Agenda and minutes

J Davies (Bishton), B Miles (Wentlooge), A Harris (Goldcliff), A Whitfield, V Dudley

(Rogerstone).

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018 were submitted.

Agreed:

That the minutes were recorded as a true recorded.

Concurrent Expenditure

This was deferred in order for the Cabinet Member for Community & Resources to review for budget discussions.  The Cabinet Member was looking to make a decision in October and would notify Community Councils in early November.

Independent Review of Town and Community Councils

The Graig representative referred to the independent review on Town and Community Councils and what could be done by Community Councils to move forward and use their powers.  In response, the Chair advised that it was up to the Community Councils on how they wanted to deliver local services.  The Welsh Government would like to devolve functions to Community Councils to cut costs.

The Langstone representative asked what was the reaction to the recommendation referred to above.  It would be difficult for some areas, such as Stow Hill as it was difficult to draw a line, in Caerleon however there was a boundary, should they wish to form a Town or Community Council.  It would also be a similar case with the electoral review and what model areas would look like.

Community Councillors asked were there any restrictions on what functions they could carry out in their area, ie could they treat Japanese knotweed themselves.  In this case they could as it would relate to concurrent functions.  There were some functions that only Newport City Council could operate, such as education or social services but as far as land management was concerned, it would be up to Community Council’s spending within their local precept.  The Charter would ensure that the City Council and Community Council would discuss the services to ensure that they were not duplicated. 

The Council would not be carrying out the community review as mentioned last time.  The Boundary Commission contacted Electoral Registration and advised that because the review was due next year, there was no time to make the changes therefore it would be put on hold pending the review.

This however would not affect the current Community Councils but ward boundaries for the City Council and Ward Councillors would be reviewed.  Some of the recommendations made in other areas, such as Blaenau Gwent led to a substantial reduction.  Newport City Council should retain around 50 councillors, the relevance of the boundary rather than mathematical ratio such as councillor per population would be considered with the possibility of extra councillors to 52/55 due to expansion of Glan Llyn and Jubilee Park development. 

The Wentlooge representative asked who decided how many Community Councils there would be per area such as St Brides, Peterstone etc. and whether this could it be changed.  The Chair could not give an answer to this query but would check on the changing of the representation of the areas.

A presentation from the Regional Community Cohesion Coordinator on Prevent which is the Government’s aim to stop vulnerable people from being exploited and drawn into terrorism

The presentation was deferred to a future meeting, depending on the items discussed at December 2018 or March 2019.

Community Councillors were disappointed with the turn out as there were only five community councils in attendance.  The Chair agreed that it was a point well-made which would be recorded. In relation to the Charter, the Chair advised that he had received a survey from WLGA which we completed with success. 

If however the Community Councils felt there was a better way of engaging, they could get in touch with the Lead Officer who would be prepared to listen.

Additional advantages recently made had been that clerks communicated with each other as a group.

Discussion ensued regarding engagement with other Community Councilss that do not attend regularly and if an email could be circulated asking why they were not attending and if there could be a review.

Code of conduct training was also discussed. Community Council Clerks could contact A Jenkins regarding a training plan, under the ethical review.