Meeting documents

1

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

The Leader declared an interest in land at Holyhead owned by the family of his former wife and also land at Amlwch mentioned at Appendix 7 of the plan.

Councillor R. G. Parry, OBE declared an interest in the same land in Amlwch as did Councillors

G. O. Parry, MBE and Clive McGregor.

Councillor E. Schofield declared an interest in the same land in Amlwch and also with regard to any planning considerations in Llanerchymedd since he owned land which was adjacent to land which would be considered for inclusion in the LDP.

Councillor Bryan Owen declared an interest in the same land at Amlwch, Ty’n Coed, LLangefni; Dafarn Newydd, LLangefni; Llain Delyn, Capel Mawr; any land that had any relation to St. Malo’s and any matter relating to Ty Mawr, Llanfairpwll.

Councillor Lewis Davies declared an interest with regard to a legal matter relating to land at Pentraeth and also in Llangoed.

Councillor Selwyn Williams declared an interest with regard to the Ty Mawr planning application and with regard to Lein Amlwch.

Councillor B. Durkin declared an interest with regard to Reference SY 154, SY 283, TI and T59 at Amlwch, SY 361, SY 158, and SY 322. He reserved the right to declare further interests on candidate sites after he had received the names and addresses of the landowners of all the candidate sites put forward for the LDP.

Councillor G. O. Jones declared an interest with regard to the fact that there were several references within the Plan to the Wylfa Power Station, of which he was an employee.

Councillor T. Lloyd Hughes wished it to be minuted that he was the Chair of the Holyhead Secondary School and also with regard to the sports facilities at Millbank, Holyhead. Councillor J. V. Owen also wished it to be minuted that he was a Governor of the County School at Holyhead.

2

TO RECEIVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CHAIRPERSON, LEADER, MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE OR THE HEAD OF THE PAID SERVICES

On behalf of the County Council, the Chairperson extended his congratulations to the following:-

To the members of the Beaumaris Band who won the ‘National British Band Championship’ in Harrogate last month.

To the Community of Cemaes who had won the Silver Medal in the ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition, following their success in gaining the Gold Medal in the ‘Wales in Bloom’ competition.

To the staff and pupils of Holyhead Secondary School who won the ‘Overall Champion School’ category in the ‘Your Champions’ ceremony held on 17 October, 2008 at the St.George’s Hotel, Llandudno.

To Amlwch Leisure Centre who had won a National Award from the Chartered Institute of Marketing for their work in marketing activities which had resulted in a substantial increase in the numbers using the Centre.

To Councillor Robert Llewelyn Jones and his wife Gillian on celebrating their Ruby Wedding Anniversary on 3oth September. He wished them many more happy years together.

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery were extended to Councillors Peter Rogers and to Eric Roberts who had been in hospital recently.

The Chair also sympathised with any Member or member of staff who had suffered bereavement.  

3

TREASURY MANAGEMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08

Reported by the Corporate Director (Finance) - That the Council had adopted the Code of Practice on Treasury Management in the Public Services. Following this code, and the Treasury Management Policy Statement adopted by the Council under the code, the Corporate Director was required to present a report on Treasury Management activities. This was the Annual Report on financial year 2007/08 which reviewed compliance with the Treasury Management strategy and reported on borrowing and investment performance during the year. This report should be presented to Council by 30 September, but this had not been possible this year. The Council had resolved that the report be also considered by the Principal Scrutiny Committee.

Under the Prudential Code it was a requirement that all local authorities set Prudential Indicators for borrowing and investing among other factors each year. The Council confirmed its limits for 2007/08 on 6 March 2007 and out turn information was provided. Limits and approved counterparty lists were updated in a report to the County Council on 18 September, 2008.

