Agenda and draft minutes

Councillors Brian Blakeley and Ellie Chard both declared a personal interest in Item 3 (Question asked by Councillor Arwel Roberts) as they are Governors at Ysgol Tir Morfa, Rhyl.

 

Councillor Gwyneth Kensler declared a personal interest in Item 3 as she was the ex-Chair of Governors of Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn.

 

Councillor Gwyneth Kensler also declared a personal interest in item 6 as she was on the court of Bangor University.

 

No urgent items.

 

Councillors Brian Blakeley and Ellie Chard declared a personal interest regarding the question as they were both Governors at Ysgol Tir Morfa, Rhyl.

 

Councillor Gwyneth Kensler declared a personal interest regarding the question as she was the ex-Chair of Governors of Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn.

 

At this juncture, Councillor Arwel Roberts raised a question:

 

What are the arrangements for provision of Welsh medium education in Ysgol Tir Morfa and Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn?

 

Response by the Lead Member for Education, Children and Young People, Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts:

 

The needs of children in Ysgol Tir Morfa and Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn are individual and a number of pupils have significant issues with communication and they rely on visual aids to assist them.  Both schools do their best to support through the medium of Welsh as appropriate.  However, across the region, it is recognised that there is more work to be done and as a result, GwE have established a Task & Finish Group sitting under the Welsh Strategic Group, to look at this across all special schools in the north, and this, eventually, will strengthen the offer across the whole region.

 

 

A list of civic engagements undertaken by the Chair for the period 16 May 2018 to 24 June 2018 had been circulated prior to the meeting.

 

The Chair stated it had been a busy time and one of the highlights had been attending the Armed Forces Day in Llandudno which had been a great success.

 

RESOLVED that the list of civic engagements undertaken by the Chair be received.

 

To receive the minutes of the meeting of Annual Council held on 15 May 2018, and Special Council held on 11 June 2018 (copy attached).

 

The minutes of Full Council held on 15 May 2018 were submitted.

 

Matters Arising:

 

Page 12 - Councillor Huw Jones expressed his gratitude to all who had supported his Notice of Motion (item 10) regarding the school uniform grants.   The Welsh Government had made the decision that grants would now be available.

 

Page 14 - Councillor Mabon ap Gwynfor expressed his concerns regarding item 12 (Notice of Motion re: Kingdom Security) as a decision had been made to refer the matter to Scrutiny but at a recent meeting of Cabinet, the Portfolio Holder had stated that a decision had already been made not to renew the contract with Kingdom Security.  He again expressed his concern as he personally thought this brought the Council into disrepute as the correct processes had not been followed.

 

The Lead Member, Councillor Tony Thomas responded that he had issued a statement to all Councillors with an apology and the process was clear for the November end of contract discussions.

 

The Monitoring Officer clarified that the matter had been to Scrutiny Committee in June 2018 and full option proposals would be presented to Cabinet in September 2018.  The matter would not be referred back to Council as it would be a Cabinetdecision. 

 

RESOLVED that, subject to the above, the minutes of Full Council held on 15 May 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

 

To consider a report by the Head of Legal, HR & Democratic Services (copy attached) to seek Council’s approval of the Governance Agreement.

 

At this juncture, Councillor Gwyneth Kensler declared a person interest as she sat on the Court of Bangor University.

 

The Leader, Councillor Hugh Evans, introduced the report (previously circulated) to seek Council’s approval of the Governance Agreement in so far as it related to non-executive arrangements.

 

The Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales had been adopted in September 2016 by Cabinet and similarly adopted by the Cabinets of the other five Local Authorities in the region. 

 

Cabinet approved the terms of the Governance Agreement at its meeting on 26 June 2018 insofar as they related to the executive arrangements and recommended that Council approved the non-executive arrangements.

 

A statutory joint committee model had been adopted as the preferred one for governance of work on the Bid.  The members of the committee were the six North Wales Local Authorities, together with Bangor University, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Coleg Cambria and Grwp Llandrillo Menai (the Universities and Colleges were together known as “the Advisers”).  The regional committee had adopted the working title of “The North Wales Economic Ambition Board”.

 

The Board had two phases of Bid development to manage.  Phase 1 leading to the agreement of a Growth Deal with Governments, was the Bid preparatory and development stage which would run until mid-2019.  Phase 2 post agreement of the Bid which would run from mid-2019 and would be the Bid implementation and delivery stage.

 

It was stipulated that the report did not attempt to present the content of the developing Growth Deal Bid in depth as the prime purpose was to present the Governance Agreement for adoption.   A more comprehensive second Governance Agreement would be drafted for Phase 2.

 

A further report would be presented to Council in either September or October 2018 which would contain details of the final draft Growth Deal Bid for review and consent prior to the stage of reaching Heads of Terms with both Governments.

 

Discussions took place which referred to Phase 2 of the Growth Deal Bid and members were requested to concentrate on the details within the report which were relevant to Phase 1 of the Bid.

