To receive apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members:-

Councillor D Sage

Councillor MEJ Nott OBE

Councillor PJ White

Councillor P James

Councillor JH Tildesley

Councillor MW Butcher

Councillor B Jones

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. 

The following Members declared a prejudicial interest in Agenda item 9, due to the fact that they were born in the 1950’s. These Members left the meeting whilst this item was being considered:-

Councillor N Clarke

Councillor CA Green

Councillor JE Lewis

Councillor RC Jones

Councillor N Farr

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Council dated 5 October 2016.

RESOLVED:                  That the Minutes of a meeting of Council dated 5 October 2016, be approved as a true and accurate record.

 (i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

Mayor

The Mayor announced that in honour of Halloween and to help raise funds, he and his Consort were happy to support the Black Cat Awareness day and fete at the Bridgend Cats Protection Adoption Centre. He felt that It was lovely to see so many people supporting this worthwhile cause, and enjoying all the attractions. Tempting though it was they did manage to come away without adding to their animal family he added.

They also had the pleasure of visiting the photographic exhibition which was recently held in Carnegie House celebrating Bridgend’s past. This retrospective photographic exhibition was extremely interesting, and it was a joy to see the images of the town through the years and compare how Bridgend looks today.

On a more solemn note, the Mayor confirmed that it was an honour to represent the Borough at the 50^th Commemorative Anniversary of the Aberfan disaster in Merthyr Tydfil.  This was a moving and reflective service and he felt was an important and fitting memorial.

The Mayor confirmed that it was that time of year again and he was pleased to announce that Monday 7^th November will see the opening of the annual Mayor’s citizenship awards.  The awards are open to people who live in the County Borough, as well as local groups and businesses based locally. More information could be found on the Mayoral webpages where a nomination form could be downloaded.  The deadline for nominations is Friday 27 January and the winners would be honoured at an event in March.

Finally, the Mayor announced that tickets were now available for his Mayoral Charity event.

Cabinet Member Communities

The Cabinet Member Communities refreshed Members with the fact that Bridgend County Borough Council had been supporting an initiative from The Nappy Gurus which is offering parents a 50 per cent discount on ‘real nappy’ starter kits.

She recently received an update on the scheme, and was happy to report that as a direct result of the promotion, almost 140,000 nappies will be diverted from being disposed of as landfill waste over the next two and a half years.

As the average child goes through 5,520 nappies, huge numbers end up in landfill. The scheme offered a clean, convenient alternative that is far more environmentally friendly, and delivers huge savings for parents too.

She hoped Members would urge their constituents to find out more about the scheme. Details were available on the Council’s website, and the nappy Gurus could be found on Facebook too.

The Cabinet Member Communities stated finally, that Carolyn Harris MP was spearheading a campaign for Council’s to waive child burial payments which she was happy to support. The current situation was that the Crematorium Joint Board had decided that there would not be any charges for 16 year olds and under, for cremations. With the burials service there was also a free child service, but this was for ages 0 – 11 years.

Cabinet Member Children’s Social Services and Equalities

The Cabinet Member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 676.

The Leader reported to Council that Councillor HM Williams had been appointed as Deputy Leader of the Council. He advised that Councillor Williams was a very experienced Member and he would be personally looking forward to working closely with him over the coming months. He added that he would be making an announcement about Cabinet Members portfolios in due course. 

New laws on renting out houses in Wales were due to begin very soon as part of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014, and landlords and agents have until 23 November to register with Rent Smart Wales. Those who fail to do so could be fined or even prosecuted, so he hoped that all Members will help to make their constituents aware of this. Applications could be made online at www.rentsmart.gov.wales or by calling the Rent Smart Wales helpline on 03000 133344.

The Lead Association for Catering in Education Wales Awards, had allocated the title of Frontline Catering Team of the Year to kitchen staff at Brynteg Comprehensive. The team won the award in recognition of the way in which they had worked closely with pupils to cook up a range of healthy meal options such as burritos, pulled pork pasta sauce and a new fruit and salad bar. Whilst all of BCBC’s schools met the WLGA’s Healthy Eating in Schools regulations, this was a fantastic achievement, and congratulated the team at Brynteg for their hard work and success.

