To consider any
questions the appropriate notice for which have been given under Section 4.19
of the Constitution.
Minutes:
(The Cabinet Members'
written responses to the questions had been distributed to the members in
advance).
(1) Question from Councillor
Kevin Morris Jones
“After all the problems
with the parking situation in Llanberis over Easter, I would be grateful to
know what this Council intends to do to improve the situation, bearing in mind
that a balance must be struck between promoting tourism and health and safety
in the area?"
Response from the
Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Gareth Griffith
"It
is clear that the Department had a busy time over Easter - it was very hot, and
the Member has reported on what we saw in the area, when so many tourists
visited her over Easter. In terms of
what the Department intends to do, it endeavours to carry out work throughout
the entire county. There are parking
restrictions, there are signs, and fines have been imposed and the situation
will be monitored over these periods to improve arrangements, not only for
tourists but also for the residents of Gwynedd.
It is, therefore, difficult work, and since Easter was later this year,
there were more people and the weather was extremely hot and brought people to
the area. The situation will be
monitored and the Department is taking the opportunity to talk to anyone who
has problems in their ward."
Ancillary
question from Councillor Kevin Morris Jones
"Is it time, perhaps, to bring out the tow
vans and show tourists that we are open and safe for visitors and locals to
visit us?"
Response from the
Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Gareth Griffith
"The Department is prepared to talk to any
Councillor from any ward. The Department
has been issuing fines. I accept the
point the member is making and we will have a further discussion and will see
how things go over the summer."
(2) Question from Councillor
Paul Rowlinson
“At
the previous meeting, when discussing the budget, the plans to prevent holiday
homes from transferring to Business Tax in order to avoid the holiday home
premium were outlined. Could the Leader
update us on any lobbying that has taken place to try to tackle this?"
Response by the
Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn
"Our
intention was to prepare evidence, for which work I would like to thank the
Chief Executive and the Finance Department, and to gather information from the
Counties that are members of the Rural Forum, of which there are nine county
members. At our meeting of the 10 April
we presented a paper to the Rural Forum highlighting the actual cost, not only
to individual councils but to the whole of Wales in revenue, of losing this
Domestic Tax from our budgets. I am
pleased to announce that the Rural Forum unanimously agreed to support our
request to the Local Government Association to undertake the work of submitting
our case to Welsh Government on behalf of the Rural Forum. I think that having nine Councils in gives us
greater power than if we stood alone on this issue, and we expect a progress
report from the Local Government Association on the work it has done. It is worthwhile noting at this point that
the message has been driven home and that the civil servant from the Welsh
Government's office has arranged to visit us on 13 May in order to hear our
evidence and to gain a greater understanding of the problem that has arisen
following the introduction of the right to charge a premium for holiday
homes."
A supplementary
question by Councillor Paul Rowlinson
"Could
you provide details on the amount the premium has charged, or does charge, and
how many have transferred to Business Rates and what impact this has on the
Council's budget and on the plans to secure suitable homes for the people of
Gwynedd?"
Response by the
Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn
"The
latest I have are the figures provided in the report. In Gwynedd, 1,250 domestic houses have
transferred from Council Tax to Non-domestic Tax since April 2014. On a Domestic Tax level, that translates to
an annual loss of almost £2m to Gwynedd from Council Tax. From what we have gathered from other
Councils (and this, it has to be acknowledged, is fairly superficial work; yet,
at least six councils have responded), we estimate conservatively, that the
loss to the Wales-wide coffers is approximately £4.5m. That is, the income for Wales has fallen by
£4.5m over this period which, of course, means that every Council in Wales is
missing out. We have detailed examples
of this. It even affects Cardiff and
Wrexham and places that don't have any issues with holiday homes. I shall ask the Head of Finance Department to
demonstrate how much premium we have received and how much we anticipated we
would have received."
Further response
from the Head of Finance Department:
"The
numbers transferring from the Council Tax list to the Business Rates list is
accelerating. In this last year,
approximately 460 properties transferred from the Domestic List to the Business
List, an increase of 60% on the 280 which transferred in the previous
year. There is a need to intervene to
ensure greater integrity, and that work is on-going. In terms of how much Tax Premium we collect,
we had estimated that we would generate £2.9m last year, with £200,000 of this
being earmarked for policing the procedure and initiatives in the field of
housing, with the remainder earmarked to implement the Housing Strategy that
will soon be presented to us. Whilst we
will get in the region of between £2.7m and £2.9m, unfortunately, when a
property transfers, the Valuer back-dates some of it. The loss from back-dating is a specific cash
problem for us, whilst the transfer means a loss to all councils in moving
forward, as there is an adjustment in the grant allocation for it.”
Further response
by the Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn.
"I
believe we had estimated that we could generate approximately £5m a year,
therefore, we lose out on £2m-£3m a year from the premium alone, never mind the
loss from the standard Tax. The solution,
of course, is clear and we have proposed it and will convey it to Welsh
Government. It is that the Housing Act for Wales needs to be modified: if a
house is a dwelling, it will be taxed as a dwelling. That is, it may not be a business unless it
has received planning permission to convert it into a different type of
business. Therefore, this is
straightforward and easy to explain. In
fact, the Chief Executive and I had an initial meeting with the Local
Government Minister and we raised the point with her, and she is
interested. She has previous experience
of this type of situation, and she really should be interested, because the
Legislation means that we are not only losing money to the country's purse in
general, but are unable to achieve what the holiday home premium is meant to
achieve, which is more houses for our local people and encourage people and
make it easier for local people to get houses.
