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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 minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2025 be received and confirmed as a correct record.
RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) approve the tender process for the project; (b) delegates authority to the Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services, Head of Education, Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer to award the contract at the conclusion of the tender process in consultation with the Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Education and Children’s Services in order to progress the project in accordance with the funding timescales set out in paragraph 4.1 of the report, and (c) confirms that it has read, understood, and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) as part of its consideration.
RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) notes the final revenue outturn position for 2024/25, and (b) approves the reserves position for 2024/25 as described in the report and detailed in Appendices 1 – 3.
RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) note the budgets set for 2025/26 and progress against the agreed strategy, and (b) approve the revised Botanical Gardens Phase II and the Salt Barns business cases as detailed in paragraph 6.9 of the report.
RESOLVED that Cabinet’s forward work programme be noted. The meeting concluded at 11.00 am.
There were no apologies.
No declarations of interest had been raised.
No urgent matters had been raised.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2025 be received and confirmed as a correct record.
The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 24 June 2025 were submitted. RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2025 be received and confirmed as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) approve the tender process for the project; (b) delegates authority to the Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services, Head of Education, Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer to award the contract at the conclusion of the tender process in consultation with the Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Education and Children’s Services in order to progress the project in accordance with the funding timescales set out in paragraph 4.1 of the report, and (c) confirms that it has read, understood, and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) as part of its consideration.
Councillors Jason McLellan and Diane King presented a joint report seeking Cabinet approval of the tender process for the proposed development at Ysgol Bro Elwern, Gwyddelwern. The project planned to build a new Community Hub, a new classroom and a new school kitchen on the site. As all three elements of the project were located on the same site it was being run as one project to minimise design and construction costs and disruption to the school site. The Council had been successful in securing three grant funds for the three elements of the project. Gwyddelwern had secured Central Government funding (formerly LUF Clwyd West) for a new Community Hub which would be a real asset to the community and the Leader paid tribute to the work of the former Leader and Cabinet on the initial project and securing that funding. Councillor Diane King gave an overview of the three projects, highlighting the benefits of each to the community, education and the Welsh Language together with the funding requirements. Main users of the Community Hub would be Cylch Meithrin, the school and other community groups. The classroom extension, refurbishment of ancillary areas and a car park would be funded by a Welsh Language Capital Grant and would enable the capacity of the school to increase from 48 to 60 pupils to meet current demand, support the outcomes of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan and protect Welsh Medium education in the area. The school required significant upgrades to its kitchen and the new kitchen would be funded by the Universal Primary Free School Meals project. Work was proposed to start on site in January 2026 with completion in autumn 2026. The Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services added that the project was a good example of collaboration across council services and with Gwyddelwern Community Council which would support and benefit the local community, with much progress having already been made with the relevant planning and building control permissions secured. The Head of Education added that the school was popular and oversubscribed, and the project would both support the community, educational offer in the area and the Welsh Language. Cabinet welcomed the project and benefits it would bring to the local community. Councillor Emrys Wynne highlighted the importance of the project in terms of meeting the growing demand for Welsh Medium education and providing further opportunities for the immediate and wider community to use and learn the Welsh Language. Both Lead Members and Cabinet were fully supportive of the positive project and paid tribute to the hard work undertaken by officers in bringing the project to fruition. In response to a question regarding the Wellbeing Impact Assessment and ‘softer’ community benefits, the Modernising Education Officer advised that following the appointment of a contractor the Council would work with them and key stakeholders to agree community benefits to take forward, examples of which included planting biodiversity and potential work experience in construction skills for older children and young people on site. Councillor Hugh Evans (Local Member) thanked both Lead Members for their work on the project which had been ongoing for some time and predated the current council administration. He highlighted the importance of a community facility in the area with the existing village hall not fit for purpose and the emergence of a strong Cylch Meithrin in Gwyddelwern which was the foundation for rural schools and he was pleased that the school and wider community were supportive of the project. Services had worked collaboratively in progressing the project, and with lessons learned on the SAB approval, all had worked well in bringing the project to fruition. The Leader was pleased to hear the positive difference the project would make in the local community and for lessons to be learned from the process. Together with Councillor Diane King he was looking forward to a site visit following construction. RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) approve the tender process for the project; (b) delegates authority to the Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services, Head of Education, Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer to award the contract at the conclusion of the tender process in consultation with the Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Education and Children’s Services in order to progress the project in accordance with the funding timescales set out in paragraph 4.1 of the report, and (c) confirms that it has read, understood, and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) as part of its consideration.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) notes the final revenue outturn position for 2024/25, and (b) approves the reserves position for 2024/25 as described in the report and detailed in Appendices 1 – 3.
