Venue: Remotely via Teams
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Chairs Announcements Minutes: The
Committee was informed of an error in the following report on the Cabinet Board
Agenda: ·
Agenda Item 8 – Key Performance Indicators
2019/2020 – Quarter 1 (1 April 2021 – 30 June 2021) It was noted that the title of the report should read ‘Key Performance Indicators 2020/2021 –
Quarter 1 (1 April 2021 – 30 June 2021)’ Following the update, Members noted the error. |
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Declarations of interest Minutes: The
following Members made a declaration of interest: Cllr. S. Rahaman - Re. Cabinet Board
Agenda Item 7 – Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as he owns a local business within the County
Borough which received grant support. Cllr. S. Pursey - Re. Cabinet Board
Agenda Item 7 - Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as he is a Trustee of Taibach Community Library
which has received grant support. Cllr. S. Knoyle - Re. Cabinet Board Agenda Item 7 -
Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as he
is the Director of Glynneath RFC Limited and also has a local business within
the County Borough which has received grant support. Cllr. R. Taylor - Re. Cabinet Board Agenda Item 7 -
Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as she is a Trustee of Taibach Community Library
which has received grant support. Cllr. D. Cawsey - Re. Cabinet Board
Agenda Item 7 - Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as he is a Trustee and Non-executive Director of various
charities and organisations that received grant support. Cllr. S. Hunt - Re. Cabinet Board Agenda Item 7 -
Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as he is a member and Chairman of various charities
and organisations that received grant support. Cllr. H. James - Re. Cabinet
Board Agenda Item 7 - Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March
2020 to Present, as he is Chair of the Neath Port Authority
which received grant support. Cllr. N. Hunt - Re. Cabinet Board
Agenda Item 7 - Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present, as he owns a local business within the County
Borough which received grant support. Cllr. C. Jones - Re. Cabinet
Board Agenda Item 7 - Covid-19 Grant Support for Local Businesses from March
2020 to Present, as he is an official at Alltwen RFC and owns a local business
within the County Borough which received grant support. |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting PDF 155 KB ·
30 July 2021 Minutes: The
minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2021 were approved. |
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Report on Community Benefits PDF 347 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Members were provided
with a report on outputs and results from the delivery of community benefits
through the construction phase of Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School. It was stated that all
of the Councils construction projects were linked to the South Wales
Contractors Regional Framework; and all had contractual community benefits
within the construction projects. It was mentioned that they were based around
targeted recruitment and training; for example taking on local unemployed
people, providing work experience opportunities, taking on local
apprenticeships using the local supply chain and supporting community
initiatives. Officers explained that
they decided to use Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School as an example because
despite the pandemic, they had overachieved on all of their targets; apart from
the school engagement target which was difficult to achieve due to the
pandemic. It was highlighted that this target was hoped to be achieved by the
end of next year. A discussion took place
in regards to the sustainability of the projects. It was noted that the Council
part funded the shared apprenticeship scheme, which has enabled work experience
and shared apprenticeships to be completed; this has provided individuals with
opportunities to obtain local jobs as they had been upskilled and trained to do
so. Members were informed that long term unemployed individuals had been taken
on via the Workways and Communities for Work Project; the contractor had also
worked with local social enterprises including Women’s Aid social enterprise
arm, Thrive, and given them employment opportunities. The Committee noted the
report. |
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Rhondda Tunnel Society Presentation PDF 9 MB Minutes: It
was confirmed that the Rhondda Tunnel Society Presentation would be deferred to
a future meeting of the Committee due to unforeseen circumstances. |
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Pre-Decision Scrutiny To
select appropriate items from the Cabinet Board agenda for pre-decision
scrutiny (reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members) Minutes: Commercial Property
Grant: 23 Church Place, Neath, SA11 3LL The Committee received a
report regarding the proposal to part fund improvements to the external
appearance of the commercial property 23 Church Place, Neath, SA11 3LL. It was explained that this