 

The most important decisions for the six North Wales Local Authorities would be taken locally.  During Phase 1 of the Bid it was proposed that the proposals of the Board for the Bid would be subject to local scrutiny through the most appropriate scrutiny committee in each council, rather than introduce a form of regional scrutiny.

 

Each council were to submit a sum of £50k with each Adviser paying a sum of £25k.  Details of the financial contributions of the parties would be detailed within Phase 2 of the Bid.

 

It was confirmed that there was commitment from both Westminster and the Welsh Government to the Growth Deal Bid.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

·         Progress on the development of the Growth Deal Bid is noted and welcomed.

·         Council approves all of the non-executive arrangements set out in the Governance Agreement, i.e. the arrangements for Scrutiny.

·         Council be presented with the final draft Growth Deal Bid for review and consent in September/October prior to the stage of reaching Heads of Terms with both Governments.

·         Delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive, Corporate Director: Economy and Public Realm and Head of Legal, HR & Democratic Services, in consultation with the Leader to finalise the terms of the Governance Agreement substantially in accordance with the draft attached to the report.

·         Council approve the inclusion in the Constitution of the executive arrangements approved by Cabinet along with the non-executive arrangements relating to Scrutiny.

 

Councillor Emrys Wynne put forward the following Notice of Motion:

 

This Council calls on the County Council to show leadership to the rest of Denbighshire by committing to become a plastic free County within two years.

This Council will not use single use plastic.

We also call on the Council to contact the County's goods suppliers, calling on them to consider their use of plastic.

To consider the use of plastic when contracting to external companies.

Plastic straws will be exempt from this policy because of the needs of people with disabilities and swallowing difficulties.

 

Councillor Emrys Wynne put forward the following Notice of Motion for consideration by Full Council:

 

This Council calls on the County Council to show leadership to the rest of Denbighshire by committing to become a plastic free county within two years.

This council will not use single use plastic.

We also call on the Council to contact the County’s goods suppliers, calling on them to consider their use of plastic.

To consider the use of plastic when contracting to external companies.

Plastic straws will be exempt from this policy because of the needs of people with disabilities and swallowing difficulties.

 

Councillor Wynne expressed his concerns and the reasons why he had put forward the Notice of Motion in the hope of cross-party support

 

Councillor Mabon ap Gwynfor seconded the proposal of the Notice of Motion put forward by Councillor Emrys Wynne.

 

Councillor Brian Blakeley explained Councillors had made a commitment in Rhyl to be plastic free in the future.  He then went on to request an amendment to the Notice of Motion.  He requested that the Notice of Motion included the use of plastic straws due to the fact that outlets utilised a large amount of plastic straws which were adding to the problem.  Biodegradable straws were available for disabled people or those with swallowing difficulties.

 

Councillor Bob Murray seconded the amendment to the Notice of Motion.

 

The Head of Legal, HR & Democratic Services explained the amendment would need to be voted on prior to continuing with further discussions or amendments.

 

At this juncture, a vote took place on the amendment and the results were as follows:

 

(i)            In favour of the amendment to include plastic straws – 19

(ii)          Abstain – 3

(iii)         Against the amendment – 20

 

Following the vote it was stated that the amendment put forward by Councillor Brian Blakeley had failed.

 

At this juncture, Councillor Huw Williams put forward a further amendment as follows:

 

“We support the Notice of Motion in principle for the reduction in plastic but for Scrutiny to do work on it and a report to come back to Council”.

 

Councillor Barry Mellor seconded the amendment to the Notice of Motion.

 

At this juncture, a vote took place on the amendment and the results were as follows:

(i)            In favour of the amendment to go to Scrutiny for additional work – 33

(ii)          Abstain – 2

(iii)         Against the amendment – 7

 

Following the vote it was stated that the amendment put forward by Councillor Huw Williams had been passed.

 

As the amendment had been passed, it would then became the substantive motion and a debate took place prior to the vote.

 

Members agreed the use of single use plastic was a global problem but locally, the council needed to act and were unanimously in agreement for the item to be discussed at Scrutiny as a great deal of work would be involved.

 

At this juncture, a vote took place on the substantive motion as amended and the results were as follows:

 

(i)            In favour of the substantive motion as amended – 38

(ii)          Abstain - 1

(iii)         Against the amendment – 1

 

Therefore, it was:

 

RESOLVED that the Council supports in principle the reduction in the use of plastic but asks that it be referred to Scrutiny for detailed consideration and a further report back to Council.

 

To consider the Council’s forward work programme (copy attached).

The Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services introduced the Council’s Forward Work Programme (previously circulated).

 

It was confirmed that the Growth Deal Bid would be presented at Full Council either in September or October 2018.

 

Member Training had also been added to the September 2018 work programme.

 

RESOLVED that, subject to the above, the Council Forward Work Programme be approved and noted.

 

 

 

THE MEETING CONCLUDED AT 11.55 A.M.