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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.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Giles Davies and Jason O’Connell.
The Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer (MO&ALO) referred to Agenda Item 9, Long Term Plan for Towns (Cwmbran) and advised that the following members had personal interests as they were members of the following Community Councils which were referred to in paragraph 4.6 of the report: Cwmbran Community Council: Councillor David Thomas Councillor Stuart Ashley Councillor Peter Jones Councillor Sue Morgan Henllys Community Council: Councillor Ron Burnett Councillor Colette Thomas Croesyceiliog & Llanyrafon Community Council: Councillor David Williams The MO&ACLO referred to Agenda Item 10, The Torfaen Community & Wellbeing Strategy and advised that Councillor David Williams had a personal interest as Vice Chair of TVA. Councillor Fiona Cross declared a personal interest as she was Chair of TVA, but was temporarily not in that position. Councillor Richard Clark declared a personal interest as he was Company Secretary of TVA. The MO&ACLO advised that Councillors Joanne Gauden and Karl Gauden had a personal interest in relation to Agenda Item 15, Motions on Notice, as they worked part-time for UNISON. The Leader declared a personal and prejudicial interest as he was on the negotiating body for the UK WLGA Association with regards to the pay deal. All of the above members confirmed their interests.
Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 27 February 2024 as an accurate record.
Council noted the action sheet.
Councillor Rose Seabourne, as Presiding Member, presented a petition on behalf of Torfaen Resident, Mr Dibble, in relation to a request for a dog enclosure park, as follows: ‘We petition Torfaen County Borough Council to create a local Cwmbran based dog enclosure park for larger dogs so owners can exercise their pet with a ball with the leash off to prevent intimidating the local public or having problems with other dogs. There are plenty of tennis and football courts for children and adults in Torfaen. An enclosure which wouldn’t cost much to put together would benefit dog owners making sure their pets get sufficient exercise without bothering the local public children and other dogs etc. It would greatly benefit local dog owners who do not drive meaning that dogs get a secure location for exercise’ Council referred the petition to Councillor Amanda Owen, Executive Member Environment for her to consider, respond and report back in due course.
There were no public questions.
The Leader commented as follows: · Paid tribute to Reg Hann who had passed away at the age of 100 and conveyed respect and condolences to Reg’s family and friends on behalf of the Council. He referred to Reg being the pioneer behind the development of the new town and the main mover behind the creation of the boating lake. Discussions would be held with Cwmbran Community Council to agree a fitting tribute. · Thanked Cwmffrwdoer School for inviting him along to their assembly to mark Stephen Lawrence Day on Monday 22 April 2024. He was inspired to hear the pupils talk about respect, diversity, anti-racism and about the example of Stephen as a bright and ambitious young person who was determined to pursue a career as an architect. · Thanked staff involved in the successful Unleashed Business event which was run with Cardiff Capital Region last week with over 150 people in attendance. He also thanked those involved in the Jobs Fare at the Congress Theatre in the week prior, which was busy with local people accessing support with job searching and developing their skills and training. · Thanked all of those involved in the new Inspire Café, which was a training base for targeted support for young people in Torfaen to help them access work experience and gaining qualifications in food hygiene and customer service. He explained that this was part of wider programme to young people – from music and art to mechanics and more. He further explained that the Inspire Café had been developed with funding from Shared Prosperity Fund and aimed to support young people’s engagement and progression into employment, helping to reduce the number of young people in Torfaen not in employment, education or training. He encouraged members to support the café whenever they were in the civic centre for meetings. · Informed Members of the new Torfaen Play Facility on the ground floor of the civic centre. He explained that the facility would be a base to provide children and their carers newly adopted children and parent sessions, family play sessions, expansion of the successful Lego Build to express sessions, Dad’s and kid’s groups, young carers play and disability groups. He felt it was a great use of a previously underutilised space and thanked all of those involved in the Council’s innovative and inspiring Play Service. Members were invited to visit the play facility after the council meeting.
