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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.
Executive Members (with Portfolios): Councillors: Anthony Hunt – Leader and Executive Member for Strategic Leadership Richard Clark – Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Children, Families and Education Fiona Cross – Executive Member for Communities David Daniels – Executive Member for Adult Services and Housing Joanne Gauden – Executive Member for Economy, Skills and Regeneration Peter Jones – Executive Member for Corporate Governance and Performance Sue Morgan – Executive Member for Resources Mandy Owen – Executive Member for Environment Officers: Nigel Aurelius – Deputy Chief Executive Rachel Beale – Personal Assistant to Leader and Deputy Leader Gareth Beer - Head of Economic Development, Asset Management & Property Dawson Evans - Group Leader Economy Enterprise and Tourism Niall Flack - Apprentice Democratic Services Officer Delyth Harries - Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer Dave Leech - Strategic Director for Adults and Communities Jason Lewis - Director, Corporate Services Jason O’Brien – Strategic Director, Children and Family Services Lyndon Puddy – Head of PSSU Mark Thomas - Deputy Chief Officer Highways & Climate Change Stephen Vickers – Chief Executive Lauren Walker - Senior Project Manager - Recycling & Waste Other: Neil Jones, Head of Communications, Engagement and Civil Contingencies and one member of the press were in the public gallery.
2.1 There were no apologies.
3.1 There were no declarations of interest.
4.1 The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 21 November 2023 were agreed as a true and accurate record.
5.1 There were no actions arising from the previous meeting.
6.1 The Executive Member for Resources introduced the report which outlined the latest revenue budget forecast for 2023/24 and the budget position for 2024/25 and the following points were highlighted: · The expectation was to end the 2023/24 year with a favourable variance of around £1 million, this position was as a result of the Authority’s financial discipline. · When the Council received its provisional settlement for 2024/25, it was reassuring to see that the Council’s assumptions were sufficiently prudent, however at 3.1% it was not an easy settlement for Local Government in Wales. · Torfaen’s 2024/25 funding uplift was 3.24%, however given the cost pressures on pay and high inflation costs, the uplift would not go far enough. The Council faced a big challenge in maintaining services and an even bigger challenge in making improvement for the community, however the Council remained committed to both those aims. · Welsh Government grants were reducing across Wales and the impact of that was being monitored, as many grants underpinned services that were core to achieving Council aims. · The final settlement would be announced in February and the Council would continue to lobby Welsh Government on some key issues that were still to be determined. · The Executive Member thanked the Leader on the role he played as the Welsh Local Government Association spokesperson for Finance. · It was pleasing to see that although there was still a degree of uncertainty, that Torfaen were already on the way to seeing a balanced position for 2024/25. · She thanked Members of the Council for being willing to take prudent and sensible decisions and thanked Officers for their dedication at securing the greatest impact for communities with the limited resources available. 6.2 The Deputy Chief Executive presented the report to Cabinet and made the following points: · The latest revenue budget forecast for the 2023/24 had improved over the month 6 position. · There were a number of favourable variances, however the Senior Leadership Team would be working with the two areas with significant in year budget pressures which were Childrens Social Care and Waste Services to determine what actions could be taken to mitigate the positions for the remainder of the financial year and ensure there was no repetition into 2024/25. · The receipt of the Council’s 2024/25 provisional settlement announcement was broadly consistent with the level assumed in the initial draft estimates. · Cross-Cutting Resources and Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be considering the budget proposals on 31st January, followed by Cabinet on 20th February where they would consider the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee, the final budget proposals and the Medium-Term Financial Plan forecasts and then Full Council would set the budget on 27th February. The Council was expecting the final settlement from Welsh Government in February. 6.3 The Leader thanked Officers and the Executive Member for the approach taken and the sensible management of the budget and he made the following comments: · Work had been ongoing on the budget since February 2023, the long-term approach to the budget allowed longer term decisions to be made which was an advantage. · Over the border in England a number of Councils were in real financial difficulty which was having an impact on people who relied on services and the people who also provided those services. · He was conscious of the impact on Local Government staff across the country, as Local Government was in its 14th year of continual cuts and staff were continuing to be asked to do more with less. · Staff had faced real term cuts to their wages of approximately 20% over the last 10 years. · It was important that the Council continued to have a duty of care to their staff and residents, and he felt that this budget allowed for that to be achieved whilst also balancing the budget. Councils had to make difficult decisions in order to balance their budgets or the alternative would result in greater cuts and decisions being