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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
RESOLVED: to note the update provided on the CJC, the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and the Western Gateway partnership.
RESOLVED: to note the report.
RESOLVED: to note the report.
Apologies had been received from Cllrs Brown Reckless, Robinson and Green.
Cllr Anderson declared a personal interest in item 4 as a family member works for the National Museum of Wales.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chairperson advised Committee they would receive a presentation briefing setting out the proposed approach to developing a Tourism and Event Strategy for Cardiff by December 2025, which is a commitment in the Corporate Plan. For this item, the Chairperson welcomed Cllr Burke – Cabinet Member – Parks, Sports and Culture; Ruth Cayford – Operational Manager – Creative Industries and Culture, Jon Day – Operational Manager – Investment and Tourism, and Faye Tanner – Head of Business Events, to the meeting. The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement after which Members were provided with a presentation from Officers. The Chairperson invited questions and comments from Members. Members recognised the need for a Tourism and Events strategy, ensuring alignment with UK and Welsh Government approaches, developing a shared vision, shaping investment, and benefiting not only the tourism and event sectors but the wider economy of Cardiff and the region. Members noted there was room for the growth of sustainable tourism and acknowledged the need to even out the events calendar, with a clear role for culture in driving visitor numbers and stays, recognising and building on the success of the Cardiff Music City festival. Members were also pleased to hear officers identifying the need to address the negative impacts of tourism and to ensure growth was built on good jobs, with work to develop skills and supply chains. Members were keen to understand the resources available to prepare the Strategy, including how stakeholders would be involved. Members noted that external support would be procured to assist with data analysis and stakeholder engagement and that the Strategy would be written by officers in-house. Members recognised there was a wealth of information available to inform the strategy, including STEAM data, ticket sales, and online sources such as vlogs, posts, and articles. Members noted officers’ explanations that they accessed sales data at a postcode level to enable post-event marketing of Cardiff, that they did some work with vloggers, and, if they had more resources, they could do more. Members requested clarification as to whether this existing work included using data from events held in council venues, such as Cardiff Castle. Members believed it would be valuable to monitor the online perceptions of Cardiff and therefore recommended that officers explore working with an external company to enable this, establishing a baseline, and identifying issues and positives to help shape the Strategy. Members were pleased to hear that there were regular meetings with key stakeholders and welcomed officers’ commitment to work to extend this engagement to others in the tourism and events sectors that might not be part of these formal groupings. Members believed it was important that the engagement and consultation were as accessible and inclusive as possible. Members were keen to understand the resources available to deliver the Strategy and noted officers’ explanations that there was limited funding currently, that officers would be exploring funding routes and resources, including possible regional resources via the Corporate Joint Committee, and that the Welsh Government’s proposed Visitor Levy was seen as key, bringing with it soft hypothecation of funds raised to re-invest in areas that benefit tourism. Regarding the Visitor Levy, Members noted it was anticipated this could raise up to £4 million per annum for Cardiff, prior to administrative costs being factored in. Members noted the commitment in the Corporate Plan to develop proposals for the introduction of a Levy, in consultation with key stakeholders. Members were keen to undertake effective policy development and pre-decision scrutiny. Members therefore requested that a report be brought to Committee post-consultation to enable Members to receive the results of the consultation and input into the development of the Strategy, in addition to pre-decision scrutiny of the report to Cabinet. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chairperson advised Members that this item enabled them to carry out pre-decision scrutiny of the Hubs and Libraries Strategy 2024-2029. The Economy and Culture Scrutiny committee has responsibility for scrutiny of libraries, with its sister committee – Community & Adult Services Scrutiny Committee – responsible for the scrutiny of hubs. Therefore, Members were able to explore the proposed vision, aims and commitments relating to library services, the consultation results, and any financial, legal or property implications and risks to the Council. For this item, the Chairperson welcomed Cllr Bridgeman - Cabinet Member – Communities and Regeneration; Helen Evans – Assistant Director, Housing and Communities and Nicola Pitman – Lead Library and Strategy Manager. The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement after which Members were provided with a presentation from