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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
Councillors P Bright, B Perkins, G Horton and M Linton, T Brooks and S Jarrett
None.
Infrastructure The Cabinet Member for Assets and Infrastructure and the Strategic Director – Environment and Sustainability introduced the Service Area reports. The Senior Strategic Manager gave an overview of the report. • The Committee requested that officers evaluate arrangements concerning parking enforcement around schools, as illegal parking on yellow lines remains an ongoing issue and current enforcement measures are not proving effective. • A Committee Member praised the work completed within their own ward, noting that longstanding requests have finally been addressed. • The Committee acknowledged the addition of ward-by-ward sections in Councillor roadwork reports and requested that the same functionality be provided for the public on the Council’s website. • The Committee requested that officers ensure timely advance notice for announcing major roadworks, ensuring that ward members and affected communities receive timely and effective notice to minimise disruption and negative feedback. • The Committee requested that officers consider establishing safe cycling practice areas within the city and review opportunities to improve the active travel network, feeding this into relevant consultations. • The Committee requested that officers provide benchmarking data comparing sickness absence rates in operational service areas to those in similar services at other local authorities and include these in the End of Year report. • The Committee requested that officers provide a note outlining the complexities and challenges related to street lighting issues on the South Distributer Road (SDR), including the roles of external agencies and the Council’s ability to influence resolution at a strategic level. • The Committee recommended that officers use available data to inform decisions about the direction of travel on the Burns Commission recommendations. • The Committee noted the improvement in the number of staff check-ins completed on a regular basis and encouraged continued progress in this area. Housing and Communities The Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning introduced the report. The Head of Housing and Communities gave an overview of the report. • The Committee requested that the Head of Housing share the Rough Sleeping Coordinator’s contact details with councillors to support ongoing efforts to address this. • The Committee wished to praise the work of both the Rough Sleeping Team and the Homelessness Team, noting that Members have received feedback from people who feel welcomed into the service and have observed improvements in service delivery. • The Committee noted that the percentage of regular check-ins with staff completed on a regular basis remained below the Council target and have not returned to peak September 2024 levels, and requested ongoing efforts to improve staff check-in performance, with an emphasis on regular monitoring and documentation. Regeneration and Economic Development The Strategic Director gave an overview of the report. • The Committee praised the well-organised events in the City Centre and noted their positive impact and high attendance numbers. • The Committee recommended continued engagement with the Newport Dogs Home to ensure its needs are not overlooked in future Community Benefit allocations, recognising the significant disruption caused by the Transporter Bridge works. • The Committee praised the previous strong performance on the percentage of check-in meetings carried out with staff on a regular basis but noted a recent decline in performance. The Committee requested renewed efforts to improve check-in meeting rates, while acknowledging the impact of recent management changes. Environment and Public Protection The Cabinet Members for Climate Change, Waste and Recycling, and Communities and Sport introduced the report, and wished to thank the communities that engaged with the service area for various consultations. The Strategic Director also wished to thank the Climate Change Team for their work. The Head of Environment and Public Protection gave an overview of the report. • The Committee praised the introduction of and positive feedback from residents on the pop-up recycling centres and encouraged further expansion of these initiatives. • The Committee requested an update on the city-wide bin review, seeking details on the process and timeline for replacement bin requests. It was noted that while the city centre review has been completed and new bins are scheduled for installation, the broader rollout across other areas is still pending. • The Committee noted that the Household Waste Recycling Centre booking form is managed by Customer Services in Finance, and recommended streamlining the user experience, such as saving user data after login to avoid duplication after multiple bookings on the system. • Whilst recognising that space constraints may limit implementation, the Committee suggested that introducing smaller recycling boxes on the black-bin bag table at the Household Waste Recycling Centre could help improve waste segregation and speed up the process as residents would not have to walk as far to dispose of any recyclable materials found in their waste. • The Committee praised progress made on the number of check-in meetings held with staff on a regular basis but noted they remain below the organisational target and requested continued focus on improvement of this measure. • The Committee requested consideration of trialling designated dog exercise areas in parks, to assess their benefits for dog owners and their potential to address issues related to dogs being off leads.
a) Forward Work Programme 25/26 The Scrutiny Adviser informed the Committee that the next meeting would focus on the 2026/27 Budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan. The Committee were advised that the date would be confirmed shortly, and that savings proposals from both the Place and Corporate directorates would be considered together in a single meeting, rather than in two separate sessions as originally planned. b) Outcomes Monitoring The Scrutiny Adviser informed the Committee of the actions and outcomes that have been completed, and the actions that are currently outstanding over the last six months.
As the Committee were no longer quorate, the Minutes of the previous meeting would be added to the next meeting agenda to be confirmed as a true and accurate record. The meeting terminated at 5:03pm
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