Wrthi'n llwytho
Y penderfyniadau fel y mae cofnodion y cyngor yn eu cofnodi. Bydd crynodeb mewn iaith glir yn dilyn pan fydd wedi'i ysgrifennu.
RESOLVED That Councillor Michael Williams be duly elected as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing Municipal Year.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That Councillor Michael Williams be duly elected as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing Municipal Year.
Nominations were sought for the role of Vice-Chairman. Councillor Pat Davies Moved that Councillor Michael Williams be duly elected; Seconded by Councillor Steve Yelland. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Michael Williams be duly elected as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing Municipal Year.
No declarations of interest were received.
Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Michael Williams The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 10 March 2022 be approved as a correct record.
No public submission/correspondence were received.
The Chairman presented the report of the Finance Panel, which provided an update on the work of the Finance Panel and sought any nominations for any Committee Members who wanted to be a Member of the Finance Panel. It was noted from the Terms of Reference that the Chair of the Policy and Pre-decision Overview and Scrutiny Committee would lead the work of the Finance Panel. No nominations were put forward and it was agreed that the matter would be brought back to the September meeting.
The Chairman introduced the item highlighting that he had requested that a brief overview report on the Climate Change agenda be provided to the Committee to consider how the Committee could take this forward. The Energy and Sustainability Team Manager presented the report on Climate Change and provided a presentation to the Committee on the Action Plan towards becoming a bet zero carbon local authority by 2030. The Committee then considered the report and presentation. The Chairman commented on the importance of resourcing the Climate Change Agenda because all the work officers were currently doing was in addition to existing responsibilities. Councillor Rhys Jordan referred to the Biomass heating rolled out to Haverfordwest Leisure Centre in 2015 and queried why this could not be rolled out across other centres. The Energy and Sustainability Team Manager highlighted that Pembrokeshire were the first authority to use biomass in Wales and explained the process of Biomass. He explained that there was a small CO2 emissions factor now being added, care must be taken to avoid any issues with particulate emissions, and taking care that biomass fuels do not replace food crops. Councillor Rhys Jordan then commented on the high cost of leisure centres and queried what the plan was for leisure centres going forward. In response the Energy and Sustainability Team Manager advised that 50 MW of solar panels had been retrospectively fitted at Fishguard Leisure Centre and was having a positive effect. He highlighted the potential for a hybrid system at Tenby Pool which would combine air source heat pump with hydrogen ready gas boilers. He outlined the likelihood that hydrogen would form part of the energy mix which would be required to meet the National net zero target; however, it was noted that hydrogen was not quite ready yet. The Energy and Sustainability Team Manager responded to a question from Councillor Jordan Ryan, on car parking spaces with electric charging points at the new Haverfordwest Multi-Storey. He advised that there would initially be 32 charging point spaces. It was noted that there was a planning requirement for 10% of car park spaces to have electric charging points. Councillor Pat Davies highlighted concerns of emissions around schools and in some high-density areas. The Head of Infrastructure referred to the new Wales Transport Strategy which has an emphasis to move to other sustainable travel. He highlighted that there was a lot of work around schools to encourage walking and cycling and to move away from vehicles and into other sustainable travel. In response to a query from Councillor Delme Harries on the Waste and Recycling Centres booking system and concerns around the future of the Manorowen site, the Head of Infrastructure highlighted the Cabinet decision made in November 2021 that the booking system would remain in place as a permanent change to service. It was noted that this decision followed public consultation and this Committee considering the work of the Waste Working Group and making recommendations to Cabinet. Councillor Delme Harries queried whether the booking system could be reviewed to simplify the system and make it fairer, with the Chairman suggesting that he could liaise with the Strategic Project Manager on potentially bringing a paper back to the Committee in September on this matter. The Head of Infrastructure then provided an update from the Strategic Project Manager, who advised that IT would currently developing improving the booking system through ‘My Account’ provide additional flexibility. Councillor Aled Thomas commented on solar panel farms, which in his view were a short term answer to a longer term problem. He highlighted that the authority owned a large amount of farm estates and were in a position to be responsible landowners and queried how many of the authority owned agriculture buildings had solar panels. He also mentioned the massive role that agriculture can play in achieving net zero and that going forward needed to focus on that more. The Energy and Sustainability Team Manager referred to agriculture being a key theme in the Local Area Energy Plan and outlined the ongoing work of the implementation of the plan, which