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. 

None

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting of the Council dated 2 November 2016.

RESOLVED:                  That the Minutes of a meeting of Council dated 2 November 2016, be approved as a true and accurate record.

 (i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

Mayor

The Mayor announced that his Consort and himself were nearing the end of their visits to the winners of the Bridgend Business Forum Awards 2016.  It had been a pleasure to pay a personal visit to the winners to congratulate them on their success and gain a better understanding of the types of businesses that operate in the county borough. They had met with some excellent, interesting and diverse people over the last few weeks who in different ways bring so much to our communities.

He added that they also had the honour of attending the inaugural Bridge FM Young Achiever Awards.  This impressive event celebrated the young people from around the county borough and recognised their achievements in business, training, education, arts, music and voluntary work.  It was heartening to meet so many young people who are actively making a positive contribution to our communities confirmed the Mayor.

Staying with the subject of youth achievements, the Mayor confirmed that he was asked to attend the Wildmill Youth Club presentation evening last week which highlighted the importance of giving recognition to the children, young people and families who attend the youth club. This youth club has gone from strength to strength in the past couple of years and he was pleased to be invited to present the certificates and trophies to these well deserving young people in order to give them some recognition for their participation, commitment and hard work.

As the Christmas season was getting near, the Mayor advised that he was delighted to announce that there will be a special performance of Jack and the Beanstalk in the Grand Pavilion Porthcawl with the proceeds going to his Charity Committee. It would be lovely to see Members (and Officers) there with their families he confirmed. Tickets could be purchased as usual via Mari Major he added.

To conclude, The Mayor knew it was early, but as this would be the last Council before the New Year, he took the opportunity to wish all those present a happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader reminded members that there would be pre-Council briefings on Dementia Friendly Communities on 11^th January and an update from Sustrans on 1^st February.

In March 2017 it was hoped to have two pre-Council briefings, one on 1 March which will involve a progress update from the Welsh Community Care Information System, and another on 29 March that will be on the subject of ‘Dark Skies’. Both of these would be confirmed at a later date.

Members would also be aware that an internal audit report recommended that all members should complete a corporate parenting induction and relevant safeguarding training, plus annual refresher sessions.

To date, unfortunately only 19 members out of a total of 54 have completed the refresher training, so a third session has been arranged for Tuesday 13 December in the committee rooms. He encouraged those members who have not yet taken part to attend this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 685.

The Leader advised that when he took up the role of Leader, he informed members that he intended to look at the structure of the Cabinet portfolios, and that he would come back to them with an update.

This has now been completed, and he was pleased to be able to outline some changes that he wished to introduce with immediate effect.

In the Corporate Plan that members steered, the need to act as one council wherever we can was identified. This was in recognition of the fact that people don’t live their lives in discreet areas of service, even if local authorities are organised that way.

He wanted to reflect this, with Cabinet members having a broader range of cross-cutting responsibilities so that they can each work across directorates wherever possible.

With this in mind, the most experienced Cabinet member, Councillor Phil White, will gain responsibility for children and early help and intervention, as well as adult social services as the Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help.

This will help strengthen our work to improve the transition from child-to-adult services. Safeguarding our most vulnerable adults and children will be a key priority for Councillor White, as will ensuring that we help individuals, families, carers and parents as early as we can.

Councillor White will continue to be the champion for mental health across the organisation, and will lead on the ongoing modernisation of services for older people and people with learning disabilities.

Councillor Hailey Townsend will be Cabinet member for Wellbeing and Future Generations, and the authority’s new anti-poverty champion.

Her portfolio will align with the new Future Generations Wellbeing Act and our own intervention and prevention agenda. It will encompass Housing, the Youth Offending Service, Trading Standards, Environmental Health and all the shared public protection services, and Sport and Physical Activity which will include our partnership with Halo.

Councillor Townsend will also be the champion for play opportunities for children, and will continue to be our effective lead member for equalities and diversity.

Councillor Charles Smith will become Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration. He was a teacher by profession, and has taught in many of our schools and has spent his career teaching or lecturing, so he brings that experience to the role.

