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 E Winstanley declared a personal interest in Agenda item 8, due to the fact that Maesteg Town Hall was operated by Awen Trust of which she was an employee.

To receive for approval the minutes of 12/04/2023 and 17/05/2023

RESOLVED:                            That the minutes of the following meetings of Council be approved as a true and accurate record:-

                                                  12 April 2023

                                                  17 May 2023

(i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

Mayor

The Mayor listed a series of events he had recently attended including::

• Bridgend College Fashion Show       
• The Bridgend Forces Festival:

•           Children's Literary Festival - Magic Gareth

            Grand Pavilion (Esplanade Avenue, Porthcawl, Wales, CF36 3YW)

•           The Bridgend Unsung Hero Awards 2023, on Friday 2nd June at the Heronston Hotel        

•                  Bridgend Carers Garden Party

•                  Bridgend Carers Centre, 87 Park Street CF31 4AZ.

•                  Steam awards Pencoed college Thursday 8 June

• Libraries County Book Quiz Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl, on behalf of Awen Cultural Trust, on Wednesday 14th June

He also highlighted the Pyle & Kenfig Hill Veterans Association event held on Saturday, 10th June 2023 at the association headquarters located at Pyle Royal British Legion Club, as well as his invite

to attend the Mayor’s Civic Sunday held at Newport Cathedral on Sunday 11th June.

Finally, the Mayor stated that Sarah Murphy, the Leader, Councillor Jon-Paul Blundell, BCBC colleagues, CSC colleagues, Governors, PFA members, Keep Wales Tidy representatives and volunteers are excited to be invited to the Opening Ceremony of Cefn Glas Gardens school, highlighting the Local Places for Nature grant which has helped to make the grounds even more ‘purposefully beautiful’. The School have recently won the ‘Eco School Innovation Award’ in the ‘Tidy Wales Awards. 

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member – Social Services and Health

The Cabinet Member for Social Services and Health confirmed how honoured she was to represent all 22 local authorities in the Senedd yesterday. This was for the launching of the Social Partnership Act or what is now termed as the Welsh Way. This will strengthen the involvement of the workforce and trade unions. This would also allow communities to be at the heart of our what we do, in order to promote wellbeing in our communities.

The inaugural Fostering Recognition Awards had recently been held, marking Foster Care fortnight, bringing local authorities together with Council Fostering Teams, to celebrate all their hard work and commitment that gives young people a beneficial start in life.

The Cabinet Member for Social Services and Health expressed her wholehearted gratitude to carers who made a huge difference and greatly improved the quality of life for those in care, through the unrelenting work they undertook in communities, which also made a huge impact on the lives of the young people in question.

Cabinet Member – Housing, Planning and Regeneration

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning and Regeneration provided Members with a brief update on the latest developments with the regeneration programme at Porthcawl. This incorporated information related to the new sea defences, as well as the new Cosy Corner development which includes a new seafront play area.

Cabinet Member – Climate Change and the Environment

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment provided updates on the following:

A public consultation over plans for how irresponsible dog ownership could be tackled in the future with a closing date of 18 July is now open. Full details are available to view on the consultation pages of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 141.

The Leader provided an update on the Neath Port talbot £250 million adventure resort in the upper Afan Valley on the border with Bridgend County Borough, on the edge of the upper Llynfi valley. Intended to trigger a new wave of employment and tourism in the valleys, major works are taking place to prepare the site, and around £20 million will have been invested into the project by autumn 2023.

The Leader provided updates on the temporary closure of footpaths that would be required, the engagement with local residents that had taken place as well as the employment opportunities that would be created from the development.

A site meeting with all Llynfi Valley Members, Afan Valley Members and Wildfox Resorts will be arranged and Caerau members have been invited as the local members to a new quarterly stakeholder forum.

The Leader also provide an update on the Bus Transition Fund, which has been developed as part of a collaboration between local authorities, Welsh Government, Transport for Wales and the public transport industry.  The fund provides immediate financial support to bus operators in Wales so that vital services have been able to continue.

Plans are being revised as Welsh Government develop a longer term, sustainable funding model that bridges the gap to a franchising of services.

The Leader made reference to the recent incident in which a light aircraft crashed in shallow waters just 50 yards off Porthcawl’s Town Beach as well as the large tracts of land in the Garw Valley sadly destroyed by wildfire, recognising and thanking the various emergency services that had swiftly responded in both cases.

