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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 David Lilly – Director Financial Services Wendy Edwards - Group Finance Officer 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 Steve Tong - Head of Access and Engagement Education Mark Thomas - Deputy Chief Officer Highways & Climate Change Carys Williams – Flood Risk Officer Jade Harvey – Senior Democratic and Member Services Officer Other: Neil Jones – Head of Communications, Engagement and Civil Contingencies (In Gallery)
2.1 There were no apologies.
3.1 Councillor Sue Morgan declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 9 as an LEA appointed Governor at Maendy Primary School.
4.1 The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 16 January 2024 were agreed as a true and accurate record.
5.1 The Leader and the Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the actions arising from the previous meeting were currently in progress.
6.1 The Executive Member for Resources introduced the report which outlined the Budget for 2024/2025 and the Medium-Term Financial Plan and highlighted the following points: • The budget was affordable and had minimal implications for Services, due to careful management and planning. • There had been positive and useful contributions from the public consultation. There was evident concern surrounding the proposed Council Tax increase. However, due to the hard work undertaken on the budget, this increase was expected to be the joint lowest in Wales. • The planning for the following year’s budget would begin immediately after the finalisation of this year’s budget. • Thanks were given to all Members and Officers involved in the processes leading to this stage. 6.2 The Deputy Chief Executive presented the report to Cabinet and commented : • The recommendations made by the Cross-Cutting Resources and Business Committee could be seen in 3.8 of the report. • Whilst there had been significant use of recurring reserves during the 2023/2024 period, this had not been repeated for the 2024/2025 financial year. • The breakdown of the proposed budget and what it delivered could be seen within paragraphs 3.9 and 3.10 of the report. • The gap within the Medium-Term Financial Plan needed to be addressed over the next four financial years. Uncertainty at a national level had contributed to the difficulty in drafting this plan and it was hoped over the life of the plan we would see an improvement in public sector funding. • The proposed budget would be taken to the next full council meeting taking place 27th of February 2024. 6.3 The Leader thanked the Deputy Chief Executive and Officers for their hard work over the previous 12 months working on this budget and commented the following: • The process taking place over 12 months helped keep council tax as low as possible and protected key services such as Children’s Services, Adult’s Services, Education, Environmental Services and Community Services. • A change in macroeconomic policy at UK treasury level was necessary for Public Services across the UK as the 14 consecutive years of cuts had been severely damaging to communities. • Thanks were given Welsh Government, Cabinet members and Scrutiny Members for their collaboration on the budget. Cabinet: i. Approved the final proposals outlined and recommended to Council for approval as the final part of the 2024/25 Budget. ii. Approved the proposed funding approach regarding the redundancy costs associated with the identified mitigations. iii. Noted the revised MTFP. iv. Noted the Reserves position.
7.1 The Executive Member for Environment introduced the report and outlined the following points: • The report provided an update to the Council’s Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS), as required under the Flood and Water Management Act, including the strategic direction that would be undertaken for the next six years. • The report was due to be approved by Welsh Government and published in March 2024. • Welsh Government’s National Strategy for Flood and Costal Erosion Risk Management in Wales reported that over 245,000 properties in Wales were at risk of flooding. • The last major flood incident in Torfaen was in May 2014 due to a localised extreme weather event. • The strategy considered how susceptible properties in Torfaen were to flooding and would be updated annually. • The strategy had been presented to the Cleaner Communities Overview & Scrutiny Committee in December and the appendices and action plan had been updated to reflect the recommendations made by the Committee. • The action plan within this strategy was dependant on funding from the Welsh Government Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Grant. Whilst this had been in place for the last five years, it was not guaranteed to continue. 7.2 The Deputy Chief Officer Highways & Climate Change added that the scrutiny process had been very useful and worthwhile. A number of actions had been identified as a part of this process including ensuring alignment between the proposed bylaws and revised Local Development Plan, as well as undertaking direct engagement with affected communities. 7.3 Cabinet approved the strategy and authorised the submission to Welsh Government.
8.1 The Executive Member introduced the report and thanked Officers for securing a cost-effective framework agreement. 8.2 The Group Finance Officer outlined the report and highlighted the following points: • The contract had been brought to Cabinet for approval due to the value. • The existing contract was due to expire on 31st of March which led to a tender exercise being undertaken. The results of this exercise could be seen within section 4 of the report. • The Insurance Team maintained a comprehensive insurance schedule to protect the Council. This included a degree of self-insurance, but a significant amount of risk was transferred to Insurance Underwriters through the insurance policies. • Insurance policies are tendered at regular intervals and it is usual for Local Councils to enter into long-term agreements with Insurance Underwriters as it relieves the burden of retendering annually whilst providing a level of security. • The full breakdown of the policy, including the Lots and potential time frame could be seen in section 4 of the report. • The annual cost for 24/25 was £1,013,940; however this did not include Insurance Premium Tax which equated to an additional 12%. 8.3 Following questions from the Cabinet the Group Finance Officer confirmed the following: • Lot 5 had not been awarded to the highest-scoring economic operator as it could not be tendered in isolation, given its small value. • All financial implications arising from the contract had been built into the budget. 8.4 Cabinet agreed to award contracts for insurance policy premiums to tenderers 2 and 3 as per table 4.6 with a year-one total cost of £1,013,904.16 (plus IPT).
9.1 The Deputy Leader introduced the reported and highlighted the following: • The cost had varied since the initial conception of the project due to inflation and the revised cost could be seen within the report. • The pre-construction stages had been completed and full construction would begin pending approval by Cabinet. • The work to be undertaken included the replacement and expansion of Maendy Primary School to include a new school, Childcare and a Flying Start provision. The new design would achieve Net Zero Carbon with low embodied carbon. • Concerns regarding traffic had been raised due the location of the school, but walking routes would be emphasised and promoted to help alleviate this issue. 9.2 The Strategic Director for Children and Family Services added that a significant amount of work had been undertaken to secure a manageable cost. There was a risk that any delay in approving this work would lead to further cost increase. Additionally, a contingency budget had been included. 9.3 Cabinet approved the award of the construction phase for The Replacement Maendy Primary School, Cwmbran to the previously appointed Main Contractor, in the sum of £14,368,811. Minutes written by Jade Harvey, Senior Democratic and Member Services Officer, 20th February 2024
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