The Head of Communities and Renewal outlined the report which provided an update in respect of UK Governments Long Term Plan for Towns (LTPT) £20 million investment into Cwmbran over the next 10 years. The update was inclusive of activity to date and key governance arrangements associated with the LTPT investment board going forward. The Executive Member Economy, Skills and Regeneration commented around the progress made since the welcome and surprise announcement before Christmas and the first town board’s meeting was now being scheduled. She thanked officers for their work, particularly in complying with the new way of working when setting up and establishing the LTPT investment board. She reiterated that whilst the council was responsible for establishing the board, administrating the fund and performance management, whilst the board owned the long-term plan and engaging the communities. She also explained that whilst the make-up of the Board complied with guidance issued by the UK Government, she envisaged that there would be further opportunities for elected member and community representation on the sub boards. The Presiding Member welcomed the investment into Cwmbran and also the boundary. In summary, Members commented in favour of the report, considering the challenges of wider engagement and involvement, particularly due to the confined parameters set by UK Government in terms of the membership of the Board. He referred to the youth parliament member of the board and commented on the importance of a young person’s voice being fully present. In response to questions asked by members, the following points were noted: · The money would be used to build upon the council’s capital infrastructure projects which would be complemented with revenue initiatives. The guidance was clear in terms of opportunities to tackle areas such as anti-social behaviour, crime and opportunities for young people, and rather than these projects standing in isolation, there would be an opportunity for them the complement each other, which was rare in terms of funding. · The funding was not explicit around match funding requirements, however, where there was an expectation that the council could leverage other funding, and this should be considered where appropriate. A towns task force had also been established to help unblock, so where there were traditional challenges in delivering projects, the task force would be utilised. In terms of aligning with the Council’s existing plans and policies, the council had been clear in discussions with UK Government around the foundations already in place and the opportunity to enhance this. The Council’s plans had been built on statistics, data and engagement that had already been undertaken with the local community, and it was hoped that this would be complementary and align with existing projects. · Timeline expectations were tight in terms of the required achievements by August 2024. Existing officers within the regeneration team were supporting and co-ordinating the work in the first instance and working closely with the Chair. They would establish the inaugural board, working to ensure that the governance arrangements were robust. It was possible that commissioned services would need to be explored to enhance the work being undertaken and to assist engagement and development work. Council unanimously agreed: 1. To note the update outlined within the main body of the report. 2. To endorse TCBC role in providing assurance, specifically the role of the Statutory Finance (151) Officer. 3. To endorse the receipt of an initial £50k capacity funding in 23/24, with a further award of £200k in 24/25 to support the development of the Long-Term Plan, including additional community engagement activity. 4. To approve the Executive Member for Economy, Skills and Regeneration as the TCBC representative on the Cwmbran LTPT Investment Board. 5. To approve the delegation of authority to the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Members Constitution Working Party to make any necessary amendments to the constitution to reflect the above proposals.
The Head of Communities and Renewal outlined the report recommending to Council that the Community Wellbeing Strategy 2023-2027 be approved and adopted as the Council's strategic framework for supporting community activity and promoting wellbeing. In summary, members commented as follows: · Extensive scrutiny had been undertaken on the Community Wellbeing Strategy and it was pleasing to see that their comments had been taken into consideration. · Where public consultation had taken place, in future, it would be helpful to include a summary of the outcome as an appendix to the report. · Volunteering within the community often helped mental health. It was important to consider health and wellbeing within communities and discrimination should also be considered. · Elected members were involved in a number of community activities and should also be considered as volunteers. In response to questions asked by Members, the following main points were noted: · The new Community Resilience Team was working to empower local communities through capacity building and identifying residents who wanted to be involved. Consideration was being given around ways to engage with individuals, to provide training and mentorship, to provide support and to enable appropriate skills in order to achieve sustainability. Consideration was being given around ways of strengthening community championing through a connect platform hosted by TVA which would be driven as a digital solution and would become a reliable source for those looking for information and activities to volunteer. The Executive Member Communities commended the report and felt that the strategy had been thoroughly considered and that it was exciting. She urged members to sell the strategy and commented on the authority’s impressive and inspirational community spirit. She also commented on the importance of engaging widely to find community leaders that could be developed and invested in. The Executive Member Adult Services and Housing commented that the strategy was massively ambitious but necessary and he commended the approach being taken. The Leader welcomed the report and felt that linking the strategy to action was a strong basis. He thanked the Chief Executive, Head of Communities and Renewal, Executive Member Communities and Executive Member Adult Services and Housing for their leadership on the strategy. He referred to the council’s partnership with groups of volunteers and felt that this was a great strength of the community. He also commented on the importance of early intervention and prevention and acting to stem demand in the council’s acute services which resulted in better outcomes for people and better financial sustainability for public services. The Presiding Member encouraged volunteers in the community and commented that all voluntary groups within the borough did a tremendous job. Council unanimously agreed to approve the Community Wellbeing Strategy 2023-2027 as the Council's strategic framework for community planning and delivery.
