Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Win Mullen-James and Councillor Cheryl Williams

The Chair welcomed Councillor Bill Cowie to his first meeting as a member of the Committee, representing the Independent Group.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the Committee for the 2015/16 municipal year

9:30am – 9:35am

Nominations were sought for a member to serve as the Committee’s Vice-Chair for the 2015/16 municipal year.  Councillor Rhys Hughes was nominated and seconded.  It was therefore:

Resolved: - that Councillor Rhys Hughes be appointed as the Committee's Vice-Chair for the 2015/16 municipal year.

No Members declared any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at the meeting

No items were raised 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.

To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on the 23^rd April, 2015 (copy enclosed).

9:35am – 9:40am

The Minutes of a meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday, 24 April, 2015 were submitted.

RESOLVED – that the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

To consider a report (copy attached) from the Strategic Housing and Planning Manager which seeks the Committee to review and comment on the conclusions and recommendations of the Affordable Housing Task and Finish Group

9:40am – 10:30am

The Lead Member for Public Realm introduced the report which included the Task and Finish Group’s conclusions and recommendations.  He explained that the Task and Finish Group had been established to address the concerns raised by the Wales Audit Office (WAO) in its May 2014 Council Annual Improvement Report on the need for the Authority to clarify its approach towards delivering affordable housing.

The Committee was advised that the Task and Finish Group had made a total of 20 recommendations, all of which were detailed in the report.  Issues raised by members at a recent Council Briefing session at which the Task and Finish (T&F) Group's report had been discussed were listed in appendix II, along with the relevant recommendations in the report that would address these issues.  Whilst, the recommendations from the Task and Finish Group's work would be used to inform the new draft housing strategy, and would form part of the delivery plan for that strategy, some actions had already been commenced with a view to addressing identified problems e.g. pending Welsh Government legislation and guidance permitting partial reviews of Local Development Plans (LDP) a Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) had been submitted and approved by the Council's Planning Committee with respect to permitting the conversion of redundant rural buildings for market housing.

Responding to members' questions the Lead Member for Public Realm and officers confirmed that:

·         the Council was obliged to undertake a comprehensive review of its LDP four years after its adoption.  Denbighshire's review would be due in 2017;

·         latest indications from the WG suggested that the legislation required to permit partial reviews should be in place sometime during the summer of 2015, and that the associated Guidance would be available at the same time.  This would hopefully enable the Council to implement some of the T&F Group's recommendations;

·         the process relating to applying and permitting planning applications in hamlets was extremely onerous, however this process may be able to be reviewed as part of the partial review - subject to the provisions of the new legislation;

·         the new Housing Strategy, which would be presented to scrutiny in September and full Council in October 2015, would have five main themes.  Affordable Housing would be theme two of the Strategy, but matters relating to affordable housing would also feature in the majority of the six themes;

·         with respect to land banking, time limits for developing a site following planning permission being granted could not be changed locally.  The rules in relation to this were subject to WG legislation.  It would be too late now to make representations with respect of amending the time limits as part of the consultation on the new Planning Bill.  However, the Council would continue to lobby WG with respect to the matter;

·         the new Interim Head of Finance and Assets would be exploring the options for realising the optimum value for the Council for re-investing the £500K that was estimated to be realised following the Council's exit from the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy (HRAS) system - options which would be considered would include the building of new council housing (possibly in partnerships with a third party); undertaking further improvement work on the Council's current housing stock (e.g. exterior or environmental work - work which was not covered under the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) scheme, utilising the money saved for the purpose of drawing down external funding etc.);

·         work had commenced on a review of the Council's land holdings to assess whether any holdings were located in areas of highest need for affordable housing.  In future work would need to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider a joint report by the Head of Planning & Public Protection and the Public Protection Manager which seeks the Committee to consider and comment on the progress made against the Food Safety Task and Finish Group’s recommendations

10:45am – 11:30am

The Lead Member for Public Realm introduced the report and the Public Protection Business Manager detailed the work which had been undertaken within the last twelve months with respect to the regulatory aspect of food safety and standards and to improve procurement and contract management of the Council's own food procurement practices for the various establishments it operates.  The Lead Member advised that he had accompanied food safety and trading standards officers on some of their visits, including visits to school canteens.  He had been greatly impressed by the thoroughness of their work and their professionalism in conducting their day to day business.

