Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Conference Room 1A, County Hall, Ruthin
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APOLOGIES |
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APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIR PDF 58 KB To elect the Committee’s Vice-Chair for the municipal year 2019/20 (copy of the role description for Scrutiny Member and Chair/Vice-Chair attached) Minutes: In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, nominations were requested for the office of Vice-Chair of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Rhys Thomas nominated Councillor Emrys Wynne, seconded by Councillor Jeanette Chamberlain-Jones. RESOLVED that Councillor
Emrys Wynne be appointed Vice-Chair of Partnerships Scrutiny Committee for the
ensuing year. |
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS PDF 211 KB Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Minutes: None. |
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URGENT MATTERS AS AGREED BY THE CHAIR Notice of items which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972. Minutes: No urgent matters had been raised. |
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MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING PDF 491 KB To receive the minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 4 April 2019 (copy attached) Minutes: The minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee held on 4 April 2019 were submitted. Matters Arising – Page 10, Item 5 Denbigh Infirmary – the Chair suggested that the eight options put forward should be separated to ensure there was no confusion and that these were eight separate options. Councillor Emrys Wynne suggested that part of the
translation be amended as the wording was incorrect. For clarity in the Welsh version the final
word of the second paragraph ‘sef’, should form the final part of the preceding
sentence, “...gwasanaethau yn yr Ysbyty, sef:” Page 11 – Item 5 - The Head of Community Support Services
confirmed that a meeting between Denbighshire County Council and Grŵp Cynefin was to take place in
the next 14 days to discuss the future vision for health and social care
provision in Denbigh. RESOLVED that, subject to
the above, the minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee, held on 4 April
2019, be received and confirmed as a correct record. |
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SAFEGUARDING AND MEETING THE NEEDS OF HOMELESS PEOPLE PDF 141 KB To consider a joint report by the Principal Manager and Service Manager: Community Support Services (copy attached) seeking the Committee’s views and support for the Council’s corporate approach towards preventing homelessness 10.10am – 10.45am Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for
Well-being and Independence introduced the report and appendices (previously
circulated) the purpose of which was to outline the progress made to date with
the new corporate approach to dealing with homelessness in the county. The
report included the new draft Corporate Homelessness Action Plan along with
details of the recent restructure of the Homelessness Prevention Team which
formed part of the Council’s Community Support Services. Also detailed in
the report was the Council’s corporate approach towards preventing
homelessness, providing emergency/temporary accommodation to individuals and
families who presented themselves as homeless, and how the Council then worked
to move those in emergency/temporary accommodation on to long-term sustainable
housing solutions. During her introduction the Lead Member emphasised
that homelessness was an increasing problem across Wales and as a result the
Welsh Government (WG), similar to Denbighshire and other local authorities, had
identified the need to address the matter as a priority. The Lead Member
explained that part of Denbighshire’s solution for addressing homelessness
issues involved the establishment of a partnership with Conwy County Borough
Council to trial a pilot project across both counties called Housing
First. Details of the project were contained in Appendix 6 to the
report. Grant funding from the WG’s Housing First Trailblazers fund,
totalling £330K, had been awarded to the pilot project which had resulted in the
establishment of a new team to assist homeless people with high and complex
needs. The Team’s aim was to ensure people were settled as quickly as
possible into their own home and provided with the relevant support.
