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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED:- (i) That the Committee considered and agreed the proposed changes to the work programme attached at Appendix 1.
AGREED:- (i) That the Committee receive future finance reports in a format that details budget verses actual figures. (ii) That the Committee receives a update report in six months’ time that outlines the sixteen mitigation points including the invest to save together with any income or offsetting costs such as solar panels and pre decision outcomes because it will benefit the Executive Board. (iii) That the Committee receives the Ty Pawb whole system energy efficiency action plan from the decarbonisation team as soon as possible because it will benefit future debate during EBISC Committee meeting.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Tina Mannering.
Matters Arising It was highlighted that the correct name for the new app noted on page 5 of the minutes was called VZTA. AGREED: That the minutes held on 6 February 2024 be signed as a correct record.
Members were reminded of their responsibility, under Paragraph 11 of the Members’ Code of Conduct, to declare any interests in relation to any of the business to be transacted at this meeting. The following declarations were made:- Item Agenda 5 – Ty Pawb Performance 2022/23 Update Councillor Andy Gallanders – Personal and non-Prejudicial – Runs a town centre business and was an early Trader at Ty Pawb. Cllr Marc Jones – Personal and non-Prejudicial – The Councillor was a voluntary Board Member for Saith Seren which was a City Centre Business. The Councillors remained in the meeting taking part in the discussion and voting thereon.
Decision as recorded
AGREED:- (i) That the Committee considered and agreed the proposed changes to the work programme attached at Appendix 1.
The Chief Officer for Governance and customer submitted a report (COG/22/24) asking Members to consider the revised work programme of the Employment Business and Investment Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Facilitator presented the work programme and highlighted the following: · A city centre walking tour will be scheduled to replace the Committee meeting in April. · That the May meeting will include an external report provided by the Civic Leadership Group where a site meeting will take place prior to the write up to ensure that the report covers the Committees requirements. · A site meeting of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site will take place prior to the September 2024 meeting. · An update regarding the Economic Development Prosperity Strategy and the Communities for work was provided. The following was discussed:- · A Member suggested that the city centre walking tour to take place on a Monday. · Concerns were raised regarding the Business Improvement District (BID) item because it was originally scheduled for the March 2024 meeting. · Members were assured that the Business Improvement District (BID) will be rescheduled for September 2024. · A Member highlighted that the EBISC work programme lacked reports regarding employment growth. · A Member informed the Committee regarding a recent meeting that took place with the Corporate Land and Business Strategy Group regarding the Asset Management Strategy and made reference to the Community Asset transfer element which was linked to the anti-poverty strategy, the economic development and economic prosperity strategy. AGREED:- (i) That the Committee considered and agreed the proposed changes to the work programme attached at Appendix 1.
Decision as recorded
AGREED:- (i) That the Committee receive future finance reports in a format that details budget verses actual figures. (ii) That the Committee receives a update report in six months’ time that outlines the sixteen mitigation points including the invest to save together with any income or offsetting costs such as solar panels and pre decision outcomes because it will benefit the Executive Board. (iii) That the Committee receives the Ty Pawb whole system energy efficiency action plan from the decarbonisation team as soon as possible because it will benefit future debate during EBISC Committee meeting.
