(i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

The Mayor

The Mayor announced with great sadness of the recent passing of a colleague and friend Kevin Stephens from Covid 19.  Many Members will have known Kevin personally as he was a very well-regarded member of the democratic services team, indeed he would have today been assisting at this meeting of Council making sure that everything ran smoothly.  Kevin had been a dedicated and hardworking member of BCBC for over 25 years and has in that time made many lifelong friends across the authority, Council’s thoughts and support therefore go out to those staff who are coming to terms with the loss of their friend and colleague.  Kevin was also a proud family man and in their time of loss Members send their heartfelt condolences to his wife Annie, his sons James and Luke and his mum Elsie. The Mayor informed members that he and his Consort had met the family outside the church prior to the funeral service taking place.  As a mark of respect and in Kevin’s memory all present observed a minute’s silence.

The Mayor announced that he had the pleasure last week of saying thank you to all social services staff and volunteers who made the Santa appeal possible this year.  Organising the collection while complying with the pandemic regulations was challenging for everyone involved, especially as the number of nominations of families in need had increased to over 300 children and young people. He stated that it was a credit to the Council’s partners, Brackla Tabernacle Church, Bridgend Tesco, Hafod Y Wennol hospital and Brynteg School year 9 pupils, that the appeal was particularly successful and can reach as many children and young people as are in need.

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader informed Council of the details of the Christmas and New Year recycling and waste collection arrangements and announced a very important change that Members may want to help make people aware of.  Households where someone is showing coronavirus symptoms are requested to make sure that any tissue waste, such as kitchen roll, toilet paper or wet wipes, is double-bagged and set aside for 72 hours.  After this, the bag can be placed out inside the household rubbish bag.  To help keep collectors safe, on no account should such waste be included with paper recycling.

The Deputy Leader announced that collections this year will be carried out as normal on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but not on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day.  Waste that is due to be collected on Christmas Day will be picked up on Sunday 27 December. Collections due on New Year’s Day will be picked up on Saturday 2 January.  With the Boxing Day bank holiday moving to Monday 28 December, collections will take place as normal on this day.  Residents will also be able to put out one extra rubbish bag for the first scheduled refuse collection after Christmas.  There will be an additional vehicle collecting cardboard, so this may be collected separately to other household recycling.  Residents are reminded there is no limit to how much recycling can be put out for collection, and that most materials can be recycled.  The main items that cannot be recycled are cards that have glitter on them, wrapping paper, black plastic, cellophane wrap, bubble wrap and polystyrene.  Real Christmas trees can be taken to a local community recycling centre.

Cabinet Member Communities

The Cabinet Member Communities updated Council on the community asset transfer programme, in that Rest Bay Sports, which represents FC Porthcawl, and Porthcawl United have become the latest organisations to take advantage of the initiative.  They have taken over the self-management of Rest Bay’s playing fields and pavilion under a renewable five-year lease and have been awarded just over £45,000 towards the cost of redeveloping the pavilion.  With a further £10,000 provided to secure pitch maintenance equipment, the clubs intend to transform the outdated pavilion by extending and refurbishing the first-floor level, and providing an elevated balcony overlooking the playing field. 

He stated that the Council is continuing to support a large number of sports clubs while they undertake the self-management process and are planning to recruit a community asset transfer surveyor to strengthen the process.  As of October 2020, expressions of interest had been received for the management of 53 outdoor sports facilities and park pavilions, and by November, a further ten bowls clubs also agreed short-term tenancies.  He announced that several additional transfers to sports clubs and town and community councils are due to be finalised in the coming months, and he would bring further news on this soon.  

Cabinet Member Social Services and Early Help

The Cabinet Member Social Services and Early Help referred to the Leader’s earlier announcement in which he outlined the serious situation that lies ahead as a result of the increase in cases of coronavirus, and how directorates are taking steps to ensure that it can be managed effectively.  From the perspective of social services, there are a number of elevated risks as a result of an increase in staff absences, either because of Covid-19 or due to a need to self-isolate.  Capacity among internal and independent domiciliary care providers is currently tight, so any further reduction in that workforce may mean they are unable to meet all care and support plan requirements.  While there is capacity within residential and nursing homes and across children’s residential care service, the situation remains similarly fragile.  To accommodate this, a number of key actions are taking place in line with business continuity plans. 