The Deputy Director Highways and Climate Change outlined the report seeking approval for an additional £407,000 of funding from the Council’s capital programme to carry out the repair that provides the best economical, viable and sustainable repair method. He advised on the repair options to repair and strengthen the key structure underpinning the highway network and he also advised of the options which had been appraised for scope, effectiveness, longevity and lifetime cost. Council unanimously agreed: · To approve the agreed repair method Concrete repair with Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) as set out in paragraph 4.4.4 of the report. · To approve the request for additional capital funding of £407,000 to fund the cost of the recommended repairs to the bridge located on the A472 at Pontymoile. .
The Leader set out further changes to the Executive Member portfolios which were required to ensure greater focus on delivering the Council’s key priorities. The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager set out changes to scrutiny portfolios which were significantly outdated in terms of activities/areas as well as alignment with Executive Member portfolios and corporate structures. Council unanimously agreed to: 1. Approve the changes to the Executive Member Portfolios as set out in Appendix 1 of the report. 2. Approve the changes to the Scrutiny Committee Portfolios as set out in Appendix 2 of the report. 3. Note that appointments to the amended Executive Member and Scrutiny Portfolios will be made at Annual Council in May 2024 4. Delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer (in consultation with the Members Constitution Working Party) to make the changes required to the Council’s Constitution including designating Adult & Communities O&S Committee as the Crime & Disorder Committee
The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager advised Council of the procedure to appoint a new statutory co-optee, Catholic Church representative to the vacant position on the Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee and requested approval of the appointment of the successful candidate. The Presiding Member informed council that there were remaining vacancies for secondary school and primary school governor representatives. Council agreed, with the majority voting in favour, to: · Note the procedure followed to appoint to the vacant statutory co-optee positions that have arisen on the Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee. · Approve the appointment of Mr B. John Cunningham (Catholic Church representative). · Note that three additional vacancies for secondary school parent governor, primary school parent governor and a representative from the Church in Wales, still remain unfilled, but steps will be taken to appoint to these positions in the near future.
Councillor Joanne Gauden and Councillor Hunt left the meeting for this agenda item. Councillor Caroline Price proposed the following motion: This council notes: ‘Since 2010, local government workers have lost an average of 25% from the value of their pay. Our staff are experiencing an ongoing cost of living crisis. Since 2010 the cost of living has risen by 60%, more and more local government workers have been pushed into debt, and their basic spending has overtaken their income, with 1 in 5 households having less than £100 to spare each month. This is a terrible situation for anyone to find themselves in. At the same time, workers have experienced ever-increasing workloads and persistent job insecurity. Across the UK, the local government workforce has fallen by 30% as a result of job cuts. This has had a disproportionate impact on women, with women making up more than three-quarters of the local government workforce. Local government continues to show how indispensable it is. But staff are increasingly leaving the sector for better paid jobs elsewhere, for example in retail, leaving local authorities with a massive skills gap, and vacancies in a range of key services, including in social care, education and youth services. Local government finance is in an enormously difficult state, facing an estimated funding gap of more than £3.5 billion for 2024/25. Recent research shows that if the Government were to fully fund the unions’ 2024 pay claim, around half of the money would be recouped thanks to increased tax revenue, reduced expenditure on benefits and tax credits, and increased consumer spending in the local economy. This council believes: Our workers are public service super-heroes. They keep our communities clean and safe, look after those in need and keep our, neighbourhoods, towns and cities running. Without the professionalism and dedication of our staff, the council services our residents rely on would not be deliverable. Local government workers deserve a proper real-terms pay increase. The Government needs to take responsibility and fully fund this increase; it should not put the burden on local authorities whose funding has been cut to the bone. This council resolves to: Support the pay claim submitted by UNISON, GMB and Unite on behalf of council and school workers, for an increase of £3,000 or 10%, whichever is the greater Call on the Local Government Association to make urgent representations to central government to fund the NJC pay claim, working with the unions to present a united front in defence of the local government workforce Write to the Chancellor and Secretary of State to call for a pay increase for local government workers to be funded with new money from central government Meet with local NJC union representatives to convey support for the pay claim and consider practical ways in which the council can support the campaign Encourage all local government workers to join a union.’ The motion was seconded. Council agreed, with the majority voting in favour, to support the motion. Councillors Joanne Gauden and Anthony Hunt returned to the meeting.
Member questions with replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.
Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.
The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 14 May 2024 at 10.00am.
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