Agenda and minutes

The Head of Democratic Services asked for nominations.

 

A nomination for Councillor J P Curtice  was proposed and seconded.

 

Resolved that Councillor J P Curtice be elected Presiding Member for the Municipal Year 2022-2023.

 

Councillor J P Curtice (Presiding Member) Presided

 

 

The Presiding Member asked for nominations.

 

A nomination for Councillor C R Evans was proposed and seconded.

 

Resolved that Councillor C R Evans be elected Deputy Presiding Member for the Municipal Year 2022-2023.

 

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

The Chief Legal Officer gave advice regarding the potential personal and prejudicial interests that Councillors and / Officers may have on the agenda.

 

The Head of Democratic Services reminded Councillors and Officers that the

“Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests” sheet should only be completed if the Councillor / Officer actually had an interest to declare. Nil returns were not required. Councillors and Officers were also informed that any declarable interest must be made orally and in writing on the sheet.

 

In accordance with the provisions of the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea the following interests were declared:

 

1)       Councillors C Anderson, M Bailey, S Bennett, P N Bentu, P M Black, J P Curtice, A Davis, A M Day, P Downing, C R Doyle, M Durke, C M J Evans, V M Evans, C R Evans, E W Fitzgerald, R A Fogarty, R Francis-Davies, N Furlong, L S Gibbard, F M Gordon, K M Griffiths, H J Gwilliam, J A Hale, T J Hennegan, V A Holland, C A Holley, P R Hood-Williams, B Hopkins, D H Hopkins, O G James, L James, Y V Jardine, A J Jeffery, D Jenkins, M H Jones, M Jones, S M Jones, L R Jones, J W Jones, S A Joy, S E Keeton, E J King, E T Kirchner, H Lawson, A S Lewis, M B Lewis, R D Lewis, W G Lewis, P Lloyd, M W Locke, P M Matthews, N L Matthews, P N May, J D McGettrick, H M Morris, F D O'Brien, A J O'Connor, D Phillips, C L Philpott, J E Pritchard, S Pritchard, A Pugh, S J Rice, K M Roberts, B J Rowlands, R V Smith, A H Stevens, R C Stewart, L G Thomas, W G Thomas, M S Tribe, G D Walker, L V Walton, T M White and R A Williams declared a Personal Interest in Minute 8 “Constitutional Matters 2022-2023”.

 

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

Resolved that the following Minutes be approved and signed as a correct record:

 

1)           Ordinary Meeting of Council held on 17 March 2022 at 5pm.

2)           Extraordinary Meetings of Council held on 14 March 2022 at 4pm and 13 April, 2022

 

a)    Phil Roberts, Chief Executive - Retirement

 

The Presiding Member outlined that this would be Phil Roberts, Chief Executive’s last Council meeting prior to his retirement.

 

Phil had been a pupil at Olchfa Comprehensive School and then graduated with honours in Economics at Bath University and then gained a postgraduate distinction at the London School of Economics.

 

He has worked at a senior level in a variety of posts for public and private sector organisations and as a postgraduate lecturer at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He has also undertaken recruitment work for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

 

Phil started his career as a Housing Worker with Welsh Housing Aid (06/1984-06/1985), before becoming a Housing Trainee with the London Borough of Brent (06/1985-10/1985). Following his brief exile in London, he saw the light and returned to Swansea.

 

He joined Swansea City Council in August 1986 as a Housing Trainee working through the ranks becoming a Service Manager in October 1992. Blaenymaes & Penlan were the first District Housing Offices in Swansea, Phil managed the Blaenymaes District Housing Office (DHO).

 

Whilst Phil was the Precast Reinforced Concrete (PRC) Houses Operations Manager, he was heavily involved in the formation of the first Tenants Association in Swansea.

 

Following Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in April 1996, Phil was appointed Assistant Director of Housing with the City & County of Swansea. In August 2003 he was appointed Head of Housing. He has acted as an Interim Director of Social Services and Interim Director of Regeneration prior to being appointed Corporate Director of Regeneration & Housing in November 2006 and Corporate Director (Place) in April 2013.

 

In January 2016, he had shown a proven track record within Swansea and was appointed Chief Executive of the City & County of Swansea (Swansea Council).