Firstly, essential services are being regularly reviewed, prioritised and co-ordinated at a director and heads-of-service level.  The prioritised service areas across both adult and children’s social care include safeguarding, care for the most vulnerable, mental health assessments, case management for vulnerable children, residential care and services that support fostering.  Provision of respite care and day services will be kept under constant review until the situation improves, and contact will be made with affected individuals and families to explain any changes that may be needed and to provide support.  Work was carried out at the start of the pandemic to determine whether staff had previous experience of working in, for example, direct care services.  As a result of this forward planning, staff are now being redeployed to support operational managers.  A basic training package is being put in place as part of this to ensure that redeployed staff can help deliver front line services efficiently, and they are also being paired with regular staff to maximise their effectiveness.

In addition, working is ongoing with the Finance team to establish a fast-track process for direct payments which can further facilitate care and support.  The Cabinet stated that the situation is both challenging and fluid, but the Council has an extremely experienced director and senior management team in place to deal with it, and she was confident that the authority is in safe hands.  The Cabinet Member stressed that while this is a temporary situation, how long it lasts for will ultimately be determined by whether the pandemic infection rate for Bridgend County Borough continues to rise or falls.  The Cabinet Member supported the call from the Leader for people to observe all guidance, and to help fight the spread of coronavirus.

Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations

The Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations informed Members of important enforcement work which is continuing to take place across the county borough while the pandemic is in place.  She stated that Members may have seen some of the coverage in the media of local premises which have received improvement notices following inspections from the Shared Regulatory Services team.  She stated that the team is performing essential work in ensuring that businesses are following rules and regulations throughout the pandemic and are doing everything that they can to keep customers and staff safe.  Enforcement generally takes the form of a premises improvement notice, which specifies the measures that need to be taken to meet the regulations within a certain time limit, which is usually 48 hours.  If the business fails to comply, enforcement officers can issue a premises closure notice, which can remain in place for up to fourteen days. 

In some circumstances, enforcement officers can close the premises immediately without having served an improvement notice, but this would only be where there has been a serious breach of regulations.  This has not proven to be necessary so far.

The Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations informed Council that one premises, a nightclub was served with a closure notice after failing to comply with required improvements, most premises which have received improvement notices have complied in full and have been able to continue trading.  Of these businesses, eleven have been licensed pubs and bars. One was a gym, another a superstore, and four were fast food takeaways.  Enforcement officers are continuing to visit premises to make sure they are meeting their responsibilities while the pandemic is in effect.  She urged Members to direct constituents or a business within their ward would like to know more about this, to the Shared Regulatory Services website.

Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration

The Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration gave an update on what is currently happening within local schools in the run-up to Christmas.  He stated that the Welsh Government has introduced national measures for all schools and colleges across Wales.  In Bridgend County Borough, all secondary schools, including sixth forms, have moved to online learning only and after today, all infant, junior, primary and special schools, including The Bridge, will also move to online learning, which will be in place for the rest of the week.  A number of schools have had to bring these plans forward early, due to the high number of staff and teachers who have either contracted coronavirus or are self-isolating as a result of coming into contact with someone who has tested positive.

He thanked and congratulated school staff and teachers for their ongoing hard work and commitment, and for ensuring that pupils can continue to receive lessons in the most difficult of circumstances.

He informed Council that children who are eligible for free school meals, will once have food parcels delivered in readiness for the Christmas holidays.  Each parcel covers a two-week period and is being delivered to the home addresses of all eligible pupils.  Those who are of secondary school age will also receive an additional food parcel to take account of the online learning arrangements.

Chief Executive

The Chief Executive reminded Members that public consultation has started on the Bridgend Town Centre Masterplan, and he asked Members to encourage residents to take part in it.  He stated that the Masterplan is a hugely ambitious ten-year strategy with a number of long-reaching aims. 

It includes a wide range of proposals such as creating a new town square, moving Bridgend College into the town centre, transforming derelict and empty buildings into new shops and housing, and much more.  The Council has worked alongside specialist consultants to produce the masterplan, which aims to increase the number of people who shop, work, live, visit and enjoy the town centre by using a ‘zoned’ approach for cultivating retail opportunities, creating new commercial and office space, introducing new public realm works and providing better transport facilities.

Views and feedback have already been obtained from business owners and wider stakeholders; the views of residents were now being sought on the Masterplan.  He stated that the consultation is going to be live until 1 March 2021 and the public can take part in several different ways, all of which are detailed at the consultation page of the Council website.