Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin and by video conference

Media

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

Additional documents:

Decision:

Councillor Delyth Jones, Lead Member for Finance

Minutes:

Councillor Delyth Jones, Lead Member for Finance

 

2.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS pdf icon PDF 118 KB

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

Additional documents:

Decision:

No declarations of interest had been raised.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest had been raised.

 

3.

URGENT MATTERS

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:

Decision:

Minutes:

4.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 320 KB

To receive the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 29 April 2025 (copy enclosed). 

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED that, subject to an investigation into the accuracy point raised by Councillor Brian Jones, the minutes of the meeting held on 29 April 2025 be received and confirmed as a correct record.

Minutes:

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 29 April 2025 were submitted.

 

Matters Arising – Item 5 Public Conveniences Savings Proposal – Local Needs Assessment and Draft Local Toilet Strategy –

 

·       Councillor Julie Matthews sought an update on work carried out to secure replacement provision/and or retain existing provision of public conveniences since the last meeting but as the matter was a substantive item next on the agenda, she would raise the issue at that time rather than under the minute item

·       Councillor Arwel Roberts referred to an inaccurate media report after the last Cabinet meeting when “met with silence” had been quoted when referring to St. Asaph, Rhuddlan and Dyserth City/Town/Community Councils which was untrue with those councils having responded to the Council in this matter.  He asked that an apology be sought on behalf of those councils from the reporter concerned. The Leader agreed to discuss the matter with the Deputy Monitoring Officer with a view to making representations to the reporter in that regard

·       Councillor Brian Jones referred to the webcast of the last Cabinet meeting when officers had stated that community groups at Botanical Gardens did not wish to engage in discussions about retaining the toilets.  He advised that he was aware of community groups who did wish to engage on the matter and therefore it was inaccurate for officers to state otherwise.  The Leader suggested that Cabinet approve the minutes subject to an investigation into the point made.

 

RESOLVED that, subject to an investigation into the accuracy point raised by Councillor Brian Jones above, the minutes of the meeting held on 29 April 2025 be received and confirmed as a correct record.

 

5.

OUTCOME OF PARTNERSHIPS SCRUTINY COMMITTEE'S REVIEW OF CABINET'S DECISION RELATING TO THE PUBLIC CONVENIENCES SAVINGS PROPOSAL - LOCAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND DRAFT LOCAL TOILET STRATEGY pdf icon PDF 497 KB

To consider the outcome of the review of the decision taken by Cabinet on 29 April 2025 relating to the Public Conveniences Savings Proposal which had been subject of a call-in and considered by Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 22 May 2025.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED that, by majority vote, Cabinet, having considered and taken into account the recommendation of Partnerships Scrutiny Committee, agrees to add 3 further recommendations to its decision made on the 29th April 2025:

 

(f)       that officers continue to have meaningful discussions with relevant City, Town and Community Councils and any other relevant third party on the options for keeping the public conveniences in question open and the outcomes of these discussions to be reported back to a future Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet meeting as soon as reasonably possible given the Council’s budget setting process for 2026/27;

 

(g)      that the recommendation made by Partnerships Scrutiny Committee to fund the public conveniences via an increase in Council Tax forms part of the Council’s annual budget setting process for 2026/27 and will take into account the outcome of the discussions referred to above, and

 

(h)      that the public conveniences in question will remain open until the discussions referred to in (f) and (g) above are concluded to the satisfaction of Cabinet.

Minutes:

Councillor Brian Jones, Vice Chair of Partnerships Scrutiny Committee presented the report detailing the findings and recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee held on 22 May 2025 following consideration of the call-in of the Cabinet decision taken on 29 April relating to the Public Conveniences Savings Proposal.

 

The report referenced the lengthy debate at the Scrutiny Committee meeting based on the grounds of the call-in.  Following consideration of all the views raised and questions answered during the discussion the Committee was in agreement with all the points raised within the Notice of Call-in.  In addition, members had concerns –

 

·       on the impact the proposed closure of toilets in popular visitor destinations, such as Dyserth, Rhuddlan and St. Asaph would have on the lives and well-being of local residents and communities

·       bearing in mind the conclusions of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment, the effect the decision to close the toilets would have on the Council’s reputation amongst residents, businesses and other stakeholders

·       on the impact the decision would have on staff working within the service and those staff who used the toilets when delivering vital services to residents

·       the frequency of communication with elected members and other stakeholders in relation to proposed service delivery changes, and

·       that silence on the consultation should not be taken as support of the proposals.