 

Phil has three sons and six grandchildren, all of who live in Swansea. He is a keen musician and spends most of his spare time walking and hiking.

 

Councillors Rob Stewart, Chris Holley, Lyndon Jones and Peter May paid tribute on behalf of their political groups and the people of Swansea to Phil’s service and dedication to his various roles over the years, and wished him the best for a long and healthy retirement.

 

Phil Roberts thanked Members for their comments.

 

b)           Recently Elected Councillors & Those Councillors Not Seeking Re-election or Not Re-elected on 5 May 2022

 

The Presiding Member congratulated those Councillors recently elected following the Local Government Elections on 5 May 2022. She also thanked those former Councillors who either chose not to seek re-election or were not re-elected at the Local Government Election on 5 May 2022. The Presiding Member thanked them for serving their communities and the residents of Swansea during their terms of Office as Councillors.

 

c)            Welsh Schools’ Football Association National Festival

 

Glyncollen Primary School, girls' football team represented Swansea recently at the Welsh Schools' Football Association National Festival. They were undefeated in every game and are the National 5-a-side Under 11s Welsh Champions.

 

On behalf of the Council, the Presiding Member congratulated them on this achievement.

 

d)           Caderman – European Challenge 2022

 

The Head of Democratic Services sets off tomorrow on the Caderman – European Challenge 2022. Starting in Lappeenranta, Finland, near the Russian border, he and friends will be cycling about 720 miles across Finland, Sweden and finishing in Trondheim on the west coast of Norway.

 

The adventure will take them through the Norwegian town of hell, so literally they will be on the Highway to Hell.

 

It is a self-supported challenge meaning that they will be carrying everything they need for the adventure including spare spokes, chain, inner tubes, clothes and thermals. They’ve raised over £46,000 to date for cancer charities over the past 13 years. This year they are raising money for Blood cancer UK.

 

Feel free to donate via their Just Giving page.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/caderman2022?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=caderman2022&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=8bb34699c96b4cfabbd8913f19e96234

 

e)            Corrections / Amendments to the Council Summons

 

i)             Item 9 “Constitutional Matters 2022-2023”

 

Each reference in the report to “Natural Resources and Biodiversity Corporate Delivery Committee” be deleted and replaced with “Climate Change Corporate Delivery Committee”.

 

A nomination for Councillor R C Stewart was proposed and seconded.

 

Resolved that Councillor R C Stewart be elected Leader of the Council.

 

The Leader of the Council outlined to Council the names of those Councillors that he had chosen to be members of the Cabinet.  He also outlined their Cabinet Portfolios:

 

Councillors Name	Cabinet Portfolio
Rob C Stewart	Ø Leader of the Council Ø Economy & Strategy
David Hopkins	Ø Deputy Leader of the Council ØCorporate Services & Performance
Andrea Lewis	Ø Deputy Leader of the Council ØService Transformation
Robert Smith	ØEducation & Learning
Louise Gibbard	ØCare Services
Andrew Stevens	ØEnvironment & Infrastructure
Robert Francis-Davies	ØInvestment, Regeneration & Tourism
Alyson Pugh	ØWell-being
Elliott King	ØCulture & Equalities
Cyril Anderson Hayley Gwilliam	ØCommunity

 

The Monitoring Officer and Head of Democratic Services jointly submitted a report which informed Council of necessary Constitutional matters that needed to be attended to at the Annual Meeting of Council. Such matters would in turn enable the efficient and lawful operation of Council.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)            The Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales’ determinations in relation to Basic, Civic and Senior Salaries, Fees for Co-opted Members and Contribution towards Costs of Care and Personal Assistance (CPA) as set out in Appendix A be noted.

 

2)      A Senior Salary be paid to the following:

 

Ø   Leader of the Council.

Ø   Deputy Leader of the Council.

Ø   Cabinet Members x 8.

Ø   Chair of General Licensing Committee.

Ø   Chair of Planning Committee.

Ø   Chair of Scrutiny Programme Committee.

Ø   Chair of Economy & Infrastructure Corporate Delivery Committee.

Ø   Chair of Education & Skills Corporate Delivery Committee.

Ø   Chair of Climate Change Corporate Delivery Committee.

