During the pandemic, Welsh Government passed new laws and policies to enable more public participation in local authority proceedings. Hybrid zoom meetings with some councillors in the chamber and some at home will become the new normal.
Though all council meetings have been recorded since the pandemic very few have been uploaded to Gwynedd's website for viewing by other councillors and the public.
Members of the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee were to hear back from the senior Education officer regarding the video circulated on social media that appeared to show the headmaster of a local school grab a pupil by the neck. The last meeting of this committee was cancelled - have members of the committee been updated ?
The question of why Neil Foden complained to the press that he had been 'thrown under a bus' by the council over the school meals fiasco has still not been answered.
Senior Operations Manager Aled Gibbard presented the Care Scrutiny Committee with the Council's 'Autism Plan' on November the 25th 2021.
Observations submitted by members included the following - "There was a desire to receive an information session for Councillors in order to improve understanding of the field. It was reiterated that this training should be held before April 2022"
Have Councillors received this 'training' session ?
Also - "The annual
review of the Plan was welcomed by Members adding that there was a strong
desire to receive an update before April 2022."
Have Members received that update ?
Moving on - the annual complaints handling reports of Gwynedd social services has not been presented for scrutiny since before the pandemic. The last Children's report was presented in 2019, by Dafydd Paul. A complaint was raised with the council that the officer had misled the committee but this complaint was downgraded to an 'enquiry' by the Director of SS who dealt with the complaint personally and so details will not be logged - presumably...
The Adult and Children departments are responsible for the most vulnerable people in society. We have had two years of a pandemic - many have died - social care is in crisis. Why no scrutiny?
In other news - Councillors of the Planning Committee complained that planning policies were not fit for purpose....
Two proposals which the planning department refused have now been overturned by councillors. Planning permission to create a home from a ruin by a local resident was granted. The other was more controversial and worries of intervention by the Welsh Government were raised.
Some councillors appeared to know the applicant and spoke of the family's troubles. Mention was made that the family already own an ex council home in Nefyn but that the family have been experiencing abuse from some in their community which is now affecting their children.
https://amg.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/planning/?fa=downloadDocument&id=341076&public_record_id=31950
The story of anti-social behaviour and concerns for their mental health, portrayed by one councillor as a family 'under siege' was enough to sway councillors and the application was passed.
