Agenda, decisions and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin
Media
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POINT OF NOTICE The Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services drew attention to guidance provided to elected members in relation to conduct during the pre-election period and responsibilities in that regard to ensure that the Council remained impartial. Additional documents: |
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: Decision: There were no
apologies from members. Steve Gadd, Chief
Accountant and S.151 Officer Minutes: There were no
apologies from members. Steve Gadd, Chief
Accountant and S.151 Officer |
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS PDF 116 KB Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Additional documents: Decision: No declaration of interest had been raised. Minutes: No declaration of interest had been raised. |
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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: No urgent matters had been raised. Minutes: No urgent matters had been raised. |
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To receive the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 22 October 2019 (copy enclosed). Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that the minutes
of the meeting held on 22 October 2019 be received and confirmed as a correct
record. Minutes: The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 22 October 2019
were submitted. Accuracy – Page 8, Item 6 Cabinet Forward Work Programme – whilst the information provided in the minutes had been correct at the time, Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts advised that the item on 21st Century Schools Programme: Band B Proposals had since been rescheduled from November to December in accordance with pre-election guidance. RESOLVED that the minutes
of the meeting held on 22 October 2019 be received and confirmed as a correct
record. |
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LIBRARY STRATEGY 2019 - 22 PDF 219 KB To consider a report by Councillor Tony Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities (copy enclosed) presenting the Library Strategy 2019 – 22 for Cabinet endorsement. Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) endorse the Library Strategy 2019 - 22,
and (b) confirms that it has read, understood and
taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 2 to the report) as
part of its consideration. Minutes: Councillor
Tony Thomas introduced the report and presented the Library Strategy 2019 – 22
for Cabinet endorsement. The Strategy
outlined the vision for the public library service in Denbighshire and what it
aimed to achieve in the next three years. Councillor
Thomas highlighted the importance of the library service and provided a number
of key performance statistics to demonstrate how well the service was
performing with Denbighshire ranked in the top 10 authorities in Wales for a
range of measures. The Chief Executive
highlighted the value of the digital assistance sessions, particularly given
the issues around digital connectivity in the county. The
Head of Customers and Communities explained the reasoning for the Strategy in
order to highlight the importance of the service within communities and how it
contributed to the Council’s strategic priorities. She also reported upon the
investment over recent years in library buildings and staff and further
development of partnerships to maximise benefits, emphasising the importance of
the service in terms wellbeing, learning and prosperity, and also the key role
for communities to take ownership and become actively involved. The cost of the library service was just
under £3 per library visit and a national study from 2013 showed library user
local spend was around £8, which was being put back into the local economy. Cabinet
acknowledged the importance of the library service to local communities and
people’s health and wellbeing and commended the range of activities and
initiatives provided. In considering the
Strategy discussion focused on the following – ·
in response to questions from Councillor Mark
Young it was confirmed that opening hours were under constant review with a
view to best meeting the needs of communities within the finite resources
available and assurances given that Wi-Fi was available in all libraries which
could be accessed by the public ·
Councillor Richard Mainon was keen to see
greater commercialisation and income generation together with more use of
volunteers and extended opening hours to maximise the benefits of the service;
he also felt there would be merit in developing SMART targets to measure
progress. The key role of volunteers within the action plan to take particular
initiatives and projects forward was explained.
The promotion of the use of libraries as community hubs and for
community activities outside of traditional opening hours was also highlighted
and particular reference was made to the successful partnership work with Rhuddlan Town Council and St. Asaph City Council in that
regard ·
the difficulties in comparing service costs
with other authorities was explained given that Denbighshire was the only
library service integrated with its customer services, however Denbighshire did
appear more expensive when compared to other local authorities and further
analysis was being undertaken to ascertain the reasons for that and the
potential for any further efficiencies to be made ·
Councillor Bobby Feeley highlighted the social
value of the service and referred to the range of activities to engage with
communities and more vulnerable sectors of society but she understood the need
to make libraries more commercialised and cost effective and looked for
opportunities in that respect. In response to further questions from non-Cabinet members the Head of Customers and Communities elaborated upon the various services offered including the well valued housebound service. It was clarified that the £2.94 cost per library visit did not include the housebound service. Councillor Meirick Davies queried the impact of not providing hard copies of planning applications within libraries and the Head of Customers and Communities agreed to look into the matter and report back to him outside of the meeting. Councillor Peter Scott took the opportunity to thank ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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CORPORATE PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORT QUARTER 2, 2019 TO 2020 PDF 124 KB To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) presenting an update on the delivery of the Corporate Plan 2017 – 2022 as at the end of quarter 2 (July to September 2019). Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet
notes the progress in delivering the Corporate Plan as at the end of quarter 2
of 2019/20 and confirms the content of the draft report. Minutes: Councillor
Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report updating members on progress in
delivery of the Corporate Plan 2017 – 2022 as at the end of quarter 2. The
Corporate Plan set the strategic direction for the council and its priorities
for the five year period. A summary of
data and project updates had been provided for quarter 2 together with data
tables outlining the current position.
