Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies had been received from Nick Batchelor.

To be made at the start of the agenda item in question, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

None received

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairperson.

New Primary School Provision to serve parts of Creigiau/St Fagans, Radyr/Morganstown and Fairwater.

The Chairperson welcomed Councillor Sarah Merry, Deputy Leader, Richard Portas Programme Director School Organisational Planning and Brett Andrewartha Team Manager School Organisational Planning and Liz Weale Operational Manager Procurement and Partnerships Legal Services to the meeting[HA1] .

The Chairperson invited Councillor Merry to make a statement in which she said that even though we were currently in very unusual circumstances, this was another stage in the development of the new school; adding that it was another new LDP school, which would be two form entry, dual stream and include a nursery.  Explaining the rationale behind dual stream, Councillor Merry referred to overall supply around the site and not wanting to undermine the existing schools, whilst providing parental choice.  The flexibility and the opportunity to change the balance of Welsh/English provision in response to demand was also outlined.

Richard Portas added that the report has been through two Cabinet meetings and consultation at length; this was the end of the process and all queries raised from previous reports had been addressed in this report.  It was noted that Cardiff was recording a 17% uptake in Welsh language provision and this new school provided an opportunity to drive that much higher.

The Chairperson invited questions and comments from Members as follows;

Members noted that this had previously been scrutinised at Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee and that a letter had been send to Councillor Merry asking for a further report on the recruitment of Staff and Governors for the school. Members were advised that there was no date of opening in the report due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, but that a further report on recruitment could be brought back to Committee.it was noted however that there would definitely be Parent Governors, but other Governors in each strand should be recruited on skills and skills gaps.  It was stressed that the balance needed to be right and not dominated by either medium.

Members and Officers discussed the importance of the Head Teacher recruitment in that the Head Teacher would need to fully understand the model and the vision of the school, and as this was a new example of this type of school in Cardiff it would need constant monitoring and be a success if it was to become a model for the future.

Members noted the delivery of the school was predicated on a S106 agreement and asked about the risks if the applicant decided to vary the s106 agreement due to the pandemic and the decline in the housing market.  Officers explained that discussions were ongoing to understand the true impact of the pandemic, but there were multiple ways of mitigating delays through the process and programming from a technical and practical perspective. Varying the S106 is what the developer had put to the table, there will inevitable be some impact but currently the development is progressing and there are no agreed proposals for variation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Cardiff City Transport Services - Update

The Chairperson had agreed that this item should be considered as Urgent to enable a decision to be progressed in a timely manner to support the local transport arrangement during the current COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Chairperson welcomed Councillor Huw Thomas – Leader, Councillor Chris Weaver Cabinet Member, Paul Orders – Chief Executive and Chris Lee Corporate Director Resources to the meeting.

The Chairperson advised Members that Appendices A &B are not for publication as they contain exempt information of the description contained in paragraphs 14, 16 and 21 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is viewed that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Chairperson therefore requested that this item be considered in closed session.

AGREED: to consider this item in closed sessions and to write to the individual Cabinet Members with the Panel’s comments, observations and any recommendations they wish to make.

Tuesday 14^th July 2020 2pm.

14 July 2020 at 2pm.