 

The Committee, in referring the decision back for review respectfully requested that Cabinet and officers made every effort to keep all communication channels open with City/Town/Community Councils, and all other stakeholders to ensure dignified access to all to quality public conveniences across the county were maintained.

 

Councillor Jones thanked Councillor Meryn Parry for his recommendation and acknowledgement of the cost implications in retaining toilets and meeting future needs and it was accepted that the figures may need to be revised in light of the budget process.  Consequently, Cabinet was asked to reconsider its decision to close existing Denbighshire County Council operated public conveniences, and instead retained these services by funding the required cost figure from a dedicated 0.27% increase in the Council Tax base for 2026/27.  This represented an average cost of no more than £4.38 per year per Band D household, which Partnerships Scrutiny Committee believed was a fair and proportionate investment in protecting health, dignity and accessibility for all residents and visitors across the county.

 

The Leader thanked Councillor Jones for reporting on the scrutiny debate and recommendation and thanked the Scrutiny Committee for their work.  The Leader asked Cabinet to focus debate on the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendation.

 

Main points of discussion focused on the following –

 

·       Councillor Julie Matthews referred to the minutes of the last meeting on this item, which linked in with section 4.8 of the report, when Cabinet had stressed the need to work to secure replacement provision/and or retain existing provision where possible through collaboration, recognising public conveniences remained an essential provision, and requested firmer proposals as to how provision would be protected, and she sought assurances as to how that work was progressing.  Officers advised there had been engagement with relevant City/Town/Community Councils including a joint discussion with St. Asaph, Dyserth and Rhuddlan with a view to finding a solution to keep toilets open in those areas which was ongoing.  However, discussions had been hampered by the call-in as officers awaited clarity on the Council’s position before re-engaging and continuing those discussions.  The Leader highlighted the vital importance of those discussions and negotiations and urged officers to proceed with those discussions without delay.  Cabinet also requested that all members be kept abreast of those discussions and negotiations

·       the Head of Finance and Audit provided some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

PONT LLANERCH pdf icon PDF 240 KB

To consider a report by Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport (copy enclosed) regarding the project aiming to replace Pont Llanerch and risks associated with the construction of a bridge.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

 

(a)      considered the report and detailed design stage report (attached at Appendix A to the report) and on the evidence of the risks presented, supported the conclusions of the Partnership Scrutiny Committee, and decided that the project aiming to replace Pont Llanerch be stopped, and

 

(b)      confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Appendix B to the report).

Minutes:

Councillor Barry Mellor presented the report regarding the project aiming to replace Pont Llanerch and risks associated with the construction of a bridge.

 

The Corporate Director: Environment and Economy, Head of Highways and Environmental Services and Senior Engineer – Bridges and Construction attended.

 

Cabinet was guided though the report which included the extensive work carried out and complexities of the project to replace Pont Llanerch following its collapse in 2021.  The project had been split into three stages: Optioneering, Detailed Design and Construction.  The detailed design stage had been a complicated and lengthy process and raised some significant challenges, the main challenge being the foundation required for a new bridge.  Pont Llanerch was located above a freshwater aquifer within a layer of sandstone and Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water (DC/WW) had a freshwater extraction site next to the old bridge.  The foundation work for a new bridge would require drilling into the sandstone layers which had the potential to compromise water quality and a risk of supply loss to 85,000 DC/WW customers, and introduce a public health risk with wide reaching consequences.

 

Members were also guided through a technical presentation illustrating further details of the project’s optioneering and detailed design stages including reasoning behind the preferred option, foundations, ground investigations and outcome.  Cabinet was assured that every possible engineering solution for building a new bridge had been considered with the Council exhausting the optioneering and designing the most viable option for replacing the bridge.  However, it had not been possible to design a replacement bridge without creating an unknown level of risk to the water supply in the region with no known means of rectifying the problem.  The matter had been discussed at Partnerships Scrutiny Committee in April 2025 and their conclusions and recommendations had been set out in the report for Cabinet to consider.  Given the significant risks associated with construction of a replacement bridge it was recommended that Cabinet made a decision to stop the project.

