To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from Members/Officers.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members – Officer for the reasons so stated:

Councillor S Aspey                 - Work Commitments

Councillor M Butcher              – Attending a funeral

Councillor N Farr                    - Work Commitments

Councillor M Gregory             - Attending a funeral

Councillor DM Hughes           - Family Commitment

Councillor P John                   - Unwell

Councillor RD Jenkins            - Attending a funeral

Councillor HE Morgan                        - Unwell

Councillor LC Morgan             - Attending a funeral

Councillor D Sage                   - Unwell

Councillor CE Smith               - Holiday         

Councillor KJ Watts                - Holiday

Ness Young – Corporate Director Resources & Monitoring Officer – Other Council Business. 

To receive for approval the following minutes of meetings of Council:-

Ordinary meeting – 8 April 2015

Annual meeting – 13 May 2015

RESOLVED:               (1) That the minutes of the meeting of Council of 8 April 2015 be approved as a true and accurate record subject to an amendment being made to the 3^rd paragraph of minute no. 475 that the words “of the” be replaced with the word “and” prior to the words ‘Council Tax implications’.

                                    (2) That the minutes of the Annual Meeting of Council of 13 May 2015 be approved as a true and accurate record subject to the inclusion of Councillor E Venables in the list of Members present.        

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.

(i)            Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii)           Members of the Cabinet

(iii)          Chief Executive

MAYORAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Mayor welcomed Members to his first meeting of Council since his inauguration.  He informed Members that he had a busy time during the past few weeks and he thanked Ruth Ronan and Merete Bang and everybody in the Democratic Services team for the excellent support he had received.  The Mayor hoped to be able to announce the names of the charities that he would be supporting shortly, and he had been putting forward a number of suggestions for new types of event that will help raise funds for these good causes, which he would inform Members of in due course.

The Mayor informed Council that he was delighted to open an information market for carers at the Princess of Wales Hospital recently as part of this year’s Carers Week activities.  The event was extremely well attended and brought home to the sheer number of local people who provide unpaid care for sick, elderly or disabled relatives, neighbours and friends within the County Borough which numbered almost 18,000 people, from all ages and backgrounds.  He stated that the information market was just one of several events designed to raise awareness about the wide range of support that is available for carers, and as part of this he was really impressed to see the development of new E-Training modules for Council staff and the launch of a new private Facebook support group for employees who also act as carers.  A wealth of information about available support could be found online and at the Bridgend Carers Centre website which would be useful for local constituents, and the Mayor urged Members to take a closer look and find out more.

The Mayor informed Members of news that the Council has marked this year’s Foster Care Fortnight with a drive to encourage applications from people in the County Borough.  Called ‘Get Connected’, the event was the most successful one yet and drew a great deal of publicity, including almost 64,000 people who saw it on Facebook alone, which resulted in enquiries from 35 potential new foster carers.  He congratulated everyone on making the event a success. 

The Mayor reminded Members that raising the flag for Armed Forces Day would be taking place at 10.15am on Monday 22 June outside the Civic Offices. The event will mark the beginning of Armed Forces Week which will culminate with a parade at 11.30am led by the South Wales Police Band and a short service in front of the war memorial in Dunraven Place.  He stated that these events are always well supported within the County Borough, and all are very welcome to come and show your support.

The Mayor also congratulated to Rhydian Jenkins on coming first in the both the Cerdd Dant Solo and the Boy’s Solo in last week’s Urdd Eisteddfod and also congratulated Aelwyd Porthcawl on coming third in the folk choirs competition.

CABINET MEMBERS’ ANNOUNCEMENTS

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader  announced the inaugural ‘Art Challenge Wales’ event was held  ...  view the full minutes text for item 496.

The Leader advised Members that Bridgend County Borough Council was recently named the most deaf-friendly organisation in Wales by Action on Hearing Loss Cymru.  The charity, which was formerly known as the RNID, presented the council with their top honour, a Gold award at their inaugural Excellence Wales ceremony.   The awards recognise organisations that are going the extra mile to ensure that they are accessible to the one-in-six people who are deaf or have hearing loss.  Judges commended the Council for its regular staff deaf awareness training, excellent engagement with local British Sign Language users and proactive approach to the use of technology such as hearing loops.  The award follows previous successes such as the Action On hearing loss campaign’s ‘Louder Than Words’ accreditation which we have held for the past three years, and an award from the British Deaf Association for our progress towards achieving full British Sign Language charter status.  He stated the Council had beaten the National Assembly for Wales and Western Power Distribution into second and third place, which is a remarkable achievement, and he thanked staff on their achievement.

The Leader announced that the Council’s Active Young People’s Department has also had some good news recently with the announcement that they have successfully beaten off competition from Singapore and Scotland to become ‘International Partner of the Year’ in a sports leadership programme organised by Create Development.  Designed to recognise innovation in training and learning, the award was presented to the AYPD team for empowering young people to develop skills in communication, coaching and leadership that will benefit them in further studies, employment and adult life.  The team was described by Create Development as being ‘one of their most forward thinking and joined-up partners’, and he congratulated everyone who helped make this a reality.