Responding to members' questions the Lead Member and Public Protection Business Manager confirmed that:

·         it was a statutory requirement for food outlets to display their 'scores on the doors' food hygiene rating (now known as the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme).  Non-compliance with this could result in a Fixed Penalty Notice;

·         all food outlets, be they private or public, were subject to food hygiene and standards inspections;

·         it was each individual business' duty to register the fact that they were selling food or drink with the local authority.  Officers would routinely as part of their visits to other businesses keep an eye out for new outlets operating in the area and check the Council's records to ensure that they had registered.  If it transpired that they had not, contact would be made with the business to support them in that and other associated processes;

·         businesses that score a 1 or a 2 food hygiene rating were classed as a 'higher risk' and therefore required more support to improve their rating.  Food standards officers adopted a proactive approach towards these businesses and would offer advice and support to help them improve in time for the follow-up inspection.  The majority of businesses welcomed the support given as it was in their interest to improve their 'scores'.  The timing of follow-up inspections was dependent on the nature of the problem behind the initial rating and the time needed to rectify i.e. lack of cleanliness or aging specialist equipment which required replacing.  Sufficient time would be given to rectify identified problems;

·         follow-up visits etc. were built into the Service's business plan as officers expected to undertake a certain percentage of such visits per year

·        food hygiene visits were undertaken on an unannounced basis and took place at intervals dependant on the category of risk given to the business, which can be between 6 months for Category A and 24 months for Category D.  It was extremely rare for the business owner to refuse admission to a food hygiene/standards inspector.  If they did refuse it was usually due to a lack of understanding and once the position was explained to them they usually permitted the visit to proceed;

·         if a specialist food producer was required in attendance during an inspection the visit would then be pre-booked to ensure all relevant personnel were on hand;

·        food hygiene inspectors operated County wide but would prioritise their work by area in order to cut down on travelling costs etc.  However, if they were in an area responding to a complaint they may also undertake a number of routine inspections in the same area in order to be cost effective;

·         travelling fairs and mobile food outlets were governed by the same food hygiene and safety regulations.  These businesses were registered with the business owner's 'home authority', however this did not prohibit any authority which they were visiting from inspecting them or dealing with any complaints received;

·         they would check and report back to members on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (copy enclosed) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues.

11:30am – 12pm

A copy of a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (SC), which requested the Committee to review and agree its forward work programme and which provided an update on relevant issues, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting. 

The SC confirmed that the new forms (appendix 2) to request items to be included on scrutiny agendas had now been implemented. As yet no forms had been received but items raised at the meeting would be included.

The Committee considered its draft Forward Work Programme for future meetings, Appendix 1. The SC informed the Committee that officers had requested that the car parking report be brought forward to July’s meeting.  The Chair had permitted this request.

The Committee was informed that the Welsh Government (WG) Minister had been invited to attend July’s meeting for the discussion on the impact on the Council regarding late notification of allocation of central government grant funding.  However, the invitation had been declined and he had suggested that it may be more appropriate for a representative from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) to attend.  The WLGA’s Head of Finance had offered to attend the Committee’s meeting on 10 September for the discussion.

I t was agreed that the two items for July’s meeting would be:

1.    Car Parking Charging Policy

2.    Better regulation of caravan sites.

Following Annual Council on 12 May the Committee was asked to appoint / reappoint members to serve on the Council’s Service Challenge Groups (appendix 5). The following changes to appointments were agreed:

·         Economic & Business Development – Councillor Bill Cowie,

·         Customers and Education Support – Councillor Rhys Hughes,

·         Legal, HR and Democratic Services – Councillor Pete Prendergast,

·         Communication Marketing & Leisure – Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts,

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

12pm – 12:15pm

No reports were received.

Meeting ended at 11:10am.