Venue: Council Chamber - Port Talbot Civic Centre
No. | Item |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: The
following Member made a declaration of interest at the commencement of the
meeting: Councillor M.Harvey - Re:
Report of the Corporate Directors Group – Revenue Budget Monitoring Report
2019/20, and Private Joint Report of the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief
Digital Officer; the Head of Adult Services and the Head of Property and
Regeneration – CCTV Service Remodelling Update, as he is employed by South
Wales Police. |
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting PDF 65 KB Minutes: That
the Minutes of the previous meeting, held on 10 July, 2019, be approved. |
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Pre Decision Scrutiny Minutes: The
Committee scrutinised the following Cabinet items: Draft
Decarbonisation and Renewable Energy Strategy The Draft Decarbonisation and
Renewable Energy Strategy focused on issues within the Council’s remit, on a local
level. The Strategy was not a statutory document, so the public consultation
was aimed at receiving comments and building on what the Council was already
doing to reduce its carbon footprint. Members suggested the word
‘environmental’ be removed from page 1, paragraph 1.1.1 of the Draft Strategy,
attached at appendix one to the circulated report. Officers confirmed this
suggestion would feed into the consultation. Discussion also took place on
areas including: ·
local forms of
renewable energy; ·
planning policy
guidance; ·
the consultation
process and channels of engagement with the public and stakeholders and ·
local pollution reducing strategies. Following scrutiny, the
Committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by Cabinet. Revenue Budget Monitoring
2019/20 Overspends and underspends
were discussed, along with absences within the cleaning service, and the back
filling of positions in the case of sickness. The Cabinet Member for
Finance advised the Committee that a close eye was kept on the revenue budget
throughout the year, and that Welsh Government was frequently lobbied for extra
funding. Following scrutiny, the
Committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by Cabinet. Valleys Action Plan –
Progress Members were pleased to note
the progress as described within the circulated report. Officers explained that
although the ‘Future actions in the Valleys’ (appendix to the circulated
report) aimed to be valleys specific, it was also important to have sight of
wider Welsh Government policies, for example, in relation to transport. Following scrutiny the report
was noted. |
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Forward Work Programme 19/20 PDF 73 KB Minutes: During
the last meeting of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee, Members had scrutinised the
work of the Public Services Board (PSB), as per their remit. The relevant PSB
partners had now been invited to attend the Scrutiny meeting of 25 September 2019,
to provide specific updates, as requested. The
Committee noted the Forward Work Programme for 2019/20. |
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Access to Meetings To
resolve to exclude the public for the following items pursuant to Regulation 4
(3) and (5) of Statutory Instrument 2001 No.2290 and the relevant exempt
paragraphs of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 Minutes: RESOLVED: that pursuant to Section 100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972,
the public be excluded for the following
item of business which involved the likely
disclosure of exempt information as defined in
Paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the
above Act. |
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Pre Decision Scrutiny of Private Item Minutes: Committee
scrutinised the following private Cabinet item: CCTV
– Service Remodelling Update (At
this point, Councillor M.Harvey reaffirmed his
interest in the item, left the meeting and took no further part in the discussion
and voting thereon. Councillor S.Rahaman took over
the Chair.) Although
not a statutory service, Members felt that the CCTV service was of vital
importance with regards to community safety. It was noted that the CCTV service
had initially been set up with grants from the Home Office, but over recent
years similar grants had been in short supply. Members
queried whether partner agencies had been invited to collaborate and also
contribute to the cost of the service, and noted that to date, there had been
no take up of this offer. Despite the use of CCTV footage in criminal justice
proceedings, the Police and Crime Commissioner was reluctant to fund any costs
towards the service. It
was possible that collaboration with Briton Ferry Town Council could be an
option. This was currently being explored. Other avenues of collaboration with
regards the CCTV service included developer contributions and licensing levies which
had been explored, but which were not feasible. For
the future it may be possible to expand the service to other agencies, but
there could be a significant capital cost to achieve the required certificates. Following
the strategic review, a further report would be taken to the Community Safety
and Public Protection Scrutiny Sub Committee before the end of the year, prior
to final decisions being taken on the way forward. Following
scrutiny, the Committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by
Cabinet. Councillor
Harvey re-joined the meeting. |