Decisions

It was resolved to accept the Childcare Sufficiency progress report and to approve the actions in the revised action plan.

It was resolved to recommend that the Full Council –

·        Agrees to remove the requirement to have “one representative of other faiths or denominations” on a Scrutiny Committee when it deals with Education matters (i.e. sits as a Local Education Authority Scrutiny Committee) as is currently included in paragraph 4.5.4.4 of the Constitution as shown in Enclosure 1 to the report so that paragraph 4.5.4 reads as included in Enclosure 2 to the report.

·        Authorises the Council’s Head of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer to make the necessary changes to the Constitution to reflect the removal of the requirement noted above.

It was resolved to confirm the updated Forward Work programme for the period March to October, 2019 with the additional changes outlined at the meeting.

It was resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on 28 January, 2019 be confirmed as correct.

It was resolved to note the following –

·        The position set out in respect of the financial performance of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for Quarter 3 2018/19.

·        The forecast outturn for 2018/19.

It was resolved –

•           To note the general policy on reserves and balances adopted on 1 March, 2016, as at Appendix A to the report.

•           To approve the amendments to the general policy on reserves and balances adopted on 1 March, 2016 at Appendix A.

•           To set the minimum level of general balances for 2019/20 as £6.76m in accordance with the Section 151 Officer’s assessment.

•           To plan for an increase in general balances over a 3 to 5 year period in order that the actual level of reserves reaches the minimum level. This increase will be achieved by budgeting for planned annual surpluses.

•           To confirm the continuation of the existing earmarked reserves.

•           To approve the transfer of the Edge of Care reserve from the earmarked reserve to the General Reserves.

It was resolved –

•           To acknowledge the North Wales Fee Methodology as implemented hitherto by the authorities in North Wales as a basis for setting fees in Ynys Môn during 2019/20 (Appendix 2 of the report).

•           To approve the increase in the fee level as noted in Table 2 of the report.

•           In line with other authorities, to authorise the Social Services and Finance Departments to respond to any requests from Homes to explore their specific accounts and to utilise the exercise as a basis to consider any exceptions to the agreed fees. Any exceptions to be agreed with the Portfolio Holder, the Head of Function (Resources) and the Head of Adults’ Services from within current budgets. If no agreement can be made, the matter will go back to the Executive. 

It was resolved –

•           That whilst the Council acknowledges the costs incurred within residential care, the actual cost of delivery is not fully reflected in the charge to residents.

•           That in line with savings proposal made to remove the subsidy given to self-funders over the next three years, the increase for those contributing towards the cost of care is set at 3%, plus each user’s share of a third of the subsidy given to self-funders.

•           That the fee for 2019/20 is therefore set at £601.82 +3% + (⅓ x £132.70) = £664.11.

It was resolved –

•           To note the formal consultation meetings on the budget and the resulting feedback as outlined in Section 2 of Appendix 1 and in

Appendix 2 to the report.

•           To note the equalities impact assessment summary on the budget proposals as outlined in Section 10 of the report and in Appendix 5.

•           To agree the final details of the Council’s proposed budget including the revised funding in response to budget pressures and the proposed savings as shown in Section 8 of Appendix 1 and in Appendix 3.

•           That the proposed reduction in the delegated schools budget be allocated on the basis of the 2018/19 budget share. This would allocate the budget reduction between the three sectors as follows: £347k in the primary sector; £252k in the secondary sector; £27k in the special sector (Section 9.3 of the report).

•           To note the Section 151 Officer’s recommendation that a minimum of £6.7m general balances is maintained for 2019/20.

•           To note the comments made by the Section 151 Officer on the robustness of the estimates made as set out in Section 6 of the Appendix 1.

•           To recommend a net budget for the County Council and resulting increase in the level of Council Tax to the Full Council, noting that a formal resolution, including the North Wales Police and Community Council precepts, will be presented to the Council on the 27 February, 2019.

•           To authorise the Section 151 Officer to make such changes as may be necessary before the submission of the final proposals to the Council.

•           To agree that any unforeseen pressures on demand led budgets during the financial year will be able to draw upon funding from the general contingencies budget.

•           To request the Council to authorise the Executive to release up to £250k from general balances if the general contingencies budget is fully committed during the year.

•           To delegate to the Section 151 Officer the power to release funding from the general contingency up to £50k for any single item. Any item in excess of £50k not to be approved without the prior consent of the Executive.

•           To recommend to the Council a 9.5% increase in the level of Council Tax.

•           To approve the increase in the Council Tax Premium for second homes from 25% to 35% and the increase in the Council Tax Premium for empty homes from 25% to 100%.

•           To accept the recommendation of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee that in order to further improve the consultation process for future years, the process should reflect and/or address the following:

•           Demographic profile of respondents

•           Differentiation between service users/non-users

•           Prevention of multiple/duplicate responses by respondents

•           How different percentage increases in Council Tax are linked to service cuts/gains.

It was resolved –

•           To approve the Home Care charges outlined in Table 1 of the report.

•           To approve charges for Telecare Services as outlined in Table 4 of the report.

Tier 1 everyone will be paying £46.60

Tier 2 & 3 everyone will be paying £92.93

•           To approve the Telecare Annual charges outlined in Table 5 of the report.

Services and Maintenance £110.80

Services only £71.60

One off installation £44.30

•           To approve a rate for Direct Payments of £11.30/hour

•           To maintain a charge of £10 for the administration of Blue Badge requests and replacements as outlined in the report.

