Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

None.

None.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2021.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2021 were approved, as moved and seconded by Councillors Paul Shotton and David Evans.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record.

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme, as amended, be noted;

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c)       That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted.

The Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the latest Forward Work Programme for consideration where the following changes were agreed:

·         Report on the Climate Change Strategy to be added for February.

·         Member briefing on Flintshire’s Integrated Transport network to be rescheduled for early in 2022.

·         Report on the Council’s policy on the release of balloons and the environmental impact to be scheduled for a future meeting, as requested by Councillor David Evans.

·         Councillor Dennis Hutchinson to discuss separately with the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) his requirements for a future report on the Standard landfill site.

Following discussion at the June meeting on enforcement of litter caused by alcohol consumption, the Facilitator read out advice from the Legal department clarifying that such legislative powers available to the Police under the Public Spaces Protection Order did not currently apply to Local Authorities.

The recommendations were moved and seconded by Councillors Dave Evans and Paul Shotton.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme, as amended, be noted;

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c)       That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted.

(a)       That the work undertaken to complete both the informal and statutory consultation processes be supported; and

(b)       That the validity of the process utilised to produce the Council’s updated ATNM, to be submitted to Welsh Government by 31 December 2021, be formally recognised.

The Chief Officer (Streetscene & Transportation) presented a report on the outcomes of both informal and statutory consultation exercises to enable required updates to the Council’s Active Travel Network Map (ATNP) as required by the Active Travel Act (Wales) 2013.

In presenting the report, the Chief Officer paid tribute to the team for their work in assessing and investigating Active Travel routes.  A new mapping tool called ‘Commonplace’ developed by Welsh Government (WG) had helped to increase public engagement during the pandemic and the link remained open to review maps.

The Chief Officer would liaise separately with Councillor Joe Johnson regarding a particular route in Holywell.

Councillor Glyn Banks added his thanks to the team for their work and encouraged Members to use the web link to review information prior to the final map submission to Welsh Government by 31 December.

The recommendations were moved and seconded by Councillors Joe Johnson and David Evans.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the work undertaken to complete both the informal and statutory consultation processes be supported; and

(b)       That the validity of the process utilised to produce the Council’s updated ATNM, to be submitted to Welsh Government by 31 December 2021, be formally recognised.

That the mid-year performance indicators for Recovery, Portfolio and Public Accountability Measures to monitor areas of under-performance be noted.

The Chief Officers presented the mid-year monitoring report to review progress against their respective priorities set out in the Council’s Reporting Measures 2020/21 under the remit of the Committee.  This exception-based report focussed on areas of under-performance against in-year targets.

For Planning, Environment & Economy, there were three indicators with a red status for current performance against target.  The main contributing factors were recruitment challenges and changes in working practices due to ongoing uncertainty on the pandemic.

The impact of the pandemic was also the main factor on the three red indicators within the Streetscene & Transportation portfolio.  On recycling, performance had fallen short of the target, having been affected by an increase in residual waste.

Councillor Paul Shotton commended the Streetscene team for their work during the recent severe weather.  He acknowledged the challenges in recruitment, particularly in social care, which were replicated nationwide.

On the last point, the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) said that work was underway across portfolios to identify areas experiencing difficulty recruiting to vacant positions.

On the recycling performance, Councillor Glyn Banks urged Members to encourage residents to play their part in helping to reach the 70% target.

Councillor Derek Butler commented on recent job fairs which had proved successful.

The recommendation was moved and seconded by Councillors Sean Bibby and Joe Johnson.

RESOLVED:

That the mid-year performance indicators for Recovery, Portfolio and Public Accountability Measures to monitor areas of under-performance be noted.

That the content of the presentation be noted.

The Committee welcomed Rachel Perry and Amy Bodey from Progressive Energy Ltd who were in attendance to give a presentation on the HyNet project, which covered:

·         What is HyNet North West?

·         Demand led Decarbonisation

·         HyNet North West Infrastructure

·         Hydrogen Production

·         CO₂ Capture Plants

·         Wider Benefits

·         Momentum and Deliverability

·         Positioning the UK as a world leader in clean energy

Councillor Paul Shotton commended progress with the project and its benefits for a lower carbon future for the region.  In response to questions, Rachel Perry said that existing infrastructure was utilised where possible and she provided information on a similar project in the Humber and Tees region.

The Chair thanked the officers for their presentation on this innovative project.  Following questions, she was advised that the business model, with Government support, was currently in development and would be supported by the Carbon Capture Fund whilst the building infrastructure would be funded by the individual organisations.

In response to concerns from Councillor Patrick Heesom about the Point of Ayr colliery site, Rachel Perry provided assurance on the offshore storage of Co₂ and robust assessment of existing pipelines on which there were no current concerns.  As requested, the presentation slides would be circulated to Members.

