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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices Angel Street Bridgend CF31 4WB. View directions

Contact: Mr Mark Anthony Galvin  Senior Democratic Services Officer - Committees

Items
No. Item

1.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members' Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1st September 2008.

Minutes:

None

2.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES pdf icon PDF 107 KB

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting of Council of 29 March 2017. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting of Council of 29 March 2017 be approved as a true and accurate record subject to the correction to “late wife” in the 9th paragraph of the Mayor’s announcements relating to the news that Councillor David Sage had passed away.  

3.

TO RECEIVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE MAYOR, COUNCILLOR RD JENKINS.

Minutes:

The Mayor announced that this time last year he was honoured to be elected Mayor and the year had passed quickly. It was also his last year as an elected member so it was doubly special.

 

The Mayor announced that he and his Consort had had a wonderful time and were both grateful for the fantastic opportunities to represent the County Borough. The numerous events that they had attended were both interesting and varied and allowed them to meet some truly inspirational individuals and organisations and hopefully made some lifelong friends.

 

The Mayor thanked his wife Teresa who had supported him both as Mayor and Deputy Mayor. He was sure that at times he had taxed her patience but without her input and organisation he would have been lost and he could not have done it without her.

 

The Mayor also thanked his friends, colleagues and community for their encouragement and support, his charity committee members for their hard work and ongoing dedication towards fundraising on behalf of his chosen charities.  It had been his pleasure not only to host but to meet all the people who had volunteered and attended these events thereby contributing towards the total which would be announced at a later date.

 

At his Inauguration he announced that community and youth would be the themes of his Mayoralty and he was pleased to say that he had plenty of opportunity to meet individuals and organisations who did so much good within the County Borough.

 

The Mayor announced that it had been a privilege and an honour to represent the County Borough as Mayor and one that neither of them would forget for a long time. Once again he thanked everyone for their support.  

 

The Leader of the Labour Group took the opportunity to say thank you to the Mayor for his outstanding public service to the County Borough and the Garw Valley, for nearly 40 years. His role as Mayor was the culmination of that service. The Mayor’s burning passion and total commitment to helping people and his humour and warmth had earned him respect and friendship across the Chamber and communities. The Mayor was of course, one half of the incredible Jenkins team so his appreciation also extended to Teresa, his wife who was always with him. The Leader of the Labour Group wished the couple every happiness in retirement as it was very well deserved.

4.

TO ELECT THE MAYOR AND THE MAYOR (ELECT) TO ANNOUNCE THEIR CONSORT/ESCORT.

Minutes:

A motion was received which was duly seconded and carried unanimously, that Councillor P Davies be appointed Mayor for 2017/18.   

 

RESOLVED:             That Councillor P Davies be elected as Mayor for the 

                                  Year 2017/18.

 

Councillor Davies announced that her Consort for the ensuing year would be her husband, Mr Tudor Davies.

 

                                  Councillor Davies took the Chair in place of Councillor Jenkins.     

5.

TO APPOINT THE DEPUTY MAYOR AND THE DEPUTY MAYOR (ELECT) TO ANNOUNCE THEIR CONSORT/ESCORT.

Minutes:

A motion was received which was duly seconded and carried unanimously, that Councillor J McCarthy be appointed as Deputy Mayor for 2017/18.

 

 RESOLVED:            That Councillor J McCarthy be elected as Deputy  Mayor for the Year 2017/18.

                    

                                  Councillor McCarthy announced that his Consort for the ensuing year would be his wife, Mrs Judy McCarthy.     

6.

TO RECEIVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE NEWLY ELECTED MAYOR.

(i)            Youth Mayor of the County Borough of Bridgend.

 

(ii)           Deputy Youth Mayor of the County Borough of Bridgend.

Minutes:

The newly elected Mayor announced that she was honoured to have been nominated and elected to the role of County Borough Mayor for the coming year and she was looking forward to a busy but rewarding twelve months ahead. She thanked her husband Tudor for agreeing to be her mayoral consort.

 

The Mayor was keen to promote and fundraise for a number of local charities which she would confirm at a later date. The Mayor hoped that Councillors would join her at some of the events and help to raise as much money as possible for the worthwhile causes and continued support would be very much appreciated.