Councillor Delyth Jones presented the report on the final revenue outturn position for 2024/25 and proposed treatment of reserves and balances. Members were guided through the report detail. In brief, the final position on service and corporate budgets (including schools non-delegated budget underspend of £177k) was an underspend of £2.942m. Coupled with a shortfall in Council Tax collection of £454k enabled a contribution of £1.976m to the Budget Mitigation reserve and a carry forward £512k of those services that had underspent, for specific use in 2025/26. Schools overspent by £0.604m resulting in a combined underspend of £1.884m. The 2024/25 budget included savings and efficiencies of £10.384m, most of which had been achieved. Whilst there had been a positive end to 2024/25 the financial challenges continued with major pressures which varied between £14m – £25m included in the Medium-Term Financial Plan and there was a need to continue in a measurable and prudent manner moving forward. Other key points from the report were highlighted. Collectively services overspent by £2.2m with main areas of overspend in Children’s Services, Highway and Environmental and Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services. The main area of underspend to offset pressures had been in Adult Social Care and Homelessness Services. The £5m underspend in corporate budgets related mainly to contingencies. Transfers to and from reserves had also been set out and most movements had been budgeted for or approved previously. Schools’ balances carried forward into 2025/26 were £3.077m (£3.681m in 2024/25). Housing Revenue Account balances carried forward into 2025/26 were £0.875m (£1.180m in 2024/25). At end of March borrowing was £324.703m at an average interest rate of 4.49%; investment balances were £7.9m at an average interest rate of 4.38%. Cabinet thanked the Lead Member for the comprehensive introduction to the report and for her ongoing work and that of the Head of Finance and Audit and her team. The Leader highlighted that more was being spent on vital services despite the financially challenging situation which sadly meant cuts to other council services. The following points were raised during the ensuing debate – · some context was provided to the underspend of £2.942m which equated to 1.6% of the Council’s £271m net revenue budget for 2024/25 and would be held in reserves. The huge range of services delivered, and the amount spent on those services meant the Council also carried a lot of risk. Reserves were required in order to be resilient and sustainable moving forward and would be used to fund things outside of the Council’s control that might arise in the future · there was some debate on the overall service overspend, the increasing demand in Adult Social Care and Children’s Services and complexity of cases, and the importance of tight financial controls, strategic spend and transformation work in order to manage the major pressures identified in the medium term · some services had overspent, and other services had underspent and some of those issues had been taken into account when setting the 2025/26 budget · the Adult Social Care and Homelessness Service had underspent by £2.5m. There had been a huge increase in demand for both services in recent years which had required significant additional investment. However, through the success of the transformational rapid rehousing project less was being spent with better service provision and that work would continue. Similarly, some early progress was being seen with the transformational programme for Adult Social Care to reduce those costs and meet the needs of individuals in a different way. In Education and Children’s Services the overspend had been caused by increased demand for placements and transformational work was ongoing to encourage and increase inhouse foster carers and to secure a Children’s Home · whilst there had been some underspend on corporate budgets, that underspend funded service overspends and for 2025/26 some of those corporate budgets had been removed. The pay and grading review (£1.8m budget) had not taken place in 2024/25 and had been removed for 2025/26. However, it would need to be reinstated in 2026/27 as it was highly likely to be undertaken in that year due to changes to the national pay structures effective from April 2026 · reference was made to one particularly high-cost placement funded via the Education and Children’s Services budget which had continued for longer than anticipated when the budget had been set and for which a suitable alternative placement had since been found. A small contribution from the NHS had been made to that case. The Head of Finance and Audit did not advocate recording that placement separately to the rest of the service budget given the difficulties that would involve and issues over confidentiality of individuals · in terms of the sufficiency of the £5.5m general unearmarked reserves, reference was made to the budget mitigation reserve that had been significantly increased throughout the year from £4m to £10m due to additional grants from the Welsh Government to cover pay and teacher pensions that the Council had already funded which strengthened the reserves moving forward. RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) notes the final revenue outturn position for 2024/25, and (b) approves the reserves position for 2024/25 as described in the report and detailed in Appendices 1 – 3.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) note the budgets set for 2025/26 and progress against the agreed strategy, and (b) approve the revised Botanical Gardens Phase II and the Salt Barns business cases as detailed in paragraph 6.9 of the report.
