Councillor Altaf Hussain to the Leader/Cabinet Member - Communities

 

Up to £ 20 million could be spent over the next 2 years to improve the look of shops, support and start – up of businesses, subsidise bus fares and increase bin collections in Swansea. Every ward in Swansea will share in a package of support. Swansea Council would be covered by a Council underspending in 2020-2021. Instead,

In Bridgend, there is a 3.9% increase of Council tax in 2021-2022 without any benefit to wards or residents of the borough.

 

Could the Leader let the Council know about his plans, if he has any, of helping residents of our Borough and what legacy he would like to leave behind at the end of his term in 2022?

 

Councillor Altaf Hussain to the Leader/Cabinet Member - Communities

 

Up to £20 million could be spent over the next 2 years to improve the look of shops, support and start–up of businesses, subsidise bus fares and increase bin collections in Swansea. Every ward in Swansea will share in a package of support. Swansea Council would be covered by a Council underspending in 2020-2021.

 

Instead, in Bridgend, there is a 3.9% increase of Council tax in 2021-2022 without any benefit to wards or residents of the Borough.

 

Could the Leader let the Council know about his plans, if he has any, of helping residents of our Borough and what legacy he would like to leave behind at the end of his term in 2022 ?

 

Response

This last year, we have been concentrating on responding to and mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Bridgend’s economy and local business by improving the economic climate for business growth and delivering key regeneration projects in our main towns and valley areas. We will continue to invest in key industrial and business infrastructure, for example developing additional starter units for growing businesses in Pyle and Bridgend. The units at the Pyle Industrial Estate will commence development later this this year and we are continuing to explore other potential locations across the Borough for new employment uses. This includes working with the Welsh Government Inward Investment Team to market Bridgend across the UK and Europe and seeking to attract new companies and investment opportunities into the Borough. Attracting grant funding is a key part of this work and the Directorate is currently working on potential projects that could be submitted for the UK Government’s new Levelling Up Fund. This could include a possible “Agri Hub”, which could be a new agricultural livestock market and with associated retail opportunities. If successful, this could deliver significant economic and environmental benefits to the agricultural and local food producing communities in the region. The extension of the Rural Development Programme to December 2022 offers the opportunity to support the progression of this scheme. We will also continue to provide training opportunities and assist our residents back into work through initiatives such as “Employability Bridgend”. This year, from April 2020 to end of March 2021, the Employability Team helped 1255 people from Bridgend engage in the programme, including 60 people who were already in work being supported to improve their labour market position; 408 people have achieved qualifications and 398 have gone into work.

 

Delivering financial support to businesses and the economy from the Welsh Government Covid Recovery Fund, has been a core function for our Directorate. Over the past year, the Council has assessed and distributed 6,500 business grants and over £50m to businesses in the Borough. This is in addition to supporting retail businesses and our town centres to operate effectively during the pandemic, through initiatives such as Outdoor Improvement Grants and interventions in retail environments such as public health Window Vinyls, social distancing floor markers and Covid Public Health Advice booklets. This work will continue to ensure that businesses are provided with the best opportunity to make a full economic recovery coming out of the pandemic and for new businesses to continue to flourish and grow.

 

In June 2020, Cabinet started a process of local economic recovery planning by putting in place:

 

•           A Bridgend County Economic Task Force

•           An economic engagement programme

•           A specific ring-fenced budget to support these activities – The Economic Futures Fund.

 

The task force was also created with a clear aspiration to evolve its focus over time to develop an economic plan for the future of the County Borough which will include action to help businesses adapt to the changing economic landscape and improve resilience, as well as support for residents to develop new skills, training and employment opportunities. A process of creating a new economic plan through a proposed Bridgend County Borough Economic Futures Framework, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic presents a wide range of challenges, many of which are clear but many of which will emerge in the coming months and years. The ability to react will still be required but must now be coupled with a proactive longer-term approach towards economic recovery, resilience and growth. This approach will be linked to the Council’s broader approach towards holistic recovery planning relating to the coronavirus pandemic as well as delivery of the Corporate Plan. Following an in-depth review of data and extensive engagement with stakeholders, the framework and its work packages will provide the basis for dialogue on prioritised actions with Welsh and UK Governments as well as the Cardiff Capital Region, a range of funding sources, investors and developers. This will support the Council’s ongoing ambitions to play a full and active role supporting the local economy.