Support would be available to them for as long as they needed it in order for
them to be able to sustain their tenancy. Evidence gathered from across
the UK and other parts of the world indicated that this type of innovative
approach had the potential to deliver a sustainable way out of homelessness, improve
health and well-being and enable social integration. Housing First in
Conwy and Denbighshire expected to welcome its first tenants before the end of
July 2019. Denbighshire’s
decision to adopt a corporate approach towards tackling homelessness and
appointing a Corporate Director to lead that work underlined its commitment to
reducing the number of individuals and families presenting themselves as
homeless in the county. In future the delivery of the Homelessness
Strategy Action Plan would be led by the Housing Strategy Group. The
focus of the Action Plan was early intervention and prevention. The
introduction of the Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) had assisted the
authority and registered social landlords (RSLs) to prioritise applicants for
social housing, however, the majority of the homeless households were currently
sitting in Band 2 and were not in the high priority banding. Both the
local authority and RSLs were in the process of co-ordinating the building and
purchase of approximately 370 affordable/social housing units. Councillor Brian
Blakeley informed the Committee that, in his capacity as the Council’s
Homelessness Champion, he had witnessed first-hand the excellent work the
Homelessness Team undertook under very difficult circumstances at times, and
was confident that the Council was moving forward in its aims of addressing the
county’s homelessness issues. Responding to
members’ questions the Lead Member, Corporate Director: Economy and
Public Realm, Head of Community Support Services and the Principal
Manager: Support Services: ·
provided
clarity on who was classed as ‘homeless’ – Denbighshire had a very limited
number of people sleeping rough. Its ‘homeless’ individuals and families
tended to be: Ø staying with friends on
a temporary basis (sofa surfers); Ø tenants whose landlords
wanted to sell the property where they lived; Ø victims of ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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BIODIVERSITY DUTY DELIVERY PLAN PDF 117 KB To consider a report by the Ecology Officer (copy attached) which seeks the Committee to examine and make recommendations in relation to the draft Biodiversity Duty Delivery Plan prior to its submission to Cabinet for endorsement and adoption 10.45am – 11.15am Additional documents:
Minutes: In the absence of
the Lead Member for Housing and Communities, the Head of Highways and
Environment presented to the Committee the Ecology Officer’s report and the
Council’s draft Biodiversity Duty Delivery Plan and Well-being Impact Assessment
(previously circulated). He advised that the report was being presented
to the Committee to seek members’ views on the Plan and its contents ahead of
seeking the Lead Member’s approval for the plan via the delegated decision
process. The Head of Service explained that Section 6 of the Environment
(Wales) Act 2016 required all local authorities to embed the consideration of
biodiversity and ecosystems into their early thinking and business planning and
to publish a plan on how they proposed to maintain and enhance biodiversity and
promote ecosystem resilience. He advised the Committee that in drawing up
the Plan, identifying key actions, and performance indicators, significant
engagement and consultation had taken place with officers across all Council
services as in order for the Plan to be delivered all services needed to be
engaged and willing to deliver their part of it. The Plan itself and a
progress report on the actions contained within it required to be published by
the end of 2019. Responding to
members’ questions the Head of Highways and Environment and the Ecology
Officer: ·
confirmed
the cost of delivering the Plan presented to the Committee was based on the
Service’s current budget, making small changes to existing working practices etc.
and the availability of external grant funding which the Service had a proven
track record of securing. However, as a result of the recent Notice of
Motion to Council on the Climate Change Emergency, dependent upon the
recommendations of the proposed working group, additional resources may be
required for biodiversity work in future and the Plan may need to be
re-drafted; ·
confirmed
the Service worked closely with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) on a number of
projects, via the Public Services Board (PSB) and the Area of Outstanding
Natural Beauty (AONB); ·
advised
the Service used volunteers for various projects, including monitoring the
Little Tern colony. Bangor University was also involved with the Little
Tern project and was studying the colony’s behaviour; ·
advised
various Council services supported and contributed towards the delivery of
biodiversity initiatives as part of their Service team building away days; ·
confirmed
ecological enhancements for planning applications had changed and the Service now
routinely fed into the work involved with developing the Local Development Plan
(LDP) and provided ecological observations on individual planning applications; ·
advised
seagulls were a protected species and that the Council had a separate action
plan on how to manage seagulls and reduce the nuisance they caused.