grant would physically enhance the character of Church Place and the Neath
Conservation Area, as the existing rendering was in poor condition and had
become a safety hazard to pedestrians due to the rendering crumbling and
falling to the street. Officers added that the grant would be used to re-render
the Old Market Street and side elevations of the building. Reference was made to
the target areas of the Commercial Property Grant; one of which was specific
commercial centres. It was confirmed that the grant could be offered to various
commercial centres across the whole of the County Borough; however they had to
be in a significant visual area. Members were informed that the idea of the
Commercial Property Grant was to improve the streetscene,
therefore the buildings that were very visible to the public. Members queried what the
finish of the building was going to look like, and highlighted the importance
of the visual appearance of Neath Conservation Area. Officers confirmed that
they will liaise with colleagues in the Planning Service to ensure that the new
rendering fitted in with the conservation area. Following scrutiny, the
Committee was supportive of the proposal to be considered by the Cabinet Board. Covid-19 Grant Support
for Local Businesses from March 2020 to Present (Cllr. S.Rahaman, Cllr. N.Hunt, Cllr. S.Knoyle and Cllr. C.Jones
re-affirmed their interest at this point and withdrew from the meeting) An update report was
provided to Members on the activities of the Economic Development Service in
processing Covid-19 financial assistance to local businesses from March 2020 to
August 2021. It was noted that in
March 2020, the UK Government announced that the Country would be entering a
lockdown; following this Welsh Government announced that they would be using a
non-domestic rate system to deliver emergency grant payments to businesses
across Wales. Officers confirmed that at that time, to qualify for grant
support, business needed to either be in receipt of small business rates
relief, be operating within the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors or be a
registered charity or community sports club; initially these grants were in the
region of £10k and £25k, and the level of support was dependant on the rateable
value of their property. Members were informed that it quickly became apparent that there was going to be a huge demand on services, in terms of providing advice and guidance to local businesses to help them access the relevant support; in response to this, three members of the Economic Development Team were immediately assigned to support the Business Rates Team. It was stated that this enabled the Business Rates Team to concentrate on processing the grants and providing payments to businesses as efficiently as possible; the Economic Development Team focused on fielding all ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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Forward Work Programme 2021/22 PDF 220 KB Minutes: Members
noted the Regeneration and Sustainable Development Scrutiny Forward Work Programme
for 2021/22. |
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Urgent items (whether public or exempt) at the discretion of the Chairman
pursuant to Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972 Minutes: Because
of the need to deal now with the matters contained in Minute No. 11 below, the
Chairperson agreed that these could be raised at today’ s meeting as urgent items
pursuant to Statutory Instrument No.2290 (as amended). Reason
for Urgency: Due
to the time element. |
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Access to Meetings To
resolve to exclude the public for the following item(s) pursuant to Section
100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972 and the relevant exempt
paragraphs of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the above Act. Minutes:
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Pre-Decision Scrutiny of Private Item/s To
select appropriate items from the Private Cabinet Board agenda for pre-decision
scrutiny (reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members) Minutes: The Committee
scrutinised the following private Cabinet Board item: Proposed acquisition of
Land and Domestic Garage at the Junction of A48 and Water Street, Margam for the proposed Footpath/Cycleway Scheme linking Eglwys Nunydd and St David's
Park, Margam Members were provided
with a report regarding the proposed acquisition of Land and Domestic Garage at
the Junction of A48 and Water Street, Margam for the
proposed Footpath/Cycleway Scheme linking Eglwys Nunydd and St David's Park, Margam. Following scrutiny, the
Committee was supportive of the proposal to be considered by the Cabinet Board. |
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Proposed Disposal of Land at Harbourside to NPT College together with the proposed Acquisition of Land at Fabian Way from Welsh Government Minutes: Members
were provided with a report which detailed the proposed disposal of Land at
Harbourside to NPT College together with the proposed Acquisition of Land at
Fabian Way from Welsh Government. Following
scrutiny, the Committee was supportive of the proposal to be considered by the
Cabinet Board. |