Finally, the Leader highlighted the deliberate nature of the wildfire and that of over 400 others and mentioned the work the Local Authority was doing alongside South Wales Police and South Wales Fire and Rescue urging residents to report any suspicious activity to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, and to follow some very simple rules that are designed to keep everybody safe by avoiding accidental fires.

The Chief Executive presented a report that introduced the South Wales Police Chief Commissioner Alun Michael and the Deputy Commissioner Emma Wools to the meeting, in order to give a presentation on the work of the Police, including some new initiatives.

The Chief Commissioner gave an introduction and referred to the Police and Crime Plan that had been introduced a number of years ago and developed year on year since that time. This reflected what the Police were getting in terms of feedback from the likes of the public and local Councillors and how the South Wales Police were looking to react to change.

He emphasised that partnership working with key stakeholders and partners such as BCBC was at the heart of the work of the Police. He added that in recent times, confidence in policing had become an issue, following events that had taken place in the Metropolitan Police, which had cast a dark shadow over policing in general. However, he wished to make the point that South Wales Police had a different reputation with regards to protecting the public at a high level.

He wished to point out, that levels of crime in the area had reduced and these compared favourable on an All Wales level.

In today’s presentation the Deputy Commissioner and himself, would look at 3 main aspects of work, namely Neighbourhood Policing, with funding having been received from Central Government for further Police Officers and PCSO’s, a number of whom had been promoted to Police Constables since there had been made additional funding for these positions. Also, topics of discussion would revolve around Violence against Women, including sexual violence and work ongoing to reduce Racism.

The Deputy Commissioner then shared with Members some slides that covered the above areas of ongoing Police work, following which the Mayor invited questions from Members.

The Deputy leader and Cabinet Member for Social Services and Health confirmed that she was pleased to see the strides that had been made in relation to Domestic Violence against women in particular and, that lived experiences are being used to formulate policy, but sought some explanation on how this was being carried out. She also asked if there would be Performance Indicators put in place to gauge the success of this work. She also asked if she could have some reassurance how the Police were actively dealing with any referrals made to them in respect of the welfare of young people. She also pointed out that if there were a lot of repeat offenders re-offending, then did this not reflect that the processes in place were not as effective as they should be.

In terms of repeat offending the Police Crime Commissioner advised that repeat offenders were educated through the form of Agency working, ie with partners as well as involvement through a number of key Criminal Justice bodies, working on this and the issue of lived experiences. The Deputy Police Commissioner stated that issues such as the above examples were not resolved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 143.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change submitted a report, in order to provide Council with an update on the Council's revenue financial performance for the financial year ended the 31st of March 2023.

She advised that in February 2022 Council approved a net revenue budget for the financial year 2022-2023 of £319.5m. Due to a technical adjustment in the final settlement the Council’s settlement was increased by £4,336 and this was reported to Council on 9th March 2022. 

The final outturn position for 2022/2023 was shown in Table 1 of the report. The overall outturn for the last financial year is a net underspend of £2.057m and this has been utilised to supplement earmarked reserves, primarily to supplement the cost of living fund for known pressures in the current financial year. The underspend is small in comparison to the overall net budget (0.6%) for 2022/2023 and therefore no transfers have been made to the council fund.

Within the outturn position directorate budgets provided a net overspend of £8.2 million whilst council wide budgets had a net underspend of £9.5 million. The out-turn position also takes into account the additional council tax income which was collected over budget during the financial year.

The 2022/23 financial year was a difficult one for the Council advised the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change. The overall underspend on the council budget significantly masked underlying budget pressures which were reported during the year. The main financial pressures are in the service areas of social services and well-being, homelessness and home to school transport.

During 2022-2023 social services experienced significant pressures to meet statutory duties against a backdrop of an exponential increase in demand in children social care and an increase in the number of independent residential placements within children services, alongside pressures in learning disability and older persons residential placements. The council will need to give further consideration to the sustainable resource required specifically in children services to improve the quality of outcomes for children and families in Bridgend.

The council has seen a significant increase in the provision of temporary accommodation to support individuals who become homeless. It did receive grant funding from Welsh Government during the last financial year to support this service, however £2.5m of this was on a one off basis. This is another service that will require close financial monitoring during the current financial year.

