Venue: Council Chamber - County Hall. View directions
Contact: Stephen Boyd 01597 826374
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor SC Davies leader of the Labour group. |
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To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meeting held as a correct record. Minutes: The Leader was authorised to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 30 August 2016 as a correct record. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: County Councillor WJT Powell declared a personal and prejudicial interest in item C161 – 2016 as a member of the Board of Finance for the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon. County Councillor JH Brunt advised that he was on the governing body of a neighbouring primary school he would not abstain from taking part or voting on the item on Nantmel Church in Wales School. |
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Nantmel Church in Wales School PDF 95 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Arwel Jones, Portfolio Holder for Education. Additional documents: Minutes: County Councillor WJT Powell left the meeting during consideration of this item having declared a personal and prejudicial interest.
The Portfolio Holder for Education advised that 17 objections had been received during the statutory objection period but that these had not raised any new major issues. In view of this and the projected low number of pupils he was recommending to the Cabinet that it confirm its decision of 23rd June and close Nantmel Church in Wales School with effect from 31st December 2016.
County Councillor DO Evans spoke as the local member to oppose the recommendation. He noted that 127 written representations of support had been received along with a 849 signature petition and asked how the Cabinet could close the school in the face such strong support. He argued that the Council had not considered alternative arrangements for the school or taken account of the impact of the loss of the village’s only community facility. He asked that the Cabinet to defer a decision to wait for the Welsh Government’s rural school policy.
County Councillor Kelvyn Curry also argued that it was premature to close the school before the Welsh Government’s rural school policy was published and that the closure of rural schools was contrary to the Council’s aim of promoting strong communities.
The Chair of the Principal Scrutiny Committee, DR Jones, said that he had not read anything in the objections that persuaded him that the recommendation to close the school should be changed.
The leaders of the Conservative group, Liberal Democrat group and deputy leader of the Labour group spoke against the recommendation to close the school.
Members of the Cabinet acknowledged that the closure of a school was difficult for a community. However they noted that Cabinet also had to be mindful of the higher costs per pupil of small schools and the problem of recruiting teaching heads. Cabinet noted that despite frequent references to the Welsh Government’s small school policy the policy had yet to be produced.
The meeting was adjourned for 15 minutes. |
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LDP Report Further Focussed Changes PDF 255 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Avril York, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Planning. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Planning and the Professional Lead Planning Policy outlined the further focussed changes (FFCs) to the LDP to address concerns raised by the Planning Inspector and to build the evidence base and answered questions from members. The Professional Lead Planning Policy explained the reason for revising the affordable housing target for the Ystradgynlais area from 10% to 0% and offered to meet local members to discuss this with them.
Members noted that the Planning, Taxi Licensing and Rights of Way Committee was being placed in a very difficult position when considering housing developments outside of development boundaries because the requirement for a 5 year land supply and suggested that representations should be made to the Government.
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Cae Post Contract for Recycling Services PDF 101 KB To consider a report by County Councillor John Powell, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability. Minutes: Cabinet was advised that discussions had been held with Cae Post to explore opportunities to work together but no financially viable options could be found and therefore the contract would end on the expiry date of 31st March 2017. Material currently taken to the Materials Recycling Facility would be bulked at Welshpool and Newtown. The kerbside collection rounds would be brought in house and adapted as part of the route optimisation process thus realising additional savings. The collection of cans and plastics from Community Recycling Sites would cease prior to 31st March 2017, with the Council owned containers utilised for alternative purposes.
The Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care confirmed that other placements would be found for the people with learning disabilities working at Cae Post and he put on record his thanks for the valuable contribution that Cae Post had made in providing placements.
The Portfolio Holder for Finance welcomed a saving of between £400k and £700k without any reduction in the service to the public.
County Councillor EA York abstained having missed part of the debate. |
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Depot Review Formal Consultation - Crickhowell & Presteigne PDF 99 KB To consider a report by County Councillor John Brunt, Portfolio Holder for Highways. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet noted the results of consultations with staff at Crickhowell and Presteigne depots on proposals to relocate them and retain the depots in the interim as non-operational salt storage facilities until such time as a salt storage strategy had been formulated with the aid of route optimisation results. In presenting the report the Portfolio Holder reminded colleagues of the savings the Highways service had to make. He also confirmed that the trade unions had been consulted.
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Delegated Decisions Taken Since the Last Meeting PDF 43 KB To note the delegated decisions taken since the last meeting. Minutes: Cabinet received details of delegated decisions taken since the last meeting. Members were advised that the reason why a contractor had been engaged to undertake a business case for capital investment at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen was because an undertaking had been given for a new build before the secondary school modernisation programme for north Powys had started. |
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Forward Work Programme PDF 61 KB To consider the Cabinet forward work programme. Minutes: Cabinet received the forward work programme. It was confirmed that it was hoped to bring a report on secondary school modernisation to Cabinet in October. |
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Impact Assessment - a process for effective decision making PDF 75 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Wynne Jones, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Performance. Minutes: Cabinet considered a proposal that the mandatory use of the Impact Assessment of policy/change objective/budget saving proposals be agreed and formally adopted.