 

Cabinet stated that all involved wanted Pont Llanerch to be rebuilt and that aim had been included as an ambition within the Corporate Plan with much work carried out in that regard with support from the Welsh Government and at significant cost.  However, having exhausted all options to design a replacement bridge it was clear from the expert engineering and risk management advice given that it would not be possible to construct a bridge without the risk of compromising the water supply to 85,000 homes with no known means of rectifying the problem and no insurance against that liability.  Main discussion points focused on the following –

 

·       given the complexities and technicalities of the project it was felt there was some public misconception and a general lack of understanding of the situation

·       a representative from DC/WW had been unable to attend the meeting to answer questions but a representative had attended the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee in April 2025 to help inform that debate and their stance remained the same in that proceeding with the project presented too high a risk to the water supply of homes and businesses across the majority of the north of Wales

·       the aquifer was a porous rock with water contained within it and filtered in the rock itself and extracted; it was approximately 22km long, 5km wide and 100m deep hence it would not be possible to move the bridge some distance up or down stream because it would still be located over the aquifer

·       the issue of a temporary bridge had been raised but it would still require the same foundations and so the risk remained, and it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

BUDGET AMENDMENT OF £500K pdf icon PDF 169 KB

To consider a report by Councillor Diane King, Lead Member for Education, Children and Families (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet’s support on the proposed spending of the additional £500k to support learner wellbeing, attendance, behaviour, and learners in poverty.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED that Cabinet supported the proposed plan to develop learner wellbeing, attendance, behaviour, and support learners in poverty.

Minutes:

Councillor Diane King presented the report seeking Cabinet’s support for the proposed spending of the additional £500k transferred to the Education Service to develop learner wellbeing, attendance, behaviour, and support learners in poverty following the agreed budget amendment at Council on 20 February 2025.

 

Cabinet was advised there was no single solution to address the issues which were of both national and local concern and impacted greatly by the Covid pandemic.  The funding would go towards supporting existing work and developing new work streams.  There had been considerable discussion on how best to utilise the funding and the report included the professional views of officers and wider national evidence available on effective practice.  The proposal aimed to address the needs of schools and more importantly the needs of young people to fulfil their potential.

 

The Head of Education detailed the engagement with professional officers and head teachers on how best to target the funding and considered both local and national views.  He thanked Cabinet and full Council for the additional funding and continued focus in support of education.  He guided Cabinet through the report detail and proposal for utilising the additional £500k allocated to the Education Service which included a cost breakdown of the six expenditure lines which covered modernising the data analysis system and recruitment of Family Link Workers, Family Engagement Officers, Behaviour Support Staff, Education Psychologist and Welfare Officer.  A total of 9 officers would be recruited to build capacity and focus on methods that were known to work.  Whilst £500k was exceptionally welcome it was important to note that it would not solve every issue in those four key areas.

 

In response to questions the Lead Member and officers –

 

·       detailed consultation with professional officers, Head Teachers, Trade Unions, School Budget Forum and Corporate Executive Team as part of the process; Performance Scrutiny Committee had scrutinised and approved the proposals

·       explained it was an area for which the Welsh Government had provided grant funding, but it had been difficult to recruit into those fixed term positions. As the £500k was a reoccurring amount in the budget the posts would be permanent which would be more appealing to potential applicants and aid recruitment

·       measuring wellbeing posed a huge challenge and attending school was a huge part of that wellbeing with increased benefits in terms of learning, social issues and free school meals for younger children and the extra funding would help target those areas with 9 extra officers being recruitment in that regard.

 

The Leader thanked the Lead Member, Head of Education and his team for the hard work in ensuring that the extra funding was spent in order to get best value.

 

RESOLVED that Cabinet supported the proposed plan to develop learner wellbeing, attendance, behaviour, and support learners in poverty.

 

8.

CABINET FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 495 KB

To receive the enclosed Cabinet Forward Work Programme and note the contents. 

Additional documents:

Decision:

Minutes: