Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin, LL15 1YN
Media
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: |
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS PDF 115 KB Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillors Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Brian Blakeley, Graham
Timms, Glenn Swingler, Huw Williams, Meirick Lloyd Davies, Tina Jones, Emrys
Wynne, Peter Scott and Anton Sampson declared a personal interest in Agenda item
5 – School Cluster Arrangements as they were all School Governors in local
schools. Co-opted Members Mike Hall and David Lloyd declared a personal interest in Agenda item 5 – School Cluster arrangements as they were School Governors in local schools. |
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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. Additional documents: Minutes: No urgent matters were raised. |
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To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 18 January 2018 (copy enclosed). 10am – 10.05am Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on
18 January 2018 were submitted. RESOLVED
that the minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2018, be received and
approved as a correct record. |
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SCHOOL CLUSTER ARRANGEMENTS PDF 209 KB To consider a report by the Head of Education (copy enclosed)
detailing the feedback
received in relation to the development of a process whereby schools could
request consideration be given, by the Local Authority, to moving cluster. 10.05am
– 10.35am Additional documents: Minutes: The Lead
Member for Education, Children and Young People introduced the report
(previously circulated) which provided members with feedback on the work undertaken
by officers in response to a request by the Committee, in June 2017, that
consideration be given to the development of a process to facilitate schools,
if they so wished, to request to review their school cluster
arrangements. During his introduction the Lead Member advised that the
Committee’s request had stemmed from consideration of the Council’s new Learner
Transport Policy, effective from September 2018, and in particular in response
to concerns from parents of pupils at Ysgol Pantpastynog, Prion and Ysgol Bro
Cinmeirch, Llanrhaeadr on whether, dependent upon their home address, they
would be entitled to free school transport to either Ysgol Glan Clwyd or Ysgol
Brynhyfryd. During the development of the new Learner
Transport Policy it became apparent that school cluster arrangements and the
‘feeder school’ relationship with the secondary schools was extremely important
to pupils, parents/carers and schools alike. Consequently, provision was
made within the new Learner Transport Policy to recognise the ‘feeder school’
relationship and provide discretionary free transport to either the nearest
suitable secondary school or the recognised ‘feeder’ secondary school,
providing the learner’s address and nearest pick-up point was further than
three miles from the secondary school. Ysgol Bro Cinmeirch had particular
concerns in relation to parents/carers opting for Welsh-medium faith based
education in order to access provision at Ysgol Pantpastynog and consequently
transfer to Ysgol Glan Clwyd under the feeder school arrangements if Bro
Cinmeirch pupils could not be given discretionary travel to Ysgol Glan Clwyd. Members were advised by the Head of Education and Children’s
Services that in order to progress the Committee’s request for consideration to
be given to the development of a process for primary schools who wished to
change their school cluster arrangements a Working Group was established.
An overview of the Working Group’s remit was attached at Appendix 3 to the
report. Each ‘secondary school cluster’ across the county was invited to
appoint two representatives to serve on the Working Group. The cluster
representatives appointed constituted a cross-section of school expertise i.e.
head teachers, business and finance managers and governors. Local
authority representation on the Working Group was made up of members from the
School Finance and Passenger Transport teams. The Head of Service
informed the Committee that the Working Group at the conclusion of its work had
deemed that there was no need to develop a process to enable primary schools to
request to change their cluster arrangements. In their view the Council
should continue to focus on the School Modernisation Agenda. This view
was similar to that of the Council’s Education Service. In response to members’ questions the Lead Member, Head of
Service and the Planning and Resources
Manager (Education Resources & Support) advised that: ·
whilst
legislation stipulated that local authorities were required to provide free
school transport to pupils who opted to receive Welsh-medium education,
provided they attended the nearest suitable school and met the distance
criteria, the provision of free school transport to faith-based schools was at
the local authority’s discretion. However, Denbighshire treated both
Welsh-medium and faith-based choices on a par when determining school transport
entitlement; ·
learner
transport legislation stipulated that the amount of time a pupil should be
expected to travel in order to receive an education had to be reasonable; · parental choice was a priority when parents/carers choose a school for their child, the Authority’s duty in relation to this extended to the provision of free school transport to the pupil to the nearest suitable school if it exceeded ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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SEAGULL MANAGEMENT UPDATE REPORT PDF 116 KB To consider a report by the Head of Planning and Public Protection (copy enclosed) which details the progress made in delivering the Seagull Management Action Plan and seeks the Committee’s views on proposed future actions to be taken 10.35am – 11.05am Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for
Housing, Regulation and the Environment introduced the Head of Planning and
Public Protection’s report and associated appendices (previously circulated)
the purpose of which was to update members on the progress made to date in
implementing the Seagull Management Action Plan and proposed future actions to
mitigate the nuisance caused by seagulls in the county. Members were
advised by the Head of Planning and Public Protection that the Action Plan,
Appendix 3 to the report, was a Council-wide plan with actions allocated to a
number of services to take forward and implement. The priority at present
was delivering the public awareness campaign, outlined in Appendix 4, and
working with food businesses to reduce the availability of food waste which
enticed seagulls. Currently the focus was on educating the public and persuading