taken away from local people. · It was important that the UK Government acts to work out a way of securing a future for local public services, in the absence of Government financial intervention the reality would be more and more Councils struggling to balance their budget. · He was proud that the budget protected schools as best as it could as the Council had the responsibility to the next generation of young people in Torfaen to provide them with the best possible start and funding schools properly was one of those ways. · Vision was often draw to potholes and waste collections which were really important, however the majority of the Council’s budget was dealing with social care which most people did not use on a daily basis, but it was vital for vulnerable young people, vulnerable older people and disabled people who relied on those services. · The lobbying role that he played nationally in lobbying Welsh Government was a balancing act as he was appreciative of the fact the Finance Minister had taken an open approach with Local Government Leaders and was willing to engage with them to resolve issues together in a way that colleagues over the border did not have. However, he would continue to lobby Welsh Government on issues around teachers’ pay and social care workforce grant as the final budget approached. · Local Government hugely valued the NHS; however, it was vital to continue to fund both the NHS and the Social Care Sector separately as the Social Care Services helped keep people out of hospital and kept people living independent lives and helped keep the pressure off the NHS. 6.4 The Executive Member for Adult Services and Housing commented that: · Social Care was a preventative service and helped to get people out of hospital faster or prevent them going there in the first place. · Adult Services was being redesigned which would hopefully offer a service which was more effective. As part of the redesign, the service was being reduced by £1 million so it was hopeful that next year the service would be both leaner and more efficient. · The Council had noted that as part of the budget there would be a reduction of over £10 million over the next two years in the Homelessness Grant from Welsh Government, which was concerning. Welsh Government had produced a White Paper on Homelessness, and it was disappointing that Local Authorities were being asked to deliver a system change in how to deal with homelessness, however had received a reduction in funding. In order to deliver on homelessness Council’s needed more money, however he appreciated the financial situation that Welsh Government was in. 6.5 The Leader concluded by stating that: · Early intervention and prevention had formed part of the Council’s budget for a number of years. · The Council was not going to face the issues alone and it was important to work with regional partners, other Councils, the Health Board and other public sector organisations to try and address the common issues together. 6.6 Cabinet agreed to: · Note the current year forecast; · Note the Provisional Settlement announcement as it affects Torfaen County Borough Council; · Endorse the measures currently proposed to address the forecasted 2024/25 position, and · Note the timetable for the remainder of the 2024/25 budget cycle.
7.1 The Executive Member for Environment introduced the report and made the following comments: · Local Authorities were set a target by Welsh Government to achieve a higher recycling rate of 70%, which resulted in the Council consulting with the public over proposals to introduce either a 3 or 4 weekly refuse collections. After listening to the public those plans were halted, and work began on the Raise the Rate Campaign Improvement Plan and Road Map. · The Improvement Plan was formed as a result of issues experienced by the waste collection service in recent years with the added pressure of the Welsh Government rising the recycling target from 64% to 70% and the increasing fines for failure to hit the targets. · Torfaen has delivered many changes to improve recycling and raise the rate, however there were still large quantities of recyclable material in the purple lidded bins. The Council was at risk of substantial fines from Welsh Government if the Council could not demonstrate a clear vision and action plan to increase recycling rates. · To demonstrate Torfaen’s dedication to improving the recycling rate and waste collection service, the improvement plan programme had been implemented to show the strategic vision for waste across 5 different workstreams. All workstreams aligned with the Council’s County Plan, Wellbeing Objectives and Climate Emergency Declaration. · A Road Map had been developed with input from WRAP and the Council’s Accelerated Improvement Group (AIG) which showed the Strategic Improvement Plan for the waste collection service and how it would elevate recycling to meet the 70% target. 7.2 The Deputy Chief Officer Highways & Climate Change presented the report in detail and highlighted the key areas making the following points: · The Road Map presented to Cabinet was a strategic visual interpretation of the Strategic Improvement Plan, which Cabinet were being asked to approve. The Road Map identified, at a high level, the key activities that were proposed for review and implementation over a 6-year period. · The recycling transformation programme was to be delivered through 5 strategic workstreams. · Workstream 1 would focus on service quality with the mission being to deliver a well-designed, reliable and effective service to enable to reduce, re-use, recycle and compost more. · Workstream 2 would look at the recycling offer and how to remove barriers to recycling to ensure all residents had access to the recycling service. · Workstream 3 would concentrate on having a resilient and sustainable