Communities Scrutiny Committee at its meeting the previous week had examined
the effectiveness of this plan; ·
advised
the Council’s policy on highways grass verge maintenance was, in the Council’s
opinion, the best in Wales in relation to promoting and supporting
biodiversity; ·
referred
to a number of wildflower meadow biodiversity projects with which the Council
was involved and how they were sourcing native seeds and plants for these
meadows in a bid to ensure their sustainability; ·
advised
work was currently underway with the Council’s Facilities, Assets and Housing
Service to draw up biodiversity plans for green areas within the Council’s
housing estates; ·
confirmed
every effort was made with city, town and community councils in the county to
promote the Council’s biodiversity ambitions and the reasons underpinning its
highways and grass maintenance policies. However, some community groups
had previously sown some resistance to the Council’s approach; · advised they were of the view that the Council had now struck the right balance ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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NO COLD CALLING CONTROL IN DENBIGHSHIRE PDF 129 KB To consider a joint report by the Built Environment and Public Protection Manager & the Public Protection Business Manager (copy attached) which seeks the Committee to examine and support proposals for the future introduction of ‘No Cold Calling Zones’ in the county 11.30am – 12pm Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for
Planning, Public Protection and Safer Communities introduced the report and
appendices (previously circulated) which outlined how the No Cold Calling Zones
in the county were currently administered. The report also sought
members’ views on new proposals for the process of introducing such zones in
future. During his
introduction the Built Environment & Public Protection Manager emphasised
that the Authority was not proposing to do away with ‘no cold calling zones’ or
to prohibit the designation of new ‘no cold calling zones’, but due to
pressures caused by diminishing financial resources North Wales Police no
longer had the capacity to undertake the public engagement and consultation to
establish new zones or to support the re-invigoration of established
zones. They would, however, continue to respond to complaints in relation
to cold calling. With a view to facilitating current zones to continue
and new zones to be established the Council proposed that in future
residents/communities who were interested in establishing ‘no cold calling
zones’ would be expected to arrange the public engagement and consultation
exercise themselves and that the costs of associated signage etc. would also
have to be borne by the individuals or community groups instigating the
application. The Council would, however, support them with the process
and provide them with a self-help toolkit, which would contain template
documents for consultation, voting, launching the zone and evaluating its
effectiveness. The Council would also be willing to identify local
businesses that may be willing to help with the costs of signage etc., whilst
North Wales Police was willing to continue to supply window stickers, raise
awareness at community events and via social media channels.
Between 2007 and 2016 circa 355 ‘no cold calling zones’ had been
established in Denbighshire. All zones had been established at the
request of residents and/or the Police. In 2017 a part review of the
effectiveness of zones had been undertaken, the outcome of which had indicated
that some residents were not aware that they lived in a ‘no cold calling
zone’. Nevertheless, the majority of those surveyed were of the view that
deterrents such as ‘no cold calling zones’ were useful. In response to
members’ questions the Lead Member, Built Environment & Public Protection
Manager, and the Public Protection Officer (Trading Standards): ·
advised
that the prices quoted in the report for external signage informing people that
they were entering a ‘no cold calling zone’ cost in the region of £200 per
sign. This was the price the Council had paid to its internal Sign Shop,
prior to its closure. It had won the contract at that time following a
tendering process; ·
confirmed
that the Council was willing to engage with any agency or organisations who
wanted to support work relating to ‘no cold calling zones’ i.e. OWL
(operated by North Wales Police); ·
advised
that the Council did not have any formal contract or service level agreement
(SLA) in place with respect of a ‘No Cold Calling Zone’; ·
confirmed
that traders were liable for prosecution if they made unsolicited visits to
properties in ‘no cold calling zones’. However, the Council’s Trading
Standards Service initially preferred to undertake prevention work, including
leafleting every home in the area with a view to protecting residents,
especially vulnerable residents from cold callers and scammers; · advised that individuals and groups who wanted to establish a ‘no cold calling zone’ would generally have a vested interest in establishing the zone. Once steps had been taken to establish a zone Trading Standards officers would check that all necessary measures had been taken in order to formally establish it within six months of the original ... view the full minutes text for item 8. |
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SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME PDF 138 KB To consider a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (copy attached) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues. 12pm – 12.20pm Additional documents:
Minutes: The Scrutiny Co-ordinator submitted a report (previously circulated) seeking members’ review of the Committee’s work programme and provided an update on relevant issues. During the ensuing discussion – · It was noted that the meeting scheduled for 23 May 2019 had been cancelled due to the European Parliamentary Elections. · The Scrutiny Co-ordinator confirmed to members present that the meeting due to be held on 16 September, 2019 would take place in Russell House, Rhyl. · Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) would be moved from the 16 September 2019 meeting to the 7 November 2019 meeting. · The next Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs meeting would take place on 31 July 2019. RESOLVED that, subject to
the above, the forward work programme as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report
be approved. |
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FEEDBACK FROM COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES To receive any updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups Minutes: None. |
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The meeting concluded
at 12.45 p.m. |