 

We are actively progressing regeneration schemes across the Borough. By way of a snap shot of on-going and proposed projects for the Llynfi Valley alone.

 

We have the largest BCBC community project on site at Maesteg Town Hall, with a value of works in excess of £8m to renovate and enhance the historic Town Hall, this will open the summer of 2022 as a transformed and state of the art venue for the valleys.

 

In addition, over £400k in capital grants have been awarded to commercial properties along Talbot Street and Commercial Street, which will commence work over the few months, alongside to investment in green infrastructure in the town, renewing and enhancing the trees and planting along Commercial Street.

 

We are close to securing £3.5m of investment at Ewenny Road. Which will remediate the site to transform the former Cooper Standard and Revlon site with 180 new affordable homes, a business and transport hub and green space. 

 

This will total a minimum of £13m of investment in the Llynfi Valley alone by 2024.

 

We are progressing with the delivery of the Bridgend Town Centre Masterplan, after its public consultation in early 2021. This includes improvements to the Bridgend Railway Station to provide a vibrant gateway to the town centre and the acquisition of the South Wales Police Station Building, in Cheapside, as the first step in a planned relocation of the Bridgend College Campus to this central location. The schemes will be assisted by grants from Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns Scheme, which is also looking to commit over £500k to building and property enhancements in the town centre this financial year, and the development of a pipeline of project for assistance over the next few years. These programmes and projects will bring much-needed vibrancy and footfall back into Bridgend and assist the economic recovery of this town.

 

There is also a considerable amount of regeneration activity planned for Porthcawl over the coming year. The Council is in the process of disposing of the retail site on Salt Lake to Aldi. It is anticipated, that a planning application for a bespoke designed food store on this gateway site, with a landscaped car park and public realm will be received later this summer. In addition, the Directorate is undertaking a placemaking study to ensure that all the key component parts of the regeneration strategy for Porthcawl are complementary and high quality. Also that they are well designed and connect the town centre back into the sea front. This includes a redesign of the Hillsboro Car Park and the installation of electric charging infrastructure.

 

This regeneration approach in Porthcawl also involves the Directorate looking at a partnership approach to delivering a mixed-use housing development on Salt Lake. This could be designed to be “Net Zero Carbon” and have enormous economic and social benefits by being a sustainable mixed tenure development. The added benefit of this partnership approach to regeneration is that the land would remain in Council ownership, as it is such a valuable asset to the community of Porthcawl.

 

Another key project this next year includes the redevelopment of the vacated Cosy Corner Site. The Directorate is applying to Welsh Government’s Tourist Attractor Destinations (TAD) fund to access circa £1m of funding. This will be match funded by the Council, and if approved, the grant will assist in providing employment space, landscaped public realm and a possible children’s play area. There will also be community facilities including as a new base for the Sea Cadets, a Changing Places facility and improved amenities for Harbour Berth Holders. The Directorate is committed to working in partnership with the key stakeholders and the local community on all its regeneration projects across the Borough and holds engagement sessions to assess the views of local businesses and residents. The Council and Directorate does recognise however, that there are many district centres and local shopping areas, which play a key role in the life of residents within the Borough. This has been particularly evident during the pandemic, where shopping locally has become more widespread. For this reason, we have extended our Commercial Property Enhancement Fund. It is offering assistance to businesses across the County Borough to make improvements to their properties to ensure their business model is aligned to the new ways of operating as we move into recovering from the pandemic. Over 70 grants have already been awarded since January, and can help to improve outdoor areas with the installation of canopies and seating areas.

 

In addition, having previously been very successful in attracting European Structural Funds to support projects in Bridgend, as part of the transition period, the Council is aiming to establish a new direct relationship with UK Government, helping to shaping the opportunities for Bridgend through the UK Replacement Funds. Initially acting as the lead authority in pursuing and coordinating opportunities for the Council and key partners through the new Levelling Up Funds and Community Renewal Funds.

 

In June 2020, BCBC formally made a declaration in relation to Climate Emergency and recognised the role of the Council in responding to this as a community leader, that works with residents, groups and businesses in relation to their energy use and preparing for climate impacts. In addition, as a service provider, to deliver more resource efficient services that are less carbon intensive, encourage more resilience and support the most vulnerable in society. Whilst the Council is also the manager of the corporate estate and must ensure that this and its operations are as resource efficient as possible, to use clean energy and prepare for the impacts of climate change. At this time, Cabinet approved the creation of a cross-party member committee to oversee the Climate Emergency Response Programme, a Bridgend County Climate Emergency Citizens’ Assembly and the hosting of an annual Bridgend County Sustainability Summit. Each of these will be established within the coming 12 months.