infrastructure with the mission being to provide the resilient infrastructure required to deliver the service fit for the future. · Workstream 4 would focus on business recycling and how to deliver a customer focused business recycling service in line with future legislation. · Workstream 5 key aims were around education, communication and behaviour change and how to engage with Councillors, residents and businesses, to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost more. · If Cabinet approved the recommendations then the workplace recycling business case, policies and charging structure would be finalised and submitted to the Cabinet Member, Environment for approval and then customers would be notified of the pending changes ahead of 6th April 2024. The terms of reference, membership and meeting frequency for the Accelerated Improvement Group (AIG) and Strategic Partnership Board SPB) would be reviewed and engagement with the membership would take place before putting proposals to the Leader for approval. A letter would be written from the Leader to the Minister for Climate Change enclosing the Road Map, closing Ty Coch and reiterating Torfaen’s commitment to high recycling in line with the Welsh Government strategy and policy. Officers would start to engage with senior officials at the Welsh Government on the Road Map and work would also progress on developing the Enforcement Policy. 7.3 A question was asked about the role of enforcement for not recycling and what evidence would be used to make the decision. Officers stated that as part of the engagement and communication behaviour change approach, Officers would be gathering participation data from residents of how they were recycling and then engagement would be undertaken with them. Hopefully a successful engagement campaign would see recycling rates increase, if the recycling rate did not increase, then other measures such as enforcement would need to be looked at. The Council recognised that it needed to be more proactive and engage more with residents, a simple way would be via leafleting and sticking notes on bins to inform residents of what goes in each receptacle. 7.4 The Executive Member for Environment reemphasised that enforcement would be the last option and the key aspect would be to educate residents and this would be done via door knocking and leafleting which would hopefully increase participation, however if not the Council would need to go down the enforcement route. 7.5 Members commented that: · It was frustrating to see that a good proportion of waste in the purple lidded bin was food waste, as the Council provided free food waste caddy bags, free caddies for inside and free bins for outside and food waste was collected on a weekly basis. Maybe consideration could be given to incentivisation for people to start recycling food waste rather than enforcement. · It was good to see that the Raise the Rate Campaign had already helped and improvements were starting to be made. · In the longer-term focus should be on reduce and reuse so the residual rate would go down and success was not measured on how much recycling Local Authorities got, people could make use of items which they were currently being encouraged to be recycled. Welsh Government should look at the targets and make adjustments, so Councils were not doing that counterintuitive thing of seeking more waste when overall everyone wanted less waste. · There were a lot of conditions being placed on commercial premises in terms of them participating in the Council’s recycling and waste service, need to ensure that they were not driven away to private collectors. The report stated that Commercial premises had to have a Waste Transfer Note from the Council to ensure their waste was being managed appropriately. · Thanks were given to the residents for their hard work in recycling diligently which was far more complex that it was 30 – 40 years ago. The reason it was more complex was that putting all waste in one bin and putting it in the ground was not sustainable and would not meet the net zero obligations. · Thanks was also given to the Waste Collection Teams who went to work in all weathers. · The Council had listened to the views of residents and had not taken the easy route. · There was a need to take a whole Council approach to the Raise the Rate Campaign to work together on it as a corporate priority. · The Leader gave thanks to the Minister for Climate Change for the way she had engaged with the Council. 7.6 Cabinet agreed: · To approve the Road Map and design principles / assumptions for the service outlined; · To approve the Strategic Improvement Plan; · That the Leader will approve the final Road Map and Strategic Improvement Plan · To note the improvements in service collection quality; · To stand down the Ty Coch project formally and agree that a letter is sent from the Leader to the Minister of Climate Change to advise and ask for agreement in principle for the Welsh Government to receive a further business case for capital support in 2024; · To note work ongoing on the Ty Coch site; · To approve that the Recycling Transfer Scheme project remain within the Council’s capital programme; · To note the intention to enter into discussions with the current contractor for the HWRC / Transfer Station for a short-medium term extension to the contract to secure resilience and stability through the delivery of this improvement programme; · To approve the Business recycling design principles and give delegation to the Cabinet Member, Environment to approve the service model, policies and charging structure; · To note the proposed communication / behaviour change approach as funded by Shared Prosperity Fund; and · To give approval for the Leader to approve the new governance framework and membership for delivery of the recycling improvement programme.
