Venue: By Teams. View directions
Contact: Stephen Boyd 01597 826374
No. | Item |
---|---|
Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes:
There were no apologies for absence.
|
|
To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 22nd February and 1 March 2022 as correct records. Additional documents: Minutes: The Leader was authorised to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 22nd February and 1st March 2022 as correct records. |
|
Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest reported.
|
|
Mount Street Infant School, Mount Street Junior School and Cradoc CP School PDF 654 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Phyl Davies, Portfolio Holder for Education and Property. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet considered objections received during the statutory objection period to the proposals to:
Phase 1 From 31 August 2023:
To discontinue the following three schools which are maintained by Powys County Council:
· Mount Street C.P. Infants School, Rhosferig Road, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7NG (“Mount Street Infants School”); · Mount Street C.P. Junior School, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7LU (“Mount Street Junior School”); · Cradoc Community Primary School, Cradoc, Brecon, Powys, LD3 9LR (“Cradoc C.P. School”).
From 1 September 2023:
To establish a new English-medium community school maintained by Powys County Council for boys and girls aged 4-11 years old (“the New School”), that will operate on the current sites of Mount Street Infants School, Mount Street Junior School and Cradoc C.P. School.
From 2025/2026:
The Council proposes to make a regulated alteration to transfer the New School to a new building on the former Brecon High School site, Penlan, Brecon, Powys, LD3 9SR.
During the statutory notice period 113 objections had been received. A summary of the objections received were included in an appendix to the report along with the Council’s response to the issues raised in the objections.
Having considered the objections received, it was recommended that the Council proceeds with implementation of the proposals in respect of Mount Street Infants School, Mount Street Junior School and Cradoc C.P. School, as outlined in the Statutory Notice for the reasons outlined in the report.
County Councillor Liz Rijnenberg spoke as the local member for Mount Street Infants and Mount Street Junior Schools. She argued that things had changed significantly since the plans had first been out forward and that with labour shortages and increasing costs the Council should concentrate on delivering the school transformation projects already committed to. She said that feeling in the community was that the consultation process had been inadequate and that suggestions from governors, staff and the wider community had not been taken on board. She argued that the long transition period would lead to unacceptable disruption to pupils and staff at a time when stability was needed. She said that there was no evidence that learning outcomes would be improved and that it made no sense to amalgamate the schools for limited cost savings. She reported that concerns had been expressed about the siting of the new school on the periphery of the town was lead to increased distance to travel, increase use of cars, loss of green space and impact on the economy of town. She urged the Cabinet to vote against the proposal.
County Councillor Roger Williams spoke as governor of Mount Street Juniors and as a Councillor for part of the Cradoc C.P. School catchment area. He argued that emphasis of the transformation programme should have been on the secondary rather than the primary sector and he asked the Cabinet to reflect on the recent vote in Council. He asked the Cabinet to withdraw the closure notice for Cradoc. He spoke about the exceptional quality of teaching at Mount Street Juniors and ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
|
WCCIS replacement proposal PDF 342 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Beverley Baynham, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Governance, Planning and Regulatory Services. Additional documents: Minutes: Cabinet considered a proposal to replace the WCCIS system used by Social Care and which despite recent systems and server upgrades continued to have significant and ongoing challenges.
The preferred option was to develop a new system which would require the purchase cost of a new system developed estimated at £1.17million, and associated implementation revenue costs of £1.2million. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that the main contract was with Bridgend County Borough Council but that Powys County Council could terminate the contract through fault.
Cabinet had received the comments of the Health and Care Scrutiny Committee and the Chair of the Committee, County Councillor Amanda Jenner, expanded on them at the meeting.
RESOLVED
1. To note the requirement for a replacement social care system.
2. To approve the re-focus of digital transformation for Social Care to align resource to ensure the most effective procurement of a replacement system for WCCIS.
