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RESOLVED That Mr Nick Watt is elected Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.
RESOLVED That Councillor Michael Williams be granted dispensation to speak only in relation to Tenby Harbour until the end of his Council term.
RESOLVED That Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by Valero until the end of his Council term. It was Moved by Community Councillor Edwards that Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by RWE until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Ms Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders [3] Against the Motion – Mr Nick Watt [1] Abstaining – Councillor Vanessa Thomas [1] RESOLVED That Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by RWE until the end of his Council term. Regarding Councillor Alderman’s application, Community Councillor Edwards moved that That Councillor Steve Alderman be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications made by RWE until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Ms Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders [3] Against the Motion – Mr Nick Watt [1] Abstaining – Councillor Vanessa Thomas [1] RESOLVED That Councillor Steve Alderman be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications made by RWE until the end of his Council term.
RESOLVED That the Standards Committee Annual Report be approved subject to the additions of the Chair’s Introduction and the Group Leaders’ report.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be approved.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That Mr Nick Watt is elected Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.
The Democratic Services & Scrutiny Officer sought nominations for the role of Chair. Community Councillor David Edwards Moved that Mr Nick Watt be duly elected; Seconded by Councillor Vanessa Thomas. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Mr Nick Watt is elected Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.
There were no declarations of interest received.
Community Councillor Edwards Proposed that the Minutes held on the Meeting held on the 19 February 2024 be approved as a correct record subject to the following correction on page 11 on the agenda pack: In the second paragraph for Minute 33, it should state ‘2024’ not ‘2023’. This was Seconded by Councillor Thomas. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on the 19 February 2024 be approved as a correct record subject to the following correction on page 11 on the agenda pack: In the second paragraph for Minute 33, it should state ‘2024’ not ‘2023’.
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RESOLVED That Councillor Michael Williams be granted dispensation to speak only in relation to Tenby Harbour until the end of his Council term.
The Committee considered an application by Councillor Michael Williams for dispensation to speak on matters relating to Tenby Harbour. On invitation of the Chair, Councillor Williams addressed the Committee in support of his application; and to explain the purpose of his application. Councillor Williams stated that he would like to be able to speak only on matters relating to Tenby Harbour as he has a boat mooring there. He had previously been a leaseholder for the harbour and he had no business interests in it, only personal. He requested if he could have the dispensation run for the rest of his council term. Community Councillor Edwards queried if Councillor Williams had any executive roles regarding the management of the harbour. Councillor Williams confirmed he did not. Councillor Williams left the meeting at this juncture so the Committee could discuss his application Community Councillor Edwards suggested that the dispensation request be granted until the end of Councillor Williams’ term in office. Councillor Thomas concurred with this. It was Moved by Community Councillor Edwards that Councillor Michael Williams be granted dispensation to speak only in relation to Tenby Harbour until the end of his term in office. Seconded by Councillor Thomas. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Michael Williams be granted dispensation to speak only in relation to Tenby Harbour until the end of his Council term.
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RESOLVED That Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by Valero until the end of his Council term. It was Moved by Community Councillor Edwards that Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by RWE until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Ms Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders [3] Against the Motion – Mr Nick Watt [1] Abstaining – Councillor Vanessa Thomas [1] RESOLVED That Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by RWE until the end of his Council term. Regarding Councillor Alderman’s application, Community Councillor Edwards moved that That Councillor Steve Alderman be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications made by RWE until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Ms Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders [3] Against the Motion – Mr Nick Watt [1] Abstaining – Councillor Vanessa Thomas [1] RESOLVED That Councillor Steve Alderman be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications made by RWE until the end of his Council term.
