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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED – That the public be excluded from the meeting at this point during consideration of this item as the Committee discussed exempt information of the description contained in paragraph 14 of Part 4 and paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Action 1972. The public may be excluded from the meeting by resolution of the Committee pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 during discussion of this item. 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 Operational Manager conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
RESOLVED: To agree the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee pages of the joint Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25.
RESOLVED: to note the report.
Apologies had been received from Cllr Sara Robinson Cllrs Burke, Cllr Thomas and Cllr Goodway had also sent apologies
None received.
The minutes of the previous meetings held on 25/02/2025 and 18/03/2025 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairperson.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the public be excluded from the meeting at this point during consideration of this item as the Committee discussed exempt information of the description contained in paragraph 14 of Part 4 and paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Action 1972. The public may be excluded from the meeting by resolution of the Committee pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 during discussion of this item. 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 that this item enabled them to scrutinise progress in delivering the leisure centre management partnership between the Council and GLL. For this item the Chairperson welcomed (from Cardiff Council) Chris Hadfield – Operational Manager – Venues and Culture; Sarah Stork – Client Manager; (and from GLL) Lee Jones – Head of Service – Cardiff and Lindsay Dingley – General Manager – Cardiff. Members were reminded that Appendix A (the presentation) contained confidential slides and were asked not to refer to these in public session Members were provided with a presentation after which the Chairperson invited questions and comments from Members. Members were pleased to note that membership numbers had risen above pre-COVID levels and that attrition rates were improving. However, they pointed out that attendance rates were slightly lower than pre-COVID, though showing an upward trend. Members were interested in understanding the differences between centres, with some showing large increases in attendance and others showing declines. They noted the explanations provided: Llanishen and Maindy centres had reduced attendances due to the opening of nearby competitors, access gates had been installed at some centres leading to more accurate data collection, and Eastern Leisure Centre showed increased attendances following the closure of Pentwyn. Members observed that females seemed to be slightly over-represented in membership and attendance data and wondered if this was due to a deliberate strategy to encourage female participation. They noted the response that it was not intentional and that the planned refresh of offers and products would aim to boost male numbers without affecting female customers. Members noted that the data for membership and attendance appeared to show under-representation of people from ethnic minority groups compared to the Census 2021 finding that 20.8% of Cardiff’s population were from an ethnic minority. They highlighted that when they explored this issue last year, they were informed there was a high rate of non-completion for this data field. Members wondered if this was the case this year and requested the percentage of members and attendees that did not provide ethnicity data. They sought information on the work GLL was doing to address this apparent gap, to ensure that services provided were inclusive and accessible. Members noted the responses from GLL that they intended to liaise with local communities and ethnic groups to understand their needs and boost participation, and that they would have local performance indicators to monitor progress. Members welcomed the offer from Lee Jones to provide feedback on this work and requested details of the local performance indicators. Regarding boosting participation, members noted the information provided on various new schemes and questioned what had happened with the Men & Boys sessions mentioned at last year’s scrutiny. They noted the response from GLL that these had run for several months but numbers had declined, leading to their cessation. Members were interested to note the Heat Map of Attendance provided, which showed significant attendances from areas outside Cardiff, including Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Newport, Bridgend, and the Vale of Glamorgan. They considered whether this was due to commuters using Better Leisure Centres before or after work or because these facilities were cheaper or better than those nearer to their homes. Members highlighted that this would be a useful area to explore, to understand the demographics of these attendees, whether they were members, and what sessions they were utilising, to build on what was encouraging these attendances from those living outside Cardiff. Members noted that swim school and swimming levels overall were still slightly below pre-COVID levels and that work was ongoing with Cardiff Metropolitan University and other partners to develop approaches to boost participation. Members were encouraged to hear that Lee Jones had experience of boosting participation in swimming from 37% to 85% in another Welsh local authority and hoped that his learning could be successfully applied within the Cardiff context. They noted plans to boost pre-school swimming by offering concessions and promoting these via social media. Members were interested to note the findings of mystery shopping exercises and noted that Cardiff’s overall score of 96.9 was one of the leading scores across GLL’s portfolio. However, they highlighted the lowest score was for the Penylan Centre in July 2024, which scored 60.4. They noted it had since scored 100 in November 2024 and 96.6 in February 2025. Members wondered why it had scored only 60.4 in July 2024 and noted the offer from Lee Jones to provide more information on this, requesting further details on the reasons for the low score in the mystery shopper visit in July 2024. Members discussed the availability of information on the ongoing improvement work to Pentwyn Leisure Centre and noted the responses from Chris Hadfield, Operational Manager, Venues & Culture, that plans were in the Pentwyn Leisure Centre reception area, there had been media releases, engagement and consultation sessions, and drop-in sessions held in the early evening to improve accessibility, as well as a site meeting for ward councillors. Members welcomed officers’ acknowledgment of the need to ensure information was available and accessible to all, not only ward councillors and those able to attend sessions and suggested that it would be useful for the plans and images to be available online. RESOLVED – That the public be excluded from the meeting at this point during consideration of this item as the Committee discussed exempt information of the description contained in paragraph 14 of Part 4 and paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Action 1972. The public may be excluded from the meeting by resolution of the Committee pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 during discussion of this item. 