The Leader referred to the excellent BBC and newspaper coverage of the recent launch of the all-new £6.7m Community Care Information Solution.  He stated that the Deputy Leader had described it at the time as being a ‘game changer’, which was very apt.  The Leader was proud that Bridgend County Borough Council has been chosen as the lead local authority for the project, which will seek to improve health and social care services across Wales by bringing together vital information and essential details from a variety of different stand-alone systems.  These details will be integrated into one new national system that will make it possible for information to be shared instantly, confidentially on a need-to-know basisbetween different health and social care providers to ensure that people are provided with all the care and support they need. The new system has massive potential for ensuring that health and social care services work together in a far more effective manner all across Wales, especially in situations where people need to use emergency or out-of-hours services, and he looked forward to seeing how the system develops.

The Chief Executive submitted a report together with a presentation which sought  formal agreement of the revised corporate priorities (strategic themes) and areas of focus that have been identified for each priority for public consultation.  He stated that the Authority was facing unprecedented financial challenge with a funding shortfall of £49m between 2016/17 and 2018/19 and that it would need to change in response to increasing demand and more complex needs to shape a sustainable and significantly smaller Authority (70% of its current size).

The Chief Executive highlighted the six improvement priorities from the Corporate Plan for the next four years and that the Medium Term Financial Strategy had identified the resources to support the delivery of the improvement priorities as well as those required supporting the Council’s usual activities.  He added that Cabinet and the Corporate Management Board had identified the need to revise and more tightly focus on the corporate priorities to design and shape a significantly smaller authority.  A number of principles had been developed to guide the selection of priorities and resourcing choices, the principles and revised priorities will be known as strategic themes, three strategic themes had been developed which will be the Councils priority for the next 4 years, they are:

1.    Supporting a successful economy – taking steps to make the County a good place to do business and ensure that our schools are focused on raising the skills, qualifications and ambitions of all young people in the county.

2.    Helping people to be more self-reliant – taking early steps to reduce or prevent people from becoming vulnerable or dependent on the Council and its services.

3.    Smarter use of resources –  ensuring that all its resources (financial, physical, human and technological) are used as effectively and efficiently as possible; and supporting the development of resources throughout the community that can help deliver its vision.

He outlined the key outcomes that can be expected from these themes.

He explained that as the Authority changes it will have particular regard to the following:

• Safeguarding our most vulnerable people
• Equality and Diversity
• Financial accountability and value for money
• Management of risk, including the health and safety of employees and service users

The Chief Executive informed Council that consultation on the revised corporate priorities will take place between July and September 2015. 

A member of Council referred to the funding shortfall facing the Council and questioned how the agenda for training young people between the ages of 16-24 could be delivered when schools are reducing the number of sixth form courses.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed Council that there would be a focus on Key Stage 4 outcomes and there would be a continued drive to deliver improvements.  She stated that a number of students have to travel outside the County Borough to attend some courses and she highlighted the need to have courses being provided locally, e.g. computer programming in order to support employers recruiting in that field.           

A member of Council referred  ...  view the full minutes text for item 498.

The Group Manager Development sought approval to adopt Safeguarding Employment Sites – SPG21 as Supplementary Planning Guidance to the adopted Local Development Plan.  He stated that the Development Control Committee on 16 October 2014 had resolved to approve the Draft SPG 21 as a basis for public consultation; authorised officers to make appropriate for public consultation and to await a further report on the outcome of the consultation process. 

He reported that at the end of the period, 6 individuals and external organisations had submitted comments on the draft SPG and in response to those representations; a consultation report had been prepared.  He stated that the comments arising from the consultation were mostly of a non-specific and general nature drawing to the attention of the Council good practice and requirements to properly consider and consult with appropriate bodies, in particular with respect to environmental risk and impact on heritage assets and landscape. 

The Group Manager Development informed Council that the Development Control Committee on 2 April 2015 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 SPG 21 – Safeguarding Employment Sites as Supplementary Guidance to the adopted Bridgend Local Development Plan. 

The Monitoring Officer reported that the Standards Committee had received a report on proposals made by the Ombudsman to revise the Guidance on the Code of Conduct for Local Authority Members.  He stated that the Ombudsman had proposed a further public interest test be considered when deciding whether to investigate a complaint or whether to continue an investigation of a breach of the Code to the stage of referring the matter to the Adjudication Panel for Wales.

The Monitoring Officer reported that the Ombudsman had issued a new test which had changed as a result of complaints received from Monitoring Officers in Wales.  He stated that in determining whether to investigate a complaint or whether to continue an investigation of a breach of the Code a two stage test will be applied.  At the first stage, the Ombudsman will aim to establish whether there is direct evidence that a breach actually took place and if the evidential test was met, at the second stage, consideration would be given as to whether an investigation or a referral to a Standards Committee or the Adjudication Panel for Wales is required in the public interest.

The Monitoring Officer highlighted some of the public interest factors that the Ombudsman will consider which were set out in the new Code of Conduct.  He stated that the Ombudsman had determined that if it was felt a case did not warrant a sanction, the case would not be referred to the Monitoring Officer.

A Member of Council questioned whether Members who are also members of Town and Community Councils can take part in meetings of the Development Control Committee.  The Monitoring Officer informed Council that Members need to be careful in expressing their views on planning applications and it would be prudent for them to declare personal interests at Development Control Committee if they are also Town and Community Councillors.       

RESOLVED:               That Council noted the new Code of Conduct Guidance.

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

There were no urgent items.