State of the Area Debate 2006 – Llantwit Major
REPORT of the State of the Area Debate held on
22nd March, 2006 in Llantwit Major School.
Present:
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Councillor Ms. M.E. Alexander
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(Mayor, Vale of Glamorgan Council)
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Councillor H.J.W. James
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(Leader, Vale of Glamorgan Council)
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Councillor A.D. Hampton
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(Cabinet Member: Education and Lifelong
Learning)
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Councillor T.H. Jarvie
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(Cabinet Member: Legal and Regulatory)
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Councillor A.C. Williams
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(Cabinet Member: Social and Care Services)
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Also present:
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Councillor G.A. Cox
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(Cabinet Member: Visible Services,
Sustainability and Local Agenda 21)
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Councillor A.M. Ernest
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(Cabinet Member: Building Maintenance and
Fleet Management)
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Councillor M.R. Harvey
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(Cabinet Member: Regeneration, Tourism and
Leisure)
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Councillor G.C. Kemp
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(Cabinet Member: Human Resources and
Equalities)
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Councillor A.J. Williams
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(Cabinet Member: Planning and
Transportation)
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Councillors G. John, E. Hacker and A.J.
Readman.
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The Mayor welcomed all present to the Debate
which would focus on the Council’s key achievements and ongoing
major projects within Llantwit Major, together with a discussion on
the Licensing Policy and Drinking in Public Places. The Mayor
then invited the Leader to provide his opening address.
The Leader welcomed all present to this first
meeting in the series of State of the Area Debates for 2006.
He referred to the key topics which formed the basis of
presentations for the evening, namely
Ø Llantwit Major
School Investment Strategy - Councillor A.D. Hampton;
Ø Licensing
Policy - Drinking in Public Places - Councillor T.H. Jarvie;
Ø Western Vale
Integrated Children’s Centre - Councillor A.C. Williams.
He then went on to provide an overview of the
Council, commencing with the Council’s Cabinet (the Executive), the
scrutiny function - the remit of which was primarily to hold the
Executive to account and to assist in policy development, and other
committees of the Council specifically the Planning and Licensing
Committees which exercised a quasi-judicial role. The new
governance system, he explained, allowed for more open and
transparent government, resulting in better and quicker decisions
being made. He referred to the fact that the Council had
adopted the principle of continuous improvement and evidenced that
by quoting from a recent newspaper article in the Western Mail
which had placed this Council as top in Wales. The Leader
quoted further examples where service improvements had been
effected and reaffirmed the Cabinet’s and the Council’s
determination to continue in the same vein. He then handed
back to the Mayor who introduced the three speakers as follows:
Llantwit Major School Investment Strategy - Councillor A.D.
Hampton (Cabinet Member: Education and Lifelong Learning) -
Councillor Hampton opened his presentation by
remarking how pleased he had been to receive an invitation to speak
in the Debate at this school in which he had taught for over 17
years. He drew attention to the fact that the Council’s
largest spending service was in fact Education and Lifelong
Learning with, in 2006/07, an estimated spend in excess of
£100m. He referred in particular to the Vale School
Investment Strategy and the unanimous decision of the Council to
improve the quality of schools within the Vale to such a level that
the WAG’s target that “all schools should be fit for purpose” was
achieved. The Investment Strategy was comprised of two
streams, commencing with the three secondary schools of Cowbridge,
St. Cyres and Llantwit Major and then all other schools in the
Vale. In total the Council required capital investment of
£68m., with the gross costs of works to secondary schools amounting
to approximately £42.19m. The WAG had allocated £9m. and the
Council’s contribution would be found through prudential borrowing,
the use of receipts, and capital receipts. Councillor Hampton
referred to the fact that this school had been built in the early
1970s and, despite some refurbishment, much more was required to
bring the school up to the standard desired. He expressed
confidence that over the programme period the Council would be able
to address all the issues in relation to each of the secondary
schools identified and obtain the necessary funding, the current
position being that tenders had been invited for a technical
partner to assist in the process. It was noted that the
target completion date for the Llantwit Major School was September
2012.
Throughout the course of the presentation,
photographs were displayed of the current state of buildings on the
school campus and the desired outcome. Councillor Hampton
concluded his presentation by paying tribute to the work of Mr.
Martin Donovan, Head of Strategic Planning and Performance, in the
development of the Strategy.
