To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest from Members/Officers in

accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008. 

The Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer declared an interest in Agenda item 14 and left the meeting whilst this item was being considered.

 (i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

(i) Maer (neu’r person sy’n llywyddu)

(ii) Aelodau’r Cabinet

(iii) Prif Weithredwr

Mayor

The Mayor announced that it has only been three weeks since his official inauguration as Mayor, though he and his Consort have hit the ground running.  They had already attended sixteen “official” engagements, all very different but in their own way very interesting and enjoyable. 

They had been fascinated by the Young Carers’ book launch, with young people having collaborated to produce a children’s story book to help raise awareness in primary school children, of some of the issues confronting young carers. This was a very moving and inspiring event and it was fantastic to meet everyone who made the book a reality he explained.

The Mayor also had the honour of meeting His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent during his visit to Sony last week.  He/his Consort were treated to an interesting and informative tour of the factory, where we watched the production of the Raspberry Pi - a fantastic example of UK innovation, design and engineering.

The opening of the Maesteg Festival was also a most enjoyable evening, with the group Collabro providing superb musical entertainment.  He also wished to mention about the wonderful art exhibition by children of several Maesteg primary schools. The exhibition used very unusual materials, and was aided and inspired by the young Welsh artist Nathan Wyburn.

Another extremely interesting event was the Young Enterprise regional finals, which were held at the Cardiff Business School. Teams of young entrepreneurs from all over Wales were competing for a place in the All Britain finals, and Brynteg School took part and won the award for the best trade stand.  Their excellent project uses recycled carrier bags to make shoes for people in third world countries; unfortunately they lost out to Haberdashers’ School in Monmouth, but he had been very impressed with our local team.

Besides these events, the Mayor had attended a store opening, a Freedom of the Borough presentation in RCT, the volunteer day at the Cats Protection League, Tondu Art Society awards, Tenovus Choir 5^th birthday event, Carers’ Week event , a British Citizenship ceremony, Wartime Bridgend, Cefn Cribwr Open Gardens, YMCA visit, and ‘Equaliteas’ event celebrating 100 years of votes for women with our local Guide company.

Lastly but not least, the Mayor confirmed that he had the pleasure of announcing that Lewis David Pilliner will be the new Youth Mayor for the year 2018 -19, Lewis is a pupil of Bryntirion Comprehensive School and he looked forward to working with him during the coming year.

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader asked Members to continue to encourage their constituents to sign for the Council’s recently launched ‘My Account’ service.

Along with the all-new website, My Account is designed to make it far easier and simpler for people to access council services, and has the potential to deliver big savings for the authority.

My Account is a round-the-clock online hub that lets people carry out council-related tasks quickly and easily, 24 hours a day. The initial stage lets you do things  ...  view the full minutes text for item 190.

The Leader reported that last week Vaughan Gething, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services, announced that Bridgend County Borough is going to move out of the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board area, and will become part of Cwm Taf University Health Board by April 2019.

The most immediate impact will of course be on service areas where we are currently working on a Western Bay footprint, i.e. Social Services and early help services such as Families First and Youth Offending. He confirmed that for the most part, we will expect to work more closely with Cwm Taf, RCT and Merthyr Tydfil instead of ABMU, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. 

However, in cases where it makes sense to work at that larger scale, there will undoubtedly be examples where we may see collaboration across both health board areas, too. It is also likely that some existing arrangements with ABMU and Western Bay colleagues may take a little longer to migrate than April 2019.

As Members were aware, the Council has long made the case to Welsh Government that viewing Bridgend County Borough as part of South East Wales for services such as education and the economy, but as part of South West Wales for services like health and social care, is really quite difficult to sustain in the face of ever-increasing regionalisation.

Expecting us to work in a way that is fundamentally different to all other Council areas in Wales risked short-changing our communities, but despite this, we have built up an enviable track record of effective collaboration. The Leader was sure that Members will be pleased to see that Welsh Government has recognised the problem. The Minister’s statement makes it clear that the move is intended to align all of our economic, education, health and social services partnership arrangements firmly within the Cardiff Capital Region. As to how this is going to affect our current working partnerships, we hope to have greater clarity very soon. Together with our partners in both health board areas, we are committed towards making the transition as smoothly and effectively as possible, and are keeping a firm focus on ensuring the best possible outcomes for our communities and residents.

The Leader announced that he was delighted to see that in addition to Maesteg’s new Sunday service, the town is to be serviced by four trains an hour. This is going to be a vital link in helping people get access to jobs and training, and will make it much easier to travel between the Llynfi Valley and Bridgend, Cardiff and beyond.

