Meetings
Every meeting of Swansea Council's committees. Meetings of the full Council, the Cabinet, scrutiny and planning committees get a plain-language summary once their minutes are published.
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The Planning Committee considered an appeal against its own refusal of an outline plan for up to 216 homes on land next to Fairwood Terrace, Gowerton. It asked for a hearing as the council's preferred way of dealing with the appeal and nominated two local councillors to defend it. The committee also approved three planning applications, including a gondola and leisure development on Kilvey Hill, subject to legal agreements.
The Scrutiny Performance Panel for Child and Family Services met on 25 February 2025 to hear briefings on supported living for young people leaving care and on the work of the Corporate Parenting Board. The minutes record no formal decisions; the Panel asked questions and agreed actions, including providing homelessness team contact details and a Head of Service follow-up with Education on data about looked-after children.
The Cabinet met on 20 February 2025 to consider the council's budgets for 2025/26 and related reports. It recommended the 2025/26 revenue budget and the housing revenue account budget to full Council, approved the capital programme, and approved the Medium Term Financial Plan for 2026/27 to 2028/29 for recommendation to Council.
The Panel considered two reports at this meeting: school attendance and exclusions, and how schools improve teaching and learning through clusters and regional working. For both, the minute records no decision, and the reports asked councillors to consider the information and give their views. The Panel also accepted its work plan for 2024/25.
The Scrutiny Programme Committee met on 18 February 2025 and received updates on the draft Tackling Poverty Strategy 2025-2030, the progress of the Workforce Strategy, and the work of the Child and Family Services Scrutiny Performance Panel. The minutes record no declarations of interest and no decisions beyond approving the previous minutes and agreeing a membership change, along with the usual resolutions to write letters to Cabinet Members.
The Panel reviewed the draft 2025/26 annual budget and the third-quarter budget monitoring report before Cabinet considered them on 20 February. This is called pre-decision scrutiny: councillors check the proposals before the Cabinet, the group of senior councillors who run the council, decides. The minute records the discussion but no decision by the Panel itself. In a letter dated 19 February, the Panel passed its views to the Cabinet Member, Councillor Rob Stewart, who is also the Leader.
The Panel raised points on school funding, National Insurance costs, grants, school reserves, Additional Learning Needs (ALN) and staffing. The minute records no formal vote; the points are to be passed to the budget scrutiny panel before Cabinet meets on 20 February 2025.
The Scrutiny Performance Panel for Social Services considered draft budget proposals for Adult Services, Child and Family Services and Tackling Poverty for 2025-26. It agreed a set of views and recommendations to put to Cabinet, welcoming a proposed £25.5m (14.9%) rise but raising concerns about savings, service levels and capacity. The Convener of the Service Improvement, Regeneration and Finance Panel will take these views to Cabinet on 20 February 2025.
On 4 February 2025 the Planning Committee refused an application to add footpaths at Hazel Court, Sketty, to the Definitive Map of public rights of way, because there was not enough evidence that the routes were public. Members approved planning applications for the Vivian and Musgrave Engine Houses at Hafod Morfa and for a battery energy storage system at Bryntywod, Llangyfelach, and agreed to refer two listed building consent applications for the engine houses to Cadw with a recommendation of approval. Councillor T M White declared a personal interest in three of the applications.
The Panel considered the Performance Monitoring Report for November 2024 and received an update on the Adult Services Transformation Programme. The Panel agreed to add an item on hospital discharges and the step-down process to its 2025-26 work plan, and agreed to make informal visits to some establishments.
The Grants Scrutiny Inquiry Panel met as a pre-inquiry working group. The minute records that an updated terms of reference would be circulated to members and reported back to the next meeting, along with the plan for gathering evidence.
The Climate Change and Nature Scrutiny Performance Panel heard updates on public electric vehicle (EV) charging and on the Local Area Energy Plan, a plan for cutting carbon emissions in Swansea's energy systems to reach net zero by 2050. The minutes record questions and discussion but no decisions. The Panel later asked the Cabinet Member for written answers on three points.
The Committee heard an update on the council's Oracle Fusion computer system, which has now closed as a project, and questioned the Leader of the Council on his portfolio. It also approved a change to a scrutiny panel's membership, removing Councillor F D O'Brien from the Education Performance Panel. The Chair will write to the Cabinet Members involved with the Committee's views.
Cancelled
The Panel considered the Cabinet's draft budget proposals for 2025/26 to 2028/29 and the quarter 2 budget monitoring report for 2024/25, with the Leader and the Director of Finance attending. It also considered the quarter 2 performance report. The minute records no decisions; the Panel asked for more information on several proposed savings.