8.1 The Executive Member for Economy, Skills and Regeneration introduced the report and made the following comments: · The Springboard Centre was a key driver in the development of the innovative competitive economy. · The business case responded to worries regarding the occupancy with a plan to remarket the centre and upskill the staff to best support the businesses. · Prosperous Scrutiny Committee first considered the future of Springboard in February 2022 and specifically looked at whether its current operating model remained fit for purpose given the decrease in occupancy levels and subsequent reduction in income. · Following a review of a report from Oxford Innovation in October 2022, Scrutiny Members recommended that the Council enter into a third-party operator commercial partnership. · Scrutiny members recently considered the business case and made recommendations which were reflected in the final amendments. · The full business case recommended a preferred way of forward for the Springboard Centre with a refreshed future and operating model. · The future model would move Springboard towards a position of less dependency on core Council funding and deliver its core aims of essential innovation support for businesses in Torfaen. 8.2 The Head of Economic Development, Asset Management & Property highlighted key areas of the report commenting on the following: · The Springboard Centre had been very successful in encouraging innovation and business growth within Torfaen from when it first opened in 2006. · Springboard had attracted a total of 126 businesses and has created 750 new jobs and up until around 2020, Springboard continued to operate well. · Since the pandemic, levels of demand had fallen away and not recovered. · A review process has been underway for the past 18 months and a range of options had been considered. · The preferred option which came through via the scrutiny process was option C3 which involved the Authority retaining responsibility for the day to day running and management of Springboard whilst entering into a time-limited commercial partnership arrangement with a third-party operator. · The full business case proposed a series of targeted measures. · A full building survey had been undertaken of the Springboard centre and the repairs and maintenance required which was substantial. · A recommendation within the business case was that essential building improvements was undertaken. · The preferred option also included bringing a specialist innovation partner to work with the existing team to provide mentorship. · Another measure proposed was to recruit a commercial property agency to help make the centre visible within the market. · The business case also wanted to ensure the vision of the Springboard within the region was clearer. · The Full Business Cased indicated the total estimated gross cost of the Year 1-3 programme of Building Investment Works to be £655k. Around £312k of the costs could be secured from third party sources of grant funding or covered through other Council corporate budgets. The total net expenditure requirement over Years 1-3 was £343k. · Subject to approval of the Full Business Case, the net expenditure requirement would be funded by drawing the necessary capital funding from the Economy and Environment Specific Reserve. 8.3 In response to a member question the Head of Economic Development, Asset Management & Property stated that the investment programme over the first 3 years would be making a large number of improvements to the building and if for an unlikely reason option C3 was to fail and the Council had to go down the route of leasing or disposing of the Springboard Centre the improvements made would enhance the value of the assets and make it more attractive and would raise a higher rental level. 8.4 Cabinet agreed to: · Approve the Springboard Full Business Case; · Support the net Council expenditure requirement of £343k in total to fund a programme of targeted capital investments over the three-year period between April 2024 and March 2027; · Authorise access to the Economy and Environment Specific Reserve to fund the net expenditure requirement of £343k.
9.1 The Executive Member for Adult Services and Housing presented the report commenting on the following: · The Rapid Rehousing Plan was an ambition from Welsh Government which aimed to prevent and mitigate homelessness to ensure that homelessness was rare, brief and unrepeated. · The report outlined the Councils efforts to engage and deliver on that ambition, the rapid rehousing approach were principles the Council had been adhering to for many years and delivering on in various different ways. · As the housing and cost of living crisis worsened, homelessness remained high and prevention activity was pressurised. · The Council had been working on a number of projects including completing the supported accommodation at Pearl House, which would provide a provision that better delivered for individuals who found themselves homeless and the building would have 24-hour support which would make a big difference and would hopefully lead to the individuals leaving Pearl House and going in to a more resilient and sustainable tenancy. Hales House had also been reconfigured to become a supported housing project and Ty Cyffle would provide supported living for young people. The Council had also secured more temporary accommodation units for Registered Social Landlords. Efforts had also been made to reduce the need to use out of county Bed and Breakfasts and Hotels. In relation to waiting times for families to be housed into permanent accommodation this had reduced from 7 months in 2022 to an average of 3 months and for a single person this has reduced from 15 months to 10 months. · Welsh Government recognised the problems with the housing situation and were trying to address it with the resources available to them. · The Rapid Rehousing Plan outlined some of the current challenges in Torfaen which included the rise in house prices, in 2022/23 average house price in Torfaen had risen from £179,000 to nearly £200,000 with interest rates increasing to 5.25% making it harder for people to get a mortgage and also sustain their current mortgage. The average private rent sector for a one bed property had increased from £415 in 2019 to £615. These problems had left the social rented accommodation oversubscribed with the average wait time for a property on the housing register in one and half years. 9.2 The Head of PSSU added the following: · The Rapid Rehousing Approach was something that the Council had been working on delivering for many years. · The Council had seen over a 100% demand for supported housing. · The delivery of the plan was important in how the Council managed its housing services going forward. · The Strategic Housing Partnership underpinned a lot of the work in the Rapid Rehousing Plan and the Partnership was made up of the Local Authority, Register Social Landlords, Planning and the Voluntary Sector. · The Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan would be an evolving document that linked to the objectives and actions of the Strategic Housing Partnership. · The solutions would not be done in a year and were multiyear actions, progress would be ongoing, and Cabinet would be updated on the progress on the first-year activity within quarter three of this year as part of the service planning process. 9.3 The Leader thanked everyone for their work on developing this and it was good to see progress was being made and that the Council were doing its best to rehouse people as well as preventing homelessness as well as it could. 9.4 Cabinet agreed to endorse and approve the Rapid Rehousing Plan.
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