Licensing Policy: Controlling
Drinking on the Streets - Councillor T.H. Jarvie (Cabinet Member:
Legal and Regulatory) -
Councillor Jarvie outlined the steps the
Council was taking to address the impact on the quality of life of
residents and visitors exposed to public nuisance, annoyance and
disorder as a consequence of the irresponsible drinking of alcohol
on streets. It was recognised that this was, in fact, a
matter of widespread concern throughout the Vale. Initial
discussions with interested parties had indicated that distress was
caused to third parties and that such activities, for example,
caused them to curtail their use of public spaces. Councillor
Jarvie then went on to describe the powers given to local
authorities under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.
He stressed that, only after persons had first been asked by a
Police Officer not to drink alcohol in an area where noise or
annoyance to members of the public could be demonstrated or
disorder had been associated with the consumption of alcohol, could
a local authority utilise those powers. The aforementioned
Act set out the process which a local authority had to undertake
prior to considering imposing any such Orders. The Act placed
great emphasis on consultation with members of the public, the
local Superintendent of Police, appropriate Town and Community
Councils and Licensees, and indicated that the evidence collected
as a consequence needed to be robust. Councillor Jarvie
announced that a large number of responses had been received to the
consultation and that the press in particular had been very active
in publicising the Council’s intent. As a consequence 14
areas within the Vale had been identified as producing sufficient
evidence to consider the introduction of the appropriate No
Drinking Orders. 4 of those were located in Llantwit Major,
namely Windmill Lane Playing Field, Poundfield Shopping Area, Lorna
Hughes Park, and The Square. Since the consultation process
had now been completed, the Council could proceed with the
designated process as required by law by publishing notices in the
local press and working in concert with the Police to ensure that
residents / visitors would no longer have to tolerate problems with
drinking on the streets resulting in the Vale being a safer,
cleaner and more attractive place and generally enhancing the
quality of health and wellbeing for all.
Western Vale Integrated Children’s
Centre (WVICC) - Councillor A.C. Williams (Cabinet Member: Social
Care and Health) -
Councillor Williams opened his presentation by
paying tribute to the Reverend Canon Foster (Llandaff Diocese Board
for Social Responsibility) and Jennie Jones (WVICC Co-ordinator)
for their contribution in bringing this scheme to fruition and
their ongoing commitment to ensuring the success of the
project. He explained that an Integrated Centre provided
joined-up services and facilities for children, young people and
families consisting of a range of services deliverable from a
variety of places such as home, park, village hall, school,
etc. The services referred to above comprised
Ø Childcare;
Ø Open Access
Play;
Ø Training and
Community Development;
Ø Early Years
Education.
Councillor Williams referred to the fact that,
back in 2002, two sites had initially been selected as suitable for
the location of the ICC but that the site at St. Illtyd’s Primary
School in Llantwit Major had won the day. An ICC provided a
focal point for local communities with outreach provision being
vital to the service, integrated services from children, young
people and families, putting children/young people at the centre of
the decision-making process, and employing multi-disciplinary teams
and taking a co-ordinated approach. Pictorial evidence of the
progress to date was displayed, and it was noted that Phase 1 had
been handed over in July 2005 and that full services would be up
and running by September 2006. The official launch was
anticipated to take place late summer / early autumn 2006.
Councillor Williams further referred to the fact that the Private
Day Care Service at WVICC would be open from 7.45am - 5.45pm with
the wider centre opening from 8.30am - 5.00pm approximately.
It was anticipated that both evening and weekend opening would be
in place when resources and capacity permitted. Even now, it
was reported that the ICC had been opening weekends on a temporary
basis for Open Access Play Activities which would shortly come to
an end.
Councillor Williams then concluded his
presentation by running through the key themes underpinning the
purposes behind the ICC and aspirations for the future, together
with some highly positive views from users of the ICC, both young
and old. Finally, he complimented Jennie Jones and her
dedicated and eager team in helping make the ICC the success it had
been to date and urged the residents of Llantwit Major to visit the
Centre and thereby contribute to its continuing success.
The following question and answer session then
ensued:
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Question
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Answer
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Councillor A. Matthews - Town Councillor and
School Governor.
Councillor Matthews referred to the Vale being
the lowest funded LEA in the country (through no fault of the
Council) and expressed regret that the proposed timescale for the
redevelopment of Llantwit Major School had been put back to
September 2012, asking how this could be justified when the Council
had £51m. in reserves.
