Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Due to the current restrictions on travel and requirement for social distancing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic the meeting was held remotely by video conference and was not open to the general public.  All members had been given the opportunity to attend as observers and the Local Democracy Reporter had also been invited to observe.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mabon ap Gwynfor.  The Corporate Director:  Economy and Public Realm, The Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services/Monitoring Officer was deputising for the Corporate Director at the meeting.

Councillor Mabon ap Gwynfor

Corporate Director: Economy and Public Realm (Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services would be deputising at the meeting)

No declarations of interest were made.

No declaration of interests had been raised.

No urgent matters had been raised with the Chair ahead of the meeting.

No urgent matters had been raised.

To receive the –

(a)  minutes of the special Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 5 October 2020 (copy enclosed), and

(b)  minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 22 October 2020 (copy enclosed).

(a)   Minutes of the Special Communities Scrutiny meeting held on 5 October 2020

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  The recommendation to approve was proposed and seconded.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wanted to abstain.

Resolved: - that the minutes of the Special Meeting held on 5 October 2020 be approved as a true and correct record

(b)  Minutes of the Communities Scrutiny meeting held on 22 October 2020

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  The recommendation to approve was proposed and seconded.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wanted to abstain.

Resolved: - subject to the enquiries requested being pursued and reported back to members, that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2020 be approved as a true and correct record.

The minutes of the special Communities Scrutiny Committee on 5 October 2020 and the Communities Scrutiny Committee on 22 October 2020 were submitted.

(a)       Special Communities Scrutiny Committee (5 October 2020)

No accuracy points or matters arising.

(b)      Communities Scrutiny Committee (22 October 2020)

Item 5 Impact of Ruthin Primary Review (page 20) – Councillor Merfyn Parry clarified that the information report he requested related to the results of a community impact assessment on the communities of Rhewl and Llanynys following the closure of Ysgol Rhewl.  He advised that the former Head of Education and the former Head of Modernising Education had promised to undertake the community impact assessment when the decision was taken to close the school.  The Scrutiny Co-ordinator agreed to make enquiries in relation to that report.

Item 7 North East Wales Archives and Ruthin Gaol (pages 22/23) – The Chair registered his disappointment that the Corporate Director had to get involved before the link to the on-line survey on the County Conversation Portal on the North East Wales Archives Service was circulated to county councillors following the Committee’s request for that to be done forthwith for the purpose of promoting public engagement with the consultation exercise.  The Committee requested that the Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services seek an explanation as to the delay and to impress on Heads of Service the importance of responding to Committee requests and reporting back to members on the outcomes of any enquiries in a timely manner.

Councillor Meirick Lloyd-Davies enquired whether the final bullet point in relation to the language policy should be incorporated as part of the Committee’s recommendation.  The Scrutiny Co-ordinator advised that the language policy would form part of the formal partnership/Service Level Agreement for the joint service and advised that if the Committee wished to amend the recommendations in the minutes to include a recommendation in relation to the language policy it could do so at the current meeting.  No Committee member formally requested that they be amended.

RESOLVED that –

(a)       the minutes of the special meeting held on 5 October 2020 be received and approved as a correct record, and

(b)       subject to the enquiries requested being pursued and reported back to members, the minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2020 be approved as a true and correct record.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  The recommendation to approve was proposed and seconded.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wanted to abstain.

To consider a report by the Flood Risk Engineer (copy enclosed) outlining flood management and mitigation measures to deal with all types of flood risks county-wide.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  The recommendation to approve was proposed and seconded.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wanted to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations, that

(i)           the Council’s current and planned flood risk management activities fulfilled its responsibilities in relation to relevant flood risk legislation, and that it used its permitted powers effectively to carry out flood and coastal defence improvements;

(ii)          the Council was taking sufficient measures to work effectively with landowners, developers and other risk management authorities to manage flood risk in Denbighshire;

(iii)        the Council was delivering the outcomes and measures set out in the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy;

(iv)        the respective Member Area Groups should be engaged with in relation to the design and development phases of the Central Rhyl Coastal Defence Scheme and the Central Prestatyn Coastal Defence Scheme during the course of the next 12 months and that the conclusions of this phase of the schemes be reported back to the Committee in due course;

(v)          a task and finish group be established to examine methods to further strengthen interaction and working relationships between public flood risk management authorities and riparian landowners across the county with a view to improving each other’s understanding of their responsibilities in relation to ensuring the unobstructed flow of water through the land they manage; and

(vi)        the reports on the flood management proposals for the Rhyl Cut and Prestatyn Gutter, along with the report on the investigation into the February 2020 flooding in Denbighshire be presented to the Committee as soon as they become available.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting including Simon Cowan and Martin Williams, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) and Keith Ivens, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for the discussion on flood risk management across Denbighshire.

