order to support those with care needs the best it could
e. Savings – as at the end of September £1.3 million of savings had been identified against a target for the year end of £2.2 million. There are pressures, however, the position would be monitored. There are particular issues in relation to planning for meeting transition costs that need to be better recognised (when young people with care needs transfer to being supported by adult social care)
f. Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOCs) – as of today there are no delayed transfers of care in Radnorshire and all those in receipt of care have care packages in place. The Local Authority monitors potential delayed transfers of care and works closely with the health board
g. Recruitment and Retention – there are targeted recruitment campaigns in order to fill vacant positions. Schemes include up-skilling those staff who would have an appetite to progress to social worker positions. The Radnor and Brecon Social Work teams work together and share resource. There are also pressures in recruiting and retaining staff to deliver the domiciliary care service. In the light of difficulties across a number of sectors it was suggested by a member that recruitment should be an issue for discussion at Public Service Board level
h. Adult Social Care (Improvement Plan) – in the light of a review of practices and an expected inspection the Authority had introduced an improvement plan. There had been pleasing progress towards addressing the issues raised in order to improve services. The service would welcome a focused inspection
i. Annual Review Assessments – a member reported that he had been made aware that there were 190 assessments pending. The Portfolio Holder accepted that the annual review process was in need of re-considering. The view being to remove the need for social workers (a limited resource) to undertake annual reviews. Removing the requirement would speed up the process (those undertaking reviews would be appropriately skilled)
Councillor Martin Weale – Cabinet Portfolio Holder: Regeneration and Planning
Members welcomed Jenni Thomas, Regeneration Manager, Julie Lewis – Tourism Officer and Nathan Davies – Powys War Memorials Project Officer to the meeting for this item of business.
Business Support/Regeneration
Members were shown a short film which explained the activities being undertaken to support local businesses. Members requested a copy of the film for local viewing. While welcoming the information it was noted that it was very high level, members would welcome detail in order to better understand support at a local level.
Regeneration Activities:
a. Local Activities – the refurbishment of Knighton Community Centre, proposals to regenerate the lakeside area of Llandrindod and the town loan scheme were referenced as local activities to support area regeneration
b. Tri-Town Project – the Portfolio Holder reported that he had initiated a tri-town project between Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells and Rhayader in order to look at how each town could work as a unit to support business growth and development. This was very much a pilot and in its infancy. If successful the scheme would be rolled out to other areas
c. Local Spend – the Cabinet had recognised the importance of maximising the local spend. The Portfolio Holder reported that just 27p out of every £1 spend had fed into the Powys economy from the Powys spend. The Commercial Services Team would introduce targeted schemes in order to increase the local spend. Members could take an important role in supporting schemes
Tourism:
a. Value – in 2015 the value of tourism to the Powys local economy was in the region of £720 million (the second largest value to Powys after farming)
b. Types of Stay – Powys is a short-stay destination, it would be important to build on the reputation
c. Branding – branding Powys is very important in order to provide an identity
d. Events – the Authority has an events team. Hosting events can be very lucrative. It would be important to maximise publicity. There are national as well as local events held i.e. the tour of Britain and the Machynlleth comedy festival
e. Visit Wales/Cambrian Way (A470) – historically funding has been provided to support activities along the Cambrian Way route which sits alongside the A470
f. Promotion – Powys would work with communities to help publicise local attractions
g. Visit Wales – Visit Wales run themed annual programmes which are supported by funding and media coverage. This year the theme will be legends with links to the sea. Although Powys is landlocked, apart from a small part of the tidal Ddyfi estuary, there would be an opportunity to promote routes to the coast. Next year would favour Powys more, the theme would be discovery
h. Areas of Distinctive Identity – in order to bring funding into Powys and promote areas there had been a focus on the Brecon Beacons, Cambrian Mountains, Dyfi Biosphere, Lake Vyrnwy and Berwyn Mountains and the Offa’s Country Corridor. It is accepted that other areas have a range of attractive qualities and tourist attractions
i. Working with Communities – approaches to the Council regarding help in promoting and supporting areas to market are encouraged. Regeneration officers are on hand to help areas in this regard
Powys War Memorials Project:
a. War Memorial Project – communities have access to a time limited grant which is administered by the Authority. Communities can apply for funding to support projects which recognise conflicts with a focus on WWI and refurbishing war memorials. We are currently in year two of the four year grant period and the total grant will be £500k. Where memorials recognise more than one conflict they would also be considered for funding. The fund is being allocated on a first come first serve basis
b. Funding/Application Process - up to £5k could be awarded to refurbish WWI war memorials, 10% of the grant award would need to be matched by the local community. The application process had been kept simple and there’s an emphasis on processing applications quickly
c. Community Engagement and Events – funding could also be accessed to support community events which recognise the forces i.e. an area had applied to support a local walk of historical interest which links to the forces. Local cadet squads may be able to access funding
d. Social Media/Website Projects – funding could also be obtained to support activities to provide information via. social media and/or to operate websites which recognise the services
e. Powys Estate – there are 350 known memorials in Powys which have been mapped
Planning Function
The Portfolio Holder reported thatsince coming into post and being responsible for the planning function the portfolio holder had worked with officers to identify blockages and issues in relation to the planning process. There would be a focus on reviewing processes with a view to speedy consideration of applications