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Councillor Hampton responded by stating that
the dates for the redevelopment of the 3 secondary schools
identified had been based upon an assessment of need and that it
was necessary firstly to relocate both the Cowbridge and St. Cyres
onto one site. The dates quoted this evening were the dates
quoted within the School Investment Strategy. As regards
funding, he went on to explain that this LEA was a low-funded
Authority through the historical formula utilised by the WAG, but,
through prudent housekeeping and stringent efforts on behalf of the
Council, the LEA was now just 9th in the League for
Primary School funding in Wales. Notwithstanding that,
however, meetings were still being held with WAG Ministers in an
effort to address the matter of funding.
The Leader further clarified that the Council,
whilst not the worst funded LEA, was low in the League and that,
whilst it was incredibly difficult to raise the Council’s base in
order to achieve higher levels of grant, the Council had risen from
22nd to 18th overall. The Leader then
confirmed, as Councillor Hampton had previously mentioned, that
balances would be used to fund already clearly identified
projects.
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Ms. D. Thomas - Assistant Headteacher,
Llantwit Major School.
Ms. Thomas, whilst acknowledging the efforts
made by the Council in respect of the school, referred to the fact
that 5 out of 8 of the secondary schools were in deficit and to the
fact that pupils under the auspices of this LEA were at a
disadvantage particularly in the field of ICT because of that
situation.
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Councillor Hampton, whilst expressing sympathy
with the current situation which the Council was doing its best to
resolve, referred to the fact that this LEA passed more money than
other LEAs direct to schools under devolved responsibilities and
that the expenditure of that funding was the responsibility of the
Governors.
The Leader reiterated that the Council had
made education a priority in terms of revenue funding over recent
years and was now doing the same in terms of capital funding but
that the Council received only 4.8% from WAG in the current year
and was, consequently, also one of the lowest funded LEAs. He
reminded those present, however, that the Council was also one of
the lowest Council taxing Councils in Wales. He then went on
to refer to efficiency savings of 1% which every service within the
Council had had to make over recent years. This year, the
Education Department had also been required to make those 1%
efficiency savings which amounted to £729k. He stressed that
cuts had not been made in education but that the increases awarded
had been less than he would have wished. He referred to the
fact that discussions had been undertaken with headteachers
regarding ways of achieving efficiency savings through, for
example, more efficient procurement. He went on to refer to
the fact that the 1% efficiency savings had been applied across all
sectors of the Council in the current year because it was no longer
sustainable to omit education from the equation given that
expenditure on education was over 50% of the Council’s budget.
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Mr. D. Thomas - Local Councillor and Chair of
Governors at Eagleswell.
Mr. Thomas referred to the need for the
funding devolved to each school to take account of the actual cost
to each school of employing the teachers specific to that school,
which would vary from school to school.
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The Leader responded that, whilst
understanding the point being made, each school had the
responsibility to manage and to find the funding for its own
staff.
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Mr. M. Roscoe - in respect of the procurement
of ICT, Mr. Roscoe asked why the Council did not recommend the very
good contract offered by Value Wales.
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The Leader responded that the Council’s
Procurement Unit was already meeting with Value Wales and that
issues relating to the provision of ICT would be one of many
matters discussed.
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Mr. R. Biddard - whilst welcoming the
Council’s efforts to reduce levels of graffiti, to lower levels of
vandalism and to introduce of no drinking zones, Mr. Biddard asked
how such areas would be policed and what penalties would be
enforced.
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Councillor Jarvie responded that enforcement
of the legislation would be a matter for the Police. As
stated earlier in the meeting, he reaffirmed that areas could not
be designated no drinking areas without full consultation and proof
of anti-social and other such behaviour. He added that the
Council would consider increasing the areas to be controlled by
Order if evidence showed that the need was there.
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Mr. J. Griffin then drew attention to the
likelihood that, with the introduction of “no go” areas, the
problems of anti-social behaviour and irresponsible drinking would
migrate to other areas of the town. He proposed that the
residents of those areas would then request that similar Orders be
made.
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Councillor Jarvie responded that Orders could
and would be made on an area by area basis if the necessary
criteria were met.
