To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from

Members/Officers

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members for the reasons so given:-

Councillor P J White – Holiday

Councillor R D Jenkins – Mayoral engagement

Councillor C L Jones – Trade Union commitment

Councillor D R W Lewis – Prior commitment

The Chairperson gave a warm welcome to Alex Carey, the new Scrutiny Support Officer who was attending his first Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.

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 (including Whipping declarations)

Mr Alex Carey declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 5, in that one of the Invitees coming to respond to questions in respect of the report was his Senior Officer when he previously held a position within the Highways Department of the Authority

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Community Renewal and

Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee dated 13 April 2015.

That the Minutes of a meeting of the Community Renewal and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee dated 13 April 2015 be approved as a true and accurate record.

Invitees:

Sue Cooper - Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing

Andrew Thomas, Group Manager - Sports and Physical Activity

Councillor PJ White - Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing

The Chairperson invited the Invitees to the meeting, and the Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing gave a resume of the report, following which the meeting entered into a question and answer engagement.

The Chairperson made a general comment, in that in terms of future similar reports there needed to be more in the way of outcomes included therein, rather than outputs and inputs.

A Member referred to paragraph 4.19 of the report, where it stated that the service had responded to the challenge of supporting partners to focus on the prevention and wellbeing based interventions that can reduce the need for higher cost provision or support. This approach was compatible with the Social Services and Wellbeing Act, developing community based interventions where appropriate. He asked if this related solely to Council owned sport and recreation centres/facilities led on by Halo, or also included private operations ie other small gyms and keep-fit type centres.

The Group Manager – Sports and Physical Activity advised that the data included in the report related only to Council owned Centres and leisure buildings, for example the type of programmes that were available for members and the paying public and how many visits were made to these over a given period.

A Member noted from paragraph 4.1 of the report, that a Play Sufficiency Action Plan for Bridgend, recognised the need for partnership approaches to redressing imbalances in opportunity for targeted populations and communities. He commended this approach.

The Group Manager – Sports and Physical Activity advised that this play sufficiency approach introduced by Welsh Government meant that Wales were the first nation in the world to place a statutory duty in relation to the encouragement of play by all ages, particularly the young, and to look at and monitor the outcomes of this, from both a quantity and quality perspective. There would definitely be a partnership approach between the local authority, Halo and other stakeholders and related organisations to deliver upon the components of the Action Plan.

There was however, no funding to support this initiative, and therefore a different approach that required consideration and innovative thinking needed to be put in place to both move the Action Plan forward, and compensate for the lack of funding that would be forthcoming to financially support it.

A Member referred to page 12, paragraph 4.2 of the report and asked Invitees if they could explain the rationale behind the calculation formula used to calculate the number of visitors that had visited Council operated physical activity bases during the last couple of years.

The Group Manager – Sports and Physical Activity advised that the calculation had been over a 2 year period, and that the figure for 2014/15 had been 1,242.624, and 1,438.439 for the previous year..

This included not just Halo operated Centres, but other dual used facilities that included parks and playing fields. He added that the visits accounted for the fact that in this time, particularly latterly, visits to Halo operated Leisure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Invitees:

Mark Shephard - Corporate Director – Communities

Councillor HM Williams - Cabinet Member for Communities

Kevin Mulcahy, Group Manager – Highway Services

The Corporate Director – Communities submitted a report, the purpose of which was to advise Members on progress regarding Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) within Bridgend Town Centre.

By way of introduction, he confirmed that the title of the report covered quite a broad area of service, and that a considerable number of reports had been presented to Cabinet in respect of car parking over the past 12 months or so, as part of the MTFS considerations. There was also a proposal to close the Rhiw car park in order to rebuild this as well as providing housing and retail accommodation on this site, and this would take up to 18 months to complete. The sale of Sunnyside offices would also add to the loss of car parking spaces with 210 staff car parking spaces being lost as a result of this.

The above would result in some challenges for the Authority, certainly over the short term not just for BCBC employees, but also for people who trade in the town and rely on car parking facilities being available for this purpose.

A Member referred to Civil Parking Enforcement Officers and asked Invitees as to what criteria was used in terms of where they operated.

The Group Manager – Highway Services confirmed that there were only a limited number of these Officers employed between BCBC and the Vale of Glamorgan Council’s, and though they worked hours under a split shift arrangement including weekends, they could not cover all areas of these areas fairly consistently, as there were insufficient numbers of them to achieve this.

They monitored in particular, schools and busy areas such as town centres, including Porthcawl during the summer season when a significant number of tourists visited this location. They also covered certain “hot spot” areas, where unauthorised parking was a problem, as well as responding to calls of complaint reactively speaking.

They also tended to monitor areas where they could use enforcement action for those that had parked illegally, ie on double yellow lines and areas where there were restricted parking times.

The Corporate Director – Communities added that there was no set schedule as such which outlined specified areas that they monitored, and areas were prioritised as the Officer had said. They had to concentrate in the main in town centre areas, as these were the locations where there was mostly a problem with illegal parking.

A Member asked if there was any possibility of employing more of these Officers in order to look to increasing from drivers who parked in an illegal or unauthorised manner.

The Group Manager – Highway Services explained that this would not be counter- productive, given that to date not enough income was being made from people who offended to justify employing more Civil Parking Enforcement Officers. He added that Civil parking Enforcement was not just about gaining an income stream for the Council, but probably more about educating vehicle owners to park in places where they should park. CCTV also helped  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report, that presented Committee with suggested topics for consideration in the development of its Forward Work programme for 2015-16.

RESOLVED:                          That Members agreed to identify 12 primary topics for inclusion in the Programme, acknowledging that some of the dates for the items on the Forward Work Programme may be subject to change, following the first Community Environment and Leisure Pre-Agenda meeting on 15 June 2015.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to request the Committee to nominate one Member as its Corporate Parenting Champion to represent the Committee as an Invitee to meetings of the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee. The report also sought nominations for the Budget Research and Evaluation Panel in line with the Corporate Resources and Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations made as part of the 2015/16 budget setting process.

RESOLVED:                        (1)    That it was agreed that Councillor R D Jenkins be the Committee’s  Invitee on the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee.

                                             (2)    That Councillors C A Green and J C Spanswick be the Committee’s nominations to sit on the Budget Research and Evaluation Panel

The Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report, to present the items due to be considered at the Committee’s meeting to be held on 28 July 2015, and seek confirmation of the information required for the subsequent scheduled meeting to be held on 8 October 2015.

RESOLVED:                      That the report be noted.

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