3. To approve the provision of capital expenditure of £1.2m in 2023/24 from the digital transformation provision, subject to further investigation.
|
|
To consider a report by the Leader, County Councillor Rosemarie Harris. Additional documents: Minutes: Cabinet noted the key achievements for the Vision 2025 Transformation Programme, which included:
· Mid Wales Growth Deal - securing a deal with a ground-breaking partnership bringing a combined investment of £110m from UK and Welsh Government. This is expected to lever in additional investment from other public and private sources. · A new strategy developed and implemented for Transforming Education in the county. Since it was approved, the council has established all age schools, introduced a new structure to oversee post-16 schools’ provision, approved the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan and established a satellite provision in the middle of the county so that learners with additional learning needs are as near to home as possible. · 118 new affordable homes in the county (79 of these currently under construction). An additional 109 houses awaiting appropriate consent. · Building work underway for two new Extra Care sites to provide additional housing for older people. A proposal for a third site being prepared for planning, with other locations also being identified. · A Strategic Outline Case prepared for the North Powys Wellbeing Project in readiness for Welsh Government approval. · Over 100 processes redesigned and launched on the website, enabling easier customer interaction and 24/7 accessibility. · Improvements to business planning and budgeting processes.
The Leader thanked her Cabinet colleagues and officers who had helped to achieve so much during the five year term of the Administration.
RESOLVED that the report be accepted. |
|
Forecast outturn update for Revenue and Capital PDF 255 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance. Additional documents: Minutes: Financial Forecast for the year ended 31st March 2022 (as at 28th February 2022)
Cabinet considered the financial forecast for the year ended 31st March 2022 as at 28th February 2022. The forecast was projected at an overall surplus of £6.85 million including the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and delegated schools. The surplus excluding delegated schools and the HRA was projected to be £3.79 million.
The report set out details of grants received from Welsh Government since December 2021 to support council services. Most of this funding had to be utilised to deliver services in the current financial year, whilst some could be carried forward and utilised in 2022/23.
RESOLVED 1. To note the current budget position and the projected full year forecast to the end of March 2022. 2. To note the grants set out in section 3 and Appendix A of the report. 3. That the Chief Executive (in consultation with the Head of Finance (Section 151 Officer)) be given delegated authority to approve any virements or adjustments up to £500k during the pre-election period. Any such virements or year-end amendments will be retrospectively reported to Cabinet in June.
Capital Forecast as at 28th February 2022
Cabinet noted that the Capital programme at the 28th February 2022 was budgeted at £96.03 million following the successful award of additional grants and the reprofiling of budgets between financial years. Actual spend amounted to £51.50 million, representing 54% of the total budget. The report set out details of capital grants received from Welsh Government and requests for two virements: · An additional £200,000 from the unallocated budget of the Council’s 21st Century Schools Capital Programme to fund additional highways works at Welshpool Church in Wales School due to asbestos remedial investigations, additional drainage issues, FAWL system, fencing not in original schedule and additional surveying work. · An allocation of £0.10 million in the capital programme to help defend the council against cyber-attacks and enhance cyber security.
RESOLVED 1. To note the contents of the report. 2. That Cabinet approves the virements proposed in section 4. |
|
Global Centre of Rail Excellence To consider a report on the Global Centre of Rail Excellence. Minutes: This report was withdrawn. |
|
Leader's Announcements Minutes: The Leader reported that she had received an email from County Councillor Stephen Hayes highlighting the plight of Ukrainian refugees trying to get to the UK and asking her to make representations to the Home Office to make the process easier for them. She advised that following the meeting of Council she had drafted a letter to be sent to the Government and that she would amend it to incorporate the points made by Councillor Hayes.
The Leader also reported the disappointing news that the Welsh Government had decided to withdraw top-up grants for Community broadband schemes. Officers would be contacting communities to see what could be done to mitigate this. She advised that consideration would be given to making a bid to the Mid Wales Growth Deal.
The Leader closed the meeting by thanking her Cabinet colleagues, the Chief Executive and the Executive Management Team, the Senior Leadership Team and all the officers for their assistance. The Deputy Leader paid tribute to the Leader for leaving the Council in a much stronger position than when she came to office.
|