Cabinet considered five reports on 18 October 2023. It agreed the Corporate Plan self-assessment for full Council, approved the Strategic Equality Plan annual report for publication, and considered the Gwent Regional Partnership Board plan and report and an update on cost-of-living pressures.
The minute records that the Committee proposed writing to Welsh Government to oppose the planned tapering of the Regional Integration Fund, and asked for more information on several points. The minute records no vote on either report.
The Committee scrutinised two annual reports: the Corporate Plan Self-Assessment Report 2022/23, which is the council's own check on its progress against its four well-being objectives, and the Strategic Equalities Plan Annual Report 2022-23. It also reviewed outstanding actions and its work programme. The minutes record the Committee's views on both reports as recommendations, not formal decisions.
The Planning Committee met on 4 October 2023. It resolved that decisions on planning applications be recorded as shown on its attached schedule, and it noted a report on three recent planning appeals. The minutes provided do not give the outcome of each individual application.
The Committee considered two items: the Shared Resource Service (SRS) monitoring update for 2022/23, and the final five-year report on Newport's Well-being Plan 2018-23. On the SRS it asked for more information on apprentice diversity, recruitment, a direct support contact and the Disaster Recovery Plan. On the Well-being Plan it asked for the Purple Flag criteria and a flood risk report from Natural Resources Wales. The minutes record requests for information rather than formal decisions.
Council considered several items at its meeting on 26 September 2023. It approved the Preferred Strategy for the Replacement Local Development Plan for public consultation, renewed the Market Arcade public spaces protection order and agreed a new order for Maesglas. It also agreed governing body appointments, a joint scrutiny committee for the South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee, and the Climate Change Plan annual report.
The Performance Scrutiny Committee for People, which is the group of councillors that checks the council's social services and education work, considered the 2022-23 report on school inspections by Estyn, the Welsh education inspectorate. It then agreed its conclusions on earlier reports and asked officers for further information on Welsh language resources and on support for pupils and families with attendance problems and young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs).
Cancelled
Its main decisions were to approve £600,000 from capital headroom to demolish the empty Millbrook Primary School building, and to endorse the Preferred Strategy for the Replacement Local Development Plan and recommend that a formal public consultation begin. It also approved the Climate Change Plan Annual Report.
The Committee scrutinised the draft Preferred Strategy for the Replacement Local Development Plan, which will guide where homes, jobs and other development go in Newport up to 2036. It was happy to recommend that the strategy go forward to public consultation and made several suggestions on how the consultation should be run.
The Committee considered the Annual Digital Report 2022-23, which reviews the council's IT and digital work, and questioned officers on the new website, IT response times, training and digital inclusion. It recommended that the next annual report include progress on the website redesign, and asked for an update on the redesign in six months. It also noted an update on outstanding actions and changes to its forward work programme.