 

In January 2021, Cabinet approved the development of a “Bridgend 2030 Decarbonisation Strategy” which will set out how the Council will aim to reach a net carbon zero position by 2030 as part of its response to the climate emergency. . This was in response to Welsh Government’s mandate that within 10 years, by 2030, all public sector organisations should be net carbon zero in four main areas. This included in its transport and mobility, buildings and energy, in land use and biodiversity and in the procurement of goods and services. Whilst this is a corporate initiative, the Communities Directorate is leading this agenda. A Bridgend 2030 Decarbonisation Strategy and Action Plan is being developed for public consultation later in 2021. The first part of this detailed work involves understanding the Council’s carbon footprint and providing a baseline. This exercise has commenced with the assistance of The Carbon Trust. However, the Council cannot do this without the involvement of its key partners and will be working closely with Public Services Board (PSB) members, local authorities in the region and the Welsh Government to ensure the development of an effective and deliverable strategy.

 

The Council’s approach to responding to the climate emergency and developing its 2030 Decarbonisation Strategy is not coming from a position of a standing start. Over the past four years, the Council has been progressing its Smart Energy Plan and has developed three major projects with the benefit of approximately £10m of grant funding from both the UK and Welsh Government and prudential borrowing from the Council itself. These are namely the Bridgend District Heat Network, the Caerau Heat Project and the Re-FIT Project. The Bridgend District Heat Project will progress to the procurement of a Design, Build, Operate and Maintain Contractor over the next year and should this be successful, then the construction of the heat network could commence in 2022. The Caerau Heat Project, has been redefined, to include a blend of energy projects, from mine water, ground source heat to a private wire from a local wind farm. This change in development direction has had approval from the funder, Wales European Funding Office, (WEFO) so detailed designs will now be progressed with the aim of achieving Cabinet approval in the summer 2021. The Re-Fit Project, is developed to install £1.3m of energy efficient measures within the corporate estate, the majority of which are in education use. This includes new heating and ventilation systems, insulation and photovoltaic (PV) panels. A contractor has been appointed and the works will be carried out over the next 6 months.

 

In addition to the work to reduce the Council’s carbon footprint, a focus will be on measures to support the Council’s statutory function to maintain and enhance biodiversity and take forward carbon sequestration action. , to the energy schemes described above the Directorate is committed to improving the biodiversity of the Borough and in particular affording protection to the natural parks and nature reserves within its control. Work will continue through the Valleys Regional Park (VRP) initiative, building on the over £1m in improvements to at Bryn Garw Country Park and at Parc Slip nature reserve. The Council will seek to formally designate Bedford Park as a local nature reserve (LNR) this year and extend the footprint of the existing Frog Pond Wood LNR and to use capital to enhance these areas. The Council want to increase the number of trees planted across the borough in order to assist with its ambitious carbon reduction targets. It has a number of schemes to be implemented but will also seek to work in partnership with a range of partners over the next year to develop a tree and hedge-planting schemes across the Borough, for implementation in 2022.

 

Looking across the wider Council services, as part of the Covid 19 response and in line with a Welsh Government Guidance Note all local authorities were expected to ensure that no individual was street homeless and was provided with suitable accommodation. To support a strategic, joined up and timely approach a multi-agency weekly Homeless Cell meeting was established to respond to these demands.

 

In 2020/21 BCBC received over 1600 homelessness applications from households either threatened with or imminently homeless. To safeguard vulnerable individuals anyone at threat of rough sleeping was offered an accommodation placement, which led to over 600 households being provided with temporary accommodation through 2020/21.

 

To meet these demands additional accommodation resources have been secured, primarily from the tourism sector, including hotels and holiday lets. In partnership with third sector support providers all those accommodated have been provided with support to help with any underlying support needs, to ensure individuals develop independent living skills, enabling longer term accommodation to be secured and maintained. Where necessary joint working with the Police and Community Safety Partnership has addressed concerns around Anti-Social Behaviour.  In partnership with Registered Social Landlord partners a Rapid Rehousing Protocol has been adopted, which has supported the move on from temporary accommodation. 

