To receive apologies for absence from Members/Officers for the reasons so stated.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members, for the reasons so given:-

Councillor G Thomas – Jury Service

Councillor D Sage – Hospital appointment

Councillor JH Tildesley – Family wedding

Councillor DBF White – Work commitments

Councillor B Jones – Unwell

Councillor RD Jenkins – Unwell

Councillor E Venables – Family commitment

Councillor M Reeves – Unwell

Councillor C Reeves – Work commitments

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. 

Councillor CL Jones declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 6., in that he was a named person on a small Society Lotteries Licence for Bridgend CLC.

Councillor RM James declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 7., in that his wife was employed by the Wales Audit Office.

To receive and confirm the minutes of a meeting of Council dated 25 November 2015

RESOLVED:                     That the Minutes of a meeting of Council dated 25 November 2015 be approved as a true and accurate record, subject to the following amendment:-

                                          Page 14 of the pack (and page 12 of the Minutes) insert following sentence in the last paragraph of Minute 555, after the word authorities.

                                         “Members thanked Scrutiny Officers for their excellent work, taking into consideration that there were only 1.6 members of staff in the Section. A Member stated that he hoped that consideration could be given for the Section to be expanded to 2.6 Officers, despite the financial restraints Directorates were facing, aligned to the MTFS”

 (i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

Mayor

The Mayor stated that as those present would imagine, the weeks leading up to Christmas were particularly busy for his self and his Consort. With the invaluable help of the Deputy Mayor and his Consort, they have begun undertaking the annual Mayoral visits to BCBC’s local care facilities, and it had been lovely to meet so many interesting people and to be made to feel so welcome. To ensure that we manage to include all centres in our festive ‘hellos’, we will be continuing the visits right up until the Christmas break he announced.

The Mayor and his consort had also had the pleasure of attending numerous Carol services and Christmas concerts across the County Borough. It was always a joy to support local organisations and schools, but particularly so at Christmas when it was evident that so much hard work and planning had gone into producing such enjoyable and often spectacular productions. Speaking of Carol concerts, the Mayor confirmed that his Civic Charity would be hosting a Community Carol service at St. Mary’s Church Nolton on Wednesday 16th December. He confirmed that he would be delighted if Members could join him for this special evening of song.

At the last meeting of Council, the Mayor stated that he had informed Members that a letter had been sent to David Cameron expressing concerns over the Trade Union Bill and its implications for relations between Local Authorities and Unions.  A response had been received from the Minister of State for Skills, and he would place a copy in the Members room so that Councillors could read the Minister’s comments.

Finally, the Mayor thanked Members and Officers for their support during the last year, and wished everyone a Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader confirmed that final GCSE results for schools across Bridgend County Borough, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan have revealed that the percentage of pupils achieving five GCSE passes at grades A* - C including English/Welsh and Mathematics has risen to 58.5 per cent. This is a 4.4 percent increase from 2014, and a 10.7 per cent increase from the 2012 result. This was significant, as it meant that the Central South Wales region has moved from being the lowest performing area to sitting above the national average for the first time. This is of course excellent news he added, and a tribute to the hard work and determination of teachers, head teachers, governors, pupils and local Education departments. The partner areas in the Consortium will now look at how the momentum can be maintained and improved even further.

Good news had also been received, regarding school attendance figures across local primary and secondary schools which he was sure Members would appreciate.

In recent years there had been consistent improvements throughout BCBC’s local schools, and he was happy to report that at 95.1 per cent for primary and 94.2 percent for secondary, these figures for 2014-15 were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 560.

The Leader reported that Members will no doubt have seen coverage about the provisional local government settlement last week.  Bridgend County Borough Council is set to receive £187.5 million for 2016-17 which is 1.2 per cent cash reduction on its 2015-16 settlement.  This is a more positive outcome than the Authority expected, although it should be noted that it included £2.5 million specifically to support Social Services and to allow Schools’ protection to continue for another year. Taking account of the need to meet these pressures, the reduction in BCBC’s controllable budget was closer to 2.5%.  There was also a reduction to some specific grants, including the Single Environment Grant and Families First, with information on others not yet available.  Notwithstanding this, the settlement is still better than anticipated and this ass welcome news he added.  Work was now underway to prepare a Draft Revenue Budget for 2016-17 which will be presented to the Cabinet for consideration in the New Year.

As the Armed Forces Champion for the authority, the Leader was pleased to confirm that from 21 December, past and serving members of the Armed Forces are to be offered free swimming opportunities at leisure centres across Bridgend County Borough. The Council had teamed up with its leisure partners Halo, to make this available during public sessions at all swimming pools. All that was needed to take advantage of the offer is an MOD Defence Privilege Card. Residents who are aged over 60 can already benefit from free swimming, while children aged under 16 can swim for free at specified times during school holidays, too. The Leader was delighted that the Council and Halo had been able to extend this offer to include former and serving members of the armed forces. Just over two years ago, the Authority established the Bridgend Armed Forces Community Covenant and made a pledge to provide them with appropriate help, support and advice, so this was a further demonstration of the area’s pride and appreciation of its Armed Forces, and follows beneficial changes to BCBC’s Housing policy, Council Tax Reduction Scheme and school place allocation policy. More information was available on the free swimming initiative at www.haloleisure.org.uk or by calling 0300 012 1223.