 

On behalf of her fellow members of the Council, the Mayor thanked the retiring Mayor and Mayoress for the dedication and commitment that they had given to the Council and people of Bridgend County Borough. They had been fantastic ambassadors for Bridgend and were wished all the luck in the future.  

7.

THE MAYOR TO ANNOUNCE THE YOUTH MAYOR AND DEPUTY MAYOR:

Minutes:

The Mayor announced that Niamh Gwilym would be the Youth Mayor for 2017/18.

 

The Mayor announced that Leigh Williams would be the Deputy Youth Mayor for 2017/18.

8.

TO ELECT THE LEADER OF BRIDGEND COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL.

Minutes:

A motion was received which was duly seconded and carried unanimously that Councillor Huw David be elected as Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council for 2017/18.

 

RESOLVED:              That Councillor Huw David be elected Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council for the ensuing year.

9.

TO AGREE THE NUMBER OF MEMBERS TO BE APPOINTED TO THE CABINET

Minutes:

The Leader announced that Cabinet for the year 2017/18 would comprise of himself and the following 5 members (one previous post on the Executive not allocated):-

 

Councillor H J David

Councillor H Williams 

Councillor D Patel

Councillor R Young

Councillor P White

Councillor C Smith 

10.

THE LEADER MAY ANNOUNCE THE DEPUTY LEADER OF BRIDGEND COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL FROM THOSE MEMBERS APPOINTED TO THE CABINET AND MAY ANNOUNCE THE APPOINTMENT OF CABINET MEMBERS TO PORTFOLIOS.

Minutes:

The Leader announced that the Deputy Leader for the year 2017/18 would be Councillor H Williams and that the appointment of Cabinet Members to the under-mentioned portfolios, would be as follows:-

 

Councillor H Williams - Deputy Leader.

Councillor D Patel - Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations Councillor R Young - Cabinet Member for Communities

Councillor P White – Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help Councillor C Smith – Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration

11.

TO RECEIVE THE REPORT OF THE LEADER. pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader congratulated the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Cllr Davies and Cllr McCarthy and the Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor and said that they made a first class team.

 

The Leader thanked colleagues for returning him as Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council. It was of course a huge privilege but also a great responsibility, especially in consideration of the significant ongoing challenges that lay ahead.

 

He would continue to give this role his full attention and focus to provide leadership which was, to coin a phrase that seemed to be very popular at the moment, ‘strong and stable’.

 

As part of this, it was important to acknowledge changes in the Council’s landscape and make-up that the authority had experienced over the last few weeks. Some of those gathered today had served as elected members for a number of years. Others were returning to the role after a period spent out of office, while several were experiencing it for the very first time. This change at a time when the most recent performance indicators from the Welsh Government and the Local Government Data Unit had highlighted that Bridgend County Borough Council had achieved the second highest number of improvements in Wales. Performance improved across 70 per cent of national indicators when set against a national average of 65 per cent, and when measured against other authorities, 24 of 40 comparable indicators were in the top two quarters. The highest ranking indicators included supporting older people to remain independent, ensuring pupil attendance within secondary schools, and reducing delays in the transfer of care. Many of these were maintained at a maximum level of one hundred per cent.

 

BCBC also performed well in areas such as planning and regulatory services, reducing the number of 15 year olds who had no qualifications, encouraging people to use local sport and leisure centres, ensuring that food establishments were compliant with relevant safety legislation, and many more besides.

 

This had all been achieved at a time when the Council had been forced to find multi-million pound savings in the face of ongoing austerity. The way in which the authority provided essential frontline services had fundamentally changed. Bridgend County Borough Council was continuing to make significant progress as it developed into a leaner, more efficient organisation, and these figures helped demonstrate this. It had been a far from easy process and one that didn’t draw a great deal of recognition.

 

Rightly or wrongly, people were more likely to react to a reduction in how often grass was cut than they were to a policy on how young people were helped to leave care with improved prospects for finding a home and a career. Nobody entered local politics expecting to have to cut services or close down facilities, but when that became necessary, the brunt of people’s anger had to be dealt with.

 

The Leader said that he believed in many ways weighing people’s expectations against the reality of what needed to be done could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL FOR WALES pdf icon PDF 67 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer reported on the determinations and recommendations contained within the February 2017 Annual Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales in respect of the level and range of remuneration the Authority must make available to its Members for the 2017/18 municipal year.

