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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Rooms 2/3, Civic Offices Angel Street Bridgend CF31 4WB. View directions

Contact: Julie Ellams  Democratic Services Officer - Committees

Items
No. Item

61.

Apologies for Absence

To receive apologies for absence from Members.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor J Tildesley.

62.

Declarations of Interest

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)

Minutes:

None.

63.

Approval of Minutes pdf icon PDF 92 KB

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Community Environment and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 28 July 2016.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Community, Environment and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 28 July 2016 be approved as a true and accurate record. 

64.

The Operation of Porthcawl Harbour including the Marina and related services pdf icon PDF 90 KB

Invitees:

 

Mark Shephard - Corporate Director Communities

Andrew Thomas – Group Manager, Sports and Physical Activity

Cllr C Smith – Cabinet Member Regeneration and Economic Development

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Corporate Director Communities presented a report outlining the current operation of the Porthcawl Harbour and Marina facilities and services and identifying the opportunities and challenges in relation to the Harbour and Marina. The development was completed in 2013 benefitting from external investment and European funding. As a result of this development, the Marina now had a range of additional features including a tidal lock gate and a pontoon access system providing 70 berths for berth holders and visitors. It had also generated increased interest in other regeneration and investment projects including the sale of the Jennings Building and the potential development of the Harbourside project.

 

The report also identified challenges to the service to generate additional income and to control costs where possible within the budget and also longer term challenges of asset maintenance and replacement. The Marina had performed well in terms of income generation and had exceeded its berth holder and visitor related income targets. There were however facility related costs that were less easy to predict relating to technical installations infrastructure and the impact of the coastal environment particularly due to adverse weather.

 

It was important that the Marina remained financially competitive and the costs were currently lower than those neighbouring Marinas because of the limited facilities currently available. There would be progressive annual increases as further developments were completed and facilities improved.

 

Members asked for clarification regarding the definition of a Marina and a Harbour. The Group Manager Sports and Physical Activity explained that in Porthcawl we had both, the Marina formed part of the area that supported the larger harbour footprint.

 

Members questioned the staffing structure and the contracts of those staff who worked at the Marina including the contracted hours of the Harbour Master and support staff and whether or not there were any staff on zero hours contracts. The Group Manager Sports and Physical Activity explained that the Marina operated with tidal access originally supported for all tidal movements 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. More recently, the gates would open during the night on a request basis and mainly for commercial fishermen and this required a flexible workforce including sessional staff deployed hourly to supplement the full time staff. The original plan was to run all tides and then review the position after 18 months. The decision was then taken to staff the core tides and the unsociable tides on request. Members suggested that the operational management of the Marina be reviewed including the option of procuring a Commercial Operator to manage the Marina to make better use of the Authority’s resources.

 

The Committee asked if income from the Waverley was included in the figures. The Group Manager Sports and Physical Activity explained that the Waverley would have docked at the Harbour but not at the Marina but a fee was charged.

 

The Committee requested further information regarding the membership of the Harbour Board, the decision-making process and if Minutes from meetings were available to the public. The Group  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

65.

Homes in Town Grants (HITS) - Private Sector Housing Renewal and Disabled Adaptation Policy pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Invitees:

Cllr C Smith – Cabinet Member Regeneration and Economic Development

Angie Bowen – Group Manager Housing & Community Regeneration

Andrew Jolley – Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services

 

Minutes:

The Group Manager- Housing and Community Regeneration presented a report updating the Committee on the Homes In Towns (HiTs) grant providing details of applications received and explaining the application process. The report also advised Members of the barriers and issues administering the grant and how the service was responding to them. 

 

Cabinet received a report in November 2013 to approve an amendment to the Private Sector Housing Renewal and Disabled Adaptations Policy to include the introduciton of two new grants and the revision of exisiting grants. Homes in Town Grants were intoroduced as a new grant at this time.

 

Welsh Government approved a £5.98 million grant for Bridgend town centre under the Vibrant and Viable Places framework for the period 2014/15 – 2016/17. As part of the overall funding package to meet VVP, the HiTs scheme was submitted as match funding in the bid of £390,000 grant and £260,000 private finance to provide 14 units of accommodation. Officers actively encouraged expressions of interest in the HiTs scheme and undertook a number of exercisies on order to attract the maximum interest. To date the Council had received 11 expressions of interest, of which 5 had not progressed further. Six property owners were pursuing this grant funding and officers were in regular contact tro assist and encouarge them to proceed with their applications however no grants had been awarded to date.

 

As part of the Planning process an assessment of the impact of noise was required. This requirement had been highlighted as a major stumbling block in bringing the properties into use as the assessment would cost the applicant up front, with no guarantee that Planning would be forthcoming. In order to enable the potential applications to proceed, a specialist contractor had been appointed by the Council to undertake the work.

 

The Committee were asked to acknowledge the effort made by officers to progress schemes under the HiTs and assistance to RSLs for Strategic Regeneration.

 

The Committee asked what would happen if BCBC was unable to approve grants and spend the  funding  by the end of April 2017. The Group Manager- Housing and Community Regeneration explained that WG had confirmed to colleauges within the Regeneration Team that match funding would be acceptable if the grant is approved and  planning permission had been granted.

 

Members asked if HIT funding could be made available in three other towns.      

The Group Manager- Housing and Community Regeneration explained that the Private Sector Renewal Policy outlined all funding avaialble subject to various conditions.

 

The Committee raised concerns that take-up appeared low and asked what other options were being considered. The Group Manager- Housing and Community Regeneration explained that they did try to broker relationships  between owners and potential landlords to encourage take up. There was also a mailshot sent with Council Tax papers. At present there was no  cost to own an empty dwelling, however applying for a grant  could result in costs for the owner or result in disruption to their business.     

 

Members queried the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

66.

Forward Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report which detailed the items to be considered at the next meeting of the Committee and sought confirmation of the information and invitees required.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee

i)      Noted the topics due to be considered at the meeting of the Committee on 20 October 2016 and confirmed the specific information to be provided by the invitees.

ii)     Revisited and considered the list of future potential items for the Committees Forward Work Programme and reprioritised accordingly.

 

67.

Urgent Items

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.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

 

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