Finally, Members were aware that BCBC are actively pursuing a series of community asset transfers in order to deliver savings, while also keeping specific facilities and buildings in public use. It recently completed an asset transfer which will see our former Minerva Street Day Centre taken on as the new base of operations for St John’s Ambulance. As Wales’ leading first aid charity, the organisation had been seeking suitable premises in the area for some time, and the Minerva Centre met their needs, as soon as it became available. It was formerly used by the Adult Day Services which were transferred to Bridgend Resource Centre, and then by the library service for a temporary period, before becoming surplus to requirements.

He understood that St John’s would be using the centre for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 561.

The Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Economic Development presented a report,  seeking approval of the Council’s Statement of Licensing Principles for gambling premises to cover the period 2016-2019, a draft of which was attached at Appendix A to the report.

The report gave some background information, and the Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Regulatory Services, shared information with Members regarding this, following which, he explained that the Statement of Licensing principles had been re-drafted to reflect changes to the Fifth Edition of the Guidance published by the Gambling Commission, as well as an update to the Council’s proposed corporate priorities. In addition, there were minor updates to the policies relating to motorway service area premises etc, at Section 3.1 of the report, and to provisional applications which were set out in Section 3.9.1 of the report.

In addition, an Officer review of current premises and complaints was undertaken to establish if there were any local or area-based concerns which would merit a change of policy.  Seven complaints were received in the three year period preceding the review, the majority of which related to the siting of machines in non-authorised premises, but no trends or area specific concerns had been identified. As a result, no major policy changes were proposed at this time, but the authority may review its Gambling Policy at any time should local circumstances change.

The Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Regulatory Services, then referred to the sub-paragraph entitled Social Responsibility (ie para 4.3), and the fact that the Gambling Commission was responsible for publishing the general licence conditions and codes of practice, and that certain new conditions had been introduced, the majority of which came into effect in May 2015, with further provisions coming into effect in April 2016. These related to licensees being required to assess the local risks to the licensing objectives posed by the provision of gambling facilities at each of their premises, and to have policies, procedures and control measures in place to mitigate those risks.  The proposed amendments were primarily set out in Section 3 of Appendix A, and identified the issues which the Council would expect operators to address within appropriate risk assessments undertaken.

In addition, he explained that the responses from the consultation were as detailed in paragraphs 4.4 of the report.

These were from The Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG), who had proposed that the maximum stake be reduced to £2 along with other measures to mitigate problem gambling.

A summary of the concerns forwarded to the Council were attached at Appendix B to the report, whilst Appendix C contained a response from Grosschalks Solicitors, who had submitted a response on behalf of the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB).

This response raised a number of points relating to the draft statement which were dealt with both in the report and the Draft Statement of Principles.

A Member referred to page 17 of the report, and was aware that 17 betting shops within BCBC were offering  ...  view the full minutes text for item 562.

The Chief Executive presented a report that introduced a report of the Auditor General to Council, shown at Appendix 1 to the report.

He confirmed that for 2014-15, the Auditor General undertook improvement assessment work under three themes: performance, use of resources and governance. Individual projects undertaken by the Wales Audit Office and other regulators were listed on pages 5-6 of the attached Appendix.

The Chief Executive advised that the report also included a summary of the key findings from reports issued by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales (Estyn) and the Welsh Language Commissioner.

In terms of the outcomes of the report, these were shown in paragraph 4.1 of the covering report, with headline findings under the following themes summarised in paragraph 4.2 of the report:-

·         Performance

·         Use of Resources

·         Governance

He culminated his submission by confirming that the Auditor General did not make any statutory recommendations, but made 13 specific proposals for improvement. A summary of the key findings was included in the Appendix (page 7), as was the summary of the proposals for improvement (page 9).

A Member referred to page 109 ie Appendix 6 of the report, and felt that the data outlined on this particular page was confusing, in that it was unclear what data referred to what periods ie the years, shown therein. He felt that this could be expanded upon in any future report(s).

The Chief Executive replied that this was a report of the Wales Audit Office rather than BCBC, but that he would feed this comment back to them.

A Member, whilst recognising that the data was historic, noted that there had been significant challenges in Social Services. She asked if these had been addressed, and that continual improvement was taking place in this area (page 72 0f report referred).

The Chief Executive confirmed that there were areas that required addressing, as picked up by the CSSIW. However, progress was being made in these areas of Social Services, and the CSSIW were now more positive about the concerns now they were being actioned upon.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing added that Performance Indicators in respect of Children’s Services had been lower than were expected, but improvement had since been secured here. As the Chief Executive had said, CSSIW had recognised improvements that had been made, but she also confirmed that there was scope for further improvement still.

RESOLVED:                         That Council noted the Annual Improvement Report produced by the Wales Audit Office.  