Ø   Chair of Organisational Transformation Corporate Delivery Committee.

Ø   Chair of Safeguarding People & Tackling Poverty Corporate Delivery Committee.

 

3)      The Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) determination that the Leader of the Largest Opposition Political Group must be paid a Band 4, Senior Salary (subject to the 10% rule) be noted.

 

4)      A Civic Salary be paid to the following (subject to them not already being in receipt of a Senior Salary):

 

Ø   Lord Mayor (Civic Head).

Ø   Deputy Lord Mayor (Deputy Civic Head).

 

5)      The posts of Presiding Member and Deputy Presiding Member be re-established and that they Chair Meetings of Council. These posts will not receive a Senior Salary.

 

6)      The Chair of the Pension Fund Committee be paid a salary equivalent to that of a Band 3 “Committee Chair” Senior Salary as defined by the IRPW; however the additional payment over and above the Basic Salary be met by the Pension Fund.

 

7)      The Council Bodies and the Number of Allocated Seats as listed in Appendix C be appointed. The Corporate Delivery Committee’s Terms of Reference be adopted and added to the Council Constitution.

 

8)      The Committees listed in Appendix D be exempted by Council from the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 in order to allow greater representation on these Committees by the Opposition Political Groups.

 

9)      Councillors be allocated to serve on Council Bodies in line with the nominations received from the Political Groups. The list of Member Champion Areas and Responsible Councillors as outlined in Appendix E be noted.

 

10)    The Council Constitution (www.swansea.gov.uk/constitution) be reaffirmed and adopted including any amendments made at this meeting.

 

11)    A Councillor be elected as Chair of the Democratic Services Committee. The Councillors Handbook (www.swansea.gov.uk/CllrsHandbook) be reaffirmed.

 

12)    The Leader of the Council’s decision to allocate Councillors to sit on Outside Bodies be noted as outlined in Appendix F be noted.

 

13)    The Councillors Home to Guildhall Mileage distances be emailed to Councillors & Statutory Co-opted Members and be the agreed distances for claiming purposes.

 

14)    The Council Bodies Diary as listed in Appendix G be confirmed and adopted.

 

15)    Any consequential amendments to the Council Constitution and / or Councillors as a result of this report be carried out.

 

The Monitoring Officer and Head of Democratic Services jointly submitted a report which informed Council of the amendments in order to simplify, improve and/or add to the Council Constitution.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)          The Multi Location Meeting Policy attached at Appendix A be approved.

2)          The Petitions Scheme attached at Appendix B be approved.

3)          The Standards Committee Terms of Reference at Appendix C be approved.

The Monitoring Officer presented a ‘for information’ report presenting the necessary changes made to the Constitution following the commencement of certain sections of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report which sought approval to re-adopt the Councillors Local Dispute Resolution.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)          The Councillors Local Dispute Resolution as outlined in Appendix A of the report be re-adopted.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report providing guidance to Councillors on issues of Personal Safety and Lone Working.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)        The Guidance be noted and emailed to all Councillors.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report which outlined the proposals for the recruitment of a Community / Town Councillor onto the Standards Committee.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)             The Head of Democratic Services contact each of the 24 Community / Town Councils within Swansea seeking expressions of interest and applications.

 

2)     The Standards Committee be authorised to shortlist and interview Community / Town Councillors that have applied to be members of the Standards Committee and to make a recommendation to Council as to an appointment.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report which sough to consider the recommendation of the Standards Committee Vacancy Panel of 14 April 2022 and to appoint two Independent (Statutory Co-opted) (Lay) Members to the Standards Committee.

 

Resolved that:

1)         Janet Pardue-Wood be appointed as an Independent (Statutory Co[1]opted) (Lay) Member of the Standards Committee for a term of 6 years commencing on 24 May 2022. Her Term of Office shall end on 23 May 2028.

2)         Mark Rees be appointed as an Independent (Statutory Co-opted) (Lay) Member of the Standards Committee for a term of 6 years commencing on 19 October 2022. His Term of Office shall end on 18 October 2028.

Resolved that the Common Seal be affixed to any document necessary to carry into effect any resolution passed or confirmed at meetings during the previous municipal year.