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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices Angel Street Bridgend CF31 4WB. View directions

Contact: Mr Mark Anthony Galvin  Senior Democratic Services Officer - Committees

Items
No. Item

713.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence from Members.

Minutes:

Apologies of absence were received from the following Members:-

 

Councillor RD Jenkins (The Mayor)

Councillor D Sage

Councillor D Owen

Councillor B Jones

Councillor RM James

Councillor E Venables

Councillor D Pugh

714.

Declarations of Interest

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. 

Minutes:

None

715.

Approval of Minutes pdf icon PDF 155 KB

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of Council dated 1 February 2017

Minutes:

RESOLVED:              That the Minutes of a meeting of Council dated 1 February 2017, be accepted as a true and accurate record.

716.

To receive announcements from:

 (i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

Minutes:

Mayor

 

The Deputy Mayor (in the Mayor’s absence) confirmed that as Members were aware, Councillor Megan Butcher sadly passed away in February and her funeral was held last week.  She took the opportunity to say a few words about Megan as she felt that she was an exceptional Councillor who over the years worked extremely hard for her community and numerous local charities. 

 

Megan had the honour of being elected the first Mayor of Bridgend County Borough in 1996, and set a very high standard for subsequent Mayor’s to live up to. Indeed the amount of money that she raised for her charities during her year has yet to be surpassed. 

 

Megan was always generous with her time and had more energy than someone half her age, whenever anyone saw Megan she was rushing off to the next appointment of the day, whether it be as a Councillor or a proud mother and grandmother.

 

However, what struck the Deputy Mayor most about Megan was her positive “can do” attitude. She didn’t wait for someone else to step in when she saw something that needed fixing, but rather she jumped in herself and everyone else was swept along with her! She was a true force of nature and will be sorely missed.

 

To honour Megan therefore, the Deputy Mayor asked that Members/Officers all rise in the Council Chamber to observe a minute’s silence.

 

Cabinet Members

 

None.

 

Chief Executive

 

The Chief Executive advised, that in line with the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, the Public Services Board is carrying out a consultation intended to assess the state of well-being across Bridgend County Borough.

 

Information obtained through the consultation will be used in the production of the board’s Well-Being Plan.

 

This plan will set out a series of objectives that identify priorities agreed by the board for the area, and must be published by next year.

 

The consultation is underway, and those present could find out more from the Council’s web site website.

 

The Chief Executive advised that he would be submitting a report to Council on 28 March concerning the Welsh Government’s White Paper on local government and will soon be contacting all group leaders as part of this.

717.

To receive the report of the Leader

Minutes:

The Leader reported, that in response to the news about Bridgend Ford today the Council was urgently seeking to work closely alongside Welsh Government and its partners to support this company in maximising its potential for winning new work and enabling the plant’s success to continue.

 

Together with our partners, the Authority would also be looking at how it can offer a range of help and support to employees, if any are affected by any potential redundancies.

 

Bridgend Ford has been fundamental to the local economy for 30 years, and the Council will be making every effort to ensure that this can continue he concluded.

718.

Corporate Plan 2016-20 - Reviewed for 2017-18 pdf icon PDF 62 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Executive presented a report, seeking approval of the Council’s reviewed Corporate Plan 2016-20 for 2017-18 that was attached to the report as an Appendix.

 

He advised that the Corporate Plan set out the Council’s priorities for 2016-20 as well as defining the Council’s commitments for 2017-18. It also sets the Council’s well-being objectives under the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and outlines how the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and other strategic plans will support the Council’s core business/priorities.

 

The Chief Executive then gave a resume of the background of the Corporate Plan for the above period, and how this integrated with the above 2015 Act.

 

The Chief Executive then referred Members to the current Corporate Plan which had been reviewed for the 2017-18 period, with the review in the main, focusing on refreshing the Council’s commitments and measures of success for the next financial year, and defining and integrating the Council’s well-being objectives into the Plan.