•           To increase the fee for purchasing day care services in independent residential homes by 3% to £33.18.

•           To approve an increase in fees paid for commissioned domiciliary care for Learning Disability Care packages – over one hour of services care will be paid £15.91 and under one hour will be £16.86.

It was resolved –

• To recommend to the Full Council the following capital programme for 2019/20:

                                                         £’m

Committed schemes brought

forward from 2018/19                 6.429   

Investing in existing assets       2.539

Highway resurfacing                  1.359

New schemes for 2019/20          2.146

21st Century Schools                 4.809

Total General Fund Capital

Schemes                                      17.282

HRA Capital Schemes                13.110

Total Capital

Programme 2019/20                    30.392

Funded by:

Funding B/F from 2018/19           1.099

Supported Borrowing                  2.026

Supported Borrowing:

21st Century Schools                  1.640

Unsupported Borrowing:

21st Century Schools                   0.402

HRA Unsupported Borrowing     1.000

Total New Borrowing                    5.068

General Capital Grant                   1.327

External Grants                            11.671

Highways Refurbishment

Grant                                                0.580

Total Grant Funding                     13.578           

Funding reallocated from other

postponed projects                       1.197

HRA Reserves                                9.450

TOTAL FUNDING                           30.392

•  That The balance of the general capital grant £893k be utilised as part of the funding of the 2020/21 capital programme.

It was resolved to note the progress of expenditure and receipts against the Capital Budget 2018/19 at Quarter 3.

It was resolved to approve the following –

·        The Capital Strategy for 2019/20 – 2021/22.

·        The reduction in the amount which qualifies as capital expenditure from a de minimis of £30k to £10k per project to bring the capital de minimis in line with the capital receipts de minimis of £10k.

It was resolved –

·        To note the position set out in in appendices A and B to the report in respect of the Authority’s financial performance to date and expected outturn for 2018/19.

·        To note the summary of Contingency budgets for 2018/19 detailed in Appendix C to the report.

·        To note the position of the invest-to-save programmes in Appendix CH to the report.

·        To note the position of the efficiency savings for 2018/19 in Appendix D to the report.

·        To note the monitoring of agency and consultancy costs for 2018/19 in Appendices DD and E to the report.

It was resolved to accept the Treasury Management Strategy Statement for 2019/20 and to forward the Statement to the Full Council without additional comment.

It was resolved –

•           To adopt the current Discretionary Business Rates Relief Framework – Charities and Non-Profit Making Organisations as detailed in Appendix A to the report for the financial year 2019/20 only and to instruct the Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer to ensure that administrative procedures before 31 March, 2019 advise relevant charities and non-profit making organisations that the policy will apply for 2019/20 only and will cease on 31 March, 2020.

•           That the public consultation on the framework be carried out by the Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer during the first half of 2019/20 with a revised framework coming into effect on 1 April, 2020.

It was resolved –

•           To approve a rent increase in line with the Welsh Government target rent based on collection over 52 weeks.

•           That all rents below target of between £0.01 - £4.19 be increased by 2.4% plus an amount up to the maximum of £2.00 per week to bring to target rent towards convergence.

•           That all rents below target rent of between £3.58 - £4.66 be increased by 2.4% plus £2.00 per week.

•           That the rent for the 14 properties that are above target rent should remain at their current levels.

•           That the rent of all garages be increased by 20p per week.

•           That the service charges costs set out in section 3.3 of the report be applied to all tenants who receive the relevant services.

12.1  41C137A/DA – Application for reserved matters for the erection of a dwelling, construction of a vehicular access together with the installation of a treatment plant at Afallon, Penmynydd

It was RESOLVED to approve the application in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation subject to the conditions contained within the written report.

None were considered by this meeting of the Planning and Orders Committee.

None were considered by this meeting of the Planning and Orders Committee.

None were considered by this meeting of the Planning and Orders Committee.

None were considered by this meeting of the Planning and Orders Committee.

No site visits were undertaken following the 9 January, 2019 meeting of the Planning and Orders Committee.

The minutes of the Planning and Orders Committee held on 9 January, 2019 were presented and were confirmed as correct.

None were considered by this meeting of the Planning and Orders Committee.

10.1  VAR/2018/4 – Application under Section 73A for the variation of condition (10) (Pedestrian footpath) of appeal decision reference APP/L6805/A/15/3132036 (Erection of a dwelling, installation of a sewage treatment plant together with the construction of a vehicular access) so as to allow for the submission of a scheme for the provision of a pedestrian footway following the expiry of the 4 month period at Ger y Mynydd, Brynrefail, Dulas

It was RESOLVED to approve the application in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation subject to the conditions contained within the written report.

10.2  FPL/2018/21 – Full application for the erection of a dwelling together with the creation of a new vehicular access on land adjacent to Bronallt, Gaerwen

It was RESOLVED to approve the application in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation subject to the conditions contained within the written report.

7.1 14C257 – Outline application for the erection of an affordable dwelling together with full details of the vehicular access and drainage with all other matters reserved on land adjacent to Cefn Trefor, Trefor

It was RESOLVED to defer consideration of the application and to refer the definition of ‘local person’ to the Joint Planning Policy Committee for clarification and discussion.  

There was a Public Speakers in respect of application 12.1.