The Committee considered an application by Councillor Tony Wilcox for dispensation to speak and vote on matters relating to RWE and Valero planning applications. On invitation of the Chair, Councillor Wilcox addressed the Committee in support of his application; and to explain the purpose of his application. Councillor Wilcox informed the Committee that he had been on both the liaison groups for Valero and RWE historically in the past as a community representative and county councillor. He had applied for a dispensation now as there were significant planning application upcoming involving both sites which were nearest to his ward. In response to a question from the Chair, Councillor Wilcox confirmed that he was a member of the Council’s Planning Committee and he received no personal benefits from being a member of the committee or liaison groups. To support his application to vote, the Chair asked Councillor Wilcox to explain why he should be allowed to speak and vote. Councillor Wilcox stated that he lived a few hundred yards from RWE and while he supported the majority of what they did, he would like to able to vote for something he was against if they planned it. Councillor Wilcox left the meeting at this juncture so the Committee could discuss his application [Due to the similarities in the applications the Committee opted to hear both applications at same time before voting on the outcome] The Committee considered an application by Councillor Steve Alderman for dispensation to speak and vote on matters relating to Valero planning applications. On invitation of the Chair, Councillor Alderman addressed the Committee in support of his application; and to explain the purpose of his application. Councillor Alderman noted that he had this dispensation in the previous Council administration. Valero applied for a wind turbine in his ward which was approved but construction had been delayed. He continued that the companies were planning a lot of renewable energy projects and reduce their carbon with green electricity plans. This included a synchronous application involving carbon capture to get Pembrokeshire Net Zero. Councillor Alderman concluded that he would like to be able to speak and vote on this in his capacity as a member of the Council’s Planning Committee as planning applications were imminent for battery storage sheds. The Chair queried if any of Councillor Alderman’s liaison groups benefitted financially from RWE. Councillor Alderman said he could not confirm this, but if there were then they would more likely be based in Pembroke Dock then his ward. Councillor Alderman left the meeting at this juncture so the Committee could discuss his application Regarding the two applications, the Head of Law & Governance clarified that if they spoke about the planning applications in any other capacity than as members of the Planning Committee, this could be determined as a personal and prejudicial interest. With regards to Councillor Wilcox’s application, Community Councillor Edwards said that he was in favour of granting the applications due to the amount of work planned in the area. He added that a local input would be good too as a local voice would be needed. The Chair stated that he was uncomfortable with granting dispensations to vote but he was happy with granting a dispensation to speak. Mr Rowley concurred with this but he did not know the impact that the groups and Planning Committee had. As Councillor Wilcox would be representing the County Council only, Community Councillor Edwards said that he did not think being able to vote would be compromising as he represents Council. Councillor Thomas noted that the Committee needed to view the perspective of local residents as it could be argued that Councillor Wilcox could be too involved as a local resident. She queried whether the votes of RVE and Valero could be separate for Councillor Wilcox’s application as she was unsure whether a dispensation to vote should be granted for both. She was happy for him t be able to speak and vote in relation to Valero as he interacted with them on behalf of the County Council. The Head of Law & Governance agreed that they could vote on RWE and Valero separately. It was Moved by Councillor Thomas that Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by Valero until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Community Councillor Edwards. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley, Ms Moira Saunders, Councillor Vanessa Thomas and Mr Nick Watt [5] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED That Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by Valero until the end of his Council term. It was Moved by Community Councillor Edwards that Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by RWE until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Ms Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders [3] Against the Motion – Mr Nick Watt [1] Abstaining – Councillor Vanessa Thomas [1] RESOLVED That Councillor Wilcox be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications by RWE until the end of his Council term. Regarding Councillor Alderman’s application, Community Councillor Edwards moved that That Councillor Steve Alderman be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications made by RWE until the end of his Council term. This was Seconded by Ms Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders [3] Against the Motion – Mr Nick Watt [1] Abstaining – Councillor Vanessa Thomas [1] RESOLVED That Councillor Steve Alderman be granted dispensation to speak and vote in relation to planning applications made by RWE until the end of his Council term.
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RESOLVED That the Standards Committee Annual Report be approved subject to the additions of the Chair’s Introduction and the Group Leaders’ report.
