Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation.

Councillor Bithell introduced the report and explained that in August 2023, Audit Wales published a report on Building Control in Wales entitled ‘Cracks in the Foundations’ to understand how well the Welsh Government, local authorities and their partners were strengthening and improving Building Control and building safety services following the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022.

The Audit Wales report looked at all Building Control Authorities in Wales and how each was prepared to take on the enhanced responsibilities and requirements of the 2022 Act. It focused on the resilience of existing services and the robustness of building safety assurance systems.

The findings from the report give a critical oversight and raised concerns that not enough priority was being given to Building Control services. It suggested that there was an absence of robust planning and clear decision making and inadequate

resources raising fears that the new responsibilities and requirements of the 2022 Act would not be delivered as intended in Wales.

Eight recommendations were made by Audit Wales, four directed at Welsh

Government and four directed at Local Authorities.  The purpose of the report was to give an overview of the Audit Wales review, their recommendations and the response to those recommendations and actions required.

The Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) explained that the report had been submitted to the Environment and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee the previous week and questions were asked on the Council’s response to the recommendations, particularly around fee setting and progress on timescales which were outlined in appendix 1. 

RESOLVED:

That the outcome of the Audit Wales report be noted and the actions to be taken to address the four recommendations made for Local Authorities be supported.