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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED The work programme was approved. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried.
RESOLVED • That the Participation Strategy Action Plan be noted. • That the suggested process for monitoring against progress on the Participation Strategy be noted. That the Participation Strategy be reconsidered in 12 months’ time.
RESOLVED (a) That the Committee recommend that Cabinet support the prioritisation model and it is adopted and used for the local bus route tenders. (b) That the Committee’s comments be noted.
RESOLVED That the Committee note the details as set out in the report.
RESOLVED That the progress update on the actions within the Strategy be noted.
RESOLVED That Option 1 (6.7% inflation plus £2 for those below standard rate (a maximum of £2 subsequent increase) be supported for the rent setting levels for 2024-2025 and recommended to Cabinet for further consideration on the 4 December before Council decision on the 14 December 2023.
There were no declarations of interest.
The Chair proposed that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 September 2023 be approved as a correct record. This was seconded by Councillor Vivien Stoddart. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 September 2023 be approved as a correct record The Chair proposed that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 October 2023 be approved as a correct record subject to the following correction on page 22 on the agenda pack: The housing pods will be on the old Hubberston School site not Milford Haven School This was seconded by Councillor Vivien Stoddart. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 October 2023 be approved as a correct record subject to the following correction on page 22 on the agenda pack: The housing pods will be on the old Hubberston School site not Milford Haven School
There was no public correspondence.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED The work programme was approved. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried.
RESOLVED The work programme was approved. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried.
It was agreed to change the order of business as follows to enable the Cabinet Member for Corporate Improvement & Communities to leave early for a prior engagement.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED • That the Participation Strategy Action Plan be noted. • That the suggested process for monitoring against progress on the Participation Strategy be noted. That the Participation Strategy be reconsidered in 12 months’ time.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Democratic Services on the Participation Strategy. The Chair welcomed Councillor Neil Prior, the relevant Cabinet Member with responsibility for Corporate Improvement & Communities to the meeting who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: Councillor Pat Davies noted that in the Democratic Services Committee, it was agreed that more engagement with town and community councils was needed but a joint meeting held with them was poorly attended. Alternative ways needed to be attempted to contact residents, especially if they were technologically restricted. She concluded that local members needed to be informed first by officers if something was occurring in their area. Councillor Aled Thomas concurred with this. The Chair suggested over methods of communication when informing the public should be tried instead of press releases, for example a briefing paper to members. Councillor Prior stated that a recommendation for improved communication with members could be included in the action plan to increase participation. He stated that communications from the Council had improved but they were subjected to budget constraints. Councillor Thomas suggested amending the RAG rating on the action plan as it did not show what was working and what was not. He added that he only received one invite to the Better Working Together seminar for town and community councillors. Councillor Prior stated that 15% of Pembrokeshire’s Town and Community Councils responded to a survey sent out asking them what worked well and what they needed support with. Different types of meetings had been held with them and at the next meeting they will discuss the boundary commission review. Councillor Maureen Bowen stated that people preferred to be nominated to sit on town councils instead of standing for election. Councillor Huw Murphy noted that community and town councils had to incur any costs when they held an election. The Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officer informed the committee that the next Better Working Together seminar was on the 28th November at 7:30pm as a virtual meeting. The meeting was organised by Executive Support. Councillor Prior clarified that the Participation Strategy was for all Pembrokeshire residents, not just town and community councils. The working group suggested working with specific community groups like the Youth Forum and over 50s groups. The action plan was too broad and they wanted to tighten it up. Councillor Alan Dennison suggested with companies based in Pembrokeshire like Valero. Councillor Mike James suggested working with groups based in memorial halls and the third sector. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Michele Wiggins. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED • That the Participation Strategy Action Plan be noted. • That the suggested process for monitoring against progress on the Participation Strategy be noted. That the Participation Strategy be reconsidered in 12 months’ time.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED (a) That the Committee recommend that Cabinet support the prioritisation model and it is adopted and used for the local bus route tenders. (b) That the Committee’s comments be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Infrastructure & Environment on Public Bus Services: Funding & Prioritisation. The Chair welcomed the Head of Infrastructure & Environment, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager and Councillor Rhys Sinnett, the relevant Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: Councillor Sinnett informed the Committee that they did not know how much money Pembrokeshire would be allocated from the regional group, but it would likely be less than the current allocation. Previously bus service allocation was based on economic costs i.e. cost per passenger; however, this does not include the social value of the bus. He thanked Councillors Simon Wright, Delme Harris and Vanessa Thomas for raising their concerns with him. The Integrated Transport Unit Manager stated that retendering contract prices had increased, and they needed to agree on how the allocated funding would be split. In response to the Chair, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager stated that routes were checked and rated on whether they were on school or medical facility routes. These were correlated with time and day usage. Councillor Pat Davies informed the Committee that in a session with young people, they stated that the availability and cost of transport was a big issue for them. The Integrated Transport Unit Manager noted that increasing costs and Covid-19 halted Welsh Government’s plan for public transport reforms. There was a focus on maintaining services instead of improving them. Since 2011, Pembrokeshire had lost £600,000 for public transport funding. There was a maximum cap on fares per mile, but contract prices increased annually with no funding available to improve services. Councillor Michael James stated that more communication was needed regarding the timetable for the flexibus service in North Pembrokeshire. Councillor Michael Stoddart said that bus usage needed to increase. The Head of Infrastructure & Environment noted that there was a difficulty with the constraints on public service. The Integrated Transport Unit Manager added that the bus operator kept the fares from passengers and if there were no passengers then the Council or Welsh Government had to subsidise this. The service would need to be more flexible and cheaper to increase patronage. In response to Councillor Alan Dennison, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager confirmed that the bus from Narberth to Tenby had a high usage rate because they would come from Haverfordwest or Carmarthen. The bus from Haverfordwest went via Kilgetty and Saundersfoot. In response to Councillor Aled Thomas, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager said that Pembrokeshire had a £700,000 budget for bus services, £390,000 of this was provided by Welsh Government as part of regional funding to Southwest Wales. Welsh Government also provided funding for trunk bus routes, so Pembrokeshire received funding for the T5 and T11 bus services. Some funding was provided by Pembrokeshire National Park and bus operators received some from Swansea as part of a ‘lifelong support grant’. Following a supplementary question from Councillor Thomas, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager stated that the Council charged the same rate as bus operators which was in line with the price cap. Some operated flexi services which were cheaper but Welsh Government were discouraging this in order to increase patronage on normal services. Councillor Thomas noted that trains bypassed all road traffic and queried whether train transport should be supported. The Integrated Transport Unit Manager noted that trains did not have concessionary travel and some residents could travel for free on the bus but not the train. Improving trains in Pembrokeshire will be addressed with the Welsh Government and Transport for Wales but this had been actioned yet. The Head of Infrastructure and Environment added that there was a shortage in bus drivers and the Council was keen to not push out the private sector with bus services. Councillor Michael Williams noted that there was a shortage of train drivers too and the train service itself needed improving. The Head of Infrastructure and Environment noted that Transport for Wales had struggled with train services in Pembrokeshire because there was a delay on their trains being delivered. Work had been done in the Transport Plan with getting rail improvements in West Wales. Councillor Sinnett stated that they had been lobbying for rail improvements in Pembrokeshire and improvements were planned in Haverfordwest, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock. Councillor Paul Miller, the relevant Cabinet Member for Place, the Region and Climate Change noted that the car was the fastest mode of transport so work was being done with GWR to investigate transport choices to Pembrokeshire. Different train