Anyone who has visited Bridgend Railway Station recently will have seen for themselves the results of its recent £1.5m refurbishment. It now boasts an improved concourse area with a new information desk, ticket office and seating, refurbished passenger toilets and new baby changing facilities, a new waiting shelter and customer pathways, improved security and new CCTV, and new signage and passenger information displays. Bridgend is the fifth busiest railway station in all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 191.

Could the Cabinet Member please let the council know how we the residents of Pen Y Fai are supposed to travel in and around Bridgend?

‘Could the Cabinet Member please let the Council know how we the residents of Pen Y Fai are supposed to travel in and around Bridgend?’

Response:

            Service No. 81 operates in Pen Y Fai presently. However, due to the recent decision to reduce funding towards supported local bus services, the subsidy provided to this partly commercial service will end on 11 August 2018, leaving the commercial element of the service.

            The decision regarding this commercial element would be for the operator to decide upon its commercial viability.

            However there is the Service No. 67 (Bridgend – Pen Y Fai – Aberkenfig - Sarn) which is partly funded by BCBC, but has not been affected by the budget reductions in 2018/19.

            This service operates to Heol-tyn-Garn via the main road (A4063), before turning right on to Pen Y Fai Road (towards Aberkenfig Village). The return route is the same, which lies to the east of Pen Y Fai.

            If the bus operator does decide to remove the commercial element of the service then this would leave the western part of Pen Y Fai area unserved. If this was to occur then residents would need to access the route of Service No. 67 to gain access to Bridgend Town or Sarn.

            As indicated in the consultation response many residents have access to private motor vehicles and for those who may have specific access issues the Bridgend community transport does provide alternative provision.

            In consideration of rerouting existing commercial services this would be a commercial decision from the bus operators. This had been requested and examined previously and at that time First Cymru Buses Ltd considered this inappropriate as it impacted upon timing of their services.

            In regard of active travel there are several proposals contained within the Council’s Integrated Network Map (INM) which will seek to enhance active travel access to Pen-y-fai. The INM was approved by Cabinet and Welsh Government. In reference to the specific concerns raised by Councillor Hussain, proposal INM-BR-14 highlights a potential shared-use route between Pen-y-fai and Sarn Railway Station alongside Bridgend Road.

            In addition, proposal INM-BR-19 indicates a desire to investigate the options for provision of a pedestrian route between Pen-y-Fai and Cefn Glas along Cefn Glas Road. Whilst this route has been identified as a proposal in the INM, it is not currently considered suitable for active travel as it does not meet the standards required by the Welsh Government’s Design Guidance.

            Proposal INM-BR-61 refers to an improved crossing facility and associated footway works at the junction of Bridgend Road/Heol Eglwys in Pen-y-fai in the vicinity of the petrol station. Finally, there is also a proposal (INM-BR-15) to enhance pedestrian access between the existing National Cycle Network Route 885, which runs alongside the River Ogmore, and the Bridgend Designer Outlet.

Supplementary question from Councillor Altaf Hussain

Since Bridgend County Borough Council is included in the Cardiff City Region and has been promised to contribute to its fund for transport developments, could the Cabinet Member – Communities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 192.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support and the Interim Head of Finance and S151 Officer gave a joint report, the purpose of which, was to seek Council approval to revise the Capital Programme for 2018 to 2028, to include a budget of £165k for the build of a new classroom at Cwmfelin Primary School. This would be met from earmarked reserves, the school in question and the Family Support Directorate budget.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support advised, that despite staff making best use of the school premises the insufficient size of classroom spaces at the School is putting pressure on teaching and learning opportunities there. The local authority had recognised that the School needs additional space to aid the delivery of the foundation phase and undertake interventions.

He confirmed that a number of suggestions had been considered, with a scheme finally being developed for provision of accommodation suitable for groups of 20, which meets the School’s needs. It was therefore proposed to proceed on the basis of providing this space as a new build on an area of land close to the Nursery building on the School site.

This provision would provide the much needed added space, which would in turn ease pressure on existing classes, as well as supporting the delivery of interventions and group work.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support added that it was not anticipated that any additional classroom space would be required in the near future, as projected demographic growth was relatively low in this School’s catchment area. Therefore, there was no proposal to increase the published admission number (PAN) for the School as a result of the proposal.

He then concluded his submission, by advising of the report’s financial implications.

