Agenda and minutes

The following Member made a declaration of interest at the

commencement of the meeting:

Cllr M Harvey                                  Re: Draft Budget for Consultation 2022-23 as Appendix 1 makes reference to CCTV and he is employed by South Wales Police.

·        1 September 2021

·        22 September 2021

·        17 November 2021

The minutes of the meetings held on the 1 September 2021, 22 September 2021 and 17 November 2021 were approved, subject to the following comments on the minutes dated 1 September 2021:

During the scrutiny of the agenda item relating to the ‘Management of Risk and Liabilities of disused Mine and Quarry Tips within the Authority and the future management of Coal Tip Safety’, Members noted concern that although the responsibility for the maintenance of Coal Tips rests within the ownership of the County Borough and Welsh Government, the exploitation of the coal/minerals remained with the UK Government.

·        To select appropriate items from the Cabinet agenda for pre-decision scrutiny (cabinet reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members)

The Committee scrutinised the following Cabinet Board items:

Corporate Plan 2022-2027 - Recover, Reset, Renew

Members received a report which was seeking approval to consult on an updated Corporate Plan for the period 2022-2027.

The Chief Executive stated that the report captured the Councils response to the pandemic, and set out the impacts on communities and the local economy; the impacts had changed the context of the way in which the Council needed to plan going forward. It was noted that the Council had a statutory duty to produce these plans and had to consider, as part of this work, whether the previous wellbeing objectives remained appropriate or if they needed to be changed; it had been concluded that the wellbeing objectives needed to be amended in light of the change of context. Another part of this work which was highlighted included looking forward to identify various factors that would have an effect in the future such as climate change, financial settlements and the Welsh Governments own programme for Government.

It was noted that the circulated report also summarised the initial recovery actions that the Council had taken; actions against recovery had proceeded as and when they could, dependant on the situation of the pandemic. One of the pieces of work Officers mentioned that they had completed was setting out the priorities for the next phase, which had been split into four new wellbeing objectives:

1.   Best start in life for all children and young people;

2.   Building thriving and sustainable communities by drawing on the strengths seen in communities during the pandemic;

3.   Give a greater priority to the work carried out around local environment, culture and heritage;

4.   Renew and intensify work in order to create good quality, green jobs in the area, and to help local people equip themselves with the skills and confidence to take up that employment.

Officers stated that all of this work will need to be underpinned by a significant organisational change programme within the Council; when developing the Corporate Plan, Officers had liaised with Members regarding the sorts of changes to the culture and ways of working that will need to be introduced. It was mentioned that at the heart of this change was being one Council; over the course of the pandemic, many departments across the Council had come together as a team, and silos between departments had been broken down. The Chief Executive added that this was going to be a really important part of the way the Council progresses forward.

One element that hadn’t been completed yet was noted to be working out the measures in relation to the new wellbeing objectives; there was some work to be completed over the coming weeks to ensure that the Council could demonstrate the difference these will make. It was highlighted that Officers will be interested in any views the public may have about the ways in which the Council could measure success as part of the consultation. The Committee was informed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.