In addition, the council had to address funding pressures during the last financial year in relation to pay and price costs that had not been anticipated earlier in the year. Elected members were briefed on this in year pressure in the Autumn of last year. These pressures are likely to continue into the current year and therefore money has been carried forward to meet those pressures.

The Welsh Government Hardship Fund which supported local authorities during the pandemic period ended on the 31st of March 2022. However local authorities did continue to administer four elements of this funding in the last financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 144.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented a report, to provide members with an update on the capital outturn position for the financial year 2022-2023 and to note the actual Prudential and Other indicators for 2022/23.

She advised that on 23 February 2023, Council approved a capital budget of £69.9m for 2022/23 as part of the capital programme covering the period 2022/23 to 2031/32. This programme has been revised and approved by Council during the year and the programme approved in March 2023 totalled £58.4m.

The programme was to be met by £21.8m of BCBC resources, including the use of capital receipts, contributions from earmarked reserves and borrowing. The balance of £36.5m was to be funded from external sources.

The details of the individual schemes showing the budget available last year compared to the actual spend, was detailed at Appendix A to the report. Since the last report was considered by members in March 2023, there had been some minor amendments made to the programme and these were detailed in paragraph 3.1.2 of the report. The revised budget for 2022/23 explained the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change was, therefore, £58.76m.

The total capital spend in the last financial year was £29.2m and after slippage into 2023/24 of £27.9m and some adjustments to grant funded schemes, this represented an underspend of £795,000.

She explained that slippage has occurred for a number of reasons including delays in starting projects to enable more detailed survey works to be completed, supply chain issues and discussions with external funders. These issues were reported to members during the year. Details of the main areas of slippage were provided for Council at paragraph 3.1.4 of the report.

The majority of the underspend will be returned to the Council’s capital funding provision to contribute to future capital schemes, added the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change confirmed that the Capital Strategy gives an overview of how capital expenditure, capital financing and treasury management activity contributes to the provision of services, along with an overview of how associated risk is managed and the implications for future sustainability. To ensure that we monitor this, a number of prudential indicators were included in the Strategy which was approved by Council. In line with the requirements of the Prudential Code for Capital Financing, the Council is required to establish procedures to monitor both performance against all forward-looking indicators and the requirements specified.

She concluded by stating that Appendix B of the report, detailed the actual indicators for 2022/2023 based on the capital programme outturn. These confirmed that the council is operating in line with the approved indicators.

A Member referred to page 80 of the report and the £1.115m from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and asked the Executive if it was fact that BCBC were the only local authority part of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, not to use this fund in 2022/23.

The Chief Executive advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 145.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change submitted a report, the purpose of which, is to comply with the requirement of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, to provide an overview of Treasury Management activities for the last financial year and to report on the Treasury Management Indicators for 2022/23.

She advised that Treasury Management is the management of the council's cash flows, borrowing and investment, and its associated risks. The Council is exposed to financial risk and therefore, the successful identification, monitoring and control of that risk are central to the Council’s prudent financial management.

The treasury management strategy for 2022/2023 was approved by Council on the 23rd of February last year, she confirmed.

The report outlined the economic context within which the Treasury Management activity took place last year. The issues included:

•           The war in Ukraine that kept global inflation rates high;

•           The economic backdrop in January to March 2023 was characterised by high energy and commodity prices, high inflation which has impacted on household budgets and spending. The Consumer Price Index rose to 10.1% in the 12 months to March 2023;

•           Interest rates were increased on a number of occasions during the year to try to curb inflation. The bank rate started the year at 0.75% and increased 8 times during the year to 4.25%, as at 31st March 2023.

The Council’s Treasury Management activities are undertaken in line with the requirements of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and our Treasury Management activities were reported to the Governance and Audit Committee, Cabinet and Council throughout 2022-2023.

A summary of the Treasury Management activities during last year were shown in Appendix A to the report, whilst Table 1 in the report, summarised the Council’s position with regards to External Debt and Investments.

In summary therefore advised the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change:

•           No long term debt was taken out during the year;

•           No debt was rescheduled during the year as there was no financial benefit to the Council to do this. This would be kept under review in the current year;

•           There was a small increase in the number of Salix interest free loans   the Council has;

•           The total external borrowing that the Council is managing was £99.93m at the end of March 2023;

•           The balance of Investments at the year end was £74.5m which is reduction of £10 million as compared with March 2022;

•           The income being earned via the investments is increasing as the base rate has increased.

