Loading
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.
Response by the Cabinet Member: Thank you for our question Aled, whilst I have no intention of commenting on your exchange of words with Cabinet colleagues, I am happy to clarify the process for the route changes. To be clear, the route optimisation process was first put forward in the FRM for 2023/24 and was agreed as part of the budget setting process by Full Council. Each year, as services look to optimise resources and to seek efficiencies to help the Council reach a balanced budget various proposals come forward for consideration. These are assessed and subject to scrutiny by Members. The route optimisation proposals were not a service change, as such, as the principal impact on residents was identified as being a day change for their waste and recycling collections. The implementation of the new routes is a very complex process with many technical factors to be taken into account by specialists in the waste and recycling team. Such a change has been described as an operational matter as no separate paper came forward for consideration by Cabinet and the changes received limited involvement of the Portfolio Holder. The Portfolio Holder was aware that the routes were being rolled out, but you will appreciate that they were heavily reliant on professional and technical advice from officers. Whilst the public were advised that some initial disruption was possible, the new routes have not gone as smoothly as was hoped. It should be noted, however, that many parts of Powys have suffered little disruption at all and I must acknowledge that there were issues in the North of the County prior to the rollout, particularly with staff recruitment, and this has admittedly been exacerbated with introduction of the new routes. The service is working hard to address these issues as quickly as possible. I fully admit that there have been problems with rounds not being completed, and this is the experience of many local authorities who have implemented new routes, but in the majority of cases these are caught up within a few days, and the service continues to improve how it is communicating service disruptions, both with members and the public. You will appreciate that this is an operational service that relies on people, vehicles and infrastructure to support it, which is why I have asked our Chief Officer, Place to work with the new Portfolio holder to drive improvements to the service so that the best possible service can be provided to our residents.
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.
The council hasn't recorded attendance for this meeting.
Lists the council's current councillors only. Co-opted members, officers and former councillors aren't shown.