Council Exec Board Meeting Round-Up

The Council Executive Board met today for their first ‘post summer’ Exec Board meeting.

In total there were 21 items on the agenda, with some discussed more in depth than others, in particular the possibility of webcasting Council meetings. For a full report of the decision and what was said, then you can read our report here.

Among some of the items discussed included the local housing strategy, the Welsh language annual monitoring report and affordable housing project.

Three items were also discussed under ‘Part 2’, which meant the public and press were not allowed to sit in on the meeting. These items were:

– Reshaping services to meet the financial challenges
– Redwither Central, Wrexham Industrial Estate
– Former Firestone Site, Wrexham Industrial Estate

One item that was discussed in depth was the introduction of The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2012 replaces the previous 1964 Act, which meant that councils had to register anyone who notified them as working as scrap metal collector.

Councillor Hugh Jones said: The recommendations are here for the council to enforce much needed regulations to mobile and static scrap metal dealers.”

Under the new act, it is an offence for a scrap metal dealer to carry out business without owning a license. Two types of licences have been specified under the act; a Site License and a Collector’s License.

A Site Licence means that all sites where a licensee carries on business as a scrap metal dealer have to be identified, and a site manager has to be named for each site. This Licence allows the licensee to transport scrap metal to and from those sites from any Local Authority area.

The second license, the Collector’s Licence allows the licensee to operate as a collector in the area of the issuing Local Authority. It does not allow the collector to operate in any other Local Authority area, so a separate Licence has to be obtained from each Council the collector wishes to operate in. The Licence does not authorise the licensee to operate a site; to do so they will need a Site Licence from the relevant Local Authority.

Councillor David Kelly said: “My main concern is the ones who operate the radar are still going to act under the radar due to lack of enforcement and we will penalise the wrong people.”

Councillor David Bithell said: “I think this report is long overdue, we have all had issues and this will place a lot more emphasis on that theft is taken seriously.”

The board voted unanimously in favour of the recommendation. The full report can be found here.

The Wrexham libraries were also discussed, with the annual report to CyMAL (Museums, Archives & Libraries Wales) showing that the service is ‘performing very well.’

It is believed that the libraries will attain either six or seven of the nine set standards. A further two of the standards were partially achieved, which included opening times and Wi-Fi.

Councillor Hugh Jones said: “We have some of the best libraries in all of Wales.”

Councillor Bob Dutton expressed concern on missing out on a couple of the standards, but described the libraries as an ‘Excellent service.’

The full report can be found here.

Currently the budget for major events £40,000, which is held in the community events budget. However the report proposed that the money was transferred the community events budget to the Assets and Economic Development Department

Councillor Neil Rogers said: “The money will be used the same way that it is used now.”

The discussion soon led to comments regarding the Etape Cymru event that took place over the weekend, which generated complaints over road closures by some residents.

In total the event bought in almost half a million pounds for the local community, with Cllr Rogers describing the event as ‘an opportunity to promote our town.’

Cllr Kelly said: “There were a few complaints from residents about Etape as roads are closed per say for that length of time, as we have farmers in the middle of combining and they are being denied access for their lands.

“In some years we have had the roads one way, but this has been dismissed, organisers are still making the same mistakes from the first year and not learning from them.

“A lot of our residents have seen this event as an inconvenience. There are two sides to this.”

It was also highlighted that one pensioner was stuck in her house due to the race, and could not get out to visit her daughter.

Cllr Rogers said: “There are two sides to this. There have been some complaints, but also many compliments.

“We will never get it right, but our team are looking at the complaints made so far and we will readdress them. Nothing goes as smoothly as you would like it to go.”

Speaking of the events one councillor said it was ‘Much improved on last year.’

A full copy of the report can be found here.

The full copy of each item on the agenda can be found on the Council’s website.