A Member advised that he welcomed works that were being carried out in respect of schools under the ongoing School Modernisation Programme. However, he stated that sometime in the future he would also welcome feedback on the outcomes of such investment made in respect of schools, ie to establish if improvements have been secured there.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support advised that he would be able to provide this information for Members in due course.

A Member sought re-assurance from the Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support, that the investment being committed to the School was a sensible option, given the proposed re-organisation of the Llynfi Valley Schools in due course.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support advised that the School building at Cwmfelin Primary was a Condition C category build, undersized and of poor quality, with cloakrooms situated in classrooms and therefore it needed improving to bring it up to the required standard. He added that there would be a further update at a future date with regard to the re-organisation of schools at Maesteg as referred to be the Member.

RESOLVED:                      That Council gave approval to amend the Capital Programme to include a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 193.

The Corporate Director – Communities submitted a report to Council, to advise of the outcome of the consultation exercise on the Bridgend Local Plan (2013) draft Review Report, and seek Council’s approval to submit the final Bridgend LDP Review Report (attached at Appendix 1 to the report) (in conjunction with the Replacement LDP Delivery Agreement to Welsh Government before the end of June 2018.

The Development Planning Team Leader advised that any revision to an LDP must be preceded by a Review Report which is a statutory part of the full LDP Review process.

The Review Report sets out the proposed extent of likely changes to the existing LDP (2006-2021) and seeks to confirm the revision procedure to be followed in preparing a replacement LDP. 

In terms of ‘procedural route’, in the case of Bridgend, the plan is already the subject to a statutory required 4 year full review, and as such all aspects of the plan will need to be assessed to consider if they remain sound and fit for purpose.  This will include the LDP vision, objectives, spatial strategy, policies and land-use allocations, broadly following the same preparation process and stages as the original plan. 

He confirmed that the Review Report covers the following topics:-

• Contextual Changes
• Assessment of Likely Changes Required to the Current LDP
• Review of the Evidence Base
• LDP Review Options

In terms of public consultation, Members will recall that a report was presented to Council on the 25th April 2018 seeking authorisation to undertake targeted consultation on the draft Bridgend LDP Review Report between 30th April 2018 and 25th May 2018. The Consultation on the draft Review Report was undertaken in conjunction with the draft Delivery Agreement.

The Development Planning Team Leader confirmed that consultation was advertised in the following ways:-

·         The consultation documents were available for inspection with representation forms at the Civic Offices, Angel Street;

·         Information on the consultation, including all the documentation, representation forms and the facility to make representations electronically was placed on the Council’s website; and

·         E-mails and letters were sent to approximately 190 targeted consultees including Community Councils, planning consultants, house builders, housing associations and other relevant external organisations with details on how to respond.

By the end of the consultation period 11 individuals and external organisations had submitted comments on the draft Review Report.

In response to this, the Council has produced a Consultation Report (which is included as Appendix 7 in the final Review Report) that provides the Council’s response to the representations received. However, it has not been necessary to make any significant amendments to the document as a result of comments from the public consultation.

He concluded his submission, by advising that copies of the full representations can be viewed by Members at the Planning Department.

RESOLVED:                     (1)   That Council approved the final Review Report and authorised the Group Manager Development, Communities Directorate to submit the final Bridgend LDP Review Report attached at Appendix 1 to the report (in conjunction with the Replacement LDP  ...  view the full minutes text for item 194.

The Corporate Director – Communities presented a report to Council on the outcome of the consultation exercise on the Bridgend Replacement LDP Delivery Agreement, and to seek Council’s approval to submit the final Delivery Agreement (attached at Appendix 1 to the report) (in conjunction with the Bridgend Local Development Plan (2013) Review Report) to Welsh Government before the end of June 2018.

The Delivery Agreement sets out how and when the local community and other stakeholders can contribute to the preparation of the Replacement Plan and a timetable for its preparation.  It is proposed that the Replacement LDP will cover a plan period up to 2033.

The Development Planning Team Leader advised that in terms of consultation on the Delivery Agreement, Members would also recall that a report was presented to Council on the 25^th April 2018, which outlined the Cabinet Secretary’s response, that allowed Bridgend to proceed with its LDP subject to a very strict deadline requiring submission of the Delivery Agreement before the end of June 2018.  The report also sought authorisation to undertake targeted consultation on the draft Replacement Bridgend LDP Delivery Agreement between 30^th April 2018 and 25^th May 2018.