He will now lead on our exciting 21^st Century school modernisation programme, and will also prioritise the continued improvements in standards and outcomes in all our secondary and primary schools, special schools and early years’ settings.

Councillor Smith will also continue to be responsible for leading on the regeneration of our towns.

Councillor Ceri Reeves will continue as the Cabinet Member for Communities. She will have responsibility for Transportation, Highways, Parks and Playing Fields, bereavement services, street cleaning, Planning, Libraries and cultural services.

Councillor Reeves will also take the Cabinet lead for tackling domestic violence alongside Councillor Thomas and Councillor White’s roles in this important field.  

As the Deputy Leader, Councillor Hywel Williams will lead on Finance, Human Resources, Customer Services,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 686.

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to provide Council with details of the council tax base and estimated collection rate for 2017-18

He advised that the estimated council tax base for 2017-18 was 53,835.72, and the estimated collection rate was 98%. The net council tax base was therefore 52,759.01. He added that the estimated collection rate was ½% increase on last year and better than the actual collection rate of the year before, of 97.3% which was the highest collection rate ever achieved in this Authority.

The Section 151 Officer added that the net council tax base was also used by precepting authorities in calculating their precepts, and that Town/Community Councils based their precepts on the tax base for each community area, details of which were shown in Appendix A to the report.

RESOLVED:                 That Council:

(1)            Approved the council tax base and collection rate for 2017-18, as shown in paragraph 4.1 of the report.

    Further approved the tax bases for the community areas set out in Appendix A to the report.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services presented a report, the purpose of which, was to present Council with a review of work undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Unit during the period September 2015 – September 2016.

He reminded Members that the Overview and Scrutiny Committees oversee the decision making of the Cabinet as a whole, and Cabinet Members, as well as supporting their work and Council also. The Scrutiny function allowed citizens to have a greater say in Council matters by holding public meetings into matters of local concern. This process led to reports being compiled and recommendations which advised the Cabinet and the Council on its policies, budget and service delivery.

Paragraph 3.2 of the report confirmed that in 2012/13, BCBC took an active role in a WAO Improvement Study in respect of Scrutiny, and as a result of this, the Authority had been considered ‘excellent’ in terms of the way it approached scrutiny and was a lead for other neighbouring authorities to follow in this regard.

Paragraph 3.2.2 of the report, then advised that in the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2014-15, it was identified that 3 developments required further work and improvement. These were detailed in this part of the report, and were important in terms of making further progress in these areas, as they were linked to the Corporate Assessment and the Corporate Priorities of the Council.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services, then gave a resume for the benefit of Members on the current situation/proposals, and in particular, the within the following areas:-

·         Impact Monitoring (of Scrutiny and the scrutiny process)

·         Key outcomes and achievements

·         Webcasting (of Scrutiny & other Committee meetings)

·         A review of Scrutiny, and

·         Further development of Scrutiny

He referred Members to the reports Appendices, one of which was as a result of Scrutiny Officers undertaking an assessment of the scrutiny function using the “Characteristics of Good Scrutiny” to determine performance during 2015-16 (Appendix A to the report referred). In addition to this, Members attended a series of workshops to enable Overview and Scrutiny Committees to carry out a review and forward planning exercise in terms of the work and service areas it should scrutinise. Members as part of this exercise, were also provided with an opportunity to look back over the past 12 months and consider what worked in Scrutiny, as well as areas that could be improved. Some of the main key points raised and suggestions for change, were shown in Appendix B of the report.

Council commended the report and supporting information, and recognised that the support of Overview and Scrutiny within the Authority had been in the past and still was strong and proactive. However, it was noted that there were cuts proposed as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy that would affect staffing levels in the Scrutiny Section. To this end, Members asked for an assurance from the Leader, that if these were realised, they would not impact in a detrimental way  ...  view the full minutes text for item 688.

RESOLVED:                    That the report of the Monitoring Officer advising of the Information Report considered since the last ordinary meeting of Council, as detailed in Paragraph 4.1 of the report, be noted

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