Issue - meetings

(a)       That the presentation be received; and

(b)       That delegated powers be given to the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive in consultation with all Group Leaders to discuss and sign off a final response to the consultation on the Local Government (Wales) Bill. 

The Chief Executive introduced a report on the Local Government (Wales) Bill and invited Council to make a formal response on the Bill to Welsh Government (WG).

He provided a detailed presentation and commented on the following areas:-

·         Background

·         Passage of the Bill

·         Bill Contents

·         Bill documents

·         Critique of the Bill

·         White Paper: Reminder of what we said in response

·         Part 1: Local Government Areas, Number of Members and Specific Issues

·         Part 2: Power of Competence

·         Part 3: Promoting Access

·         Part 4: Functions and Members

·         Part 5: Improvement

·         Part 6: Community Councils

·         Part 7: Workforce

The Leader of the Councillor, Councillor Aaron Shotton, thanked the Chief Executive for the detailed presentation on the complex but equally important document.  He spoke of the rare opportunity to shape the future of Local Government but felt that the Bill did not provide enough details in a number of areas.  However, the foreword in the document from the Minister suggested that he wanted to hear the views of Councillors in creating activist Councils.  He suggested that this meeting was not the appropriate forum to discuss possible authority mergers or changes to boundaries but added the views from previous meetings had indicated that Flintshire County Council was open to the prospect of merging.  Councillor Shotton felt that further devolution in powers should be called for and that the opportunity to pursue this had been missed from the Bill.  He spoke of the comments from Richard Leese from Manchester City Council who insisted that devolution in Wales should go beyond WG if North Wales was to benefit from the Northern Powerhouse.  He felt that the response should state that there should be no Council mergers or further reorganisation without local devolution.  Previous discussions had been held on the issue of business rates and the importance of ensuring that each Council received its fair share and that business rates fairly reflected how North East Wales contributed to the economy of the area. 

Councillor Shotton welcomed the inclusion of the Power of Competence in the Bill which he felt was overdue but he said that many areas were over-centralised and inconsistent of the issue of devolution.  He referred to Part 7 of the Bill and the inclusion of new powers over the workforce and sought clarification on how far the powers could be used to be prescriptive over the size, composition and remuneration of Council employees.  Some areas of the bill could require increases in investment at a time when the Council was working to protect front line services.  Councillor Shotton proposed that the provision of a final response be delegated to himself and the Chief Executive in full consultation with all Group Leaders as the consultation period did not end until 15 February 2016.  The proposal was duly seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge. 

Councillor Hilary Isherwood agreed with the suggestion for an increase in local powers but raised concern about the proposal in the Bill to reduce the number of Members to save costs.  She  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78