residents, visitors and businesses to work with the Council in a bid to reduce
the nuisance and destruction caused by seagulls. The Council’s Team
Leader: Communications and Campaign Management outlined the actions and
initiatives underway as part of the public awareness campaign, which had been
approved in February 2018. These included: ·
social
media campaign which would include awareness raising videos; ·
contacting
city, town and community councils to seek their support for the work and to encourage
them to support the Council’s work by sharing information with residents and
ensuring that streets and public areas were kept clean and tidy; ·
encouraging
businesses, residents and visitors to dispose of any food waste responsibly and
in a secure manner; ·
contacting schools with a view to educating
children about the nuisance caused by seagulls and other animals and of the
need to safely dispose of food waste and other rubbish. It was envisaged
that this approach would be useful for communicating the same messages to
parents etc. as they were likely to listen to their children’s views on
matters; ·
through
the Education Service’s Enrichment Programme to run a poster designing
competition with the winning entry being used for the Council’s awareness campaign Councillor Anton
Sampson shared with the Committee photographs of a poster used by Great
Yarmouth Borough Council in a bid encourage people to dispose of food waste
etc. responsibly, whilst Councillor Brian Blakeley shared a number of
complaints and comments he had received from residents. Responding to
members’ questions the Lead Member, Corporate Director: Economic and
Community Ambition, Head of Service, and Team Leader: Communications and
Campaign Management confirmed that: ·
food waste was the main cause of concern as it
attracted the seagulls. If access to food waste could be reduced it was
anticipated that the problems caused by the seagulls would diminish; ·
duty of care inspections on businesses to ensure
that they had commercial waste disposal contracts and were using pest-proof
containers for food waste were currently underway. Similar checks were
being undertaken on food outlets during routine food hygiene inspections.
Consideration was currently being given to whether to include securing food
waste as one of the compliance areas for food hygiene inspections; ·
street
cleaning work was being undertaken on a regular basis in coastal towns with a
view to reducing the amount of litter and keeping the streets and street
furniture clean and tidy; ·
whilst falconry had been used successfully as
a deterrent in recent years to scare away the seagulls, its effects were
short-term and once the birds of prey were withdrawn the seagulls
returned. Using falconry was also quite expensive and therefore not sustainable
in the long-term; · the Council intended to lobby the WG, Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and National Resources Wales (NRW) with a view to having a national or regional cross-organisational ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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CAR PARKS IN DENBIGHSHIRE PDF 140 KB To consider a report by the Traffic, Parking and Road Safety
Manager (copy enclosed) which updates members on the implementation
of the car park asset management register and the associated investment
programme, whilst seeking their views on them and on the work of the
cross-service Car Park Task and Finish Group 11.15am – 11.45am Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for
Highways, Planning and Sustainable Travel introduced the Traffic, Parking and
Road Safety Manager’s report (previously circulated) the purpose of which was
to update the Committee on the progress made with the implementation of the Car
Park Asset Management Register and Investment Programme. Also included in
the report were details of the progress made by the Car Park Task and Finish
Group in developing measures to improve the visitor experience for car park
users. Members were given an overview of various elements of the work undertaken
to date as part of the development of the Asset Management Register and
proposed Investment Programme (outlined in Appendix B to the report) and on the
interventions identified by the Task and Finish Group by the Traffic, Parking
and Road Safety Manager. Responding to the
Committee’s questions the Lead Member, Corporate Director: Economic and
Community Ambition and the Traffic, Parking and Road Safety Manager advised
that: ·
they were satisfied with the progress made in
developing various aspects of the work that required to be undertaken.
Undertaking the car park surveys had taken some considerable time, but the
majority of the planning work had now been completed. Officers had
visited each Member Area Group (MAG) to brief them on the proposals and seek
their support for the plans; ·
it was anticipated that the improvement programme
in its entirety would take five years to complete. Implementation was at
an early stage with only approximately 12 new pay and display machines
installed to date. The cost of this work was being met from within the
Car Parking Service’s budget; ·
the
investment programme required further budget profiling prior to being developed
into a Business Case for submission to the Council’s Strategic Investment Group
(SIG) for approval; ·
a phased approach would be taken for undertaking
the work. During the first two years present pay and display machines
would be replaced with machines that would accept card payments and produce
better data profiles of each car parks usage. Signage would be improved
in car parks during the early stages of the plan’s implementation as this would
help improve the visitor experience by providing clear information on whether
they were short or long stay car parks/areas of car parks. More cosmetic
improvements i.e. lighting and landscaping would be upgraded during the latter
stages of the investment plan’s implementation; ·
further
work was required in order to impact assess some of the interventions put
forward by the Car Park Task and Finish Group i.e. transferable pay and display
tickets between long stay car parks across the county, paperless parking
permits etc.; ·
the investment plan constituted an investment in
excess of £1.3m over a five year period in 44 of the county’s Council owned car
parks. Whilst the plan was fluid, work would be undertaken following a
prioritisation exercise; ·
the Council’s contract for pay and display
machines that accepted payment by telephone calls would run for another two
years. However, this facility was not widely used therefore the pay and
display machines may be replaced with machines providing different functions
when the contract expired; ·
the refurbishment works to be carried out on the
underground car park in Rhyl would not form part of this investment plan.