 

Homelessness presentations remain high and as of 11th July 2021 there were 306 people from 185 households in temporary accommodation. There is a clear expectation from Welsh Government that those accommodated will not be expected to return to homelessness, but instead supported to secure long term accommodation. There is also an indication that the highlighted expectations from Welsh Government will remain on a longer term basis, suggesting that these demands will remain for the foreseeable future.

 

In addition to the above there is also the potential for further pressure on services, with the lifting of emergency laws protecting evictions effective from 30th June 2021. As these emergency laws come to an end there is the potential for increased presentations.  In addition the longer term socio-economic impact of the pandemic has the potential to leave increased households threatened with homelessness.

 

In education, the local authority has worked closely with its school improvement partner (Central South Consortium) to ensure all learners benefit from effective teaching and learning. The Council’s school modernisation programme has resulted in several new schools being built across the county. In addition, BCBC has invested in an effective Music Service that offers high-quality tuition to learners across the county borough.

 

Significant investment has been made in the local authority’s inclusion services to ensure all pupils with additional learning needs receive appropriate support. The needs of children, young people and their families are further supported by an effective (as recognised by Estyn) integrated services model.

 

The investment the Council has made in health and safety services has made a significant difference to a wide range of delivery partners; especially schools who received excellent support throughout the pandemic. Similarly, Bridgend learners benefit from the Council’s investment in a highly effective school catering service which actively promotes healthy living.

 

Through its Corporate Landlord Department BCBC has invested significantly in the repair, maintenance and upgrading of its Education Property Estate, enhancing wherever possible the accommodation to provide improved facilities for learners; both internally and externally.  There is currently £3.57m programmed for expenditure in 2021/22 and includes a number of roof replacements, external teaching space upgrades, enhanced ventilation works, several soft play surface replacements, drainage upgrades, DDA lift installations, a potential all weather pitch replacement, classroom extensions, enhanced road safety measures, plus a significant amount of energy saving measures and other essential maintenance works.

 

With regards to social services, the Council continued to offer vital support to the county borough residents throughout the pandemic, despite the significant challenges faced.  The service worked closely with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) to ensure they were assured and advised of how we were working, and adapting our operating models, to comply with Welsh Government guidance, and tiers of restrictions, whilst continuing to safeguard, protect and deliver essential services.

 

Face to face service delivery continued throughout the pandemic in social care – care homes, supported living, domiciliary care direct payment Personal Assistants, children protection investigations and Mental Health Act assessments.

 

The service developed and constantly risk assessed its operating models for adult and children’s services in accordance with the Welsh Government tiers of restriction. Risk assessments meant at some tiers of restriction, services operated digitally as the risk to public health of spreading the virus was too great. In children’s services, when risk mitigations were robust enough to allow, officers carried out face to face visits to children and families in respect of child protection, care and to our care experienced children and foster carers. A difficult area was contact between parents and care experienced children and the service closely followed Welsh Government guidance to enable face to face contact to resume as soon as risk mitigations allowed

 

In adult services, day opportunities operated at reduced numbers and with extensive risk mitigations when tiers of restriction allowed, at other times the public health risks were too high and day services staff supported people to be occupied and engaged in their own homes, including the Council’s supported living settings. Adult social workers worked closely with other professional colleagues to minimise the number of people who visited care homes and other vulnerable settings, and kept in touch with people in a way which best suited them which for many individuals was via the telephone. Assessments of people’s best interest under the Mental Capacity Act was a challenging area of work, given the restrictions on professionals visiting care homes. The service worked to address delays in carrying out this essential safeguarding work as tiers of restriction have reduced.  Demand for the service continues to grow and is currently providing 640 hours per week more than in April 2020 with increasing requests to extend existing packages of care.

 

Going forward the Council will continue to respond to and mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on recovery, and building on the wide-ranging support and service delivery highlighted above.

 

In terms of my legacy, this is something that will be judged by the electorate and constituents of BCBC and not by myself

 

Supplementary question by Councillor A Hussain

 

Neath Port Talbot Council is looking to invest £5m from its reserves into the local area as we build out of the pandemic, to assist local businesses, support local communities and ensure clean and safe neighbourhoods.

 

We all know that Councils across Wales including our Council, have shown local leadership and innovation during the Pandemic and as we now emerge from it.

 

Leader, it looks like you are trying to build your Legacy although late, by mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, when everybody is now looking at the legacy that COVID-19 is leaving for our communities.

 

Our Bridgend town is a bit (not a bit) is dead right now but it was before the pandemic so it could do with being injected with some new life.