 

The purpose of the report was to seek :

 

  • The adoption of the relevant determinations of the Independent Remuneration Panel contained within its February 2017 report
  • Determination of those posts that would receive a senior/civic salary.
  • Council’s determination of the level of remuneration for the Senior and Civic Salaries.
  • Approval of the revised Members’ Schedule of Remuneration at Appendix 2, which would become effective from 17 May 2017 (Annual Meeting of Council).
  • Approval that the Members’ Schedule of Remuneration be automatically updated with any changes to remuneration subsequently made by Council during the 2017/18 municipal year.

 

The Local Authorities (Allowances for Members) (Wales) Regulations 2007 provided for the establishment of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales.

 

The Panel had not changed its previous decisions in respect of the senior salaries paid to these Senior Salary Post holders.  The Senior Salaries were inclusive of the Basic Salary.  The senior salary posts did not receive an increase of salary but the increase in Basic Salary had been reflected in the total senior salary.

 

The Salary for the Leader and Deputy Leader had been based on the population of the County Borough (100,000 – 200,000).  The Leader could receive £48,100 and the Deputy Leader £33,600.

 

Many Council’s operated with a Cabinet of 10, the statutory maximum, others chose to have smaller Cabinets and therefore the range of individual portfolios was much greater. The Panel concluded that this differing range of portfolios should be reflected in the remuneration framework. It was not the role of the Panel to determine the structure of Cabinets of local authorities.  Each newly elected council was able to determine the remuneration based on the level of responsibility and workload.

 

Cabinet members could be paid at either of the two following senior salary levels:

·         Level 1 - £29,100

·         Level 2 - £26,200

 

Previously if there were less than 8 Cabinet Members the workload and responsibility would warrant them being paid at the Level 1 salary.  Bridgend had historically had 4 or 5 Cabinet Members in addition to the Leader and Deputy Leader

 

Where chairs of committees were remunerated, there were two levels of remuneration available: 

 

·         Level 1 chairs would be paid a salary of £22,100

·         Level 2 chairs would be paid a salary of £20,100

 

The Panel determined that it was a matter for individual authorities to determine which chairs were paid and at what level, to reflect the appropriate responsibility attached to the specific post.  In previous years the follow Committee Chairpersons had been remunerated at the levels shown:

 

·         Level 1 Senior Salary

 

                Appeals Panel

                Audit Committee

                Development Control Committee

                Licensing/Act 2003 Committee

                Scrutiny Committee

 

·         An Independent Member chaired the Standards Committee and received £256 for a meeting lasting over 4 hours or £128  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

PROPOSED PROGRAMME OF ORDINARY MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL AND COUNCIL COMMITTEES pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report, which proposed a programme of ordinary meetings of the Council and Council Committees for the municipal year May 2017- April 2018, for Council approval:-

 

2017                                         2018

31-May- 17                               31-Jan-18

28-Jun-17                                 28-Feb-18

26-Jul-17                                  28-Mar-18

6-Sep-17                                  25-Apr-18  

4-Oct-17     

1-Nov-17

29-Nov-17

20-Dec-17                  

 

There would be no meeting of Council in August 2017, due to the summer and school holiday periods. 

 

As agreed by Council at its Annual Meeting in 2012, each of the above

meetings would be held on a Wednesday commencing at 3.00pm, with the exception of the meeting which will consider the Budget/Medium Term Financial Strategy(MTFS) (28 February 2018) which would start at 2.00pm.  Council’s Annual Meeting for the next municipal year would be held on 16 May 2018.

 

The proposed programme of Council Committee meetings at Appendix 1 also required the approval of Council.  The draft Calendar had been circulated to the Corporate Management Board, Heads of Service, and lead officers of each of the Committees, Sub-Committees and Panels etc, for comment.  Provisional appointments would be placed in the Member meetings and/or Cabinet Committee electronic calendars and expanded as necessary to all Members calendars when the schedule was approved, and as soon as the composition of all Council bodies was known.

 

Council was asked to note the meeting dates for Cabinet, Cabinet Committees, and the Coychurch Crematorium Joint Committee which were included in Appendix 1 for completeness.