The business case for that work had been approved by both SIG and Cabinet
recently; · the five year Car Park Investment Programme was aimed at maintenance and upgrading work on current Council owned car parks, any proposed plans to change car parking facilities or increase car parking capacity in any areas of the county would require to be based on a separate business case which ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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INVESTIGATION INTO THE 19 JULY 2017 FLOODS PDF 120 KB To consider a report by the Flood Risk Manager (copy enclosed) which seeks the Committee to consider whether the Council requires, in view of the lessons learnt from the July 2017 flooding, to implement or revise working practices in order to mitigate against future risk of flooding in the county 11.45am – 12.15pm Additional documents: Minutes: The Lead Member for
Highways, Planning and Sustainable Travel introduced the Flood Risk Manager’s
report (previously circulated) which presented the Committee with the findings
of the investigation into the 19th July 2017 floods in the north of
the county. Attached to the report was a copy of the final report
produced in accordance with Section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act
2010. Under the Act’s provisions the Council was required to investigate,
prepare and publish this report in response to incidents of flooding within its
geographical boundaries. The Flood Risk
Manager outlined the Council’s duties with respect of investigating the floods
that occurred and advised that the amount of rainfall that fell in the northern
part of the county on 19th July 2017 equated to a 1 in 50 year
event. He proceeded to outline the process undertaken to investigate the
cause and extent of the floods and advised that, due to the large geographical
area affected, it had taken some considerable time to collate and analyse all
the evidence and information gathered. The investigation had concluded
that the cause of the flood was a pluvial event due to an excessive volume of
surface water being unable to enter the drainage and sewage systems at a fast
enough rate to enable it to drain away. The volume of rainfall that day
exceeded the amount of capacity within the local drainage and sewage systems to
continually flow. This lack of capacity was further exacerbated by
blockages in pipes and problems encountered in pumping stations, both of which
were the responsibility of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW). The Flood Risk
Manager emphasised that both DCWW and
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) had worked closely with the Council when
undertaking the flood investigation work and the Lead Member informed the
Committee that the officer had forged a good working relationship with both
organisations, both of whom had accepted that all partners had responsibilities
in relation to flood risk management in this area. Members from the
Rhyl area detailed a number of long-standing flood related problems in the Rhyl
area including the camber of the road in Ffordd Derwen, water flowing off Ysgol
Dewi Sant’s playing fields, fly tipping on Network
Rail owned land and problems with drains and soakaways in its ownership,
problems on Ffordd Elan and the new Rhyl Rugby Club
pitch. The Head of Highways and Environmental Services and the Flood Risk
Manager advised members that the cause of a number of these problems were very
complex. Due to the complexities involved the Council had been able to secure
funding from the WG to undertake an in-depth study into the type of work that
would be required to improve the situation. Nevertheless, no one could
give an absolute guarantee that such an event would never happen again, all
that could be done was to reduce the risks of flooding in future. The
results of the drainage study at Ffordd Derwen, Rhyl was expected in September 2018.
Similarly the results of the collaborative work with DCWW and NRW to
investigate whether improvements could be made to the management of the Rhyl
Cut and Prestatyn Gutter as well as adjacent drains
and sewers was expected around the same time. Responding to
members’ questions officers advised that: ·
DCWW
was undertaking a study in the Bro Berllan area of Rhuddlan with a view to understanding the extent of the
flood and drainage problems there; · Council-owned gulleys were emptied on at least an annual basis, with those known to cause problems being emptied on a more regular basis. If members ... 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 enclosed) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues. 12.15pm – 12.30pm Additional documents:
Minutes: 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 –
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members noted that the
Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs Group had met to consider a number of potential
items for scrutiny, which had been included on the Committee’s work programme;
It was: Resolved: - subject to the above to confirm the Committee’s forward work programme |
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FEEDBACK FROM COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES To receive any
updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups 12.30pm – 12.45pm Additional documents: Minutes: Committee representatives
reported upon their attendance at meetings as follows – Councillor Graham Timms had attended the Service Challenge
for Facilities, Assets and Housing and noted that an update report had been
included in the information update brief. The meeting
concluded at 13.15 p.m. |