Agenda and minutes

L Russell & C Rowlands (Michaelston-y-fedw), A Harris (Goldcliff), K Wilson (Llanwern), P Gregory, A Whitfield & P Appleton (Graig).

The Minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2016 were submitted. 

Item 3: Paperless Consultation.  It was noted that Bishton reported the large development recently granted by Monmouthshire and not Graig.

Agreed:

That the Minutes of the meeting of 23 June 2016 were approved, subject to the above.

Item 3: Paperless Consultation.  There were still some monitors available from Planning; A Jenkins could therefore be contacted by Community Councillors and make enquiries to Planning.

Item 6 Chase: Road Maintenance in Rural Areas. A Jenkins would chase the Senior Operations Manager regarding the storage yards on the outskirts of Bishton that were used by Network Rail.

Concurrent Expenditure

The Concurrent Expenditure for Community Councils

The Head of Finance attended the meeting and gave a brief update on the situation.  The report was taken to Streetscene, Regeneration & Safety Scrutiny Committee but was deferred.

This was based on the actual costs of the concurrent services that community councils currently provided, as set out in their annual budget returns, which the City Council would otherwise be providing.  As such, this was more in line with the purposes of the concurrent expenditure grant, which was to avoid any “double-taxation”.

A copy of the report was circulated to all clerks as well as a link to the Council’s Democracy page for Streetscene, Regeneration and Safety Scrutiny Committee.  The Community Councillors were invited to comment on the content of the report and provide feedback to A Jenkins before the next meeting on 13 October 2016.  Following the meeting a recommendation from the Scrutiny Committee would be presented to the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources.

A presentation from the Partnership Manager on the above Act and the role of the Community Councils.

Both the Local Service Board Co-ordinator and the Partnership Manager were in attendance to discuss the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The Act which came into force on 1 April 2016 was about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales, making the public bodies listed in the Act think more about the long term, work better with people, communities and each other as well as preventing problems, taking a more joined up approach.  The public bodies assessing local wellbeing were:

§Natural Resources Wales

§Fire & Rescue Authority

§Local Authorities

§Local Health Boards

As well as the above, part of the public service organisers were the community councils.

The Wellbeing Act placed a duty on the public bodies, requiring them to report on action to achieve each of the seven national wellbeing goals, these were:

§A prosperous Wales

§A resilient Wales

§A healthier Wales

§A more equal Wales

§A Wales of cohesive communities

§A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh Language

§A globally responsible Wales

The Act placed a duty on certain Community Councils to take steps towards meeting local objectives included in the local wellbeing plan.  Community Councils were subject to that duty only if its gross income or expenditure was £200,000 for each of the three financial years preceding the year the local wellbeing plan was published, this would be by April 2018.  Any Community Council subject to the duty must publish an annual report detailing progress in meeting local objectives.  Those that are not subject to the duty could still contribute towards local objectives on a voluntary basis.

Public Service Boards (PSBs) were required to involve Community Councils in the process of improving wellbeing of local areas and were therefore to be consulted on the wellbeing assessment from December 2016 to February 2017 and the wellbeing plan (2017/18).  Community Councils also had the opportunity of engaging with the PSB when invited to do so.

A questionnaire would go out to individuals via Newport Matters or distribution to schools, Doctor’s surgeries and local communities. 

A hard copy of the questionnaire was available at the meeting for Community Councillors.  An email of the presentation would be sent out to Clerks by A Jenkins.

The next steps would be engagement with key stakeholders which would include community councillors along with guidance and support.

Questions:

Bishton Community Council’s asked when the Council were intending to involve Community Councils.  As this was a new Act, this was the first opportunity to engage with the Community Councillors.  The Information Governance Manager hinted at the meeting in March that a presentation would be coming to a future meeting and this was the soonest opportunity to discuss the Act.

Bishton Community Council stressed the importance of engaging and consulting with the rural areas.  It was noted that the initial task of the PSB was to carry out a wellbeing assessment; this was where the Community Councils could get involved at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Rogerstone Community Council referred to the poor state of the canal in Rogerstone.  A Jenkins would contact Streetscene for information as to whether there might be any future funding or maintenance programme for the canal.

Rogerstone Community Council also raised concern about the cleanliness of the streets within Rogerstone, it appeared that the fortnightly street cleanse had been reduced to once every several months.  A Jenkins would also contact Streetscene regarding this matter.

The Chair suggested that an officer from Streetscene might attend a future meeting to discuss street cleansing.

8 December 2016 at 6pm in Committee Room 1.

The next meeting would be at 6pm, 8 December 2016, in Committee Room 1.