Agenda and minutes

Councillor K Thomas declared an interest in relation to item 3 Corporate Plan – Recommendations Monitoring, as the report references the work of boards undertaken by GAVO.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 2018 were approved as a true and accurate record.

Attendees:

-           Councillor Debbie Wilcox – Leader of the Council

-           Will Godfrey – Chief Executive

-           Bev Owen – Strategic Director – Place and Corporate

-           James Harris – Strategic Director – People

The Leader provided an overview of the Scrutiny process and the importance of engage answer and reply to the Scrutiny. The ground-breaking Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (Wales) had made it a requirement for the Council to have a long term plan, and that it delivers on the wellbeing goals. In 2017, 5-year corporate plan, setting out vision and commitment, whole of Council plan, all included, all have a responsibility to make this corporate plan work. Working collaboratively, and across sectors, to deliver our aims. Plan and budget carefully in this difficult financial time.

Members asked the following:

·                The Committee requested information on the proposals or projects that were intended or aimed at engaging the local community in Stow Hill, to enable community regeneration and meet the requirements of the Well-Being of Future Generations Act. The Leader stated that it was not intended to exclude any area of Newport would, but this was not possible due to the significant financial constraints placed on the Council. The Strategic Director – Place and Corporate would feed back to the Committee on the specific proposals and projects in the Stow Hill area. The Director continued to inform the Committee that the four Community Investment Zones were chosen based on their placement on the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. The NCC Information Hub had been essential in collating, analysing data to ensure the best quality information was used to adapt the Corporate Plan.

·                A Member enquired the Hubs that were referenced in the report and raised concerns about the number of different types of ‘hubs’ in Newport, and how this might of caused confusion to the public. The Leader agreed and asked the Officers to look into badging them differently to avoid confusion. The Leader continued to inform the Committee of the pilot Hub that was being developed in Ringland, from funding obtained by the Welsh Government.

·                The Committee were concerned about a ‘sticking plaster approach’ to service delivery. The example given was the declining partnership with Linc Cymru. The Leader agreed with the sentiment of the Members comments, and drew the Committees attention to how the Council must work inside the confines of setting a balanced budget. This meant that each service had to be delivered in the best possible way with the funds available.

The Chief Executive explained that partnership working had become more and more prevalent over the past few years, and was a trend that was set to continue. It was the Officers job to evaluate the options to get the best outcome, regardless of politics and present this to the Councillors.

·                A Member enquired as to why the Partnership Boards and partnership working had not been mentioned in the Corporate Plan recommendation monitoring update. The Leader responding by explaining how the Corporate Plan was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.