Agenda and minutes

To receive and consider the attached Schedule of Correspondence and any recommendations thereon (below).

Chair welcomed Officers, Members of the Authority and members of the public watching via the livestream. Last meeting of 2022.

Apologies were received from Cllr Jeremy Davies and Cllr Liam Cowles.

No correspondence received.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items on the agenda.  Members’ attention is drawn to the sheet attached to the attendance sheet and the need to record their declarations verbally and in writing, specifying the nature of the interest.

If Members have declared an interest in an item please ensure that you inform the Chair when you are leaving the room, so that this can be recorded in the minutes.

No declarations were received.

To give opportunity for members of the public to address the meeting in accordance with the Authority’s Public Speaking Scheme.

No requests were received.

To receive a verbal report on meetings and events attended by the Chair since the last meeting of the Authority.

The recruitment for four new Welsh Government appointed Members is nearly complete and we hope to make appointments in the new year. The Chair explained the recruitment process at the request of the Deputy Chair and noted that the Minister had the final say for these appointments.

Audit Wales are completing interviews with Members this week as part of their Income Diversification Report fieldwork.

A workshop on accommodation for HQ was held this week with an external consultant. The session was constructive and all options available were explored. This work is ongoing and good progress is being made.

Item was introduced by the Chief Executive who acknowledged the work of Officers and Members in delivering on a bold and ambitious management place, that goes above and beyond statutory requirements.

Officers advised that the Plan was note quite complete, and that some additional consultation was still due to take place. These additions would be presented to Members in the new year. Officers stressed that this was just the first step, and that there was still plenty of work to be done. The Plan should be seen as a commitment to what needs to be done.

Members noted that the hours of work put into developing this plan were evident in the quality of it and commended Officers on the consultation and engagement that helped inform the work. They were also encouraged by the input from the Minister.

Resources would be needed to help deliver on this plan, and public money would not be sufficient alone. Effective income diversification would be essential to support this delivery.

RESOLVED: to adopt Future Bannau as the Statutory Management Plan for the Brecon Beacons National Park area for publication in April 2023.

RESOLVED: to agree that Future Bannau acts as the Wellbeing Plan for the National Park area and that the Plan's mission statements form out Wellbeing Objectives as required by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

RESOLVED: to agree that any further minor amendments to Future Bannau up to publication can be agreed by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Chair of the Authority.

Members will receive the full report after it has been submitted in January 2023. Officers are also working on a training session on Section 6 Duty requirements to provide Members with a better understanding of what this entails. 

This update is in response to one of the recommendations made by Audit Wales and is accompanied by a Procurement Guide for Officers. A Procurement Toolkit is also being developed.

It was noted that the landscape for procurement is changing as a result of Brexit talks, so there may be a need to revise this document again, and that any changes would be put to the NPA for further approval.

Members were advised that procurement is an operational issue and the only involvement from them would be in approving policies.

RESOLVED: to approve the Contract Standing Orders attached as Appendix One.

The Monitoring Officer highlighted that this was to approve the consultation process and not to approve a specific byelaw.

RESOLVED: to approve the commencement of the initial written statement and 12-week consultation on the introduction of the byelaw regulating the use of and charging for car parking on Authority owned car parks.

The Director of Planning & Place noted that the review and update of this protocol had been done to provide clear guidelines for both Officers and the public. He informed Planning Committee members that that they would receive training on the new protocol in due course.

The updated protocol was commended by Members, notably the clarification around site visits.

RESOLVED: to approve the proposed changes to the Planning Protocol as set out in Appendix One of this report.

RESOLVED: to delegate minor amendments and formatting of the Protocol to the Director of Planning and Place.

The Director of Planning & Place explained that the policy was produced in response to a recommendation in the audit completed by internal auditors TIAA.

This had been identified as a key area of risk and having the right policy and procedure in place was essential and would provide effective oversight to ensure we were meeting necessary requirements.

Members asked for further information around potential impacts on insurance and for an organisational chart that set out who was responsible for what – both of these requests were taken as actions by Officers to report back to Members.

It was noted by the Chair that Cllr Edwin Roderick was unable to vote on this item as he had stepped away for the presentation.

RESOLVED: to approve the Buildings Management & Maintenance Policy set out in Appendix One of this report.

RESOLVED: to delegate updates to document links and formatting of the policy to the Director of Planning and Place.

Any other business that the Chair considers of sufficient urgency and has been

notified to him in advance.

Members noted the retirement of Warden Wyn Morgan and acknowledged his service.

Members also noted the passing of former Chair, Cllr Gwyn Gwilym.