1 Agenda Item No. 2 DENBIGHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Minutes of The

Agenda Item No. 2 DENBIGHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Minutes of the County Council held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin on Tuesday 30th June 2009 at 10.00am. PRESENT Councillors J Butterfield (Chairman), I W Armstrong, J R Bartley, J B Bellis, B Blakeley, J Cahill, J Chamberlain Jones, C Davies, M Ll Davies, P A Dobb, C M Evans, G C Evans, H H Evans, R L Feeley, S Frobisher, D Hannam, C Hughes, R W Hughes, T R Hughes, E R Jones, G A Jones, H Ll Jones, M M Jones, G M Kensler, L M Morris, P W Owen, D Owens, A G Pennington, B A Smith, D I Smith, D A J Thomas, S Thomas, J Thompson-Hill, C H Williams, J G Yorke ALSO PRESENT Chief Executive, Corporate Directors, Financial Controller, County Clerk and Administration Services Manager. PRAYERS Reverend John Glover offered prayers at the commencement of the meeting. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE WERE RECEIVED FROM Councillors W L Cowie, J A Davies, J M Davies, P C Duffy, M J Eckersley. I A Gunning, D W Lee, P J Marfleet, G Williams PETITION Councillors R L Feeley and D I Smith presented to the Chairman a petition on behalf of local residents requesting the Council to reinstate the paddling pool at Cae Ddol, Ruthin. Councillor Feeley indicated that a meeting with officers had been arranged to discuss the matter. Councillor Smith referred to the strong message coming from local residents regarding the re-instatement of the paddling pool. The County Clerk referred to the mechanism now put in place to provide feedback to Council following the receipt of petitions. RESOLVED that the County Clerk be requested to acknowledge the petition and forward it to the Head of Leisure Services for consideration. 1 URGENT MATTERS In accordance with Section 100B (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman declared that she intended to include for discussion the following matter which required urgent attention:- Royal International Pavilion, Llangollen 1 2 MINUTES The minutes of the Annual meeting of Council held on 12th May 2009 (previously circulated) were submitted Accuracy i) Page 5 (Community Safety Partnership) – Councillor H Ll Jones indicated that he had not received any information on the current position regarding the introduction of alcohol free areas in Corwen RESOLVED that the minutes of the Annual Council meeting held on 12th May 2009 be approved as a correct record. 3 VOLUME OF MINUTES RESOLVED that the Volume of Minutes of the Council’s various meetings for the period 12th February to 15th April 2009 be received and noted. 4 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The Chairman verbally reported upon the diary of events she and the Vice-Chairman had attended during May and June (diary of events circulated at the meeting). RESOLVED that the report be received and noted. 5 “RHYL SIXTH” The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr Huw Evans, Principal, Coleg Llandrillo, Rhyl and Ms Celia Jones, Director, Coleg Llandrillo, Rhyl who had been invited to the meeting to give a presentation on the “Rhyl Sixth.” The Corporate Directorate: Lifelong Learning welcomed the officers to the meeting and referred to the difficult decisions made to take forward the Rhyl Sixth project. He indicated that the Minister had approved the plans at the end of March 2009 and temporary arrangements would be put in place for September 2009. The Director felt confident that the 6th form provision would be a huge success for education, regeneration and the community of Rhyl. Mr Huw Evans thanked the Council for the strength of its conviction in investing in the Rhyl Sixth which was a landmark project emanating from the Cambridge Education Report in 2007. That report had identified the problems with the sixth form provision in Rhyl and indicated that the only way forward was to work in partnership with the schools and colleges in the area. Mr Evans indicated that the Rhyl Sixth would combine traditional Sixth Form College academic standards with a broad based curriculum to ensure that it prepared young people for success in higher education and the world of work in the 21st century. He 2 reiterated that it was a flagship project for Wales and he had been an adviser to a similar project being launched in Merthyr County Borough Council. Mr Evans indicated that the Rhyl Sixth would assist with the regeneration of Rhyl and would give many opportunities to the young people of the area. With the aid of a power point presentation Mr Evans referred to:- - some facts and figures relating to Coleg Llandrillo which had a budget of £34m with 23,000 students of which 4,000 were full time. The college had a presence in many towns throughout Denbighshire and Conwy and possible links were being established with Coleg Dwyfor which could provide sites in mid Wales - the key features of the Rhyl Sixth with its ongoing partnership framework, wide