 

The three corporate priorities of the Council were its improvement objectives under both the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009, and the Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

 

Areas of the document had been identified for review by the Wales Audit Office following them undertaking the Corporate Assessment, and these were contained in paragraph 4.4 of the report. The Council’s Corporate Resources and Improvement O&SC considered the reviewed Corporate Plan in January 2017, and proposed a series of amendments which had also been incorporated into the Plan.

 

The Chief Executive advised Council that the reviewed Plan needed to be published by 31 March 2017 in order to meet statutory and regulatory requirements.

 

He then concluded his submission, by referring to page 30 of the Plan where it identified its main aims, which were:-

 

·         To help local people develop skills and take advantage of opportunities to succeed and to extend that success to every community in the County Borough.

·         To create conditions for growth and enterprise, and

·         To create successful town centres

 

The key projects and programmes that would help the Authority achieve these aims over the life of the Corporate Plan, were the City Deal, Strategic Review of Post 16 Education and Training, a Successful Economy Programme, and alignment of Welsh Government Grants.

 

A Member referred to page 32 of the report, and welcomed the proposal to look to increase traineeships and apprenticeships within the Council which he felt were much needed.

 

A Member also referred to page 32 of the report, and noted that the Council was receiving significant resources from WAG both this and the next financial year. With this in mind, he asked what was BCBC’s vision tackling poverty going forward, particularly in households where no one was working.

 

The Chief Executive advised that the Council did have a number of different grant funding initiatives in place for the next 12 months, though there had been a reduction in Communities First grant funding. He added that the Authority would need to be more creative  ...  view the full minutes text for item 718.

719.

Medium Term Financial Strategy 2017-18 to 2020-21 and Council Tax 2017-18 pdf icon PDF 659 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer submitted a joint report, the purpose of which was to seek Council approval of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2017-18 to 2020-21, which included a financial forecast for 2017-21, a detailed revenue budget for 2017-18 and a Capital Programme for 2017-18 to 2026-27.

 

The report also included the proposed Council Tax requirement for the County Borough Council for approval by Council, together with the requirements of the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales and Community/Town Councils.

 

The Chief Executive advised that the MTFS strategy enables the delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan which Members had just approved. The S151 Officer he confirmed would talk on the key points of the Financial Strategy and the implications for council tax setting, whilst he was going to give an overview of how the MTFS relates to the Corporate Plan as set out in paragraphs 3 of the report.

 

The Chief Executive confirmed that this year the Authority have added what is termed the budget narrative. This he advised was an attempt to include within the MTFS what the Councils Budget Strategy is. The MTFS was not a collection of budget cuts he emphasised.  It more included changes or reductions to budgets, and naturally these get the headlines and greatest scrutiny, but the more important part of the Strategy was how the several hundred million pounds that we will be spending is directed, and what lies behind those choices.

 

He proceeded by stating that the section of the report headed Corporate Financial Overview, was an attempt to explain how the Council is funded and the difference between net revenue budget and what we actually spend. This part of the report also set out how the principles that Members had developed for the Corporate Plan influence the MTFS, such as operating as One Council, supporting communities and individuals to create their own solutions, focusing diminishing resources on those with the greatest need and ensuring all our resources, in this case financial, are used effectively and efficiently.

 

The subsequent sections of the report took in major service areas and set out the scale of the Council’s expenditure in each of these areas, and the Deputy Leader intended to expand upon this, when he opened debate on the MTFS proposals.

The Chief Executive stated however, by way of example, within education there was a strong emphasis on increasing efficiency. Some changes that the report set out included:

 

  • Raising money through increased efficiency and commerciality of the schools catering service
  • Collaborating with other councils on the delivery of educational psychology services
  • Continuing Phased implementation of the learner travel policy

 

Social Care and Wellbeing services already have a strong track record of efficiency, and the report noted that over the past 3 years this Council has delivered £9million of savings in Social Care, and that the Strategy for the next few years was to manage demand and introduce new ways of working.  Ways that lessen dependency and enable people to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 719.

720.

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:

None.

 

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