Officers. The Chairperson invited questions and comments from Members. Members were pleased that the Strategy had been informed by consultation and noted that this consultation, coupled with library usage data, provided a rich source of information that could be used to identify behaviour patterns and gaps in provision. For example, Members highlighted the possibility of analysing customer location by hub usage to identify patterns, particularly in areas that did not have a hub. Members were pleased that officers recognised this could be useful. Members welcomed the commitment to share with them a table setting out the responses to the adult consultation by ward. In terms of library usage data, Members were delighted to hear that Cardiff had been bucking the trend, with increasing usage since 2018. This was very positive, and a clear outcome of the effort taken to boost accessibility and service provision. Members asked whether the increased use of the internet since the early 2000s had affected library usage overall, so that, while usage may have increased since 2018, they wondered whether it was lower than 20 years ago. Officers offered to check whether comparable data was available and to report back to the committee on this. Members were interested to hear how hubs and library usage data were used to identify trends and address emerging issues, enabling good practice and successful approaches to be shared as appropriate. This was very pleasing and showed a positive approach to service management in the interests of the communities served. Members were pleased to hear about the work to make hubs and libraries neuro-diverse friendly, as well as the plans to have more outreach work. Likewise, Members noted that work was underway to address the under-utilisation of Capel i Bawb, Adamsdown, with plans to extend opening hours and services provided. Members recognised that additional funding was required to deliver all the ‘We Will’ commitments set out in the Strategy and noted the responses that there was hope for some funding to be available from the Welsh Government’s Cultural Priorities fund, due to be announced shortly, and their existing Reading Well and Summer Reading Challenge funds. Members heard that Officers were working with partners, such as Health, to access other available funding and to look for opportunities to apply for capital funding to enable new hub provision. Members noted that Shared Prosperity Funding was currently used to pay for some services provided and that this would end in March 2026, with no clarity yet about funding thereafter. Members noted this was recognised as a key risk. Members noted there were a large number of ‘We Will’ commitments and that the Strategy spanned five years. They were pleased to hear that there would be an Action Plan that was monitored monthly via core data, with commitments contained in the Directorate Delivery Plan and Hubs Action Plan as appropriate. Members noted that there had been some customer contact issues as the new national library management system was introduced, but these should resolve as the system bedded in. Regarding the Cardiff Historical Collection, Members were interested in understanding in more detail the plans for these. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: to note the update provided on the CJC, the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and the Western Gateway partnership.
The Principal Scrutiny Officer provided Committee with a comprehensive outline of the report, highlighting key issues. Members were then invited to make comments and ask questions. Members referred to the JOSC Regional Transport Scrutiny Working Group report and the agreement that it would be beneficial for Members to reflect on lessons learned from the process followed for this first inquiry, to strengthen future inquiries. Members noted that dates for the task and finish group had been set with no consultation and that the scope for the inquiry had been set without member consultation. Members considered that there should be lessons to be learned from this going forward. Members discussed the possible input of other Chairs, and it was noted that each Local Authority has to put forward two representatives, for Cardiff this was the Chairs of Economy & Culture and Environmental scrutiny committees as it covered these committees’ respective terms of reference. RESOLVED: to note the update provided on the CJC, the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and the Western Gateway partnership.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: to note the report.
The Principal Scrutiny Officer provided Committee with a comprehensive outline of the report, highlighting that there were 4 full responses awaited. Members were then invited to make comments and ask questions. The Chairperson asked that the Principal Scrutiny Officer chase any outstanding correspondence on behalf of the Committee. RESOLVED: to note the report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: to note the report.
The Principal Scrutiny Officer provided Committee with a comprehensive outline of the work programme report. Members were then invited to make comments and ask questions. Members were advised of the visit to Cardiff International White-Water Centre on the morning of 28 March 2025. RESOLVED: to note the report.
None received.
15 April 2025, 4.30pm.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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