The Committee considered the draft Standards Committee Annual Report by the Head of Law & Governance. She noted that the Committee had a duty to present the Annual Report to Full Council and it must include a summary of its functions that had been carried out, reports and recommendations referred to the committee by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW), actions taken by the Committee following its consideration of such reports and recommendations given to the Committee by the Adjudication Panel for Wales. Community Councillor Edwards praised the comprehensiveness of the report and that he would be happy to recommend its approval. Mr Rowley said that he was grateful for the rejected dispensations being added and noted that the even though there were eight Ombudsman closed cases, they stated that there were 16 because they added the English and Welsh translation numbers together. Regarding the group leader reports, the Head of Law & Governance said that two reports were still outstanding and these would be added to the report wen received. The Chair asked the Committee what they would like him to include in his introduction. Community Councillor Edwards suggested that they highlight the need to councillors to submit full applications for dispensation and for them to come to the meeting in person if the Committee met in person. He emphasised the importance of dispensation applications. The importance of the code of conduct was highlighted by Councillor Thomas to try and further reduce complaint numbers. Regarding the PSOW statistics, the Chair noted that Pembrokeshire did well as no complaints were investigated. However, there were other complaint statistics that the Monitoring Officer had to work on. He concurred that raising awareness of complaints was a good way to start reducing them. Mr Watt said that group leaders had been cooperative when dealing with complaints in the past. He thanked the Deputy Monitoring Officer for the comprehensiveness and readability of the report. Community Councillor Edwards Moved that the Standards Committee Annual Report be approved subject to the additions of the Chair’s Introduction and the Group Leaders’ report. Seconded by Mr Rowley. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried, the votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Community Councillor David Edwards, Mr Paul Rowley and Ms Moira Saunders, Councillor Vanessa Thomas and Mr Nick Watt [5] RESOLVED That the Standards Committee Annual Report be approved subject to the additions of the Chair’s Introduction and the Group Leaders’ report.
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RESOLVED That the report be noted.
The Head of Law & Governance presented the Overview of Ombudsman Code of Conduct Cases and that it showed what was sent to the PSOW and what was dealt with locally. She added that she would receive calls from people who had complaints which she would provide advice to, but these would not be noted in the report as they were not logged complaints. Therefore, there were more complaints than in the report. Mr Rowley suggested that the bar charts be spilt to show different time gaps as it did not show the trend for each year. In response to a question from Community Councillor Edwards about the 15 bullying/harassment cases and the offenders. The Democratic Services & Scrutiny Officer confirmed that they were all separate complaints but some may have been repeat offenders. The Head of Law & Governance added that most repeat complaints came from town and community councils. In terms of complaint outcomes, the Head of Law & Governance noted that the PSOW had a big backlog due to their small team of code of conduct investigators and most complaints were not investigated if it was deemed in the public interest. Therefore, it would need to be a serious allegation for the PSOW to investigate as they would need more resources to investigate all the complaints. She continued that if complaints were investigated then this would take over a year. The most common complaints were unpleasant emails or bullying of the council clerk. The Head of Law & Governance said that she did not have a lot of power with town and community council councillors. Councillor Thomas queried if there were any possible triggers for repeat offending councillors. The Head of Law & Governance said all she could do was talk to them so she referred complainants to the PSOW of they wanted more than this, especially for repeat offenders. The Chair suggested that the gist of the report be shared to Full Council as part of the Annual Report as this could show all councillors that complaints against them were noticed. The Head of Law & Governance concurred with this and that they could emphasise what was dealt with informally and locally. With regards to town and community councils, the Head of Law & Governance said that she did code of conduct training with them but only the same 30 to 40 councillors would turn up out of 600 and the ones that attended training were not complained about. The clerks would attend training too. The Recommendation was Moved by Community Councillor David Edwards; Seconded by Ms Moira Saunders. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
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RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be approved.
The Recommendation was Moved by Community Councillor David Edwards; Seconded by Councillor Vanessa Thomas. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be approved.
The date of the next meeting was noted.
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