Agenda and decisions

Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, Lead Member for Finance, Performance & Strategic Assets

No declarations of interest had been raised.

No urgent matters had been raised.

To receive the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 19 November 2024 (copy enclosed). 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2024 be received and confirmed as a correct record.

To consider a report by Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet approval of the draft Local Toilet Strategy for public consultation.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      acknowledges the work completed so far following a review of the needs of the local population which was undertaken via a public consultation and approves the final needs assessment (the Interim Needs Assessment had been appended as Appendix 2 to the report);

(b)      approves the draft strategy and action plan (Appendix 1 to the report) in line with the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017: Provision of Toilets;

(c)      delegate authority for the Lead Member Highways and Environment to agree any minor editorial changes required to the draft strategy before public consultation, and

(d)      confirms that it has read, understood, and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 3 to the report) as part of its consideration.

To consider a report by Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet approval for the Denbighshire Housing annual rent increase, the Housing Revenue Account Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2025/26 and Housing Stock Business Plan.

RESOLVED that –

(a)      the Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2025/26 (Appendix 1 to the report) and the Housing Stock Business Plan (Appendix 2 to the report) be adopted;

(b)      rents for Council dwellings be increased in accordance with the Welsh Government Policy for Social Housing Rents by 2.7% to an average weekly rent of £112.29 with effect from Monday 7 April 2025;

(c)      the additional report (Appendix 3 to the report) on the considerations taken into account when deciding on the recommendation be noted, and

(d)      Cabinet confirms that it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 4 to the report) as part of its consideration.

To consider a report (which includes a confidential appendix) by Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      note the budgets set for 2024/25 and progress against the agreed strategy;

(b)      approve the Council Tax Base for setting the 2025/26 budget as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report;

(c)      approve the use of the capital contingency to fund the overspend on the Lôn Parcwr scheme as detailed in Section 6.8 to the report, and

(d)      approve the Ysgol y Castell business case for submission to the Welsh Government Capital Programme as detailed in Section 6.9 and Appendix 5 to the report.

RESOLVED that Cabinet’s forward work programme be noted.

To consider a confidential report by Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities (copy enclosed) detailing the outcome of the tender exercise for a new Domestic Abuse Homelessness Prevention Support Service and seeking Cabinet approval to award the contract to the named provider in accordance with the report recommendations.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      acknowledge that a fair and robust tender exercise had been completed in accordance with the Denbighshire Contract Procedures Rules, and which had identified a clear ‘winner’ (as detailed in section 3.1 of the report) who had set out a detailed programme which met the aims and aspirations of the project specification set out in the tender request (Appendix 3 to the report);

(b)      agree to awarding the contract to the named contract provider (as detailed in section 3.2 of the report) based on their tender proposals at the fee level proposed, and

(c)      confirms that it has read, understood, and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 2 to the report) as part of its consideration.

To consider a confidential report by Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities (copy enclosed) presenting the outcome of the procurement process for the Housing Voids Framework and seeking Cabinet approval to appoint the named contractors to the framework in accordance with the report recommendations.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      confirms that it has read, understood, and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 2 to the report) as part of its consideration, and

(b)      the contractors as recommended and detailed in Table 1 (section 3.2 of the report) which had been evaluated according to the scoring and weighting methodology detailed within the tender documents, be appointed to the Housing Voids Framework on the terms outlined within the report.

To consider a confidential joint report by Councillors Jason McLellan, Leader and Lead Member for Economic Growth and Tackling Deprivation and Gwyneth Ellis, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet approval to develop and award a contract to manage Queen’s Market in Rhyl.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)      delegates authority to the Corporate Director: Environment and Economy for awarding a contract to the named party and for the period shown as detailed in section 3.1 to the report, as recommended by the Project Board.  Delegated authority would be subject to consultation with the Section 151 Officer, Monitoring Officer, Head of Corporate Support Services: Performance, Digital and Assets, and the relevant Lead Members;

(b)      agrees to underwrite any losses for the period of the management contract, as per section 6 of the report.  It was anticipated that this could be covered by an existing budget developed specifically for the purpose of supporting regeneration, and

(c)      confirms that it has read, understood and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) as part of its consideration.