The following matters were detailed within the report:-

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Economic Conditions

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Current Portfolio

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Borrowing Transactions and Performance Against the Strategy

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Rescheduling Activity

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Investment Activity

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Externalisation of Borrowing and Investments

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Compliance with Policies and Limits

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Effect on 2008/09 and the Financial Strategy

Councillor T. Jones stated that it was a difficult time at present for everybody as a result of the economic downturn and he sought assurance that the Council’s policy of payment was being implemented in good time for services provided by the Council. There were numerous small companies out in the economy at the present time and he felt that it was important that they did not have any cash flow problems.

The Corporate Director (Finance) in reply stated that there was a policy in place to pay sums within 30 days, or whatever the terms were, for the traders the Council dealt with. Compliance with that policy on the whole had been quite good. Very recently, there had been a request from WAG, in light of the economic summit, to look at that matter again and the Department would be reviewing this to see whether there was anything else that could be done in that direction.

Councillor John Penri Williams felt that since it had been the Treasury in London that had advised Councils to invest their money in Icelandic banks, it was they that should recompense Councils for the loss and not the Welsh Assembly Government. This he felt would result in less money being distributed at the end of the day to Welsh Councils.

The Corporate Director (Finance) in reply stated that the WLGA were keeping Welsh Councils informed of developments with regard to Icelandic investments. The British Government and Treasury were making sterling efforts, not to recompense Councils, but to make sure that Councils received their investments back. The investment guidelines in Wales were received from the National Assembly and not from Central Government.  

RESOLVED to note the Treasury Management report for 2007/08 and to thank the Director and his staff for their work in this respect.

4

DRAFT PRE-DEPOSIT LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

(a) Reported by the Portfolio Holder, Councillor R. Ll. Jones -

That this plan would eventually replace the Gwynedd Structure Plan, the Ynys Mon Local Plan and the Ynys Mon Unitary Development Plan. It was an important part of the Council’s policy framework and a plan that needed to be prepared in order to help the Council make important decisions about future development on the Island. The plan would run to 2021 but, as a result of annual monitoring reports, there would be an opportunity to review the plan, and respond to new challenges, on a regular basis.

The document before the Council today would be the subject of six weeks of public consultation to allow the public and key stakeholders the opportunity to comment on the emerging plan.

Before recommending the plan to the Council, the Portfolio Holder thanked all those Members of the Council who had worked on the LDP Panel especially the former Chairman, Councillor H. W. Thomas. The Panel had held over 30 meetings and given detailed consideration to a number of policies in the plan.

He also thanked the LDP team. They had worked patiently through the many debates that had taken place amongst Members of this Council. During 2006/2007 the team was also responsible for holding events with local stakeholders including some six LDP workshops and a range of meetings around the Island to encourage interest in the plan. That work had given the Council a solid basis on which the Council could now formally consult the local communities.

The consultation period was important so that people could express their views. He assured members that there would be every opportunity during this period for Members to raise any concerns they might have. In preparing the Plan the Planning Service had encouraged all Members’ to take part in the process.

The six week period for consultation would take us up till Christmas. He had spoken to the Planning Service about the Christmas post arrangements and agreed that submissions would be accepted up until 5.00pm on Friday 9th January. That should allow everyone to make their submissions.

In the New Year the programme was as follows:

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All comments to be considered by the LDP Panel before officers and the Panel prepared the Deposit Plan for consideration by the Executive and Full Council in the summer.

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It was hoped that the Deposit Plan would go before Full Council in June / July for a further 6 week period of consultation.

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Following this, the Plan would be in the hands of the Inspectorate but the process allowed further input by the public and Members.

In conclusion, it should be emphasised that this was a consultation pre deposit plan. It was important to provoke debate. That would help the Council to prepare for the next stage which was a deposit plan that would subsequently be submitted for examination to a planning inspector.  

The County Council was therefore asked to support the recommendation of the Executive Committee as set out in the agenda of this meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Clive McGregor.