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 Operational Manager conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chairperson advised Members that this item provided them with the opportunity to look at the work to manage the Night Time Economy in Cardiff, with a presentation that focuses on the work of the Night Time Wardens during 2024-25. For this item, the Chairperson welcomed Jon Day – Operational Manager – Tourism and Investment; Richard Hyett – City Centre Manager and Dave Sultana - Principal Officer City Centre Management & Development. The Operational Manager 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 eager to understand the reasons behind altering the night-time wardens' shift patterns. They noted that these changes were informed by experiences from the pilot period. The new shift times allowed wardens to collaborate with Neighbourhood Policing and outreach teams. Additionally, the South Wales Police Cardiff After Dark operation began at 8pm and was reinforced at 9pm, ensuring full coverage when the wardens' shift ended. Members acknowledged the distinct roles of wardens and police officers, stressing the importance of wardens not being involved in situations that require police intervention. Members noted that evenings were becoming lighter and questioned whether this would affect behaviours, necessitating a response from wardens. They were pleased to learn that wardens were already addressing this by concentrating on park areas like Bute Park in the early evening to manage inappropriate behaviours. Neighbourhood police officers joined them on these patrols, while park rangers handled the task of locking park gates in other locations. Members were eager to understand the measures Night Time Wardens took to ensure women's safety and were pleased to learn that wardens actively challenged inappropriate behaviours, used bodycams to gather evidence when necessary, reported anti-social behaviour, and coordinated with the police for necessary responses. They noted that all wardens were SIA trained and considered women's safety a key part of their role. Members asked what the main areas of work are for wardens and noted that these are: enabling businesses to open up at 8am by waking up rough sleepers bedded down in doorways and signposting to services available to help them; tackling and challenging aggressive begging; and tackling issues in the night time, such as ensuring outreach services are aware of vulnerable people, particularly women and young people, and tackling aggressive begging focused on people queuing for clubs/ taxis. Members inquired whether the wardens' role changed during major events and noted that the primary focus remained consistent. Additional staff were deployed if people camped out before an event, especially young people, and wardens stationed themselves near Central Library to guide visitors to the train station, bus station, taxis, and other facilities. While Members appreciated this effort, they also suggested that installing permanent signposts near Central Library might be a more efficient use of wardens' time, allowing them to focus on addressing low-level anti-social behaviours. Members were aware of SPF funding allocated for city centre signposting and inquired whether any of this funding, or other funding, could be used for this purpose. Members inquired about the measures in place to assess effectiveness and success, noting that staff received numerous compliments for their work and assistance. They recognised that existing performance indicators for city centre footfall and spending reflected the success of the wardens and other initiatives to create a clean, safe, attractive, and welcoming environment. Members observed that, for wardens, success was measured by not seeing the same faces repeatedly, helping people get off the streets, and access services. Members were interested in understanding the communication and engagement strategies with businesses. They noted that weekly partnership meetings were held with emergency services, council services, and businesses to identify issues and agree on appropriate solutions. Additionally, businesses could connect with wardens via the city's RadioNet service on a daily basis, allowing them to seek assistance with obstructions or issues in their vicinity. Members acknowledged that FOR Cardiff had a team dedicated to cleaning graffiti, alongside the Council graffiti team, and that they worked hard to keep areas graffiti-free. They found that areas featuring artists' work were less likely to be graffitied and felt it would be beneficial to have more projects involving artists, particularly in high-footfall areas. Members were eager to understand the efforts to address anti-social busking and noise nuisance, especially where amplification was involved. They were pleased to learn that officers had received guidance from Legal Services on enforcing the existing byelaw, which would be trialled over the coming months. This could ultimately lead to a £500 fine via the Magistrates Court. There would also be a media campaign to raise awareness. The campaign aims to balance the need to control amplification near residents and shop staff while promoting acoustic busking to support Cardiff's goal of becoming a music city. Members acknowledged the importance of striking this balance, supporting Cardiff's music city ambitions while protecting city centre residents and businesses from noise disturbances. Members inquired whether city centre management collaborated with bus companies to ensure there were services to and from the city centre from all areas of Cardiff, enabling all residents to benefit from the city centre offerings. They noted that this responsibility fell under the Planning, Transport, and Environment Directorate, not the city centre management team. However, wardens would direct people to transport facilities, including buses, trains, and taxis. Members questioned how the proposed Crime and Policing Bill would impact the wardens' work and were pleased to hear that it seemed positive. The bill should help wardens address low-level anti-social behaviour and expand enforcement activities within reason, while still focusing on supporting people as much as possible. Members acknowledged the additional funding provided by the UK Government to support neighbourhood policing, with most of this funding coming through the Police and Crime Commissioners. They also noted that funding for the existing Night Time Wardens was not secured beyond April 2025, and discussions were ongoing with the Community Safety Partnership. With many priority areas seeking funding, officers were advocating for the continuation of the Night Time Warden service. Members noted that officers aimed to expand the service beyond Friday and Saturday evenings, but this was dependent on resources, and service provision had to be prioritised. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Operational Manager conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To agree the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee pages of the joint Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25.
The Principal Scrutiny Officer provided Committee with the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee pages of the joint Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25, for their comment, observations and approval. Members thanked the Principal Scrutiny officer for all her work in putting the section of the Annual Report 24-25 together. The Chairperson suggested a future item for Committee’s consideration could be a short scrutiny on City Centre Management, focusing on best practice in other cities. RESOLVED: To agree the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee pages of the joint Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: to note the report.
The Principal Scrutiny Officer advised members that some outstanding responses had bow been received. Currently there were only 3 full responses and 1 follow up response outstanding, reminders had been sent for all of them. A Member asked a question around the number of ebook issues between 2008 and 2024, which seemed very high, and asked if further information could be provided on this. RESOLVED: to note the report.
None received.
13/05/2025 at 4.30pm.
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