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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 public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The webcast was paused. The Committee discussed the content of the appendices. The webcast resumed. Regarding the impact assessment, Councillor Dennison noted that a formal meeting was required because the project was ‘overarching corporate or service wide plans’. He queried why the ‘Council budget and Council tax rates’ boxes in the assessment were not ticked too as reserves were used to set the Freeport up. In response, Councillor Miller stated that submitting the full business case does not require expenditure. To add to this, the Chief Executive said that that the Authority intended to recoup some of the invested money and resources in a fair and equitable way along with the Freeport partners that put resources into the bid process. However, this would not be possible until there is more income into the Freeport. Regarding recovering the reserves, the Chief Executive continued that this decision was up to Full Council when they set the budget in 2025. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Maureen Bowen; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas. The vote undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee noted the draft Freeport Business case of the Celtic Freeport as ATTACHED IN Appendix 1.
RESOLVED That the Committee endorsed the Annual Report 2023-24 prior to consideration by Council.
RESOLVED That Councillor Andrew Edwards be appointed to the Finance Committee as a substantive Member.
Item 3: Celtic Freeport – Final Business Case Approval. Councillor Viv Stoddart declared a personal interest by of virtue of two relatives being employed by Milford Haven Port Authority. Item 3: Celtic Freeport – Final Business Case Approval. Councillor Alan Dennison declared a personal interest by virtue of being a member of the Port Authority Liaison Board. Item 3: Celtic Freeport – Final Business Case Approval. Councillor Jordan Ryan declared a personal interest by virtue of being of being a member of the Joint Scrutiny Committee for the Celtic Freeport. Item 3: Celtic Freeport – Final Business Case Approval. Councillor Aled Thomas declared a personal interest by virtue of being the Vice-Chair of the Joint Scrutiny Committee for the Celtic Freeport.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The webcast was paused. The Committee discussed the content of the appendices. The webcast resumed. Regarding the impact assessment, Councillor Dennison noted that a formal meeting was required because the project was ‘overarching corporate or service wide plans’. He queried why the ‘Council budget and Council tax rates’ boxes in the assessment were not ticked too as reserves were used to set the Freeport up. In response, Councillor Miller stated that submitting the full business case does not require expenditure. To add to this, the Chief Executive said that that the Authority intended to recoup some of the invested money and resources in a fair and equitable way along with the Freeport partners that put resources into the bid process. However, this would not be possible until there is more income into the Freeport. Regarding recovering the reserves, the Chief Executive continued that this decision was up to Full Council when they set the budget in 2025. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Maureen Bowen; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas. The vote undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee noted the draft Freeport Business case of the Celtic Freeport as ATTACHED IN Appendix 1.
The Chair welcomed Councillor Paul Miller, the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Place, the Region and Climate Change and the Chief Executive to the meeting who presented the Celtic Freeport Final Business Case to the Committee and highlighted the key points from the report. It was clarified that Central Government asked for the Celtic Freeport Authorities to ‘speed up’ the full business case submission, which was why this meeting, and the Cabinet meeting were taking place. In order to discuss the exempt appendices of the report, Councillor Alan Dennison Proposed that the public be excluded from the meeting. This was Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The webcast was paused. The Committee discussed the content of the appendices. The webcast resumed. Regarding the impact assessment, Councillor Dennison noted that a formal meeting was required because the project was ‘overarching corporate or service wide plans’. He queried why the ‘Council budget and Council tax rates’ boxes in the assessment were not ticked too as reserves were used to set the Freeport up. In response, Councillor Miller stated that submitting the full business case does not require expenditure. To add to this, the Chief Executive said that that the Authority intended to recoup some of the invested money and resources in a fair and equitable way along with the Freeport partners that put resources into the bid process. However, this would not be possible until there is more income into the Freeport. Regarding recovering the reserves, the Chief Executive continued that this decision was up to Full Council when they set the budget in 2025. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Maureen Bowen; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas. The vote undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee noted the draft Freeport Business case of the Celtic Freeport as ATTACHED IN Appendix 1.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Committee endorsed the Annual Report 2023-24 prior to consideration by Council.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Democratic Services. The Chair welcomed the Head of Democratic Services to the meeting, who outlined the achievements made by the Committee in the past year, including its successes with scrutinising Cabinet reports and holding four extraordinary meetings to deal with workloads. She concluded that a lot of work had been done to improve public awareness of meetings and the recent increase in public correspondence that the Committee had received. Councillor Dennison questioned if the political group statistics were correct regarding a call-in of the Haverfordwest Footbridge which went to Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee. In response, the Head of Democratic Services agreed to check to see if this was correct. The Recommendation was Moved by Councillor Alan Dennison; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee endorsed the Annual Report 2023-24 prior to consideration by Council.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That Councillor Andrew Edwards be appointed to the Finance Committee as a substantive Member.
The Chair sought nominations from the Committee for a member to join the Finance Panel. Councillor Alan Dennison Moved that Councillors Andrew Edwards be appointed to the Panel. Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas. The vote undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Andrew Edwards be appointed to the Finance Committee as a substantive Member.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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