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Mr. N. Lewis then asked that the powers to
make such Orders be applied with common sense and tolerance,
drawing attention to the fact that The Square was a major focal
point and community facility, particularly for young people in the
area.
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Councillor Jarvie referred to that point being
covered in the legislation in that, firstly, a Police Officer had
to request a person not to drink alcohol - a step that would be
unlikely to be taken were not nuisance or disorder being
caused.
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Mr. J. Griffiths - whilst thanking the Council
and the WAG for reinstating the passenger railway link, Mr.
Griffiths drew attention to the lack of Police presence within
Llantwit Major and to consequent incidents of anti-social
behaviour, in particular in the area of the station.
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Councillor Jarvie agreed that anti-social
behaviour should not be tolerated but reiterated that, whilst the
Council would do its part, it was not the role of the Council to
enforce the law.
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Mr. H. Lewis, Older People’s Forum - asked
what provisions the Council had in place to deal with age
discrimination after the introduction of the new Act in October
2006.
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The Leader responded that Councillor A.C.
Williams (Cabinet Member for Social and Care Services) was the
Council’s appointed Older People’s Champion and that the
development of an Older People’s Strategy fell within the remit of
the Directorate of Community Services. He was aware that
representatives from the Older People’s Forum had already met with
the Director to discuss the way forward and assured those present
that the Council, as one of the largest employers in the area,
would incorporate anti-age discrimination measures into its
policies and practices.
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Ms. P. Hanley - referred to the disgraceful
state of Llantwit Major last year due to the insufficient quantity
and inadequate quality of grass cutting in the area.
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The Leader concurred that the situation that
had arisen last year was totally to be regretted and that the
glitch in the system had been identified and dealt with. The
situation this year would, however, be closely monitored to ensure
that similar problems did not arise.
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Mr. D. Wallace - asked whether a particular
age group had been identified as causing problems in Llantwit Major
as regards irresponsible drinking and, if so, how they had procured
that alcohol.
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Councillor Jarvie indicated that the Council’s
Trading Standards division did test surveys of under-age alcohol
and other sales which frequently resulted in prosecutions being
undertaken. He then handed the floor to Ms. Kate Thompson
(Operational Manager - Regulatory Services) who confirmed that the
Trading Standards division did mount a high profile campaign prior
to Christmas which had resulted in fixed penalty notices being
levied on shop owners / retailers / publicans found to have been in
contravention of the law and that the exercise had been repeated in
February. She also drew attention to the fact that
consultation had indicated that the age profile of those engaged in
irresponsible drinking differed throughout the Vale with the
problem being most evident in the younger age group in respect of
Llantwit Major.
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Mr. M. Williams - asked how persons on fixed
income could afford to pay the very high percentage increase in
community care charges imposed by the Council.
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Councillor A.C. Williams drew attention to the
fact that the eligibility criteria for such charges had recently
changed and that any persons now in financial difficulty as a
consequence of the increased charges had the right of
appeal.
The Leader asked Mr. Williams to forward the
necessary details to him in order that specific cases could be
followed-up.
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Mr. B. Godsell - asked whether the School
Investment Strategy could be revised to ensure that Llantwit Major
School was upgraded more quickly than proposed and whether, given
that there was no all-weather sports training facility in the
Western Vale, the provision of such a facility could be taken
account of in the Strategy and factored into the plans for the
school site.
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Both Councillor Hampton and the Leader drew
attention to the fact that the WAG had allocated £9m. to each
Council regardless of each’s particular needs. The Leader
went on to remark that the issue as to whether any of the school
projects could be rescheduled was very much a matter of resources
and heavily dependent upon the release of land for capital
gain. He assured those present that the programme would be
reviewed on a regular basis.
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A local resident enquired as to the Council’s
future plans for youth provision in Llantwit Major.
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Councillor Hampton referred to a recent
scrutiny review on youth provision which would be presented to the
Council’s Cabinet imminently. He drew attention to the £68m.
investment for community based schools where the buildings would be
designed to accommodate a variety of uses including youth
provision.
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Mr. H. Lewis, Community Councillor - referred
to the condition of a Council owned sports pavilion in the area of
Heol Mynydd and enquired whether the Council would consider
upgrading it.
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The Leader undertook to look into the
matter.