(b) Reported - That the Executive upon consideration of the Plan at its meeting on 22nd October, 2008, resolved to recommend to the County Council as follows:-

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“To publish the pre-deposit local development plan for formal consultation with the minor amendments and improvements suggested in the report and specifically the wording of TAI 9.

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That the Welsh Assembly Government be formally advised of this Council’s wish to revise the original timetable, set in the Delivery Agreement of September 2006, and replace it with a revised timetable as to be submitted in October 2008.

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That the Council delegate to the Portfolio Holder (Planning and Sustainability) in conjunction with the Head of Service (Planning) the right to submit any future amendments to the LDP timetable and delivery agreement.”

Councillor B. Durkin requested legal clarification as regards declarations of interest in this respect. As a businessman, he stated that he had numerous suppliers across the Island. He stated that he had no knowledge whatsoever whether they had land on the candidate register. He felt that from a personal perspective it would be very difficult for him to be able to act in a proper manner when he had in the back of his mind as to whether or not his friends or business acquaintances owned land on the register. He asked whether the Members would be allowed to have a list of the candidate site owners and their addresses.

The Legal Services Manager in response stated that he was not aware of the basis on which information could be released, since it was personal information about the individuals who were land owners. He had not been able to find a legal basis in legislation saying that a list could be published for the public, but certainly he would investigate matters further with the planning officer,

Under the Code of Conduct it was the responsibility of members to make declarations on things they were aware of, and not things they were not aware of. There was a test here of what was reasonable.

In view of the declarations of interest, he suggested that perhaps the Council would like to deal with the document heading by heading and thus give an opportunity for Members to declare their respective interest, leave the room and come back once the matter had been discussed and decided upon.

Councillor B. Durkin replied that it was a matter of transparency. Who was going to believe that as a Councillor he wasn’t aware of matters. He could not see any reason why members could not be privy to these names and addresses.

Councillor H. W. Thomas felt that it would be very dangerous to issue such information, members of the Planning Committee were dealing with land use and not with the name(s) of applicants. As the previous Chair of the LDP Panel he thought that the document was of vital importance to the Island and he took the opportunity of thanking the officers for their work in this respect.

Councillor Thomas, however, felt that the third recommendation of the Executive on 22nd October, 2008 to this Council, should be amended so that the right to submit any future amendments to the LDP timetable and delivery agreement should be delegated to the LDP Panel and not to the Portfolio Holder in conjunction with the Head of Service (Planning). He proposed that this be accepted as an amendment (The proposal was not seconded).

Councillor J. V. Owen supported the proposal of Councillor B. Durkin in publishing the names and addresses in relation to candidate sites. It was essential that the public had faith in that planning applications were granted for the needs of the community and not for the needs of individuals. He also requested that the Planning Department make every effort to assist local members in explaining to their local electorate the importance and necessity of the LDP to the Island.

The Chair in response gave his assurance that all the resources of the Council would be made available in this respect.

Councillor Clive McGregor stated that in his previous employment he had worked on the Freedom of Information Act and with the Information Commission and he considered that the information requested by Councillor B. Durkin could be released since it was in the ownership of the Council. Candidates had expressed their intentions and they were prepared for that information to be made public. He proposed that the names and addresses on the candidate sites be made available to members so that they could then make a decision as to whether or not to declare an interest.

The proposal was seconded by Councillor R. G. Parry, OBE.

The Chairman agreed that a report be brought back in this respect by the Director of Legal Services / Monitoring Officer to the next meeting of the County Council on the legal status of the identity of those submitted sites in the candidates site register.   

(Councillor H. W. Thomas wished it to be minuted that he had abstained from voting on this matter).

RESOLVED

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To endorse the recommendation of the Executive held on 22nd October, 2008 in this respect.

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That the Director of Legal Services / Monitoring Officer be requested to report back to the next scheduled meeting of the County Council (11th December, 2008) on the legal status of the identity of those submitted sites in the Candidates Sites Register.

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To thank the Officers for their work in this respect.