companies would need to be worked with to get a direct train from Milford Haven to London. Councillor Maureen Bowen stated that people were less likely to get jobs if they were reliant on the bus service because of its unreliability. In response to Councillor Dennison, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager clarified that the connection services from Swansea were phased and were running a couple days a week. Information on supported bus services was in the report. Following a supplementary from Councillor Dennison, the Integrated Transport Unit Manager stated that the door-to-door service was for people who could not access public transport and there was no extra cost for this. The 300 route is an on-demand service. In response to Councillor Michael James, the Head of Infrastructure and Environment said that an increase in rail services in South Pembrokeshire would not lead to a reduction of bus costs in North Pembrokeshire. This was because Network Rail was managed by the DfT but trains in Wales were managed by the Welsh Government and they were funded differently. He pointed out that developments coming into the County, like the Free Port, should increase train usage which would bring more investment into the County. Councillor Dennison suggested that the service prioritisation should take into account who used the bus service for what purpose i.e. going to work/school, medical appointments etc. Councillor Thomas concurred with this and added that it should include children going to schools out of the catchment area. Councillor Williams suggested expanding services, so they ran later to accommodate people who worked late and needed to go home. He noticed an increase in people getting buses from Tenby to Withybush hospital. Councillor Davies noted that residents would need to travel to Haverfordwest from North Pembrokeshire for work. Councillor Sinnett agreed to include the recommendations from Members of the Committee into the prioritisation. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Pat Davies For the motion – Joshua Beynon, Aled Thomas, Vivien Stoddart, Pat Davies, Michele Wiggins, Steve Yelland, Huw Murphy, Maureen Bowen, Jordan Ryan, Michael James, Alan Dennison, Michael Williams and Michael Stoddart [13] There were no votes against or abstaining from the motion. RESOLVED (a) That the Committee recommend that Cabinet support the prioritisation model and it is adopted and used for the local bus route tenders. (b) That the Committee’s comments be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Committee note the details as set out in the report.
The Committee considered a report by the Strategic Property Advisor on Asset Management - State of the Estate Report. The Chair welcomed the Strategic Property Advisor to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: The Strategic Property Advisor stated that 20 work streams in the strategy were being managed by external consultants and 80 were managed internally. Every £1 million borrowed had a 7.75% interest rate. Councillor Millar noted that the estate management could be better but several significant changes had been done in the last 18 months which had improved it. In response Councillor Dennison, the Strategic Property Advisor clarified that the Asset Management Strategy sets out the approach to managing the assets but the Strategic Asset Management Plan sets out the delivery of the strategy. He agreed to find out how frequently the audits should take place. In response to Councillor Thomas, the Strategic Property Advisor stated that income generated from County Farms was mentioned in the report because it was known whereas the income from commercial property was not known in time for the report’s publication. Following a supplementary from Councillor Thomas, Councillor Millar clarified that there will be £50 million committed to house building and this was referenced in the HRA Business Plan. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Pat Davies, Seconded by Councillor Vivien Stoddart The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee note the details as set out in the report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the progress update on the actions within the Strategy be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Infrastructure & Environment on the Local Toilet Strategy. The Chair welcomed the Strategic Business Manager and the Public Realm Manager to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: Councillor Rhys Sinnett, the relevant Cabinet Member, thanked the town and community councils for their engagement and the work of County Council officers. The Head of Infrastructure and Environment added that public toilets were managed by the new Public Realm team. The Strategic Business Manager highlighted the importance of working with town and community councils and this would help keep more public toilets open and thanked them for their work. In response to Councillor Jordan Ryan, the Strategic Business Manager confirmed that the public toilet at Marloes was the only confirmed closure on the coast to date as there was no third party funding identified for the facility. Abercastle, Amroth East, Newport Parrog, Abereiddy, Newgale South and Tenby Beach North could possibly be closed. In response to Councillor Aled Thomas, the Strategic Business Manager confirmed that the toilet labelled for immediate closure would be closed on the 