To receive for approval the minutes of 05/02/2025

(i) Mayor

(ii) Chief Executive

Councillor Heidi Bennett to the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment

Can the Cabinet Member provide an update on the level of funding received from the Welsh Government for highway maintenance as part of the 25/26 RSG and additionally, what steps is the council taking to secure further investment from WG to address the backlog of road repairs and potholes across the county?  

Motion for the Return of Crown Estate Revenues to the Welsh Government

This motion is submitted in recognition of Wales’ right to control and benefit from its own natural wealth, ensuring that the economic and social well-being of its citizens is prioritised.

This Council

1. Recognises that the Crown Estate in Wales generates significant revenue from Welsh natural resources, including offshore wind, marine resources, and land holdings.
2. Notes that revenue from the Crown Estate in Wales is currently collected and managed by the UK Treasury, with profits allocated to the UK Government.
3. Acknowledges that Scotland has successfully secured the devolution of Crown Estate revenues, ensuring that income generated from Scottish assets is reinvested in Scotland’s economy and communities.
4. Believes that the revenue generated from Welsh Crown Estate assets should be returned to the Welsh Government to ensure that it is reinvested in social and economic development within Wales.
5. Calls upon the UK Government to devolve Crown Estate revenues to the Welsh Government, enabling direct investment in essential public services, housing, renewable energy projects, and economic opportunities for communities across Wales.
6. Urges the Welsh Government to advocate for the return of these funds and develop a strategic framework for their use in addressing social needs, alleviating poverty, and supporting sustainable growth in Wales.

This Council resolves to:

1. Support all measures that seek the devolution of the Crown Estate in Wales.
2. Call upon the UK Government to engage in meaningful discussions regarding the fair distribution of revenues generated from Wales’ natural resources.

Notice of Motion: Support for an Essentials Guarantee

This Council notes:

•           The significant increase in need for emergency food in Bridgend County, with Bridgend County Foodbank providing more than 8,000 emergency food parcels in the last 12 months, a 21% increase on the same period in 2018/19.

•           62% of beneficiaries of Bridgend County Foodbanks are households with children and 28% of those are families with 3 or more children. This demonstrates that a higher proportion of households with children are experiencing hunger, poverty and hardship.

•           That around 5 in 6 low income households on Universal Credit are going without at least one essential like food, a warm home or toiletries [1], which shows that the social security system is not providing people with enough to afford the essentials.

•           That 9.3 million people in the UK face hunger and hardship, meaning their household is more than 25% below the Social Metrics Commission poverty line. This represents one in seven people in the UK, and one in five children. Without action, a further 425,000 people are projected to face hunger and hardship by 2026/27 [2].

The Council resolves:

-           To support the promotion of the campaign by Bridgend County Foodbank, Trussell and Joseph Roundtree Foundation to introduce an Essentials Guarantee[3] , a law which would ensure that the basic rate of social security support is always enough to afford the essentials that we all need to live.

-           To ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Chancellor and Secretary to the Department for Work and Pensions in favour of the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee.

-           To ask the Leader of the Council to write to Chris Elmore MP for Bridgend, Stephen Kinnock MP for Aberafan Maesteg and Chris Bryant MP for Rhondda and Ogmore, to request that they write to both the Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, as well as Chancellor and Secretary to the Department for Work and Pensions, in favour of the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee.

[1] Joseph Rowntree Foundation: https://www.jrf.org.uk/social-security/guarantee-our-essentials-reforming-universal-credit-to-ensure-we-can-all-afford-the

[2] The Cost of Hunger and Hardship, Trussell, 2024: https://www.trussell.org.uk/news-and-research/publications/report/the-cost-of-hunger-and-hardship

[3] https://www.trussell.org.uk/support-us/guarantee-our-essentials

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.