The 17 December meeting of Denbighshire County Council's Cabinet will include reports and proposals on several topics including Housing, Finance and the provision of Public Toilets. There will also be discussions on a number of confidential matters, including Denbighshire's Domestic Abuse Homelessness Prevention Support service, the Queen's Market in Rhyl and the awarding of contracts for both the Housing Voids Framework and the Rapid Rehousing scheme. The meeting will conclude with the proposed disposal of the Caledfryn building in Denbigh.

Housing

The Cabinet will be asked to approve both the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2025/26 and the Housing Stock Business Plan, which is designed to enable the Council to maintain the Welsh Housing Quality Standard throughout the 30 year plan.

The report pack says that an underspend of £479k was forecast for the 2024/25 service and corporate budgets, with a further forecast underspend of £1.3 million for the Homelessness service. These underspends are offset by a projected overspend of £721,000 in Adult Social Care, due to increased demand for complex disability, mental health and older people services.

The Cabinet will also consider a report into Housing Rent Setting & Housing Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2025/26. The report, by Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities, recommends an increase of 2.7% in line with Welsh Government (WG) Policy for Social Housing Rents. The increase would take the average weekly rent to £112.29.

The report pack explains that 75% of households are in receipt of welfare benefit and housing costs support, therefore the increase in rent is covered by this support, and that the increase is necessary to ensure that the council can continue to invest in existing homes and manage the growth of the housing stock through its new build programme. This increase is the maximum allowed under the WG policy, and the report claims that any less of an increase will lead to further pressures and more extended programmes to achieve higher standards for social housing in Wales.

The report also claims that, even with the increase, Denbighshire's rents remain affordable for those on the lowest incomes. The affordability has been assessed using the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) Living Rent Model, which uses ONS data on average household incomes. The maximum affordable rent is calculated to be 28% of the average weekly earned income of the lowest 30% of earners in Denbighshire.

The report pack also includes some data from the January 2024 STAR survey of Denbighshire tenants, which is intended to demonstrate the high levels of satisfaction among tenants with both the overall service and the value for money represented by their rent.

The report claims that 85% of Denbighshire tenants said they were satisfied with the service provided. This places us 9th out of 46 social landlords in Wales and the top council. and that Denbighshire has 86% value for money satisfaction which places us 7th out of 46 Landlords in Wales.

An infographic in the report pack explains that the council will need to spend an additional £3.8 million per year to achieve the new standards specified in the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS 2). The report argues that this investment will benefit tenants who will be living in an excellent standard of accommodation with a renewed focus on affordable warmth.

A separate report in the pack discusses the potential impact of the proposed rent increase on both households and the HRA. The report pack claims that the HRA is under pressure from increased costs and that the forecast for the next 5 years shows that our current level of capital spend, and the borrowing required to fund it, is financially unsustainable.

A graph in the report pack illustrates the extent to which investment in housing stock can reduce tenants' energy bills. It shows that 18 randomly selected homes that underwent energy efficiency 'retrofit' works are each now saving an average of £29 per month on their bills.

The report concludes by stating that the council intends to conduct a review of the Housing Stock Business Plan in early 2025, in order to ensure that the HRA remains financially viable while continuing to provide homes for our tenants which are safe, warm and comfortable and which meet current quality standards.

Public Toilets

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, will present a report on a Draft Local Toilet Strategy for Denbighshire. The report comes after a period of public consultation on the provision of public toilets in the county. The report pack says that there were 1,419 responses to the public consultation.

The report recommends that the cabinet acknowledge that work on the strategy has been completed and approve the draft strategy. Councillor Mellor will also seek approval to delegate authority for him to make any minor editorial changes to the strategy before the next round of public consultation.

The report pack explains that the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 placed a duty on local authorities to prepare and publish Local Toilet Strategies, including an assessment of need for toilets, including changing facilities for babies and changing places facilities for disabled people.

Councillor Mellor's report explains that, although there is no statutory requirement for local authorities to provide public toilets, the Local Toilet Strategy must detail how Denbighshire County Council proposes to meet the need for toilets identified in the needs assessment.

The draft strategy itself says that Denbighshire County Council, like every local authority in the UK, is facing a period of significant and continued budget pressures and it is more important than ever to ensure we are making the best use of local resources. We therefore must change the way we provide certain services as we seek to utilise more creative ways of providing some services such as public conveniences.