Councillor Delyth Jones presented the first monitoring report for 2025/26 detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy. A summary of the Council’s financial position was provided as follows – · the net revenue budget for 2025/26 was £290.735m (£271.021m in 2024/25) · an overspend of £533k was forecast for service and corporate budgets · savings and efficiencies for the 2025/26 budget (£4.170m) and monitoring and tracking of progress in delivering savings going forward · current risks and assumptions relating to corporate budgets and service areas · an update on Schools, Housing Revenue Account and Treasury Management and the Council’s Capital Plan. Cabinet was also asked to approve the revised business cases for Botanical Gardens (by £308k increasing the total cost to £1.669m funded by increasing prudential borrowing for the scheme) and Salt Barns (by £647k increasing the total cost to £2.878m mostly funded by Welsh Government Grant with the remainder, estimated to be £46k, to be funded from the capital contingency budget). The Head of Finance and Audit guided Cabinet through the rest of the report detail. There was a forecasted overspend on service budgets (£533k) at this early stage in the financial year due mainly to pressures in Highways and Environmental Services (due to continuing process to achieve saving proposals of public convenience service and structure reviews) and Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services (due to forecast shortfall in car park income and in planning and building control fees). High risk areas, as in previous years, included changes to children’s residential placements, winter maintenance and waste system costs, increases in homelessness, commissioned care for adults and school transport. The Housing Revenue Account balances brought forward to 2025/26 of £875k were forecast to reduce by £120k to £755k at the end of the year. Schools’ balances were low compared to previous years which would continue to be reviewed and monitored. Changes to the Capital Plan had been reported with Cabinet approval sought for extra funding for Botanical Gardens and Salt Barns projects as set out in the report. During debate Cabinet noted the original business cases for the Botanical Gardens and Salt Barns projects had been previously approved and the current approval sought related to the increase in construction costs relating to those projects. The Capital Scrutiny Group had reviewed and supported the additional project costs. Councillor Rhys Thomas highlighted pressures on the Housing Revenue Account given the restrictions on the level of income generated and need for affordable rents balanced with Welsh Housing Quality Standard requirements. The intention was to consider the matter at Cabinet Briefing to provide a political steer on priorities going forward. The Council scored highly in terms of tenants satisfaction and it was important to retain that status and be amongst the best in Wales. RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) note the budgets set for 2025/26 and progress against the agreed strategy, and (b) approve the revised Botanical Gardens Phase II and the Salt Barns business cases as detailed in paragraph 6.9 of the report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that Cabinet’s forward work programme be noted. The meeting concluded at 11.00 am.
The Cabinet forward work programme was presented for consideration and members noted the following amendments – · Public Engagement, Participation, Petition Scheme – removed from September · Agricultural Estate Strategy Review – removed from September · Pay and Grading Review – added to September · Winter Maintenance Fleet Purchase – added to September · Response to the Future Generations Commissioner’s 2025-2030 recommendations – added to October In response to a question from Councillor Emrys Wynne regarding a potential future item relating to the Welsh Language Commissioner, the Corporate Director: Governance and Business agreed to look into the matter and report back thereon. RESOLVED that Cabinet’s forward work programme be noted. The meeting concluded at 11.00 am.
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