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)

Councillor N Clarke declared a personal and prejudicial interest in paragraph 4.45 of agenda item 4 – Bridgend as a Place to Work, Live and Visit as her husband is a director of the Harbourside Community Interest Company and advised that she would withdraw from the meeting should this development be discussed. 

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 dated 17 July 2017.

RESOLVED:           That the minutes of the meeting of Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 of 17 July 2017 be approved as a true and accurate record.

Invitees:

Mark Shephard, Corporate Director Communities

Satwant Pryce, Head of Regeneration, Development and Property

Andrew Hobbs, Group Manager Streetworks

Cllr Richard Young, Cabinet Member Communities

The Scrutiny Officer introduced the report of the Corporate Director Communities on Developing Bridgend as a place to work, live and visit.  She stated that the report contained information on tourism and events, street scene and cleansing the public realm. 

The Corporate Director Communities informed the Committee that the report focused on the delivery of services in street scene (public realm cleaning; public toilet provision and green spaces) and tourism and events which were set within the context of significantly reduced resources and how it impacted on the public and businesses in the County Borough.      

Street Scene (Public Realm Cleaning)

The Committee questioned the time the mechanical road sweeper operates in the town centres and why Pencoed town centre was not included within the town centre street sweeping programme.  The Group Manager Street Works informed the Committee that the Council has three mechanical road sweepers which were deployed to town centres early in the mornings, usually between 7.00am – 7.30am and are used as and when required.  The Council also deploys smaller mechanical street sweepers which are used to clean the streets of town centres on a daily basis, however there was no particular time when they would be operating.

The Committee referred to the targeted approach adopted for street cleaning/litter picking and asked whether there is a minimum number of times when street cleaners would be deployed to residential streets which are cleaner.  The Group Manager Street Works stated that cleaner streets were cleaned on a demand led basis and where street cleaning crews identify streets which require particular attention.  Some streets in the county borough would be cleaned if a complaint is received but may not necessarily be cleaned if the service was not aware of complaints. 

The Committee questioned the action taken each autumn to deal with falling leaves and tree branches.  The Group Manager Street Works stated that large sweepers are deployed to sweep leaves, whilst highway maintenance would be deployed to remove tree branches and trees which have fallen which pose a concern to safety.  The Committee asked whether there is a schedule in place to tackle known hotspots.  The Group Manager Street Works stated there is no specific schedule in place but the service would target known areas where problems often occur.  The Committee questioned what steps would be taken when branches obscure warning lights at Pencoed level crossing.  The Group Manager Street Works commented that highways maintenance will prioritise removing branches which would obscure warning lights based on public safety.  The Committee questioned the steps that would be taken to remove or cut back trees which obscure directional and warning signs on highways.  The Group Manager Street Works commented that this would be dealt within available resources, but due to financial constraints the Council could no longer carry out maintenance to the extent it could previously.  The Cabinet Member Communities informed the Committee that it was right to be concerned; however the Communities Directorate’s budget had been squeezed affecting the ability of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Scrutiny Officer reported on the items prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee which included the next item delegated to this Committee to consider.  She also presented a list of further potential items for comment and prioritisation requested the Committee identify any further items for consideration using the pre-determined criteria form.

Conclusions

(1)  That the Committee identified additional information to be provided under the next item delegated to it in the Forward Work Programme as well as any invitees it wished to attend to assist in the investigation;

(2)  That the Committee identified further detail for inclusion on the other items in Table 2, namely, Town Centre Regeneration and the Economic Prosperity of Bridgend County Borough;

(3)  The Committee prioritised Town Centre Regeneration; the Economic Prosperity of Bridgend County Borough; Empty Properties and Community Asset Transfer for formal prioritisation and for the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee to designate back to the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees;

(4)  Identified Waste as a suitable item for Webcasting from the overall Forward Work Programme;

Agreed to use the criteria form for any additional items for future consideration on the Scrutiny Forward Work Programmes.

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.

There were no urgent items.