We are currently putting money in the pockets of those who can afford
holiday homes, and we are simultaneously unable to obtain the expenditure that
should be due to us to carry out mitigation work and provide houses for our own
people."
A member noted that this matter had been raised at
the previous meeting, and in line with the Constitution of the Council it was
not permitted to discuss the matter again within six months. In response, the Monitoring Officer noted
that responding to a question submitted by a member did not contravene the six
month rule.
(3) A question by Councillor
Owain Williams
“Following the
fact that a by-election will no longer be held in the Morfa Nefyn Ward, exactly
how many Gwynedd Council Councillors have now walked into these seats without
facing an election, and how do these figures compare with neighbouring
counties, i.e. Anglesey, Conwy and Denbighshire?"
Response from the
Cabinet Member for Corporate Support, Councillor Nia Jeffreys
"As you are aware, the last Local Government elections were held in
May 2017. At that time, 21 of the 75
seats on Gwynedd Council were uncontested.
The situation varied across Wales, with a total of
92 uncontested seats in Wales in 2017 (7%), which was slightly lower than in
2012, when there were 99 uncontested seats (8%). Interestingly, three rural
areas, namely Gwynedd, Powys and Pembrokeshire accounted for over 50 of these
seats in 2017. However, it should also
be noted that half of Welsh Councils had at least one uncontested seat in
2017.
The situation in the neighbouring counties was as
follows:
Conwy - six uncontested seats (of 59 seats)
Denbighshire - five uncontested seats (of 47 seats)
Anglesey - no uncontested seats (out of 30 seats)
We are aware that people stand as Councillors for
many reasons. However, research also
highlights some of the obstacles facing people who are interested in
standing. The Council also invests time
and resources before every election to encourage a broader range of people to
stand, and this must be remembered.
Addressing this is a constant challenge for every organisation involved
with Local Government in Wales and for us as councillors."
A supplementary
question by Councillor Owain Williams
"Those
figures, therefore, show that 7% of seats throughout Wales have been taken
without election, but in Gwynedd it is 30%, four times greater than the
Wales-wide average. How are we going to
address this and what was the closing date for the last by-election?
Response from the
Cabinet Member for Corporate Support, Councillor Nia Jeffreys
"I
am confident that the Council has addressed all the statutory requirements
relating to the election. In fact, it has gone beyond those requirements by
posting information on the website, and also by posting information to people
who do not use e-mail. It is a great shame
that people have not stood for election in Morfa Nefyn. We as Plaid Cymru see this as an important
subject and we welcome a discussion about policies. Next Saturday, I will attend an event in Pen
Llŷn arranged by Councillor Wager to try to attract more women to stand
for election. This is a subject in which
I am deeply interested, and I read the Local Government report about diversity
in the Local Government field which also looked at barriers that deter people from
standing. There was a whole chapter
about bullying, discrimination and harassment, and I was astonished to read
that only a third of councillors have not suffered. As we are talking specifically about Morfa
Nefyn in this question, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my
deepest thanks to former councillor Siân Hughes for her years of service to the
Council and her ward; and finally, I would like to extend a very warm welcome
to Councillor Gareth Jones, and congratulate him."
(4) Question from Councillor
Sion Jones
"The recent Council Tax increase has hit
many families financially. The Council
must be thanked for raising awareness of the Tax Relief Programme available.
However, would it be possible for the Cabinet Member to explain the definition
of 'low income' and how many people in Gwynedd get Council Tax relief?"
Response by the
Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Ioan Thomas
"The definition of 'low income' is complex and
technical.
The term 'low income' is
used nationally by many agencies, despite not having a clear definition of what
is meant by 'low income'.
The level of income that
would make a household eligible for support through the Council Tax Relief
Scheme varies depending on a range of circumstances.
Members will remember
that the Full Council at its meeting in December of last year, as it does every
December, decided on its Council Tax Relief Scheme. However, it is noted that
the bulk of the scheme is defined by Welsh Government regulations.
The regulations define
the 'relevant sum' for different circumstances.
When assessing the right
to Council Tax relief, consideration is given to the earnings of the household,
and this sum is compared with the 'relevant sum'.
As 'relevant sum' varies
depending on the situation and circumstances of the application, the Council
has a calculator on its website, to which members have been given a link, and
it is possible for residents to visit this and see the situation. This enables the people of Gwynedd to find
out whether they are eligible for Council tax relief by inputting details of
their personal circumstances. It is then
possible for people to decide to go ahead and submit an application for a
formal assessment or to discuss the situation with staff. I am aware that officers of the department do
very good work on behalf of the people who contact them.
Currently, 9,301
households in Gwynedd get Council Tax relief, which is a commitment of £9.6m of the
Council's resources. Approximately
58,000 households receive a Council Tax bill, therefore 9,301 is close to 16%
of the total receiving a full or partial relief. I ask that Members convey this information to
any constituents applying for this."
A Supplementary
Question by Councillor Sion Jones
"Is the Cabinet Member willing to review the
way the process works and to look at simplifying the process in order to help
the people of Gwynedd?"
Response by the
Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Ioan Thomas
"Your
original question was about the relief, I have responded to this and this will
go through the Council in December. You
mentioned single people, etc. This
defines something known as 'discounted', and it is not a relief. I believe that around 18,000 people get a
discounted Council Tax bill. I am very
happy for anyone to contact me or the department to obtain accurate details
about the information. It is not
straightforward, as I explained with the relief, but you mention relief and we
also offer a discount. I, therefore,
acknowledge that it is not easy to understand, but I will look into the
situation and am willing to receive any correspondence."