Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Michelle Blakeley-Walker, James Elson and Merfyn Parry.

Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting.

Councillor Cheryl Williams declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 8 – Sarth Inhouse Provision Update – as she is on the SARTH list.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for Communities Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

The Chair, Councillor Huw Williams, requested nominations for the appointment of a new Vice-Chair of Communities Scrutiny Committee for the 2024-2025 municipal year.

Councillor Huw Williams proposed Councillor Karen Edwards, Seconded by Councillor Cheryl Williams.

No further nominations were proposed.

All members present affirmed their assent to the appointment of Councillor Karen Edwards

Councillor Edwards thanked everyone for voting her to be Vice-Chair.

RESOLVED that Councillor Karen Edwards be appointed as Vice-Chair of Communities Scrutiny Committee for the 2024-2025 municipal year.

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.

No urgent matters.

To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 9 May 2024 (copy attached).

The minutes of the Communities Scrutiny meeting held on Thursday 9 May 2024 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9 May 2024 be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

At this juncture there was a change in the order of Agenda items.

To consider a report by the Service Manager and the Team Manager, Community Support Service (copy attached) to inform members of the progress to date and performance of the Single Access Route to Housing (SARTH) and homelessness triage service.

The Lead Member for Housing and Communities, along with the Head of Adult Social Care and Homelessness, Service Manager Homelessness, and the Head of Housing and Communities were in attendance to present the report on SARTH Inhouse Provision update.

Lead Member, Councillor Rhys Thomas, introduced the report to update Communities Scrutiny Committee and provide members the opportunity to examine the effectiveness of the SARTH register, following service provision redesign in 2023.

The Service Manager for Homelessness, Nigel Jones, explained to Committee that the service had been brought back inhouse in April 2023.  Denbighshire SARTH partnered with Conwy Borough County Council, Flintshire County Council, social housing and community housing but Denbighshire had the responsibility for holding the register.

ICT system changes had delayed the access to data initially, which was out of the control of DCC as software consultants worked on the issue and eventually full working order had been restored.

The service was now running extremely well and were now reaching the target of 28 days from application to assessment.  Previously this had taken 3-4 months. 

The main advantage of working inhouse was the ability to carry out reviews on time and maintaining the register and keep it up to date.  Every case was to be reviewed on a six-monthly basis and the resident would be contacted to ascertain if there had been a change in their circumstances.

There were further developments, and one was the specialist housing register.  This year 9 specialist properties had been found which was a marked improvement on previous years.

Now SARTH sat within the Homelessness service, there was a lot of cohesion in the service.

It was confirmed that the partnership with Social Landlords and Community Landlords had been held up as best practice.

The new process provided an enhanced customer journey and was able to identify homelessness quicker.  From a customer perspective, it was a more seamless process.

The Head of Housing and Communities stated that prior to the setting up of SARTH, every council had a housing list and now with SARTH the key driver for DCC was to take a more homelessness prevention approach. 

If the funding streams continued at current levels future pressures would be met.

Members thanked all the officers for their work on SARTH.

RESOLVED that Communities Scrutiny Committee were assured that the service provision redesign of SARTH was performing and meeting expectations set out at the time of the decision to bring the service back in house from the former commissioned provider, Flintshire County Council.

To consider a report by the Lead Officer – Trees and Woodlands (copy attached) to provide Members with an understanding how DCC’s trees are currently managed across the authority.

The Lead Member for Environment and Transport along with the Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside, the Lead Officer – Trees and Woodlands, the Countryside and Heritage Services Manager, and the Works Unit and Streetscene Manager were in attendance to present the report on Tree Maintenance and Management.

Lead Member, Councillor Barry Mellor, introduced the report to provide Members with an understanding of how DCC’s trees were managed across the authority, within the context of each service area.

As a landowner, the Council had a duty of care to ensure, as far as was reasonably practicable, all the trees on its land were kept in an acceptable condition and did not put persons or property at unreasonable risk.

The work to respond to Ash Dieback had been a priority during the past few years.

A team of tree officers had been created to deal with ash dieback in 2020.  Work took place with all the departments who had trees in their portfolio eg: planning, streetscene and work involving protected trees whilst working towards the policy attached to the report.

Three surveys had been carried out and a significant amount of work had been undertaken in the hope of saving as many trees as possible.

Trees were a key to delivering a Greener Denbighshire, and a Net Carbon Zero and Ecologically positive Council by 2030.  The existing tree asset would be managed and developed appropriately to help to achieve those goals.

Managing resources had always been challenging but savings had been made in the service over the years and were kept under review.  It was confirmed there were sufficient resources especially to deal with the ash die back problem.

The question of ownership of trees was raised and whether it had caused problems.  Officers responded that Highways also dealt with trees in urban areas outside the 30mph.  Streetscene officers carried out highway safety inspections.   Under the Highways Act DCC had a duty of care to carry out inspections.  The partnership between the two services works exceptionally well. 

As part of the Ash die back project progress had been made in contacting landowners in terms of informing them of their duty of care to respond to issues.  If there were issues due to storm damage or trees on a highway then residents would be contacted to deal with the hazard. Unfortunately, there was a slight backlog of work as the primary focus had been on Ash die back.  Therefore, the Strategy was welcomed as there needed to be a targeted way forward.

If there were issues with trees which were on school grounds, support was in place for schools as they did not have the expertise to deal with such issues.  The service was in contact with Education and Health and Safety.

In the past, budget had been the primary issue which only allowed officers to focus on health and safety grounds.  The Strategy would set out the way forward in terms of how the services work and to use resources in a better and more targeted way.

Officers confirmed they would notify local members when tree maintenance was to be carried out within their Wards.

RESOLVED that, subject to the above, the Communities Scrutiny Committee notes the contents of the report.

To consider a report by the Interim Highways Asset and Risk Manager (copy attached) to examine the Council’s policy for maintaining countywide highway drainage.

The Lead Member for Environment and Transport, along with Head of Highways and Environment were in attendance to present the report on Highways Grids and Gullies maintenance programme.

Lead Member, Barry Mellor, introduced the report to provide Members with an understanding of how DCC’s statutory duties under the Highways Act and Flood and Water Management Act were met in terms of managing surface water through maintenance of the highway drainage network and critical flood risk culverts to ensure that the highways were well drained and, therefore, safe and properties were protected during times of storms. 

Members stated that the main cause of blockages to gullies were leaves.  The Lead Officer explained that often gullies were reported as blocked but it was only the temporary coverage of the leaves that was causing an issue – the resources needed to clear those were not the same as actual blockages.  Correct reporting of the issue would prevent delay in responding.  It was queried how to make sure the correct information was gathered to ensure the correct resources were sent out to the area concerned.  Also how to raise awareness at City, Town and Community Councils.

The Head of Highways and Environment, Paul Jackson, responded that occasionally it was the capacity of the drain, if there was a sudden heavy downpour and sometimes the gully would clear by itself.  The education of the public, Councillors and City, Town and Community Councils would be the way forward as this would assist in managing resources and this would be picked up in the future.

During discussions the following points were raised –

(i)             How significant was run off from properties who had paved over their gardens and permeable driveways?  Also, to a certain extent, the farming community where compacted land existed so it contributed to flooding issues.

The Head of Service responded there was no hard evidence regarding this but it was a trend for some homeowners.   Discussions were taking place with Welsh Water and the Welsh Government as it was recognised that waterfall was on the increase.  Also liaising with the Planning team and other departments needed to take place regarding permits for new developments around that particular issue.  Unfortunately, it was likely to be a continuing problem if the current trend continued.

(ii)            The Lead Member for Environment and Transport informed the Committee that meetings had taken place with Welsh Water regarding the old Victorian drains in Rhyl as they could only take so much  water where it goes into Marine Lake and pumped into the storage system there.  Unfortunately, the tank was not big enough to take all the water if there was a substantial downpour.  When the tank was full, it was let out into the sea but it was not only water but sewerage also.  It was stated that both Welsh Water and NRW needed to come together to work on a solution for this issue.