curriculum choice, high quality and cost effective delivery and outstanding accommodation and resources - the partnership framework involving Coleg Llandrillo, Rhyl High School and the Local Authority and the links to Prestatyn High and Ysgol Glan Clwyd - the current position for 2009/10 with 55 applicants from Rhyl High School to the Rhyl Sixth to date, a comprehensive induction planned, planning permission granted for the new building - the projected position for 2010/11 with Coleg Llandrillo taking full responsibility and the move of the provision to the new centre and - what learners and parents could expect with the new provision Councillor R W Hughes paid tribute to Mr Evans for his vision in developing the sixth form provision in Rhyl, which would complement the grade 1 college already established in the area. She also thanked Mr Evans for his commitment to Rhyl and paid tribute to his inspirational leadership in the field of education. Members echoed those comments and congratulated the Principal on the development of Rhyl Sixth. In response to Members’ questions the Principal referred to the:- working relationship with Ysgol Glan Clwyd; the provision only applying to areas where existing sixth form provision was not adequate and the links with Llysfasi College. The Leader of the Council thanked the Principal for an excellent presentation and indicated that the Rhyl Sixth was a very brave project as the closure of sixth forms in Rhyl was very controversial. Councillor H H Evans referred to the publication of the Estyn report that day and the excellent progress made since the last Estyn report. He agreed that the Council had to work in partnership in all services and felt that the regeneration of Rhyl would start with the Rhyl Sixth project. Ms Celia Jones extended an invitation to all Members to visit Coleg Llandrillo, Rhyl which had outstanding facilities both for academic and vocational studies and had close links with local employers. 3 The Chairman thanked the officers for the presentation. 6 FINAL REVENUE ACCOUNTS 2008/09 The Lead Member for Finance submitted a report (previously circulated) requesting Council to - agree the final revenue outturn position as recommended by Cabinet and subject to audit and - to approve the treatment of reserves, provisions and balances as detailed in the report Councillor J Thompson-Hill took members through the report and referred to the strengthening of the financial situation of the Council for 2008/09 which had made it possible to make recommendations for the creation of specific reserves and provisions that would assist the Council in addressing the financial pressures of the next few years. The Lead Member referred to:- - the final outturn figures as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report - spend on the schools delegated budgets which was £550k above the level of the overall LMS budget - individual school balances as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report - under spends/over spends within each Directorate - a one-off saving of £821k due to temporary conditions relating to borrowing costs - the service under spends of £527k recommended for carrying forward for spending on services for 2009/10 - the one-off benefit of £241k through the assumptions on the Council Tax - the unearmarked balances which stood at £6.4m as at 31st March 2009 in line with the level recommended by the Wales Audit Office i.e. 5% of the net revenue budget, excluding schools delegated budgets - the main elements of the contributions made to and from Reserves and Provisions which had been allowed for within the accounts as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report and - the potential pressures that would have an impact upon the new financial year 4 Members took the opportunity to raise various questions with the Lead Member regarding the final accounts. In response he reported that - a detailed breakdown of the £780k allocated for areas of support was included in the recent Cabinet papers - the Assembly settlement in future years would impact on the spend available for schools but funding would decrease - the money allocated for the PFI building was planned expenditure and not extra spend In response to concerns expressed by Councillor J Bellis, the Corporate Director: Lifelong Learning indicated that a business case had now been developed for Blessed Edward Jones High School, Rhyl and finance officers were working with the school. He anticipated that the budget situation would improve in the future. With reference to the Intervention Fund he indicated that a number of schools required assistance particularly those facing redundancies in staff. The Director felt that they were one-off instances but emphasised the need for schools to have forward planning measures. The Corporate Director: Environment responded to questions from Councillor G M Kensler indicating the original business plan had been taken into account with regard to the Hyfrydle project.

Load more