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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
Resolved: subject to the above comments and observations – (i) to acknowledge the work being undertaken and the measures being put in place to ensure that children will be supported to live in appropriate placements; and (ii) request that a further report be submitted to the Committee in twelve months’ time, setting out the progress achieved in implementing the initial provisions of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025, together with an update on preparations for implementing the remaining provisions of the Act.
Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the progress reports requested during the meeting, to confirm its programme of work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
Resolved: subject to the above observations – (i) to acknowledge the Council’s efforts, within the resources available to it and in collaboration with partner organisations, in fulfilling its statutory duties to identify, prioritise, and remediate contaminated land within the county; (ii) that officers when reviewing the Contaminated Land Strategy engage widely with elected members on its proposed contents; and (iii) submit the final revised draft Strategy when available to the Committee for pre-decision scrutiny.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Joan Butterfield (Chair) and Councillors Jeanette Chamberlain-Jones, Pauline Edwards, and Elfed Williams. The Corporate Director: Social Services and Education was unable to attend the meeting due to another commitment, therefore the Corporate Director: Governance and Business was in attendance to provide corporate support to the Committee. The Vice-Chair chaired the meeting’s proceedings in the Chair’s absence.
Councillor Brian Jones enquired whether he should declare an interest in business item 6, ‘Contaminated Land’, on the basis of his role in the previous administration as Lead Member for Waste, Transport and the Environment and that during his time as Lead Member he had engaged in informal conversations on the topic. The Monitoring Officer advised that he would only be required to declare an interest in the matter if he were the owner of land which had been identified as contaminated or was a relative or close acquaintance of a person involved with a site which had been designated as contaminated.
No items of an urgent nature had been drawn to the Chair or Vice-Chair’s attention prior to the commencement of the meeting.
The minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 18 December 2025 were submitted. The Committee: Resolved: that the minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 18 December 2025 be approved as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. Matters arising: pages 13 to 15, item 7 ‘Renew Rhyl: Clear – Hold – Build Initiative’: Councillor Brian Jones enquired how the Council and other partners were working together to ensure that the progress made under this initiative was not lost following the project’s formal closure at the end of March 2026. In response the Corporate Director: Governance and Business informed members that a multi-agency meeting had been arranged for 16 March 2026 for the purpose of consolidating the progress made under the initiative and to explore ways by which to sustain and build on the achievements going forward through effective partnership working.
Decision as recorded
Resolved: subject to the above comments and observations – (i) to acknowledge the work being undertaken and the measures being put in place to ensure that children will be supported to live in appropriate placements; and (ii) request that a further report be submitted to the Committee in twelve months’ time, setting out the progress achieved in implementing the initial provisions of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025, together with an update on preparations for implementing the remaining provisions of the Act.
The Lead Member for Education, Children and Families introduced the report (previously circulated) advising that the Health & Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 mandated that all children’s residential care, fostering and secure accommodation services transitioned to approved Not for Profit models. Key milestones were from: • 1st April 2026 - no new for-profit providers of restricted children’s services could register. • 1st April 2027 – existing for-profit service providers could no longer expand their facilities. • 1st April 2030 – all existing providers must have transitioned to an accepted not for profit model or cease operations (barring approved exceptions). The risk of reduced placement facilities, particularly for children with complex needs was acknowledged. Mitigation steps were currently being taken, such as mapping children in for profit settings; enhancing foster care recruitment; developing in-house small group homes and participating in national workstreams to address the upcoming changes. The Lead Member was in full support of the introduction of the Act as no individual should make a profit from vulnerable children. The Head of Children’s Services (HoCS) advised that the Authority was working closely with the 4Cs in children’s foster care (Children’s Commissioning Consortium Cymru). Fostering placements would likely transition to the new model. In North Wales the service was commissioned from 4 larger providers – two of which were already in the process of transitioning across to the new model. The residential market was harder to predict. Welsh Government (WG) and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) were working with an organisation to assist with the transition but a clear picture of their intentions was yet to be formed. Responding to members’ questions the HoCS explained: • that ‘Not for Profit’ was misleading as it was intended to ensure that profits made would be re-invested back into the service provision rather than benefitting directors/shareholders etc. and reduce the potential for profiteering. It was important to note that Not for Profit did