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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 report on the Delivery of the Planning Service be noted.
RESOLVED (a) That the report on Enforcement be noted. (b) That a survey of Members be undertaken to inform further scrutiny of the Enforcement Service. (c) That the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee meet with the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager and the Cabinet Member for Resident’s Services to formulate the survey questions; and then circulate to Members of the Committee prior to all Councillors to in form the update report to be presented in early 2023. [The meeting adjourned for a short break at this juncture]
RESOLVED That the report on the Leisure function be noted.
RESOLVED That the Annual Report 2021-22 be endorsed prior to consideration by Council.
Moved by Councillor Brian Hall; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2022 by approved as a correct record.
No public submissions/correspondence had been received.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report on the Delivery of the Planning Service be noted.
The Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery presented an outline of the Planning report and introduced the new Head of Planning, Nicola Gandy who presented the vision for the service. The Head of Planning highlighted the recorded slip in planning performance due to the impact of Covid, Phosphate issues and staffing resource and with a focus on going forwards. The Head of Planning further advised of the plans to progress the Local Development Plan 2. The current backlog of applications and enquiries was being addressed with a view to reach 90% of all applications to be resolved within the set time frame. The Cabinet Member explained that the additional Development of National Significance (DNS) applications took significant Officer time. In response to questions from Councillors Di Clements and Mike Stoddart, the Head of Planning advised that the backlog would be cleared within 12months with time set aside each week to review cases to identify the way forward. Whilst training of the newly recruited Investigation Officers could be outsourced, the preference was for this to remain in-house. The Cabinet Member advised that enforcement was being prioritised with two recent successful prosecution cases being completed. With regards to the additional load with LDP applications, the Development Plans and Conservation Manager explained that grant funded research by the Pembrokeshire Coast Forum had quantified the phosphate load of LDP 2 housing allocations and that the final report with the results following the trialling of four mitigation plans based on LDP constrained sites, would be shared. Concerns were raised by Councillor Tim Evans on the problems of communication and responses to residents regarding planning issues. Councillor Brian Hall agreed with those concerns and also raised the issue of houses/extensions being built without planning permission in place. He further highlighted that when planning applications had previously been outsourced, many were refused and then went through the appeals process. Clarification was sought by Councillor Tim Evans as to whether there was an additional cost to the Authority when an application was not reviewed within a certain time frame, the Head of Planning responded that there was a financial implication to the Authority. Councillor Di Clements sought clarification on the additional finances allocated in the previous year and whether this would be continuing. The Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery advised that Planning was competing with a number of Council priorities for the additional resources. The aim to determine a simple household applications was eight weeks which was manageable; however, some applications were complex and responses from Highways, Dwr Cymru, NRW etc. caused delays. It was recognised by Councillor Steve Alderman that many houses/improvements had already been completed without the planning permission in place due to no financial deterrent, the Head of Planning advised that the retrospective planning fee is set by Welsh Government but that this was under review. At the suggestion of Councillor Mike Stoddart, she agreed to raise the matter with the Welsh Government for the full cost of recovery and Councillor Tony Wilcox noted the full support of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee. In response to concerns raised by the Chair, the Head of Planning responded that there were administrative and technical staff in place and that this was a developing role to answer basic queries as part of their training. Time had been set aside to review efficiencies. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Councillor Tony Wilcox The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report on the Delivery of the Planning Service be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED (a) That the report on Enforcement be noted. (b) That a survey of Members be undertaken to inform further scrutiny of the Enforcement Service. (c) That the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee meet with the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager and the Cabinet Member for Resident’s Services to formulate the survey questions; and then circulate to Members of the Committee prior to all Councillors to in form the update report to be presented in early 2023. [The meeting adjourned for a short break at this juncture]
The Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services presented a report on the current position in relation to Environmental Enforcement to the Committee. Councillor Mark Carter then Moved the recommendation that all Councillors be surveyed to inform further scrutiny of the Enforcement Service, the Committee expressed its support for the Chair and Vice-Chair to meet with the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager and the Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services. The results of which would be presented to the Committee in early 2023 together with a robust business case responding to the survey results. In response to a concern raised by Councillor Tim Evans on signage at various dog-walking locations, the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager advised that many areas had multiple access points which had made signage difficult. Signs on the particular issue of dog-fouling had been distributed to pubs to encourage responsible disposal. Clarification was sought by Councillor Di Clements on the use of the ‘eyes are watching you’ posters that had previously been used; however, the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager advised there had been some negative responses received. In response to a suggestion by Councillor Tim Evans to ‘stick and flick’ dog fouling, Councillor Di Clements informed the Committee that animal faeces was deadly to Bovine animals and requested that this method is not used. It was recognised by Councillor Steve Alderman that fast food outlets needed to take responsibility for the waste that the outlets create and the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager advised that these companies were actively engaging with the Authority to reduce this. Moved by Councillor Tim Evans; Seconded by Councillor Chris Williams The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED (a) That the report on Enforcement be noted. (b) That a survey of Members be undertaken to inform further scrutiny of the Enforcement Service. (c) That the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee meet with the Streetcare, Parking and Events Manager and the Cabinet Member for Resident’s Services to formulate the survey questions; and then circulate to Members of the Committee prior to all Councillors to in form the update report to be presented in early 2023. [The meeting adjourned for a short break at this juncture]
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report on the Leisure function be noted.
The Head of Cultural, Leisure, Tourism and Registration Services presented the Leisure Function Report to the Committee highlighting the difficulties that the Leisure Services had experienced through the Covid Pandemic. The service was recovering in a positive manner with the membership returning (in line with the national sector position) at 80% of its pre pandemic base. Clubs utilising the facilities were back to pre pandemic levels and the outlook following the first quarter of the year suggested that the net cost of the service was in line with the budget. Recruiting staff, especially instructors (a national challenge) has limited the services ability to grow its offer in certain fields. Continued efforts through linking with schools and colleges together with advertising on social media to promote employment opportunities remain a priority. In response to a concern from Councillor Tim Evans, the Cabinet Member for Place, the Region and Climate Change advised that the increase in costs was not specific to leisure but noted the costs on heating, particularly swimming pool water. In response to a question from Councillor Tom Tudor regarding general public no longer being allowed to use the Bluestone facilities, the Cabinet Member advised that Bluestone was a private business and any holding in the company would likely be very small. Councillor Tim Evans commented that as Bluestone was no longer available, the Authority needed to capitalise on that loss of leisure facilities. The Cabinet Member for Place, the Region and Climate Change discussed that the leisure strategy had highlighted the opportunity to develop the provision at Tenby Leisure Centre with the creation of a leisure pool and that the Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services would be leading that work; noting that there was not comparable provision to Bluestone at present. Moved by Councillor Tim Evans; Seconded by Councillor Tony Wilcox The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report on the Leisure function be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Annual Report 2021-22 be endorsed prior to consideration by Council.
The Chair introduced the Head of Democratic Services who presented the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2021-22 to the Committee. The Head of Democratic Services advised Members that the report would be brought to the Committee earlier in the future and that this delay had been due to the election and Member induction duties. The report identified the areas of work to be focussed on ensuring all work adds value to the work of the Committee. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Councillor Tony Wilcox The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Annual Report 2021-22 be endorsed prior to consideration by Council.
The Chair presented the Forward Work Programme to the Committee Concerns were raised by Councillor Viv Stoddart on the removal of ‘Incidents of vandalism on the Authority’s properties’ from the Forward Work Programme. Members were updated that the Northgate System had been unable to provide the data requested. The Committee requested that this report be included in the Forward Work Programme for an update to be presented in November. In response to a question from Councillor Mike Stoddart regarding the Flood prevention updates, the Chair agreed that if no update was available, reasons would be requested. Councillor Tim Evans requested that the Committee are kept up to date on a regular basis.
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