  The Group Manager Development presented a report, to seek approval to adopt Renewables in the Landscape – SPG 20 as Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) to the adopted Local Development Plan (LDP).

  The report outlined certain background information, including a period of consultation that had been undertaken in respect of the above referenced SPG 

He confirmed that by the end of the consultation period 6 individuals and external organisations had submitted comments.  Two additional organisations (NRW and Suncredit) submitted responses after the close of the consultation period.  All of the representations received had been considered and responses to each had been prepared. These were included at Appendix1 to the report. 

A number of comments received were ‘non-specific’, drawing to the Council’s attention, good practice in properly considering material planning issues, in particular with respect to environmental risk and impact on heritage assets.  Such matters were considered to be more appropriately dealt with at any future planning application stage of development. 

A large number of comments from one objector related to specific wording and alternative descriptions. These were considered not to be justified he explained, given the evidence, strategic-level nature of the assessment and the fact that the comments were also open to interpretation.

Other representations, questioned the fundamental ‘role’ of the SPG and argued that it should be broadened to include other energy sources and other locational determinants for energy proposals.  These objections misinterpret what is the primary purpose of the SPG, which was to focus on the relative landscape sensitivities of the County Borough. 

As such it is was considered that the representations received should not result in any amendments to the document, the Group Manager Development added. 

On the 15 October 2015, the Development Control Committee considered each of the representations received, endorsed the suggested reasoned responses, approved the decisions and actions (not to amend the document as a result of the consultation) and recommended that Council adopts the document for publication.

RESOLVED:                  That Council adopted SPG20 – Renewables in the Landscape as Supplementary Planning Guidance to the adopted Bridgend Local Development Plan. 

The Monitoring Officer presented a report, that sought approval of Council to amend the Scheme of Delegations.

He confirmed that it was proposed that the following amendments be made to the Scheme of Delegations:

“Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013” be inserted into the legislative provisions listed at Scheme B2, paragraph 2.58;

• Scheme B2, paragraph 2.07 and 2.08 be removed as these powers will now be transferred to the Corporate Director of Communities.

• Scheme B2, the following paragraphs are amended and numbered 6.8 and 6.9 which transfer the powers from the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services to the Corporate Director of Communities:

Examples of the suggested wording of the above paragraphs were detailed in the report.

RESOLVED:                    That Council noted the content of the report and approved

                                         the amendments to the Scheme of Delegation of Functions.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to:

·         advise Council of the outcome of a review of the political balance of the Authority resulting from the election of Cllr D Patel in the Ogmore Vale ward.

·         seek approval of the revised political balance.

·         receive nominations and appoint the necessary members to Committees to reflect the changes in the political balance.

He explained that following the review of political balance the membership of committees had been updated to reflect the composition of Council accordingly.  The updated political balance figures were shown at Appendix 1 of the report.

The revised political balance did not impact the allocation of Committee Chairpersons, including those of Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

The Monitoring Officer asked Members to note, that the political groups could interchange their representatives appointed to Committees and other bodies, within the limits shown in Appendix 1.  A list of the current membership of these was shown at Appendix 2 to the report.  Should however, any of the existing Chairpersons be removed from any Committee, Council would be requested to appoint a new Chairperson from the revised Committee membership.

He concluded his report, by confirming that Group Leaders had been informed of the proposals outlined in the, and had not raised any objections or concerns regarding the revised political balance calculations as a result of the election of Councillor Patel.

Group Leaders of political groups were invited to give nominations to the suggested changes on various Committees, as well as the recommendation of the allocation of seats on certain Committees to the Plaid Cymru and Independent Member of the Council who were not aligned to any particular group.

Following debate on this item by Council, it was

RESOLVED:                 That Council:-

(1)        Noted the change to the political composition of the Council.

(2)        Approved the allocation of seats to political groups in accordance with the

political balance rules as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

(3)       Sought nominations as follows shown in paragraph 4.3 of the report, ie for Members to be removed from or to be appointed to serve on each of the Committees, Panels and other bodies that comprised the Council.

(4)       Appointed the following nominations and other changes on the following Committees:-

            Appeals Panel

            Cllr Dhanisha Patel to replace Cllr Luke Ellis

Development Control Committee

Cllr Luke Ellis and Cllr Dhanisha Patel to replace Cllr David Owen and Cllr David Sage

Licensing Committee and Licensing Act 2003 Sub-Committee

Cllr Malcolm James to replace Cllr Brian Jones

Town and Community Council Forum

Cllr Cheryl Green to replace Cllr Luke Ellis

Children and Young People O&SC

Cllr Ken Watts to fill vacancy for Independent Alliance

Partnerships and Governance O&SC

Cllr Dhanisha Patel to replace Cllr Luke Ellis

Adult Social Care O&SC

Cllr Elaine Venables to come off with the

Labour Group to gain one seat and to advise of a nomination at a later date

            The Monitoring Officer presented a report, the purpose of which, was to inform    Council of the Information Report which had been published since the last meeting.

RESOLVED:              That Council acknowledged the publication of the document listed in the report.

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 meeting closed at 4.36pm