The Chief Officer for Economy and Planning submitted a report (COEP/58/23) asking Members to review and comment on the performance of Ty Pawb for year 2022/23, and up to November 2023. As requested by Members, this report also provides a review of the previous years since opening (2017/18-2022/23) and projections for 2023/2024 and the next 3 years (2024/25 -2026/27). The Lead Member for Strategic Planning and Public Protection with the responsibility of Ty Pawb introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. Members asked a number of questions, which were responded to accordingly, and the following points were highlighted during the detailed debate:- · Ty Pawb had received an offer of a grant that had been reduced by 2.5% from the Arts Council Wales. · The Art Council Wales’ grant would secure a minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 years investment which comprised of £195k per annum. · It was explained that the 2.5% saving from the Arts Council Wales’ grant would entail advertising for two part time staff instead of two full time posts. · Members were assured that the rent review regarding traders was going forward as planned. · The income received from the market rental was £232k and the budget was £185k which resulted in £46k which was more than what had been budgeted for. · It was explained that the free car parking after 11am in Wrexham city centre will cease from April 2024. · The review of tenancy agreements and associated rents for Ty 1 will be implemented as at 1st April 2024 which should increase revenue for Ty Pawb’s budget. · The premises costs for Ty Pawb include a mixture of NNDR, electric and repair costs. · It was explained that there was a specific responsibility and criteria placed on the Ty Pawb Advisory Board by the Executive Board. · The Lead Member responsible for Ty Pawb will report back to establish if the Art Council for Wales Grant would include supporting outreach cultural provision such as the Stiwt in Rhos. · It was confirmed that Ty Pawb was carrying bad debt and Members were assured that a team was in place to proactively recover it. · There has been a varying degree of success regarding trader rent debt recovery where for example, recently, one trader had paid back 6k of their debt back to Wrexham Council. · Not all traders had full rental agreements and Members were assured that all full rental agreements will be in place from 2024-25 year going forward. · The benefits of the sixteen point Action Plan will start to show mainly next financial year and that there was a working group currently working through all of these sixteen mitigations. · The Chief Officer for Economy and Planning confirmed that staff have been seconded on a part-time basis from different Service Areas to focus on reducing bad debts for Ty Pawb and if the bad debts were not paid then it will result in evictions where tenants remain in place. · The Arts budget was shown separately because the Arts Council for Wales required detailed evidence information regarding art associated spend that had to meet grant criteria. · The Head of Service for Finance provided members with a financial overview of Ty Pawb’s actual running costs, income and budget allocation. · Members highlighted that it would be helpful for the Committee to receive formatted details of budget versus actuals information as verbally explained by the Head of Service for Finance in future reports. · It was confirmed from Officers that an application has been made for a 50k Council Wales Grant on 17 January 2024 and that they were expecting to receive confirmation of the grant award by the end of the financial year. · It was recognised that Ty Pawb provided social value to the community and this could not always be financially evidenced or measured. · It was acknowledged that the financial pressure on the Council’s overall budget will get worse in the near future and that a detailed narrative of the social value resulting from Ty Pawb’s operations would assist Members should they have to make difficult decisions regarding budget cuts. · A Member made reference to a previous positive meeting that focused on the Business Support service where an APP had been purchased from Flintshire which could also be potentially used for Ty Pawb’s social value element. · A Member enquired if a social return on investment would be carried out at corporate level with the possibly of expanding the impact assessment screening to consider the standard elements from it. · Members were advised that at times of budget cuts the preventative agenda usually gets affected and if the social benefits from Ty Pawb were evaluated than the results may undoubtedly assist in the preventative element. · Members were assured that the energy rates are likely to reduce in the next financial year. · The current car park contract will cease in July 2024 and the procurement team will be exploring the options for a new contract. Members were informed that the current car parking contract had several issues. · It was clarified that if the car parking barrier had been crashed into or vandalised then it would be external to the existing contract. · There was a situation where the barriers had not been in operation for nine to ten days and people parking there had not been paying for their parking. The non-payment of parking was a concern for the Chief Officer for Economy and Planning and Members were assured that the barrier has now been fixed; and that the delay was due to the time lag of a contractor coming out to repair it. · Members raised concern regarding issues regarding the insulation element of the Ty Pawb building such as the heating system not having temperature controls. · The original development of Ty Pawb was carried out at a cost effective way and at the time energy costs were not of the high inflationary nature Wrexham Council has recently been experiencing and also at the time there was no declaration of a climate emergency. · Members were assured that as part of the Working Group’s remit they will identify and improve ways of reducing costs associated to Ty Pawb – and there are plans to explore funding via the Decarbonisation Team. · Members discussed the Green Wedge Report that focused on the reduction of carbon emissions and advised that for consistency purposes, any future update reports should be carried out by the same company or via the same methods applied within the Green Wedge report. · Members requested an update report to be received in six months’ time detailing the progress made regarding the 16 point Action Plan along with an improvement programme that would enable Ty Pawb to reasonably measure its social value to the community. · It was highlighted that it may have not been as cost effective to introduce solar panels at Ty Pawb when it was initially set up due to the higher cost of the installation when balanced against the unit price of electricity. · A Member highlighted that Splash (Plas Madoc Leisure Centre) have considered solar panels as their energy provider going forward because it was envisaged that they would be saving around 35-50% of their energy bills at present. AGREED:- (i) That the Committee receive future finance reports in a format that details budget verses actual figures. (ii) That the Committee receives a update report in six months’ time that outlines the sixteen mitigation points including the invest to save together with any income or offsetting costs such as solar panels and pre decision outcomes because it will benefit the Executive Board. (iii) That the Committee receives the Ty Pawb whole system energy efficiency action plan from the decarbonisation team as soon as possible because it will benefit future debate during EBISC Committee meeting.
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