The Council’s Scrutiny Committee has noted the Welsh Audit Office(WAO); improving access and quality of open spaces report presented at today’s meeting (Thursday 27 February 2020). Option one has been moved by the committee; accept the WAO review and actions to implement the proposals for improvement.
The WAO published their report, ‘Well-being of Future Generations – Improving access to, and the quality of open spaces for the benefit of our communities, businesses and visitors’ in October 2019 and covers the 2019-20 audit year.
The report considered how the Council has acted in accordance with the sustainable development principle public bodies must take account of the following ways of working:
• Long Term;
• Prevention;
• Integration;
• Collaboration; and
• Involvement.
The report highlighted the positive work that the Council had undertaken which includes:
• The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resilience Forward Plan (2019-2022) contributing to meeting the wellbeing objective of strong and environmentally smart communities;
• Proactively seeking external funding to help resource delivery of the forward plan;
• Partnership working to deliver and support the plan.
It also identifies recommendations for areas of improvement. These can be found in appendix two of the report and how the Council is addressing these recommendations.
Councillor Joanna Wilkins, Chair of Community Services Scrutiny Committee says:
“Today’s scrutiny discussed the WAO report and option one of the report has been moved forward. The report identifies positives and strengths of the work that that the Council is currently undertaking around open spaces. The plan highlights what progress has been made and actions that we are taking to improve access to and quality of open spaces in line with the recommendations. This includes seeking funding to manage land, working with schools to engage education in promoting and understanding our natural environment.
“We are committed to working with our partners and communities to ensure that open spaces are accessible to our community and that they benefit from the green spaces around the Borough.”
The report can be found on the following link:
http://democracy.blaenau-gwent.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=1164&MId=1833&Ver=4&LLL=0