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Tracking of recommendations made by regulators PDF 117 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Wynne Jones, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Performance. Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Performance set out a process for tracking recommendations made by regulators. He also advised that he would be bring a report to the next meeting proposing the establishment of a Corporate Performance Management Panel. If this was agreed by Cabinet the flowchart shown in the report setting the reporting lines would have to be amended.
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Financial Overview and Forecast as at 30th June 2016 PDF 218 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Wynne Jones, Portfolio Holder for Finance. Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Finance presented the financial outturn report for the period ended 30th June. He also referred to the outturn for the period ended 31st July that had just been drafted and stressed to Cabinet the very serious financial position that the Council was in with services overspending on their budgets. The projected overspend had increased by £1.675m in just one month and he warned that if action was not taken then the Council’s reserves would be wiped out. He noted further expected budget pressures such as the revaluation of the pension scheme and provision for the National Living Wage. In view of the very serious situation he was recommending an additional recommendation that the Chief Executive and Senior Management Team bring forward a recovery plan to address overspending in the current financial year. The Chief Executive explained that he would have to look in detail at the budgets to see where savings hadn’t been delivered and where services were overspending. Members hoped that this would clarify whether services weren’t managing their budgets properly or whether the budget that had been set by Council was unrealistic. The Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that he would be attending Brecknockshire to brief them at their meeting the following week and that he would make his briefing available to all members.
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Treasury Management Review 2015/16 PDF 114 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Wynne Jones, Portfolio Holder for Finance. Minutes: Cabinet received the Treasury Management review for 2015/16
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Treasury Management Quarter 1 Report PDF 176 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Wynne Jones, Portfolio Holder for Finance.
Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet received the Treasury Management report for the first quarter. It was confirmed that the outcome report for the Council’s Icelandic investments would be brought to the next Cabinet meeting on 4 October.
Councillor Brown abstained having missed part of the debate. |
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Correspondence To receive such correspondence as in the opinion of the Leader is of such urgency as to warrant consideration. Minutes: There were no items of correspondence reported. |
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Exempt Items The Monitoring Officer has determined that categories 1 & 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following items. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 11.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to:
(i) information relating to a particular individual
(ii) information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).
These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.
Minutes: RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following items of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 1 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007).
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Leisure - Options Review to achieve additional Savings in the MTFS 2017-18 To consider a report by County Councillor Graham Brown, Portfolio Holder for Commissioning and Procurement. Additional documents:
Minutes: Members were reminded that the contract with Freedom Leisure would deliver £18m savings over the lifetime of the contract with £450k saved in the first year. Leisure Services were required to make additional £200k savings and the Cabinet considered proposals to achieve this. The Portfolio Holder and officers answered questions from the Cabinet, Scrutiny Chairs, group leaders and local members.
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Older People's Accommodation - Options Appraisal for the Management and Operation of Council-owned Residential Care To consider a report by County Councillor Stephen Hayes, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet considered options for the management and operation of the Council owned residential homes. A number of options had been appraised and the preferred option identified was the creation of a Local Authority Trading Company by May 2017 with the objective of stabilising the current market and positioning itself as a driving force in the development of residential care services. An LATC would be a separate legal entity from the County Council but would be fully controlled by the Council. It would require the establishment of a stakeholder scrutiny group to take decisions but the day to day running of the homes would be undertaken by the existing staff.
Members questioned the Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and officers about the risk involved and the budget implications of not achieving savings set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan. The Portfolio Holder acknowledged the risk but pointed out that there were risks with all the options. He also acknowledged that the preferred option did not offer savings in the short term but that it did so in the longer term. He explained that if Cabinet approved the first recommendation the service would press ahead and would only come back to Cabinet if there was any significant change.
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Review of governance structure for Powys County Council's In-House Domiciliary Care Service To consider a report by County Councillor Stephen Hayes, Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care outlined options for the governance of the in-house domiciliary care service. He explained that the preferred option was to maintain the governance of the service under Adult Social Care. Until the market development and work to increase the domiciliary care market’s resilience had been completed, it was considered too high risk to change the change direct governance arrangements.
Members were concerned about the additional costs associated with this option and the extra savings that would have to be found from services but accepted that this was the least risky option for the in-house domiciliary care service. The Chief Executive advised Cabinet that the need for additional savings arising from this and the previous report on Older Peoples Accommodation may have to be reopened as a result of the financial recovery plan he had been asked to undertake with the Senior Management Team.
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