not mean that the authority would pay any less for those provisions. The intention was to make cost and profit proportionate. • The new legislation placed an expectation on each local authority to create its own sufficiency plan that would be published and presented to ministers. A consultation was due to commence regarding the contents of the sufficiency plan. The children’s arm of the Regional Partnership Board (RPB) had created a workstream dedicated to the new legislation to ensure that neighbouring authorities worked together and did not compete for placements. The Association of Directors for Social Services and Foster Cymru were working regionally, undertaking demand and financial modelling to inform those plans. • that the proposed small group home in Denbighshire was a concept project. Due to the potential delay in the award of Welsh Government (WG) funding for this project because of the forthcoming Senedd elections its business plan had been identified as ‘at risk’. On that basis an application for ‘at risk’ funding had been submitted, and subsequently approved by the Capital Scrutiny Group (CSG). WG grant funding had been applied for to support the capital requirements of the project. • The small group home would need to employ a registered manager and residential care workers. WG funding had been secured to cover those costs for the next 3 years. It was anticipated that costs savings from having the Authority’s own unit provision would cover the employee costs going forward. • If the small group home proved to be a successful approach the Service would consider establishing more than one. The CSG had indicated its support for this approach. • The Authority was working closely with Social Care Wales to ensure that there was sufficient workforce availability to cover residential units. • The legislative changes did favour not for profit organisations. After 2030 placements would not be agreed in a for profit organisation without the express permission of the WG minister. • Funding for fostering placements and the small group home had been secured. Further funding would be required if there was an expansion in small group facilities. Financial impact assessments were being updated with further discussions being undertaken with WG on a nationwide basis as to how the service would be funded going forward. • There had been excellent corporate support in developing the small group home with regular discussions with the S151 Officer around financial risks. • as a demand led service it was difficult to predict future possible pressures but the HoCS was confident that the risks and pressures could be managed. • The collaborative work with the 4Cs was looking at the demand model to ensure that the very specialist provision would be covered, potentially regionally for very specialist and complex behaviour need cases. • In order to prevent disadvantage to or destabilisation of any young people transitional arrangements had been put in place – the staggering of the legislative implementation meant that children would stay in their current provision until further guidance was received from WG and providers had made known their stated intent. • It was a longer-term ambition to bring children back into being cared for locally with more control on the matching process and quality of care offered. At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion, the Committee by a majority vote: Resolved: subject to the above comments and observations – (i) to acknowledge the work being undertaken and the measures being put in place to ensure that children will be supported to live in appropriate placements; and (ii) request that a further report be submitted to the Committee in twelve months’ time, setting out the progress achieved in implementing the initial provisions of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025, together with an update on preparations for implementing the remaining provisions of the Act.
Decision as recorded
Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the progress reports requested during the meeting, to confirm its programme of work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
The Scrutiny Coordinator introduced the report and its appendices (previously circulated), which sought the Committee to review its programme of future work. The Committee were advised that there was an informal joint meeting between the Committee and Conwy County Borough Council’s Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (online via Zoom) on 9th March at 4:00pm for an update on the Joint Conwy & Denbighshire Youth Justice Service. The next meeting of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee would be held on 26th March. There were two items on the agenda referred by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-chairs Group relating to Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) : • Inspection of Fostering Services & Improvement Check of Children’s Services, and • Cysgod y Gaer Care Home. Member proposals forms were available at appendix 2 which could be submitted to the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-chair Group who would meet next on 23rd March. The Committee were advised that the Cabinet Forward Work Programme was provided for information (appendix 3) whilst appendix 4 provided updates on the Committee’s resolutions from its previous meeting. The Committee: Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the progress reports requested during the meeting, to confirm its programme of work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
Decision as recorded
Resolved: subject to the above observations – (i) to acknowledge the Council’s efforts, within the resources available to it and in collaboration with partner organisations, in fulfilling its statutory duties to identify, prioritise, and remediate contaminated land within the county; (ii) that officers when reviewing the Contaminated Land Strategy engage widely with elected members on its proposed contents; and (iii) submit the final revised draft Strategy when available to the Committee for pre-decision scrutiny.