 

Under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, the Council was required to undertake a survey of the timings of all Committee meetings as soon as possible in the new term of office.  It was proposed that the survey would be carried out before the end of June 2017 and the outcomes reported back to Council in July 2017.  The timings of meetings from September 2017 onwards as shown Appendix 1 could be subject to change to reflect the outcome of this survey.

 

A Councillor proposed that Council commence at 4 pm and not 3 pm. The Leader explained that as in the report, Members would be surveyed before the end of June 2017 and the outcomes reported back to Council. Members commented that for some, 4 pm could still be too early and that it was important for the sake of democracy that all had the opportunity to attend and give their input. Members agreed to continue with the survey and that the outcomes be reported back as soon as possible. 

 

RESOLVED:             That Council:

 

(1)  Approved the proposed Programme of Council  Meetings set out in Paragraph 4.1 of the report.

 

(2)  Approved the proposed programme of meetings of Council Committees set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

 

(3)  Noted that a survey of meeting timings would be carried out with the Members of each Committee, Sub-Committee and other body before the end of June. The outcomes would be reported back to Council in July and could result in the timings of meetings contained in the programme of meetings being subject to change. 

 

Noted the dates of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

APPOINTMENTS TO COUNCIL COMMITTEES AND OTHER COUNCIL BODIES pdf icon PDF 50 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer presented a report which sought approval for the appointment of Overview and Scrutiny Committees and such other Committees, Sub-Committees, Panels and bodies as the Council considered appropriate to deal with matters which were neither reserved to full Council nor were executive functions.

 

Part 3 of the Council’s Constitution entitled Responsibility for Council Functions, set out the Council’s Committees, Sub-Committees, Panels and other bodies currently in place. Certain Committees were governed by provisions of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, in terms of their composition and/or appointment of Chairpersons. 

 

The Measure made a number of requirements in relation to the Audit Committee’s membership, including Lay Membership and the appointment of the Chairperson. The Chairperson under the Measure, was required to be appointed by the Audit Committee at its first scheduled meeting which was scheduled for 29 June 2017.    

 

In terms of the Lay Membership of this Committee, it was proposed that the current Lay Member Ms J Williams remained as the lay member. Ms. Williams had completed one term of office in this role, and in accordance with the Measure she was allowed to do a maximum of two terms on the Committee in this capacity. Council were asked to note that not more than one Member of the Audit Committee may be a Member of the Executive (and should not be the Leader), whilst the Chairperson of the Committee must also not be a Member of the Executive group. 

 

The Democratic Services Committee must comprise solely of Councillors and could not include more than one member of the Executive, who must not be the Leader of the Council.  It was a function of Council to appoint the Chairperson of this Committee, who must not be a Member of any of the political groups represented on the Executive. 

 

It was proposed that Council made certain changes in respect of its appointment to the Standards Committee. The Committee comprised eight members, namely:-

 

            Four Independent Members (No current vacancies);

            Two County Borough Council Members (Two vacancies);

            Two Town/Community Council Members (Two vacancies);

 

The Independent Members and the Town and Community Council Members had previously been appointed by Council for a 4 year term of office, and none of these members had yet completed this term other than the representative of Pencoed Town Council, Councillor J Hancock. Councillor AE Davies was also formerly a Member of the Standards Committee as a representative of Porthcawl Town Council. However, following the recent elections she was no longer a Member of the Town Council and therefore she could not remain a Member of the Committee in this capacity.   It was therefore recommended that delegated powers be granted to the Monitoring Officer to undertake any necessary processes to facilitate and appoint two Town and Community Council representatives to the Standards Committee as replacements for the above Members.

 

Council was also requested to nominate two County Borough Councillors to sit on the Standards Committee, having regard to the following requirements in terms of the representation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

REPRESENTATION ON OUTSIDE BODIES AND OTHER COMMITTEES

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.

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report which sought Council’s approval for the appointment of Members to the South Wales Police and Crime Panel and the South East Wales Strategic Planning Group.

 

RESOLVED:             That Council approved the following nominations to the bodies listed below:-

                                  

 South Wales Police and Crime Panel – Cllr Richard  Young

 

South East Wales Strategic Planning Group – Chair of Development Control

16.

Urgent Items

Minutes:

None.

 

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