RESOLVEN COMMUNITY COUNCIL
The Monthly Meeting of the Council was held on Thursday 2nd December 2021 at 6pm at the Community Centre
Present/ Presennol
Mr. N. Francis – Chairman/Cadeirydd
Councillors/Cynghorwyr
Mr. T. Jones, Mr. A Jones, Mrs J. Llewellyn, Mr P. Thomas
County Member/Aelod o’r Cyngor Sir
County Councillor Mr Dean lewis
Clerk/Clerc
Mrs. C. Payne.
126/21 Apologies for Absence/Ymddiheuriadau am absenoldeb
Mr N. Place, Mr. K. Sims,
127/21 Declarations of Interest/Datganiad o ddiddordeb personol
No declarations of interest received
County Councillor/Cynghorydd Sirol
Members welcomed Cllr Lewis to the meeting following his recent illness and he briefed the Council on various issues that had been raised previously
128/21 Minutes of the previous Meeting/Cofnodion y Cyfarfod Diwethaf
The Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 4th November 2021 were accepted as a true record.
129/21 Clerk’s report and Council Matters Arising/Materion yn codi o’r cofnodion
ac adroddiad y Clerc.
The Clerk’s report was presented and approved.
Matters arising.
Lighting at School Camp – Member’s liability to be researched
130/21 Precept for the next financial year 2022/2023
The budget forecast for the next financial year 22/23 drawn up by the finance committee was presented to members for approval. The precept was raised by 5% to cover increased staff, election and maintenance costs. The precept was agreed at £60,652 and following discussion was approved by the members.
Resolved to approve next financial years precept of £60,652
130/21 Correspondence
NPT briefing note on Local Government elections
HMRC – Vat to go digital
131/21 Sub-Committee Reports
Parks/Environment/Hall committee. – No meeting in October 21
Finance Committee. –
The minutes of the meeting held on 9th September 2021 were accepted as a true record.
132/21 Chairman’s Report.
The Chair requested that a donation to Building Blocks be made to go towards the Food Bank for the ‘Toy for a Child’ project.
The Post Office – The County Councillor and Members are looking into options to replace the Post Office
133/21 Councillors Reports
A request to approach the Vale of Neath Practice about resuming face to face appointments without the triage telephone call.
A report on the regional meeting of One Voice Wales held remotely via Star-leaf on Wednesday 1/12/21
Councillor Trefor Jones gave a verbal report on the meeting which was far better attended than the
previous meeting when only three councils were represented, some eight councils had joined the
meeting.
The main changes to the operation of Community Councils following legislation from the Senedd were discussed.
- The new Law of Competence – this will apply to the Council in the 2022, but the Clerk will be informed as to when it will be fully operational.
- a) Annual Report – this will in future be a statutory duty of EVERY council, from
April 1st 2022 to 31 st March 2023 and henceforth on an annual basis. However, it is sufficient for the council to post it online on its website where it will be easily available for the public to view. It was agreed that a sub-committee would be formed in the New Year in order for a pilot pro forma to be devised for May 2022 - b) Hybrid meetings – each member now has the legal duty to access each meeting via social media. It was felt that the investment in digital hardware for each councillor would make this easily achievable.
- c) Public participation – it is intended that members of the public will be able to ask questions in future without having to ask permission to address the Council on a particular matter. It was felt that this could be problematic and a nightmare for future Chairs on a contentious issue. Further clarity on how exactly the law would operate will become clear in due course.
- Election regulation revisions –The Welsh Government had accepted many of the suggestions from the consultation process to make the procedure simpler and more transparent. In particular it will become possible for candidates to submit their nominations online and not have to present the forms in person to the Returning Officer, though a cut-off date and time would still prevail. It was felt that this may well increase participation in elections especially among younger electors. It was not known whether this would be in operation in May 2022.