(iii)          The Head of Service clarified that work was done on a risk based approach and it would be dependent on the level of traffic on a particular road, on the speed limit on the road and the level of risk associated with the risk assessment as to how quickly the team could get to the location and deal with the issue.   If a report was received of an issue in a known flood area, where there was a heavy amount of traffic and properties were at risk of flooding that would be a major priority.  If a report was received of an issue on a more rural road where there was little traffic and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

At this juncture (11.30 a.m.) there was a 5 minute break.

The meeting resumed at 11.35 a.m.

To consider a report by the Climate Change Manager (copy attached) to provide members with information regarding the LEAP main report and technical report.

The Lead Member for Environment and Transport, along with Head of Corporate Support Service: Performance, Digital and Assets, the Climate Change Manager and the Insight, Strategy and Delivery Manager were in attendance to present the report on Denbighshire’s Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP).

Lead Member Councillor Barry Mellor introduced the report as an effective route for the local area to contribute towards meeting the national net zero target, as well as meeting its local net zero target.

The Denbighshire LAEP would contribute towards the Corporate Plan 2022-2027 theme of “A Greener Denbighshire”, specifically providing a positive contribution to the Climate and Nature Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30) by reducing emissions across Denbighshire County Council.  It also supported “A prosperous Denbighshire” theme, with the opportunity to stimulate economic growth and grow Denbighshire’s green economy.

Jane Hodgson, Climate Change Manager presented a Powerpoint presentation which outlined the LAEP.

During discussion it was noted that the key part was education and the sharing of information.  Officers were asked what DCC could do to promote that kind of information and avenues where people could find them as well as understanding the cost of them, as there was a perception that it would be expensive.

The Head of Service responded that there was an action within the LAEP report where schemes were mentioned and support was available for businesses, and residents.  The scheme was run by Flintshire County Council on behalf of DCC.  Unfortunately, it was limited due to resources but information, education and support was available for businesses and certain residents of DCC.   The Action within the LAEP report and all LAEP reports of the 22 Local Authorities in Wales, was for Welsh Government and it informs that the Climate Champion and Communication workplan that the climate change division in Welsh Government deliver.

DCC, and other Local Authorities struggled to engage with some private businesses eg: major haulage companies, and private house developers.  They could be working towards carbon net zero but there was a need to all liaise to meet the pace of change within the LAEP.

The Chair then stated that as a small business owner himself it was difficult as tax incentives had been removed, energy prices were rising and the retail cost of electric vehicles was very high.  He suggested passing that information on to the Welsh Government.

The Head of Service confirmed she would pass that on to the Welsh Government.

The Chief Executive, Graham Boase sat on the PAN Wales Climate Strategy Panel and there was a forum at which the point raised by the Chair could be submitted.

At this point, the Insight, Strategy and Delivery Manager informed Committee that there were opportunities coming up for businesses and communities to work with one of the growth deal projects called Smart Local Energy.  There would be funded packages that businesses and communities could obtain over 18 months to do some of the feasibility studies to look at how to roll out some of the projects that were outlined in the report.  She confirmed she would work with the team to look at how best to capitalise on that for Denbighshire within the Ambition North Wales broader programme of work.

Officers were asked if they had considered the use of green hydrogen within the scope of the report rather than blue or grey hydrogen.  Blue and grey hydrogen would not contribute to the target for net zero.  The statement within the report referred to hydrogen and not which specific hydrogen.

It was confirmed that the Plan did not decipher which hydrogen. 

The LAEP was to be presented to Cabinet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To consider a report by the Scrutiny Co-ordinator (copy attached) seeking a review of the Committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues.

The Scrutiny Co-ordinator guided members through the Communities Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme.

The next meeting of Communities Scrutiny Committee was to be held on 24 October 2024.

The next Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group meetings were to take place on 16 September 2024 and 25 November 2024.

RESOLVED that the Communities Scrutiny Committee forward work programme be agreed.

To receive any updates from Committee representative on various Council Boards and Groups.

There was no feedback due to recess.

The meeting concluded at 12.07 p.m.