The Leader firstly extended a very special thank you to the Mayor, Councillor Pam Davies for representing the authority within our County Borough and representing Bridgend across Wales so well, with confidence and ease, this last year. He also extended his congratulations to the incoming Mayor Councillor John McCarthy and his consort, and also BCBC’s new Deputy Mayor Councillor Stuart Baldwin.

He took the opportunity to thank BCBC staff, as it was only because of their hard work and service that the Council continued to provide the vital services that it did, and it seems that every year more and more was being asked of staff, despite there being less and less of them. There was one officer in particular that he wished to thank today, which was Andrew Jolley’s last meeting as Corporate Director Operational & Partnership Services and Monitoring Officer. As an example of how we continue to ask more of officers, he has been given responsibility for Housing, ICT, Human Resources and Customer Services. He had always found Mr. Jolley firm but fair, and he had been very loyal to his staff, and believed in and practiced a philosophy of “growing your own”. A key responsibility of the Monitoring Officer is to promote and uphold transparent and open government and high standards of probity, and successive Wales Audit reports have demonstrated that those standards were in place in BCBC. He thanked him for his service, and hoped that he would enjoy his retirement, with his grandchildren and ‘tinkering about’ with old cars.

Mr. Jolley thanked the Leader and all Members for the support he had received since he had been in BCBC. He similarly thanked Officers for their support also. With this he added, his job had been all the more easier to do. He concluded by confirming that he had thoroughly enjoyed his time within the Authority since he had started employment here some 14 or so years ago.

The Leader confirmed that he was both honoured and privileged to once more be re-elected by fellow Members as Leader, and he thanked them for their continued support to this end.

He added that he could only serve as Leader with the backing of his Cabinet colleagues.

He was confident that this team would continue the good work that has already taken place, and as always, he was grateful for their commitment towards their roles.

Serving in any capacity as an elected Member was not an easy job, and as we all know, the last few years have been among the most difficult if not the most difficult that the Council has ever had to face.

But whatever challenges have arisen, the Authority have faced each and every one of them, and continued to do so with resolve and a united purpose across the Chamber, to support our local communities to the very best of our ability.

Never ending national austerity marches on, and as a Council, we are continuing to strive to deliver essential services against a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 182