The Lead Member for Local Development and Planning introduced the report (previously circulated) advising that it focussed on how contaminated land was dealt with in Denbighshire following a BBC TV Programme ‘Britain’s Toxic Secret’ which raised concerns over whether local authorities in Wales were carrying out their statutory duties in respect to the investigation and remediation of contaminated land. The Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Service explained that contaminated land came under the responsibility of both Environmental Health and Planning Services within Denbighshire. In addition, Natural Resource Wales (NRW) were a working partner that had responsibilities in relation to contaminated land, particularly with respect to water courses. Part IIA of Environmental Protection Act 1990 set out statutory responsibilities for local authorities to ensure that sufficient controls were in place to protect human health and the environment from land contamination risks. To understand the Council’s responsibilities he referred to Appendix 1 which showed a table setting out statutory requirements against how the Council was performing against them. Broadly the Act required local authorities to have a strategy set out on how they were going to inspect, assess and deal with any land contamination issues. The enforcement authority for special sites such as water courses, certain industrial sites and military installations came under the responsibility of Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Shortly after guidance was introduced in 2006 a database was compiled of potentially contaminated sites in Denbighshire and linked to the Council’s GIS mapping system. At the same time Denbighshire’s strategy in relation to those sites was produced but was now in need of review. Priority was given to the most high-risk sites for example former land fill sites in Prestatyn, Dyserth, Rhyl, Llangollen, Corwen and Ruthin to understand what contamination was present. Welsh Government funding was utilised to recruit expert consultants to undertake the investigative work. Their report concluded that there was no contamination of the land at those sites. The Committee was advised that for land to be identified as being ‘contaminated’ there needed to be a pollutant linkage present between the source of contamination, a pathway and receptor (e.g. the public). Where there was a barrier, such as a fence, to the receptor there might be a hazard but it was not deemed to be a risk. Denbighshire had lost its officer dedicated to contaminated land work as part of an efficiency savings exercise in 2007 and WG had been unable to continue funding investigative, intrusive or remediation work on potentially contaminated sites. The Committee were directed to para 4.10 of the report which explained the responsibilities under the planning process - via the allocation of sites under the Local Development Plan and planning applications to assess potential contaminated land. DCC worked in partnership with NRW on reactive work to deal with spillages etc.. It was acknowledged that the loss of resources had impacted on the ability to undertake proactive measures. Actions had been identified to progress: • Review of the contaminated land strategy document to inform the next steps. • Based on the outcome of the strategy, review what further work and / or resources were required to carry out the statutory duties moving forward. Responding to members’ questions officers advised: • That they were confident that the Authority had met its statutory duty when it compiled its register in 2006. However, it was recognised that it needed to be more proactive in reviewing the register and taking action but due to lack of resources at present this was not possible. • The responsibility for remediation for any damage caused to a person would be on the land owner. The land owner would need to take reasonable steps to prevent injury or damage that could reasonably be foreseen. • Para 4.7 explained how risk was linked to the potential use of land. If access to land was prevented (by means of a fence) it negated the risk of exposure to contaminates. This would be the primary consideration in any litigation process. • The contamination issue identified on the BBC programme was primarily an NRW area of responsibility – potential contamination of mines into watercourses. • When planning the new allotments in Prestatyn work had been undertaken researching the history of the site, soil sampling etc. and reviewed the site with Public Health Wales (PHW) who had concluded that there was no contamination risk. • There were 3 key areas to the planning process: • Strategic planning (Local Development Plan) – a stringent and thorough process liaising with the Health & Safety Executive, NRW, Dŵr Cymru etc. to identify and allocate land in the safest locations. • Planning applications – if applications were submitted on behalf of the Council there was an assumption of due diligence being undertaken by relevant departments in respect of risk of potential contaminated land. Where applications were submitted by a private developer it was their responsibility to undertake those checks. Where risks had been identified there would often be planning conditions placed on the application at Planning Committee. • Planning Compliance – if developers did not comply with planning conditions there would be an intervention. • Underground tanks at disused fuel stations were the responsibility of the owner to decommission properly and would be subject to building regulations. There were regulatory routines to share information if any changes took place. • The Authority would provide advice and guidance to business owners and residents affected by potential sewerage contamination caused by serious flooding. Severe flooding incidents would trigger a Section 19 investigation under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. This would entail the Lead Local Flood Authority (the Council) undertaking an investigation into the cause of the flooding, identifying all authorities involved and reviewing their responses to the incident with a view to mitigating future risks. • Once the strategy had been reviewed there was the potential opportunity to recruit to a dedicated post, possibly shared with neighbouring authorities. • Whilst there were over 4,000 entries on the register for potentially contaminated land the risk was at zero due to barriers in place to prevent a pathway to a receptor. • There was not enough meaningful data at that time to be shared on the Council’s website. When reviewing the strategy consideration would be given on how to make the data more relevant. Following a comprehensive discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the above observations – (i) to acknowledge the Council’s efforts, within the resources available to it and in collaboration with partner organisations, in fulfilling its statutory duties to identify, prioritise, and remediate contaminated land within the county; (ii) that officers when reviewing the Contaminated Land Strategy engage widely with elected members on its proposed contents; and (iii) submit the final revised draft Strategy when available to the Committee for pre-decision scrutiny.
None. Meeting concluded at 11.50am.
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