When investing the Council’s monies, due regard is given to ensure the security and liquidity of the investments before seeking the highest rate of return.

Finally, explained the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change, the Treasury Management Code required the Council to set and report on a number of Treasury Management indicators. The indicators either summarised the expected activity or introduced limits upon that activity. Details of the estimates for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 146.

The Operational Manager – Shared Regulatory Services presented a report,  asking Council for approval the publication of a Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) to cover Bridgend Town Centre. This matter was reported to Cabinet for noting on 20 June 2023.

At its meeting on 18 December 2019 Council approved the publication of a Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) for Bridgend town centre to inform decision making within the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy.  The CIA expired in December 2022.

The effect of publishing a CIA is significant and it makes it clear to prospective applicants, that the licensing authority is of the opinion that the number of venues in a specified area is such that it is likely that granting further licences would be inconsistent with the authority’s duty to promote the licensing objectives. 

A copy of the CIA for 2019 to 2022 was attached at Appendix A to the report.  A review commenced in 2022 and South Wales Police has requested that the CIA remain in its current form, details of which are attached at Appendix B.  Premises names had been removed from this Appendix.

A review commenced following a request from South Wales Police.  It included a statutory consultation as required by Section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003 and a public consultation.  The consultation took place between 14 December 2022 and 8 March 2023.  The purpose of the consultation was to gather evidence on the problems being experienced to inform the adoption of a CIA for the next three-year period.  Given that a CIA has the potential to prevent any new licensed premises in an area, the Council must set out the evidential basis for adopting such a policy.  It must be satisfied that the number of licensed premises in Bridgend Town Centre has reached such a critical point that granting further licences would be inconsistent with the authority’s duty to promote the licensing objectives.  

The CIA currently applies to the following Bridgend town centre streets

•           Market Street;

•           Derwen Road;

•           Wyndham Street;

•           Nolton Street (from its junction with Ewenny Road, to its junction with Merthyr Mawr Road, but not the area between Merthyr Mawr Road and the junction with Court Road Bridgend).

The South Wales had determined that there had been an increase of 34% of crime and disorder during the night time economy period in Bridgend town centre.

The format of a CIA is that it should be evidential, setting out the statistics and evidence of problems obtained through local consultation.   A draft CIA was attached at Appendix C to the report.  This included the South Wales Police data comprising recorded crime in the area, and occurrences within the area.

A Member asked how the Licensing Authority ensured that premises licence holders adhered to their conditions of licence.

The Operational Manager – Shared Regulatory Services, confirmed that this was monitored through inspection by the Council’s Enforcement Officers in conjunction with the South Wales Police Enforcement team.

A Member asked in terms of Door Control  ...  view the full minutes text for item 147.

The Chief Executive presented a report, in order to seek the agreement of Council to approve the Terms of Reference for a review of Community Arrangements of all Town & Community Councils in the Bridgend Council area and set up a Member Panel to oversee the review.

By way of background, he advised that the last full Community review was finalised in 2009 and would normally follow a 10-year cycle. The delays to the completion of the Bridgend Electoral Review and the pandemic resulted in insufficient time to undertake a full review in time for the Local Elections in May 2022, though reviews were undertaken in three County Borough locations before this date.

The Chief Executive advised, that a review can consider one or more of the following options:

•           creating, merging, altering or abolishing communities;

•           the naming of communities and the style of new communities and the  creation of town councils;

•           the electoral arrangements for communities (for instance, the council size; the number of councillors to be elected to the council, and community warding);

•           grouping communities under a common community council or de-grouping communities

Whilst having a Terms of Reference for the review is not a statutory requirement, it was certainly best practice. This would set out the scope of the review, and include a timetable for carrying out the review, including dates for public consultation.  The proposed Terms of Reference were attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

The adoption of the Terms of Reference by Council will commence the review. If Council chose to accept the final recommendations of the review, concluded after public consultation, it would be necessary to submit the recommendations to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales which, following a final 6 week period for representations, will prepare an Order to implement the changes.