 

Apart from that, what role are you playing as a Leader of the Council for 2021-2022? Are you going to use the Council’s resources to help secure the long-term future of our County Borough in supporting recovery and reviewing our Bridgend town?

 

Response

 

A recent report to the Cabinet included a proposal to purchase the Bridgend Police station site, in order to bring Bridgend College more into the town centre, which in turn, will bring a record amount of investment in further and higher education. This will also increase vibrancy and footfall into Bridgend and free-up a Brownfield site that can then be re-developed. The Council have also recently approved the Bridgend Heat Network project (the first of its kind in Wales), which also aligns with our net zero agenda and the emergency that is climate change, which the Council are actively and positively responding to. The Authority has also invested £2.85m in walking routes between Bridgend and Pencoed and Pyle and Porthcawl, as well as committing investment in the Evergreen Hall. It has further invested in promoting ultra-low emission vehicles, including the provision of charging points. This will improve air quality across the County Borough, with the conversion of vehicles from diesel to electric charged low energy vehicles.

 

We also have in progress or proposed, Masterplans for the towns of Bridgend and Porthcawl, works being carried out at Maesteg Town Hall and at the Level Crossing in Pencoed

 

The pandemic is not over and we are deeply concerned with what the winter months may bring in terms of the illness, whilst also concentrating on the here and now in this regard. We will do all in our power, in order to ensure residents of the County Borough continue to get vaccinated and are kept safe both at the present time and moving forward. 

 

Second supplementary question from Councillor R Young

 

Having faced over 10 years of local government cuts, how much financial resilience remains in the Authority, for further future cuts it may face due to the continued challenges brought about by the pandemic, amongst other challenges.

 

Response

 

£60m worth of cuts within the above period, cannot be made without having an effect on frontline services. However, I’m extremely proud of the efforts that have been put in staff in this time, and more particularly, in the last 16 months during the period of Covid-19. In this time, 6.5 thousand businesses have received over £50m from the Council in grants. We have also helped a record number of people back into employment after they had lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, over 400 people. We have also helped a record number of people who had found themselves homeless, 600 families and supported 23,500 individuals in Schools and 4,500 in Social Services, in addition to our response to the pandemic. All Authorities in wales had increased their Council Tax in order to be able to meet these increased financial challenges, which are not going away but are increasing and are likely to continue increasing in the foreseeable future. Council has received reports today on Treasury Management and its Capital Programme and should any Member feel that the Authorities Reserves are not appropriate, then they are able to take this up individually with the S151 Officer. We review our finances on a quarterly basis, at which times, we look at the likes of Reserves with the view wherever possible, of investing these into improvements within our communities.     

 

Third supplementary question by Councillor S Dendy

 

The Garw Valley is colloquially known as the forgotten valley and the response once again highlights this.

 

Although I fully support the response to the carbon neutral movement and measures mentioned in the reply and tackling homelessness in our County Borough. Very little of the reply effects the day to day lives of residents of the Garw Valley. A lot of the work being done in Maesteg, Porthcawl and Bridgend town centre will not be readily accessible to those in the Garw Valley and Ogmore Valley.

 

When I ask what the Council has done for the Garw valley the Leader may mention the new school in Bettws which is a fantastic asset, but not accessible by the rest of the Garw Valley unless they have their own transport which I pointed out in the last full Council meeting, is not something a large part of the population of the valley community has.

 

The Garw Valley is also forgotten about in the LDP which is currently being consulted on, meaning the chances of change and development in our area is minimum. No commercial areas have also been safeguarded in Valleys communities and new areas within the Borough.

 

Does the Leader recognise these issues and is he willing to apologise to the Garw residents for feeling, I would say rightly so, they are forgotten?

 

Response

 

We have funded both Ffaldau and Blaengarw Primary Schools for children in the Garw Valley, as well as older children from that region also being educated in an excellent state of the art Secondary School, namely Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen. The Authority also supports homeless people in Blaengarw, as well as many businesses there through the Employability Scheme. We are also developing a new Medium Welsh Childcare facility in the Garw, something that isn’t being provided in every community comprising BCBC. There was an opportunity earlier for Councillor Dendy and other Members present, to make a contribution when the Capital Programme report was considered, where Council was in conjunction with that report, making decisions with regards to investment proposals/opportunities. I would be happy to listen to Members from the Garw Valley in relation to any plans or suggestions for this area, possibly as part of the new Local Development Plan (LDP) proposals.