Agenda item

To consider any issues raised by Scrutiny Committee for Cabinet’s attention.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       acknowledges Communities Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions and recommendations following its review of the Cabinet decisions of 25 September 2018;

(b)       having taken into account the recommendations from Communities Scrutiny Committee and the further information provided at the meeting confirms the decisions made on 25 September 2018 to –

(i)    approve undertaking pre-planning consultation and subsequent full planning applications (taking into consideration the outcomes of the pre-planning exercise) for the residential and transit Gypsy and Traveller sites on the Green-gates Farm East site in the locations indicated in Appendix 1 to the report, and

(ii)  approve the submission of funding bids to the Welsh Government in respect of proposals for residential and/or transit Gypsy Traveller sites subject to planning consent being granted in line with the programme outlined in paragraph 4.11 of the report.”

(c)        the Lead Member liaise with Local Members as to the most appropriate form and method of consultation with the local community during the pre-planning consultation, and

(d)       in all matters to come before Cabinet for a formal decision Lead Members do now and will in future consider the need to brief and engage the wider membership and the most appropriate and proportionate way to do this which could include Council Briefing, Scrutiny Committee, Member Area Groups or workshops/training events.

Councillor Graham Timms, Vice-Chair of Communities Scrutiny Committee presented the report detailing the conclusions reached by the Scrutiny Committee following consideration of the call-in of the Cabinet decision taken on 25 September 2018 in respect of Gypsy and Traveller Site provision.

In brief, whilst it was acknowledged that Cabinet had received and discussed further information through Cabinet Briefings it was the Scrutiny Committee’s view that insufficient comparable information had been provided in the Cabinet report of 25 September 2018 to enable Cabinet to make an informed decision on the most suitable site.  Consequently Cabinet had been asked to revisit their decision taking into account additional information including comparable data for each site and the reasons why locations included on an earlier list of potential sites had been discounted.  In addition the Scrutiny Committee considered that Cabinet should have reported the matter to Council Briefing for wider member input before making a formal decision and it was recommended that this practice be followed in future when considering potentially controversial decisions.  Finally Councillor Timms expressed his view on the timing of Cabinet’s review of the decision and felt strongly that the late notification and availability of the additional information requested by Scrutiny in this case had left insufficient time for all councillors to fully digest that information and make arrangements to attend and raise questions at the Cabinet meeting.  Therefore he urged Cabinet to reconsider their decision on this issue at the next scheduled meeting on 30 October 2018 which would demonstrate that Cabinet had fully taken into account Scrutiny’s recommendations.

The Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services explained how the provisions of the public notification legislation under the Local Government Act 1972 had been met and also provided details of the Constitution’s call in rules.  Having taken into account Scrutiny’s recommendations Cabinet may consider reviewing the decision at this meeting or defer to a future meeting.  Lead Member Councillor Tony Thomas provided some further background advising that the project had been ongoing for some time and had never been called into Scrutiny with Cabinet having confirmed a preference for the site in April 2018.  After considering the issues raised by Scrutiny and given that the information they had requested had been provided Councillor Thomas proposed, seconded by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, that Cabinet proceed to review their decision without delay.  On that basis the Leader sought assurances that Cabinet was satisfied they were able to make a fully informed decision and upon being put to the vote it was RESOLVED ACCORDINGLY.  Councillor Richard Mainon abstained from voting on that proposition.

Prior to reviewing the decision Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts referred to Scrutiny recommendation 3.3 for all councillors to be briefed on potentially controversial decisions at Council Briefing and Cabinet supported his proposition for an amendment to also include other briefing methods as appropriate including Scrutiny Committee, Member Area Groups or workshop/training events.

EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

In order to revisit the Cabinet decision of 25 September 2018 and consider the detail of the confidential appendices it was –

RESOLVED that under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the Press and Public be excluded from the meeting on the grounds that it would involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Lead Officer – Corporate Property and Housing Stock reminded Cabinet of the Council’s statutory responsibilities in meeting the needs identified for the provision of Gypsy and Traveller Sites and detailed the comprehensive and lengthy process of site selection and assessment leading up to the current position.  Cabinet’s attention was drawn to the additional information requested by Scrutiny and the Lead Officer elaborated on the pros and cons of each site and reasoning behind the proposal for the Greengates site as opposed to other potential sites initially identified and members were given the opportunity to raise questions thereon.

Councillor Peter Scott (Local Member for St. Asaph) thanked Scrutiny for their work but was disappointed that consideration of the decision had not been delayed to the next Cabinet meeting in line with Councillor Timms’ request.  Councillor Scott also felt that some of the information contained within the pros and cons table was subjective and was concerned that no consultation with the public or stakeholders had been carried out in advance.  He sought assurances that any future process would involve a robust and extensive consultation process.  Officers responded that given the element of confidentiality and the process to be followed it would not be appropriate to consult on a range of potential sites during the selection process.  However Cabinet felt there would be merit in extending the statutory pre planning consultation requirements given the nature of the proposal and agreed to include this element within their resolution.  Councillor Richard Mainon suggested that similar processes in the future should be carried out more objectively with key criteria and scoring mechanisms which were factually based to remove the element of subjectivity which had been raised in this case.  Councillor Glenn Swingler was concerned to note that whilst additional information had been provided in terms of the pros and cons of each site, there were still a number of examples where they had not been applied consistently to each site on a comparable basis.

Cabinet noted the lengthy and extensive process followed in reaching this stage and considered that the information provided clear reasons why sites had been deemed unsuitable and discounted.  Having considered Scrutiny’s conclusions and the additional information provided Cabinet was satisfied that a fully informed decision could be made at this time and it was subsequently –

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       acknowledges Communities Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions and recommendations following its review of the Cabinet decisions of 25 September 2018;

(b)       having taken into account the recommendations from Communities Scrutiny Committee and the further information provided at the meeting confirms the decisions made on 25 September 2018 to –

(i)    approve undertaking pre-planning consultation and subsequent full planning applications (taking into consideration the outcomes of the pre-planning exercise) for the residential and transit Gypsy and Traveller sites on the Green-gates Farm East site in the locations indicated in Appendix 1 to the report, and

(ii)  approve the submission of funding bids to the Welsh Government in respect of proposals for residential and/or transit Gypsy Traveller sites subject to planning consent being granted in line with the programme outlined in paragraph 4.11 of the report.”

(c)        the Lead Member liaise with Local Members as to the most appropriate form and method of consultation with the local community during the pre-planning consultation, and

(d)       in all matters to come before Cabinet for a formal decision Lead Members do now and will in future consider the need to brief and engage the wider membership and the most appropriate and proportionate way to do this which could include Council Briefing, Scrutiny Committee, Member Area Groups or workshops/training events.

Councillor Richard Mainon voted against resolution (b) above.

The meeting concluded at 6.10 p.m.