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Ms. S. Bagstaff, Town Councillor - drew
attention to the difficulties of access onto the beach, in
particular for less able bodied persons and for those with prams,
pushchairs etc. She was aware that a new Beach Manager had
been appointed and asked what provision the Council was making in
that area.
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Councillor Cox responded that the new Coastal
Manager’s remit was to develop a Coastal Strategy Vale-wide.
He remarked that efforts had previously been made to improve access
to the beach but that this had been negated through the impact of
natural forces.
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Mr. B. Swayne, Cowbridge resident - enquired
as to the position regarding the redevelopment of Cowbridge School,
proposals to address the car parking problem within Cowbridge, and
the potential introduction of car parking charges.
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As regards the school, Councillor Hampton
referred to the ongoing preparatory work and Mr. M. Donovan (Head
of Strategic Planning and Performance) confirmed that the target
date in respect of that school had always been 2008 and that
progress was currently on schedule. As regards the car park
at Cowbridge Market, the Leader commented that it was the
leaseholder’s responsibility in that the leaseholder had a duty to
maintain the area and a duty of care to the public; he
suggested that Mr. Swayne contact his local Councillors. With
regard to car parking charges, Cabinet was currently looking at
different charging policies for differing periods in differing
locations. The Leader stressed that each car park would be
assessed on its own merits, that traffic surveys would need to be
looked into, and that full consultation would be undertaken once
the necessary information to feed the consultation progress had
been collated.
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A local resident enquired as to the likely
impact of the opening of the OneVale Contact Centre on the service
offered by the Llantwit Major One Stop Shop.
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The Leader referred to the services provided
in the One Stop Shop (similar to those provided also in Penarth and
Cowbridge) and stressed that the opening of a Contact Centre in
Barry was in no way a threat to local services.
Investigations were underway as to how some of the services
currently provided by the area offices could be provided through,
for example, libraries or schools. Consideration was also
been given to providing a wider range of services than at
present.
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Ms. S. Wagstaff - asked whether further
funding was available to finish off the good work commenced in
relation to traffic management in Commercial Street.
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Councillor Cox responded that, at present, no
capital funds had been allocated to extend the scheme given the
Council’s other priorities, desirable though it would be to
complete the work in Commercial Street.
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Mr. M. Williams - asked about the provision of
disabled access into the Llantwit Major One Stop Shop.
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The Leader gave the assurance that the Council
was committed to, where feasible, ensuring that its buildings were
compliant with the needs of the less able bodied. He stressed
that it had, however, to be recognised that certain older buildings
were incapable of effective transformation and, in such instances,
the Council would actively look for alternative venues from which
to provide the service.
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Mr. M. Williams - asked why Councillors now
received allowances and qualified for pensions whereas in the past
Councillors had been unpaid.
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The Leader responded that the role and
responsibility of Councillors had changed dramatically from what it
had once been. He referred to his own particular role as
Leader of the Council whereby he worked an average 50/60 hours a
week, and that the Council was a business with an annual budget in
excess of £2m., had responsibility for 67 schools and employed
approximately 5,000 staff. As regards the pension issue, the
Council had agreed that Members could take advantage of the scheme
if they so wished; he also added that this was a contributory
pension scheme. He concluded by asking the audience not to
under-value the work done by local Councillors on behalf of the
community.
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A local resident complained about the
appalling amount of litter particularly in the area of the Windmill
Lane Playing Fields but in fact all over the town. She
referred also to the fact that where there was litter, there were
rats and that she had reported rats at the site of the playing
fields and also outside of the Somerfield supermarket to the
Council but no action had resulted.
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The Leader responded that littering was in
fact a Vale-wide problem but that the particular issues in Llantwit
Major would be investigated. He also drew attention to the
fact that the Council now employed three Enforcement Officers
Vale-wide as opposed to one and that fixed penalty notices would be
issued when and wherever possible.
Councillor Cox referred to the £1.2m.
allocation for Street Cleaning and related matters and the very
wide remit of the three Enforcement Officers which included issues
such as dog fouling and fly tipping as well as littering. He
referred also to the fact that the Council had mounted many
publicity campaigns with the primary aim of dissuading persons from
littering. The Council required the help of the local
community if the situation were to be improved. The Council
could provide equipment and materials to community groups from
which the labour would be provided. It was important that the
community inform the Council of the names of those persons involved
in such anti-social behaviour and, critically, provide the
necessary evidence for effective enforcement action to be
taken.
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