It was proposed that Council delegate the determination of Members to sit on the Panel to Group Leaders, with the Panel having 9 Members (5 Labour Members and 4 Opposition Members), including representation from the 4 towns and 3 valleys. The Chief Executive added, that the Panel would hopefully also be as far as possible, both politically and gender balanced.

He concluded his submission by confirming that any changes to the arrangement of communities will take effect at the next scheduled Town and Community elections in May 2027.

Members asked a number of questions, which were responded to by the Chief Executive and/or the Group Manager – Business Support, following which it was

RESOLVED:                             That Council agreed to:

(1)   Adopt Terms of Reference for a Community Arrangements Review of all Town & Community Councils in the Bridgend Council area.

(2)   Set up a Community Review Member Panel to review responses to the consultation and agree the draft and final proposals for any changes. The Member Panel will make their recommendations to Council for final approval.

(3)   Delegate the membership of the Panel to the Group Leaders to determine.

Cllr Eugene Caparros to the Leader

I am aware that Welsh Government are introducing legislation which will change the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph in built up areas from the 17^th of September this year.  Whilst Members received a briefing on this in March this year, could you please outline the progress to date within BCBC, how the public consultation was received and whether we will be ready for the roll out of this legislation in Bridgend in September?

Cllr Tim Thomas to the Leader

Will the Leader briefly outline his policy proposals to adopt ’15 minute towns” within the County Borough?

Cllr Maxine Lewis to the Cabinet Member - Housing, Planning and Regeneration

Where are we with the development of a Valleys Regeneration Strategy, as it is identified in the new corporate plan.

Cllr Ian Williams to the Cabinet Member - Community Safety and Wellbeing

Can the Cabinet Member please give me some indication as to what provision is being made in Bridgend for outdoor play and recreational facilities for older children in Bridgend County and when? At a meeting last December it was agreed to provide a play area in Newbridge Fields for older children but in a recent email I was told that this was not being taken forward at the moment but it could be an option in the future.

Could I therefore ask when this important provision will take place?

Cllr Mark John to the Cabinet Member - Climate Change and Environment

Could I have a progress report on the Bridgend Heat Network.

Cllr E Caparros to the Leader

I am aware that Welsh Government are introducing legislation which will change the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph in built up areas from the 17th of September this year.  Whilst Members received a briefing on this in March this year, could you please outline the progress to date within BCBC, how the public consultation was received and whether we will be ready for the roll out of this legislation in Bridgend in September?

Response

The authorities Traffic Management section have been working with Welsh Government on producing maps that detail roads that would comply with the Welsh Government Scheme as well as those roads that may be considered as an exception to the general rollout.

These maps can be viewed on the Data Map Wales Website:

https://datamap.gov.wales/maps/roads-affected-by-changes-to-the-speed-limit-on-re/view#/

The preparation for the changes to the speed limit requires 100’s of signs to be purchased and erected in advance of the changeover which need to be obscured until the changeover date.

Apart from new speed limit signage there will also be new signage in relation to traffic calmed areas and where a 30mph limit is to remain. As well as the circa 1,400’s of signs to be erected there is also the requirement to remove a similar number of signs and road markings that are currently in place and this will all have to occur on or shortly after 17th September 2023.

Work is currently ongoing with designing to new locations for signage and agreeing locations so members and the public will see posts going into place and signs erected but covered over until that date.

Application of Welsh Government guidelines for exceptions to the 20mph default limit identified locations that meet the exception criteria and improve  road safety. Initial engagement suggests support for proposals for roads that meet the exception criteria as well as suggesting minor amendments to the original proposals.  Apart from exceptions revocation of certain traffic orders will need to follow a statutory process to make a road enforceable at the new 20mph default limit.

To advance these exceptions and revocations to the statutory consultation stage, data is being gathered that is required for the legal to commence the Traffic Order making process as the specific locations are measured subject to suitable sites being identified for positioning the highway signage.

It is anticipated that the majority works will be completed for the 17th September when the change will take place, however, due to the thousands of signs involved it is anticipated that there will be ongoing works post that date, and potential amendments subject to how the proposals operate in practice.

Supplementary question from Cllr Caparros

The proposed change in speed limits has been a hot topic on social media. I welcomed the BCBC on-line consultation on the proposals and so am asking how successful was this and will the feedback given impact on what we see on the ground in our communities?

Response

There were a high number of responses  ...  view the full minutes text for item 149.

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.