He added that, the Consultation on the draft Delivery Agreement was undertaken in conjunction with the draft Bridgend Local Development Plan (2013) Review Report.

            The consultation was advertised in the following ways:-

·         The consultation documents were available for inspection at the Civic Offices, Angel Street;

·         Information on the consultation was placed on the Council’s website; and

·         E-mails and letters were sent to approximately 190 consultees including Community Councils, planning consultants, house builders, housing associations and other relevant external organisations with details on how to respond.

The Development Planning Team Leader added, that by the end of the consultation period 8 external organisations had submitted comments on the draft Delivery Agreement. In response, the Council has produced a Consultation Report which was included as Appendix 3 in the final Delivery Agreement, that provided the Council’s response to the representations received.

Copies of the full representations can be viewed by Members at the Planning Department he further added.

The main changes to the Delivery Agreement recommended by Officers included:

·         Updates to the list of Consultation Bodies (attached as Appendix 1 in the Delivery Agreement):

o   It was considered prudent to include all the LPAs in the Cardiff Capital Region rather than just the neighbouring LPAs (Vale of Glamorgan, RCT and Neath Port Talbot) to reflect the importance of collaborative / regional working and Strategic Development Plan preparation.

o   Bridgend Local Health and Bridgend Partnership Board have been deleted as both have been replaced by the Public Service Board.

o   Action on hearing loss has been replaced by RNI Deaf & Hard of Hearing People.

o   The Commission for Racial Equality, Disability Rights Commission and Disability Rights Commission have been replaced by The Equality and Human Rights Commission. 

o   Fields in Trust – replaces National Playing Fields Association Wales.

o   Royal National Institute for the Deaf and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 195.

The Monitoring Officer presented a report that sought Council approval of proposed amendments to the Constitution.

By way of background information, the Monitoring Officer advised that a desktop review of the Constitution has been undertaken to ensure that it is up to date and fit for purpose.

She referred to paragraph 4.2 of the report and some proposed amendments to the Terms of Reference for the Audit Committee, as was illustrated in Appendix 1 to the report.

The report then further recommended that the Budget and Policy Framework Rules are amended at paragraph 2 (d), and as the tracked changes shown in Appendix 2 to the report detailing these had not shown in the copies produced for Members due to a technical problem on Modern.Gov, she gave this amendment verbally to Members.

The last suggested amendment to the Constitution was in respect of Part 4, Rules of Procedure at paragraph 17 in relation to the Mayor’s casting vote. It was proposed that this be amended so as to not apply in respect of voting on appointments. This tracked change was detailed in Appendix 3 to the report, but due to a similar technical problem to the one referred to above, this change had also not been visible on copies of the report previously distributed.

The Constitution would require amendment as a result of the provisions of the report.

RESOLVED:                    That Council approved the amendments to the Constitution as set out in the report and its attached Appendices.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to seek Council’s approval for the transfer of Council functions within the Scheme of Delegation of Functions currently allocated to the Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services.

The report advised, that as a result of the recent deletion of the post of Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services and in order to maintain effective decision making processes, it was proposed that all Council Functions in Schemes B1 and B2 of the Scheme of Delegation of Functions allocated to the previous post holder of the above deleted post, be re-allocated to the Monitoring Officer.

RESOLVED:                  That Council:-

(1)  Approved the transfer of Council functions within the Scheme of Delegation of Functions from the Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services to the Monitoring Officer.

(2)  Noted that a report will be presented to Cabinet proposing a similar change to the Scheme of Delegation of Functions for Executive functions.

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency. 

None.

The Minutes and Report relating to the following items are not for publication as they contain exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 12,13,14, 15 and 16 of Part 4, and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

If following the application of the public interest test the Committee resolves pursuant to the Act to consider these items in private, the public will be excluded from the meeting during such consideration.

RESOLVED:                      That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

                                           Following the application of the public interest test in consideration of this item, it was resolved that pursuant to the Act referred to above, to consider the item in private, with the public being excluded from the meeting as it would involve the disclosure of exempt information of the nature as stated above.</AI14>

<AI15>

To receive for approval the Exempt Minutes of Council of 25/04/2018

RESOLVED:                      That the exempt Minutes of an ordinary meeting of Council dated 25 April 2018, be approved as a true and accurate record

To receive for approval the minutes of Council 25/04/2018 and the Annual meeting of Council of 16/05/2018

RESOLVED:                That the Minutes of the following meetings of Council be approved as a true and accurate record:-

                                     Annual meeting – 16 May 2018

                                     Ordinary meeting – 25 April 2018