1st December 2023. Town and community councils had until the 5th November 2023 to express an interest in keeping the toilets running. Councillor Thomas noted that the closure of public toilets was not set out in the budget. Councillor Sinnett clarified that there was provisional funding to run the toilets, but no partners were willing to keep the toilet open. Therefore, an asset transfer would be required to keep it running. Councillor Alan Dennison noted that in order to keep Dale’s public toilet open, £10,000 was being moved from the parking budget to pay for the toilet. The Head of Infrastructure and Environment clarified that there was an opportunity to review cost recovery with the car park budget which was its own separate account. The Public Realm Manager added that Dale was kept open due to the amount of tourists who visited it. Following a supplementary question from Councillor Dennison, the Head of Infrastructure and Environment stated that a review was conducted looking at toilets that were linked with car parks. The Public Realm Manager clarified that the toilets in market Square in Milford Haven was covered by the car park due to the Order in place. There was legislation which stated how this funding could be spent. In response to Councillor Michael James, the Strategic Business Manager confirmed that Nevern Community Council was undergoing an asset transfer regarding the Nevern toilets. The exception request for Moylegrove will be discussed at December’s Cabinet he added. Councillor Vivien Stoddart noted that community centres were an alternative to public toilets. Councillor Sinnett stated that the overall toilet strategy included working with businesses and organisations. Marketing and more communication was needed to show when toilets were open. In response to Councillor Maureen Bowen, the Strategic Business Manager stated that they were looking at funding opportunities to provide wheelchair accessible facilities at public toilets. Councillor Michael Williams noted that Tenby North Beach was very popular with tourists and that closing the public toilet would diminish its tourist appeal. He queried if the car park at Tenby North Beach could fund the public toilet there. Councillor Michael Stoddart noted that the Council was meant to provide public services and that closing the public toilets were modest savings for a big benefit to the public. Councillor Huw Murphy concurred with this and noted that smaller councils in rural locations would struggle to pay to keep toilets open. Councillor Sinnett concluded that public toilets were a discretionary service provided by the Council. Due to finances, the Council needed to be prudent and work with partners as much as possible. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon. Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the progress update on the actions within the Strategy be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That Option 1 (6.7% inflation plus £2 for those below standard rate (a maximum of £2 subsequent increase) be supported for the rent setting levels for 2024-2025 and recommended to Cabinet for further consideration on the 4 December before Council decision on the 14 December 2023.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services. The Chair welcomed the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services, the Finance Manager and Councillor Michelle Bateman, the relevant Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing Operations & Regulatory Services to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: In response to Councillor Aled Thomas, the Finance Manager confirmed that following the errors related to the delivery of the rent increase notification letters that led to the delays in rent increases until the 1st July, the loss to the Housing Revenue Account was in excess of £312,000. Councillor Michael Stoddart noted that the HRA Working Group received a report on the rent variations that residents pay for the same type of property. Officers suggested that to fix this, the rent interest rate could be increased for the cheaper rents which was in line with Welsh Government recommendations. He concluded that he was not happy with the proposed rent increases. The Finance Manager clarified that Welsh Government calculate the cap on overall income from rent by taking a week’s rent roll from March and multiply this by 48 weeks. Therefore for this year only, due to the £312,000 lost income, this would be able to be utilised to offset the increases in terms of transitional rents, thus allowing PCC to increase overall percentage of rent increases by the amount allowable by WG. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services added that this was why the plus £2 was planned to be added to each individual rent as part of the levelling up approach. Welsh Government was allowing an increase of 6.7% in rent increases for inflation. This would be within Welsh Government’s rent standard and would still be cheaper than private landlords and affordable for residents. Councillor Bateman noted that they would keep in dialogue with Welsh Government as part of the revision of the five year Rent Standard Review in readiness for 2025 to ensure that the challenges posed to the Council by the existing Standard were taken into consideration. They were also talking with tenants around affordability. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services said that 100 tenants had responded to the consultation so far and 74% stated that they believed their rent provided value for money and 65% were satisfied with the rent increases and still could afford it. Councillor Michael Stoddart said that the plus £2 only reduced the increase in rent difference between the £81 and £115 rent charges. The Finance Manager stated that the Council lost £312,000 because of the late rent increase but through transitional arrangements this loss had reduced to £280,000. After the 6.7% increase is applied, only three properties would notice an increase in the gap between rent payments whereas all the other properties would notice a decrease with the additional up to £2 applied to individual rents. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services added that the report showed that the Council’s rent rates for PCC were very much an outlier across Wales, and since 2020-2021, no gains had been made in reducing the gap between the average rent charged by PCC compared with other social landlords. The Council planned to increase rent rates by the full percentage but had not increased it to the maximum allowed amount for rent. Rents needed to be increased to financially safeguard the HRA Business Plan. Councillor Thomas noted that the tables indicated in Option 1 an increase is 6.7% rent increase would mean an overall 5.8% increase income across the stock. The Finance Manager clarified that the 7.6% was what Welsh Government calculated the rent cap to be. Councillor Bateman added that historically due to the overall rent income cap applied by the WG Rent Standard, the Council had to decide between either levelling up variations in rent or reduce overall increase in Standard rent. So the loss in rent money due to the delay in rent increases until July had allowed them to be able to focus on both increasing my the maximum rent allowed by WG and the individual +£2 for the final year of that rent standard. This should help with levelling-up next year. In response to Councillor Thomas, the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services stated that there were caveats implemented to stop residents getting evicted due to financial hardships if they were engaging with the Council to reduce any arrears. The Financial Support Team had doubled in capacity to assess tenants in rent arrears and refer them to Financial Support if appropriate. The team was finding tenants benefits they could claim and repayment plans are set up with them. She also confirmed that around 70% of tenants were claiming either Universal Credit or Housing Benefit. In response to Councillor Pat Davies, the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services agreed to find out the rent loss from empty properties but noted that there properties were empty for longer than anticipated due to capacity issues within the Building Maintenance Service and with a shortage of contractors. This led to a backlog of void properties that needed significant building improvements. Councillor Alan Dennison thanked Councillor Bateman and the officers for their work done with this. Councillor Vivien Stoddart stated that she was in favour of Option 2 set out in the report. In response to Councillor Vivien Stoddart, the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services confirmed that the tables in the report showed the average rates and the highest increases in a worst-case scenario. The Chair stated that residents who spoke to him who lived in Council homes were happy with the rent increase and Option 1 was needed to roll out building repairs quicker as part of the HRA Business Plan. Councillor Bateman added that the HRA account was ring-fenced so any money gained from rent would be used to carry out building works on the housing stock. It was also used to maintain the Council estates and parking schemes too. She concluded that in assessing affordability using the Joseph Rowntree Living rent model showed that the Option 1 rent increase still remained affordable compared with the Living Rent levels Councillor Davies noted that residents were struggling with the cost-of-living crisis but agreed that rent levels needed to be increased to balance the HRA and build better Council houses. Option 1 was Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Pat Davies. In response to Councillor Thomas, Councillor Bateman confirmed that other options had been taken to Welsh Government but some of these options had increases per week that would have been considerably higher than the 6.7% plus £2 option. Varying percentages would have caused a different rent for each property and rent bands getting mixed which would be extremely difficult to administer and also be confusing to tenants. [Councillor Alan Dennison left the meeting at this juncture at 13:32] For the motion – CouncillorsJoshua Beynon, Aled Thomas, Pat Davies, Michele Wiggins, Maureen Bowen, Jordan Ryan and Michael Williams [7] Against the motion – CouncillorsVivien Stoddart, Steve Yelland, Huw Murphy, Michael James and Michael Stoddart [5] There were no abstentions. RESOLVED That Option 1 (6.7% inflation plus £2 for those below standard rate (a maximum of £2 subsequent increase) be supported for the rent setting levels for 2024-2025 and recommended to Cabinet for further consideration on the 4 December before Council decision on the 14 December 2023.
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