Members would be aware the Leader announced, that the Council works hard to ensure that pupils with disabilities or additional learning needs are educated in their local community. Seven-year-old Trelales Primary pupil Leo Burgess was the latest to benefit from this as he has become the first pupil in Wales to use a high-tech Cosmo Electronic Brailler that the local authority had provided to the school. Such technology is invaluable in making learning more accessible, and he was looking forward to seeing more of it introduced to classrooms throughout the County Borough. He further added, that the Education Department had also funded the latest amplification technology on school classrooms, that gave increasing support to children with hearing loss or impairment.

Finally, the Leader advised that Members may be aware of incidents at Swansea University and Gower College that had occurred over the last few days. Reports had included references to unstable chemicals such as Dinitrophenylhydrazine; buildings evacuations and controlled explosions.

He therefore asked the Council’s Health and Safety Manager, to explain the details of the actions carried out by the Authority to address this situation in Bridgend.

Health and Safety Manager’s announcement

The Health and Safety stated that Elected Members may be aware of incidents at Swansea University and Gower College that had occurred over the last few days. Reports had included references to unstable chemicals, buildings evacuations and controlled explosions.

The UK wide incidents have been linked to the storage and use of 2,4 DNP (2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine) which is commonly used in the syllabus for A level chemistry, and is perfectly safe  ...  view the full minutes text for item 677.

Question from Councillor RC Jones to the Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Economic Development:-

“It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to be tattooed. However, the LGA are warning that illegal tattooists, known as ‘scratchers’, are offering services to children using cheap equipment bought on-line. They warn that these unlicensed tattooists are taking dangerous shortcuts with Health and Safety and often work from home in kitchens or garden sheds and advertise their services on social media.

It is illegal to work as a tattooist without registering with the Local Council, so what steps are BCBC taking to identify whether there is a problem in the Borough and prosecuting, where necessary, these unlicensed tattooists so we can help protect the health and safety of our youngsters?”

Question from Councillor RC Jones to the Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Economic Development:-

“It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to be tattooed. However, the LGA are warning that illegal tattooists, known as ‘scratchers’, are offering services to children using cheap equipment bought on-line. They warn that these unlicensed tattooists are taking dangerous shortcuts with Health and Safety and often work from home in kitchens or garden sheds and

advertise their services on social media. It is illegal to work as a tattooist without registering with the Local Council, so what steps are

BCBC taking to identify whether there is a problem in the Borough and prosecuting, where necessary, these unlicensed tattooists so we can help protect the health and safety of our youngsters?”

Response from the Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Economic Development to Councillor RC Jones:-

Shared Regulatory Services uses a range of approaches to identify illegal tattooists but taking enforcement action against illegal tattooists is difficult because of the nature of the illicit activity and the reliance on intelligence including witnesses to enable effective investigation and prosecution. The service will investigate fully any complaints and information supplied to close down illegal tattooing operations. A regional seminar was held in October to raise awareness of the consequences of having tattoos done in unsafe environments and we hope that this will encourage reporting of illegal activity in the borough.

In due course, the Council will also adopt the Model Bylaws for Tattooists and Body Piercers, these Bylaws have already been adopted in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan and place stricter infection control requirements on business operators.

The Shared Regulatory Service is currently in the process of unifying the policy across the three authorities.

Supplementary question from Councillor RC Jones:-

Ii is noted that the Shared Regulatory Services investigate any complaints received relating to illegal tattooists. However, a good and reliable source in terms of any such complaints being made, are often from sources such as local residents and retailers situate within the area of the premises. Do the Shared Regulatory Service invite complaints from sources such as these through an appropriate advertising campaign or making readily available, a Contact telephone number/email address through which any such complaints could be lodged

Response from the Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services/Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Economic Development:-

As mentioned above, the relevant policy would hopefully soon be unified between the three participating authorities that make up the Public Protection collaboration, and this would allow for greater control over business operators, particularly those that were operating illegally. The regional seminar also referred to in the original response, was more intended to raise awareness for the trade on unregistered tattooists as opposed to the public at large. The policy would look at specific issues that needed to be targeted in respect of Tattooing and Body Piercing, particularly with regard to both educating, and by doing so, hopefully protecting the younger generation, who were interested in or even  ...  view the full minutes text for item 678.

The Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which was to comply with the requirement of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice 2011 Edition (the Code) to report as part of a mid-year review an overview of treasury activities. The item also reported on the projected Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators for 2016-17, and finally, informed Council of the proposed changes to the Investment Strategy 2016-17, included in the Treasury Management Strategy.

The report commenced with some background information, following which in paragraph 4.1.1, it detailed the treasury position for 1 April to 30 September 2016, which the Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer gave a resume upon. He confirmed that the Authority were not involved in any long term borrowing, and he anticipated that this situation was not expected to change during the next 6 months. The Council had however he added, taken on some short term borrowing initiatives.

Paragraph 4.4 then gave the Investment Outturn for 1 April to 30 September 2016, and the second table in paragraph 4.4.2 of the report, confirmed that favourable cash flows have provided positive cash balances for investments with the balance for these at 30 September last, being £47.1m.

The remainder of the report, gave information on the Review of the Treasury Management Strategy for 2016-17; Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators 2016-17, with Appendix A to the report detailing the estimate for 2016-17 set out in the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy, and also the projected indicators for 2016-17.

The Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer then referred to the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, confirming that this will have significant capital expenditure and treasury management implications in terms of a financial commitment from the Council.

RESOLVED:                     That Council:

(1)  Approved the Council’s treasury management activities for the period 1 April 2016 to 30 September 2016.

Approved the projected Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators for 2016-17.

The Monitoring Officer presented a report, the purpose of which, was to inform Council of any Information Reports for Noting since its last ordinary meeting.

The Information Report detailed in paragraph 4.1 of the report related to the Final Statement of Accounts 2015-16.

RESOLVED:                      That Council noted the content of the report, and in particular, the Information Report contained in paragraph 4.1.

“Make fair transitional state pension arrangements for 1950's women”

‘Hundreds of thousands of women had significant pension changes imposed on them by the Pensions Acts of 1995 and 2011 with little or no personal notification of the changes. Some women had only two years notice of a six-year increase to their state pension age.

Many women born in the 1950's are living in hardship. Retirement plans have been shattered with devastating consequences. Many of these women are already out of the labour market, caring for elderly relatives, providing childcare for grandchildren, or suffer discrimination in the workplace so struggle to find employment.

Women born in this decade are suffering financially. These women have worked hard, raised families and paid their tax and national insurance with the expectation that they would be financially secure when reaching 60. It is not the pension age itself that is in dispute - it is widely accepted that women and men should retire at the same time.

The issue is that the rise in the women's state pension age has been too rapid and has happened without sufficient notice being given to the women affected, leaving women with no time to make alternative arrangements.

This Council resolves to write to the relevant UK Government Minister to reconsider transitional arrangements for women born on or after 6th April 1951, so that women do not live in hardship due to pension changes they were not told about until it was too late to make alternative arrangements.  This Council will also seek to engage the support of local Members of Parliament to highlight this injustice and support this campaign at a parliamentary level.’

“Make fair transitional state pension arrangements for 1950's women”

‘Hundreds of thousands of women had significant pension changes imposed on them by the Pensions Acts of 1995 and 2011 with little or no personal notification of the changes. Some women had only two years notice of a six-year increase to their state pension age.

Many women born in the 1950's are living in hardship. Retirement plans have been shattered with devastating consequences. Many of these women are already out of the labour market, caring for elderly relatives, providing childcare for grandchildren, or suffer discrimination in the workplace so struggle to find employment.

Women born in this decade are suffering financially. These women have worked hard, raised families and paid their tax and national insurance with the expectation that they would be financially secure when reaching 60. It is not the pension age itself that is in dispute, it is widely accepted that women and men should retire at the same time.

The issue is that the rise in the women's state pension age has been too rapid and has happened without sufficient notice being given to the women affected, leaving women with no time to make alternative arrangements.

This Council resolves to write to the relevant UK Government Minister to reconsider transitional arrangements for women born on or after 6th April 1951, so that women do not live in hardship due to pension changes they were not told about until it was too late to make alternative arrangements. This Council will also seek to engage the support of local Members of Parliament to highlight this injustice and support this campaign at a

parliamentary level.’

RESOLVED:                    That Members unanimously agreed with the above Notice of Motion and, in particular, to the proposal recommended in the paragraph immediately above.

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