The report also outlined how projects identified in support of each
priority were developing. Performance
was as expected for the midway stage of the Corporate Plan and whilst there
were fluctuations in individual priority areas, the overall performance summary
for both measures and projects showed that all bar one priority had been
assessed as ‘acceptable’ and one had been assessed as ‘excellent’. The
Strategic Planning and Performance Team Leader explained the different style of
reporting following adoption of the accessibility template. He guided members through the report and
provided an update on progress made against each of the corporate priorities,
highlighting key issues and project developments. There were fifteen items of new data in the
quarter 2 update – seven of which had declined and six of which had improved. Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill added that
performance measures were monitored through the Council’s usual reporting
mechanisms and all individual projects continued to be monitored by the
Programme Boards. During
consideration of the report Cabinet raised the following issues – ·
Councillor Bobby Feeley referred to the
amalgamation of the housing and homelessness strategies into one strategy
document and officers agreed to reflect that change in the language of future
performance reports and consider the potential inclusion of homelessness performance
measures as appropriate ·
Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts referred to
the comparison tables and queried why so many of the measures did not apply and
also highlighted a number of examples where performance had declined or
improved which had not resulted in a change in the categorisation status. Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill responded
that the infrequency of some reporting mechanisms meant that there was no
comparable data during a particular time period to apply; in terms of the
categorisation status a range was set for each measure against each status and
therefore performance could decline or improve within the range and result in
no change to the categorisation status.
It was also highlighted that the measure for A and B roads was benchmarked
against All Wales data and measured within that context. For clarity it was agreed that future performance
reports contain some narrative as to how particular measures had been assessed
and their frequency to better reflect their performance within the relevant context
together with an explanation of the categorisation status. The
Lead Members and officers also responded to questions from non-Cabinet members
as follows – ·
Superfast Broadband and Mobile Networks –
Councillor Meirick Davies raised a question regarding broadband coverage and
given that there was a political angle to the response Councillor Richard
Mainon agreed to provide an answer outside of the meeting in order to comply
with pre-election guidance ·
School Nutrition Project – reference was made
to the scrutiny of the school meal arrears which had reduced significantly and
in response to recent news reports assurances were provided that every child in
Denbighshire was always provided with a meal if they had no packed lunch or
were in school meal arrears ·
Modernising Education Programme – the
position with regard to the Welsh Language Development Centre was elaborated
upon together with the separation of the building work to adapt the existing
building and the car parking elements of the scheme for which planning
permission was required · Percentage of the ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy. Additional documents:
Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet
note the budgets set for 2019/20 and progress against the agreed budget
strategy. Minutes: Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the
report detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed
budget strategy. He provided a summary
of the Council’s financial position as follows – ·
the net
revenue budget for 2019/20 was £198.538m (£194.418m in 2018/19) ·
an
overspend of £2.111m was forecast for service and corporate budgets ·
highlighted
current risks and assumptions relating to individual service areas ·
detailed
required savings and efficiencies of £5.672m including corporate savings
identified in 2018/19 (£0.5m), schools savings of 2% (£1.32m) and service
efficiencies and savings (£3.852m) with an approved allocation of £616k from
the Savings Achievement Contingency to offset non-achievement savings ·
provided a general
update on the Capital Plan, Housing Revenue Account and Housing Capital Plan. With regard to the projected overspend of
£2.111m it was explained that in the absence of any mitigation by the end of
the financial year it was likely that resources would need to be utilised from
base reserves. In response to a question from Councillor
Meirick Davies regarding the Queens Market Redevelopment, the Corporate
Director: Economy and Public Realm reported upon dialogue with stallholders and
confirmed that officers were providing business advice and supporting tenants
with relocation as required. It was the
responsibility of business owners to advise customers of their relocation. Councillor Brian Jones added that the process
of vacating the site had been handled well. RESOLVED that Cabinet
note the budgets set for 2019/20 and progress against the agreed budget
strategy. |
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CABINET FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME PDF 293 KB To receive the enclosed Cabinet Forward Work Programme and note the contents.
Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet’s
forward work programme be noted. Minutes: The Cabinet forward work programme was
presented for consideration and members noted the addition of an item on Budget
Proposals 2020/21 for January. Cabinet was also advised that although the next
meeting was scheduled after the election, the agenda would need to be published
earlier within the pre-election period.
Consequently if an item was considered politically sensitive it would
remain on the agenda but the accompanying report would not be published until
after the election had taken place, but still in time for it to be considered
at the meeting. RESOLVED that Cabinet’s forward work programme be noted. The meeting concluded at 11.20 hrs. |