included looking at the development of hydrogen farms. The Head of Infrastructure also highlighted some other areas of work in land use, bio diversity, flooding, replanting programme and local producers/suppliers. It was commented by Councillor Aled Thomas that soil erosion was a key point with Welsh Government moving towards a sustainable farming model and highlighted the importance of the Authority ensuring its land was being farmed responsibly. Reference was made to the future of Tenby Leisure Centre with the Chairman suggesting this could be a potential item that could be added to the forward work programme as it linked to the biomass issue that was highlighted earlier in the item. The Head of Infrastructure confirmed that a significant amount of feasibility work had been carried out and that the Head of Cultural, Leisure and Registration Services was leading on that review and was planning to bring that work forward. The Chairman highlighted tackling resourcing and whether it could be something the Committee pushed forward at a Cabinet level as a strategic importance to have a team based around climate change. The Head of Infrastructure highlighted the challenge around affordability; however, there were proposals to support that initiative through service plans and gave an example of energy policy advisors supporting each department to realise those ambitions. Councillor Michael Williams commented on hydrogen being part of the way forward, with the Energy and Sustainability Team Manager clarifying that UK Government had stated that there was no future decarbonisation by 2050 without hydrogen in the mix. It was noted that there was work ongoing on a climate comms group to provide information to the public on all the initiatives and work in this area. The Chairman referred to transport, commented that it would be good to have an integrated transport system, and referred to some of the previous consultations by Welsh Government on the matter. He queried what engagement there was with Welsh Government and what more the Committee and Council could do. The Head of Infrastructure outlined some of the work in this area which included one of the priorities of the administration to commit to a 4 hour train service from Pembrokeshire to London through regional work. He also referred to the white paper on bus reform by Welsh Government and that they wanted to see a step change in sustainable forms of transport as a large part of the solution. It was noted that there were many good proposals; however, there was a need for progress on delivery. The Chairman outlined some themes for the forward work programme that came out of the discussion, which included agriculture; resourcing of climate change agenda; Tenby Leisure Centre; Waste and Recycling Centres through the Waste Working Group; and Transport. It was agreed that the Chairman would liaise with the Democratic Services Officer to see what could be built into the forward work programme.
The Head of Children’s Services presented the report on Child Poverty and provided an update of the working group set up to develop a child poverty strategy for Pembrokeshire. He highlighted that he had just come from a Public Services Board Meeting where it had concluded to expand the strategy to an overarching Poverty Strategy and not limit it to Child Poverty. Councillor Tessa Hodgson, Cabinet Member for Social Services and Safeguarding, highlighted the importance of this work. She referred to the new programme for administration and that this topic was being considered across every portfolio due to it being a cross cutting issue. Councillor Michael Williams commented that the majority of the poverty was in rural areas, which was unexpected. He highlighted the Public Service Board and stated that he believed that it should include input from elected members. He also referred to the use of the Church Act Fund was an innovative way to tackle the problem. In response the Head of Children’s Services advised that Councillor Neil Prior attended the Public Services Board this morning, with it noted that the Terms of Reference do not preclude Members being invited onto the Group and that there was currently representation through the executive. Councillor Pat Davies concurred that to have Members on the Public Service Board permanently would be a good step forward. The Chairman highlighted the ‘no wrong door approach’ of the Children’s Commissioner and queried what was being done to ensure officers and members were fully equipped in signposting on poverty. The Head of Children’s Services highlighted the launch of the Community Hub as one point of contact for information and signposting on services. The Chairman stated that he hoped that as the work developed that more detail could be built into the forward work programme. It was agreed that the item should be brought back to the Committee near the end of the year.
The Chairman presented this item and highlighted that a lot had been covered over the previous items with the themes to be incorporated to the forward work programme, which included the Climate change and Child Poverty Agendas. It was noted that members could get in touch with the Chairman with any suggested topics to be added to the forward work programme outside the meeting.
Rhaid i gynghorwyr ddweud pan fydd ganddyn nhw gysylltiad personol â rhywbeth sy'n cael ei drafod, fel swydd, eiddo neu aelod o'r teulu. Mae buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu yn ddigon cryf i'r cynghorydd adael yr ystafell fel arfer a pheidio â chymryd rhan.
Caiff datganiadau eu darllen o'r cofnodion unwaith y byddan nhw wedi'u cyhoeddi.
Yn rhestru cynghorwyr presennol y cyngor yn unig. Nid yw aelodau cyfetholedig, swyddogion a chyn-gynghorwyr yn cael eu dangos.