Following questions from Councillor Owen Thomas, information was shared on the building of new infrastructure for Co₂ and hydrogen at Stanlow, and for hydrogen only at the Cheshire salt mines.

In welcoming the decarbonisation target, Councillor Chris Bithell asked about potential risks.  Whilst the safety risks were low, economic growth was reliant on Government support as was the scale of the hydrogen rollout.

In praising the Council’s involvement in the project and as local Member for Ffynnongroyw, Councillor Glyn Banks offered assistance with early public engagement to reassure residents in the vicinity of the Point of Ayr site.  His comments were noted by the HyNet colleagues including his suggestion for an on-site public engagement session, with appropriate safety measures.

Councillor Derek Butler spoke about links with the Mersey Dee Alliance (MDA) to access mutual benefits across the region.  In response to comments, information was shared on the future role of hydrogen in domestic heating and plans for alternative storage of Co₂ for the Point of Ayr site, should additional capacity be required.  Details were also given on future proofing of the hydrogen distribution network.

The Chief Officer (Streetscene & Transportation) confirmed that the North Wales Growth Deal project for a hydrogen hub in Deeside was based on green hydrogen as a long-term sustainable solution.

The Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) said that HyNet was a key part of work of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board as well as the MDA.

The recommendation was moved by Councillor Paul Shotton and seconded by Councillor Owen Thomas.

RESOLVED:

That the content of the presentation be noted.

A decision of the Cabinet meeting on 16 November 2021 relating to A Plan for Shotton has been called in.  Attached is a copy of the procedure for dealing with a called in item.

The Head of Democratic Services explained the procedure for the call in of a Cabinet decision as detailed in the supporting document.  The Cabinet had considered a report on ‘A Plan for Shotton’ at its meeting on 16 November 2021. The decision (Record of Decision 3928) had been called in by Councillors Mike Allport, Helen Brown, Arnold Woolley, Veronica Gay, Richard Jones and Mike Peers, the latter three of whom would be speaking on the item.  Copies of the Cabinet report, the Record of Decision and Endorsement of Call in, which identified three reasons for the call in, were included in the agenda pack.

Report of Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) - Cabinet Member for Economic Development.

To assist Members, the following documents are attached:-

·         Copy of the report - A Plan for Shotton

·         Copy of the Record of Decision

·         Copy of the Call In Notice

That having considered the decision, the Committee is satisfied with the explanations received and therefore the decision may now be implemented.

Representations from call in signatories

Councillor Richard Jones was invited to address the Committee first.  In recognising the challenges faced by all town centres and pressures on the Regeneration team, he said that investment of Council resources to support Shotton represented inequitable treatment of other towns across Flintshire.  He questioned the key principles of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and environmental issues underpinning the decision by sharing comparison of ASB statistics across the whole of Flintshire and photographic evidence around Shotton town centre showing a good level of cleanliness and few shop closures.  As such, he felt it was unclear why Shotton had been prioritised, particularly as it already benefitted from investment and good facilities in health provision, transport links, a range of banks and shops operating on the high street as well as plans for a green infrastructure project.  He made the point that resources and investment should support all towns across Flintshire or that a plan for a specific town should be identified through assessing relevant criteria.

Councillor Veronica Gay’s concerns were about the means of establishing Shotton as most in need of support when other towns were experiencing more anti-social behaviour issues and had fewer high street facilities, citing Saltney as one example.

Councillor Mike Peers said that the call in decision was not taken lightly and that there needed to be an assessment of need across Flintshire to fairly distribute resources.  In pointing out that this was an 8-year evolving Plan, he drew attention to the high level of officer resources and working groups and the lack of detail on funding arrangements in the report.  He said that the project should be used as a framework to develop a Plan for the whole of Flintshire with a shared vision to determine a hierarchy of need across all towns and divert resources appropriately.

Responses from the decision makers

As Leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Roberts said that the photographs reflected progress to date to address issues that were evident at the start of the project and he thanked the local Members for their role on that.  He commended initiatives in various communities across Flintshire to regenerate town centres and acknowledged that work would be replicated in other areas.  In response to the retention of banks on high streets, he said that such decisions were not under the control of the Council and he questioned the timing of the call in, given that progress had been reported to Cabinet at each stage.

The Chief Officer (Streetscene & Transportation) gave a presentation in response to the call in, which covered:

·         Background and Basis for a Plan in Shotton

·         Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation

·         Average income levels by town (North Wales)

·         Aims of the Plan for Shotton

·         Impact of suspending/ceasing work on the Plan

·         Future and next steps

It was explained that the Shotton Master Plan had originated in 2020 in response to an increase in ASB and environmental complaints in the town, and it was clarified that no additional funding or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

There were no members of the press in attendance.