An Interim Needs Assessment, included in the report pack, identifies a need for public toilets in the towns of Rhyl, Prestatyn, Denbigh, Ruthin, Llangollen and Corwen. The assessment recommends the provision of 43 female cubicles, 23 male cubicles, 9 disabled facilities, 5 baby changing facilities and one Changing Places toilet in Rhyl; 33 female cubicles, 17 male cubicles, 6 disabled facilities, 3 baby changing facilities and one Changing Places toilet in Prestatyn; 13 female cubicles, 6 male cubicles, 3 disabled facilities and two baby changing facilities in Denbigh; 7 female cubicles, 4 male cubicles, 2 disabled facilities and 1 baby changing facility in Ruthin; 4 female cubicles, 2 male cubicles, 2 disabled facilities, 2 baby changing facilities and 1 Changing Places toilet in Llangollen and 2 female cubicles, 1 male cubicle, 1 disabled facility and 1 baby changing facility in Corwen.

The assessment also notes that there are a number of public toilets in Denbighshire that exceed the calculated need for such facilities. For example, in Dyserth, where there is no identified need for public toilets, the council currently provides two toilets. Similarly, the assessment found that the council provides more toilets than are needed in both Rhuddlan and St Asaph. The needs assessment claims that STEAM tourism data is not available for Dyserth, and therefore the Council deems that there is unlikely to be serious seasonal need for public toilets either. It makes the same claim about Rhuddlan, but notes that although St Asaph suggests there is insufficient visitor numbers for the city to need public toilets, averaged over the whole year.

The strategy includes a commitment to promote the Community Toilet Scheme (CTS), under which the council provides a grant of up to £500 per year to businesses that make their toilet facilities available for public use free of charge. The report explains that Denbighshire County Council currently only has one CTS toilet in operation, at the Wharf Tea Room in Llangollen.

Finance

Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, will present a Finance Report outlining the council's financial position and its progress against the budget strategy agreed in February 2024.

The report pack says that the council faced pressures of £24.6 million in setting the 2024/25 budget, mostly due to inflationary increases such as pay rises, increased demand and the increasing cost of providing social care. It claims that increases in both Welsh Government funding and Council Tax meant that the budget only required service savings and efficiencies of £10.384 million.

The report pack also explains that Councillor Ellis will ask the cabinet to approve the Council Tax Base for setting the 2025/26 budget. The Council Tax Base is the measure of the amount of tax an authority is able to raise. It is expressed in terms of the number of Band D equivalent properties in the council's area, with discounts, exemptions, disablement relief and the council's collection rate factored in. Councillor Ellis will also seek approval to use the capital contingency to cover an overspend on the Lôn Parcwr scheme, and to submit a business case for Ysgol Y Castell to the Welsh Government Capital Programme.

The report pack explains that the council's net revenue budget for 2024/25 is £271.021 million, and includes detailed breakdowns of the projected expenditure and income for each department. It forecasts an overall underspend of £4.285 million for the service and corporate budgets.

The report explains that the underspend is due to the Welsh Government awarding Denbighshire County Council additional funding of £3.868 million to support in year pay pressures and the cost of the increase in Teachers’ pension contributions. It claims that funding for Teachers’ pension contribution was indicated by UK Government when the Council’s budget was set but the level of unknown. The costs of both the Teachers’ pension and NJC pay award formed part of the pressures in setting the 2024/25 budget.

The largest projected overspend is £1.956 million for Education and Children’s Services. This figure is driven by overspends of £1.543 million for Children's Social Care and £413,000 for Education services. The overspend on Children's Social Care is attributed to a signicantly complex placement after budget was set, while the overspend on Education services is du to education placements and additional learning needs.

The report pack says that the next largest projected overspend is £1.124 million for Highways and Environmental Services, with the overspend due to pressures on the winter maintenance budget based on the level of pressure in the service last year. The report adds that the extent of the pressure from additial support to safeguard highways during severe weather conditions will become clearer during the winter months up to the year‐end.

The document also expresses concerns about the capacity of the finance team, citing continued development of the new financial system, implemented in April and the impact of some vacancies in the service. It claims that teams needing to work to find solutions to the issues arising from these factors has been some disruption as a result. The report concludes by acknowledging that The pressures faced by services remain a concern and will need to be closely monitored as further risks and pressures are expected in the coming months.