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 1 September 2008

Cllr Davies declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 because he was a Director of a company involved with CAT.

Cllr Bennett declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 because the company she worked for was a provider of advice services under CAT.

S Bennett declared a personal interest as the Chair of Cornelly Community Centre.    

To receive for approval the Minutes of a meeting of the Town and Community Council Forum dated 13 March 2017.

RESOLVED:            That the minutes of a meeting of the Town & Community Council dated 13 March 2017 be approved as a true record of the meeting.                  

(This item will be accompanied by a Presentation from Mr G. Smith, Community  Asset Transfer Officer)

The Community Asset Transfer Officer presented a report with an outline of Bridgend County Borough Council’s Community Asset Transfer policy and the opportunities currently available to work with the Council and community groups to achieve the best management arrangements for public sector property assets.

He explained that there had been a number of successful CATs, including the transfer of Carnegie House (the former Bridgend Library) to Bridgend Town Council that was subject to full-scale refurbishment in 2013 which was often used as an exemplar by Welsh Government.

He continued that it was imperative that the public sector continued to work in collaboration to safeguard the services of value to communities, helping to build a prosperous Wales for current and future generations.  The transfer of an asset to a Town and Community Council or a community group offered an opportunity to maintain and preserve valuable community services which might otherwise be under threat; or alternatively to improve the provision that was already available.

Welsh Government issued an updated “Best Practice Guide – Community Asset Transfer in Wales” (March 2016) that was designed to help manage the process, minimise risk, ensure that proposals accorded with the Council’s strategy and that community groups were fully aware of the liabilities and responsibilities they would face. 

In March 2015 the Council’s Strong Communities Connecting Services (SCCS) Board established a Task and Finish group to review its approach to CAT with the aim of increasing the pace and the number of CATs.  The recommendations of the Task and Finish group were approved by Cabinet on 14 July 2015. The Council determined asset groups –

·         Priority 1 – Public Toilets, Parks Pavilions, Bus Shelters and Community Centres

·         Priority 2 – Playgrounds, Playing fields and Bowling Greens

·         Priority 3 – Miscellaneous assets   

The Corporate Director (Communities) wrote to clerks of Town and Community Councils and relevant Community Groups and Sports Clubs on 16 October 2015 to invite expressions of interest in transferring council assets under CAT Priority 1.

A full-time CAT Officer was appointed November 2015 to deal with enquiries and to provide advice and guidance. An updated guidance on Community Asset Transfer was issued in October 2015 to reflect best practice, revisions to systems and processes and the establishment of clear roles and responsibilities for a four stage process.

He explained that to facilitate CAT the Council had secured £1M from capital funding to support organisations wishing to take over Sports Pavilions and set aside £200k from the Change Management Earmarked Reserve to fund a dedicated CAT officer for a 3 year period along with specific legal and property support to enable the programme to move forward. Council had also approved an additional £50k capital funding per annum from 2016/17 to 2018/19 to support TCC’s to undertake capital projects. This was in addition to re-focusing the £50k already in the Capital Programme in each of these years for community purposes to support CAT. The sum of £176.5k had been made available from Core and SRF funds until  ...  Gweld y cofnodion lawn ar gyfer eitem 146.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report requesting that the Town and Community Council Forum establish a review panel to consider the Bridgend County Borough Charter and the format of meetings of the Town and Community Council Forum to improve engagement and strengthen collaborative working between all Councils.

He explained that in 2007 the Welsh Government published a Local Government Policy Statement “A Shared Responsibility” which set out the expectations of Local Authorities and the support that the Welsh Government aimed to provide. 

In response to this policy statement a joint guidance document “A Shared Community - Relationship Building and Charters for Unitary Authorities and Community and Town Councils” was released in 2008 by the Welsh Local Government Association, One Voice Wales and the Welsh Government.

The Head of Democratic Services explained that on 26th May 2009 a Charter for Bridgend County Borough was adopted as the basis for developing positive working relationships between Bridgend County Borough Council and Community and Town Councils within the County Borough.

He explained that the Charter was subsequently reviewed, updated and adopted on 18 July 2016.  It was agreed during the review process that the Charter would be reviewed annually to ensure that it remained effective.

The Head of Democratic Services explained that the existing Charter was developed by a working group appointed by the Town and Community Council Forum.  It was proposed that a similar working group be established to review the existing Town & Community Council Charter in order to identify opportunities to develop capacity within the communities of the County Borough, minimise the impact of budget reductions to citizens and extend relationships with Third Sector and other organisations

He proposed that the working group should comprise equal representation from Bridgend County Borough Council and the Town and Community Councils.  To reflect recent changes to the Forum the working group should be formed by 12 elected representatives of the Town and Community Forum as follows:

·         2 Elected Member representatives from Town Councils,

·         4 Elected Member representatives from Community Councils and

·         6 Elected Member representatives from Bridgend County Borough Council. 

In addition 1 Clerk from a Town Council and 1 Clerk from a Community Council not represented by Elected Members would also be invited to participate in the working group.

It was proposed that a meeting of the working group be scheduled for 4 September 2017at 10:00am in Committee Rooms 1/2/3 Civic Offices Angel Street Bridgend.

In addition to reviewing the Charter, the working group would consider the format of the meetings of the Town and Community Council Forum and be requested to propose possible changes which would support effective collaborative working.

It was anticipated that the review group would complete its review of the Charter and the format of the meetings and report back to the next meeting of the Forum on 16 October 2017.

The Leader stated that he was happy to take nominations at the meeting.

RESOLVED:                 The Town and Community Council Forum:

1.            Noted the content of the  ...  Gweld y cofnodion lawn ar gyfer eitem 147.

To consider any other item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Rule 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.