Councillor Brian Jones, Lead Member for Waste, Transport and the Environment and the Head of Highways, Facilities and Environmental Services introduced the item.  It was explained that a report on the Rhyl Cut and Prestatyn Gutter Study due to be discussed at the meeting had been delayed and re-scheduled for May 2021.  The investigations into the February 2020 flood events and subsequent effect of the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted NRW’s capacity to progress the work required to complete the study.  It was noted that the investigation report into the February 2020 flood events would likely be available by the end of February 2021.  Councillor Jones advised that the council was proactive in flood risk management across the county and drew attention to the work undertaken on coastal defence schemes and highlighted that Denbighshire had recently been awarded £1m (100%) grant funding from Welsh Government to progress a Natural Flood Management Project.

The report by the Flood Risk Engineer (previously circulated) was submitted which outlined flood management and mitigation measures to deal with all types of flood risks county-wide.  Those measures included work with public and private partners and landowners, engineering projects and land management activities, with a view to reducing the risk of flooding and combating the effects of climate change.  The report also included details of the work the Planning Department was undertaking in relation to flood mitigation as part of the planning process.

Specific reference had been made to the following –

·         different authorities had responsibility for different areas of flood risk management – Denbighshire County Council (DCC) in relation to surface water and ordinary watercourses and coastal erosion risk; Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in relation to main rivers and the sea, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) in relation to public sewers.  Anyone who owned land next to a river, stream or ditch also had responsibilities as a ‘riparian landowner’.  The council worked with other flood risk management authorities, as well as developers and landowners, to seek opportunities to better manage and reduce flood risk

·         the Flood and Water Management Act required Welsh Government (WG) to have a national strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management – WG published its first national flood strategy in 2011 and recently published its new strategy in October 2020.  The Act also required the council, as the lead local flood authority, to have a strategy for local flood risk management focused on surface runoff, groundwater and ordinary watercourses – the council published its local strategy in 2014 which was required to be reviewed by December 2022

·         the council considered flood risk when assessing planning applications with particular reference to planning policy Technical Advice Note 15.  A Strategic Flood Consequence Assessment had been commissioned in support of the Local Development Plan (LDP) 2006 – 2021 which considered the implications of flood risk for key elements identified in the LDP.  In 2019 the council became a Sustainable Drainage Systems Approving Body (SAB) with responsibility for approval and adoption of surface water drainage on new developments

·         since 2003 the council had invested around £41m of WG grant and council match funding to reduce flood risk for around 4000 homes and businesses in the county.  However around 15,200 properties were still at risk of flooding from the sea, rivers and surface water.  A programme of potential schemes had been identified to reduce risk for a further 4,750 properties,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  The recommendation to approve was proposed and seconded.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wanted to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: subject to the amendments and inclusions to the draft forward work programme proposed during the meeting to confirm the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.  

The Scrutiny Coordinator submitted a report (previously circulated) seeking members’ review of the Committee’s work programme and provided an update on relevant issues.

Discussion focused on the following –

·         the items listed on the forward work programme for the next meeting on 21 January 2021 were reaffirmed

·         the Rhyl Cut and Prestatyn Gutter Study had been scheduled for the meeting on 13 May 2021 but would be brought forward if available earlier

·         the extra meeting scheduled for 4 February 2021 to consider the Waste and Recycling Service Remodelling Project was no longer required and all aspects of the project would be reported to the Committee in May 2021 as originally planned

·         members were asked to submit any proposal forms regarding topics for scrutiny before the next scheduled meeting of the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs Group on 21 January 2021, and

·         reference was made to the information brief circulated to members ahead of the meeting enclosing the information reports requested by the Committee.

RESOLVED that, subject to the amendments and inclusions to the draft forward work programme proposed during the meeting to confirm the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  The recommendation to approve was proposed and seconded.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wanted to abstain.

There was no feedback from representatives to report.

No reports from committee representatives had been received.

The meeting concluded at 12 noon.