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To receive announcements from:

(i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

 

 

Minutes:

Mayor

 

The past month has been relatively quiet, but I am sure that will not be the case leading up to Christmas over the next few weeks. Please don’t forget that this week is the last chance to grab a ticket for the Charity Fundraising evening taking place on Sat 27 November 2021 at the Heronston Hotel with a buffet, comedy stage hypnotist and music by Lee Jukes of Bridge FM and all are welcome.

 

In addition to this, there is a grand Christmas raffle taking place with a 1st prize of £200 cash and around 20 other prizes with the draw taking place on Wednesday 15 December 2021 after the next Council meeting. If you would like any tickets at £2.00 each, please just drop me a message and arrangements can be made to secure your tickets. All proceeds from these events will be going to Lads & Dads and Bridgend Carers Centre.

 

Over the past month I had the pleasure of being invited to the opening of Bridgend College STEAM Academy at their Pencoed campus. This is science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics and it was amazing to see the facilities being made available to students across these disciplines and well done to Bridgend College for bringing such an amazing facility to the county borough.

 

At the end of October, I opened the Lions Club of Bridgend Book Fair at Westward Community Centre and came away with a heavy load of books. The Lions have raised in excess of £180,000 since this first started in 1995 and it was great to hear about the partnership, they have now formed with the volunteer management committee of Westward Community Centre ably helped by our very own Councillor David White.

 

Following on from this I was invited to the opening of what is I believe Bridgend first mobile veterinary service based in Aberkenfig. Mobivet has been set up in what was previously a furniture shop and has been transformed into a modern well equipped veterinary surgery with equipment to rival that seen in any hospital. This is such a welcome service where they are available 24 /7 to call out to your home and will surely be of use to people who cannot easily travel to a vet or they would prefer their pet to be seen in the comfort of their home.

 

Last week I was pleased to be invited to an open-air performance by Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend Town centre and was accompanied by Councillor Dhanisha Patel. They performed their own short and adapted version of Hansel & Gretel and it was great to see the whole year group there as well singing along to the performance with a great crowd of people watching as well. More of this for the town centre would be welcomed.

 

This past weekend I visited Tremains Wood along with the Leader and Councillor Stuart Baldwin to congratulate Tremains Woodland Rangers on achieving a Green Flag award for the work they have been doing over the past few years, protecting and enhancing this ancient woodland which has trees that are believed to be in excess of 400 years old and sits within the centre of Brackla.

 

On Remembrance Sunday I was honoured and privileged to be at the Bridgend Town Centre parade and laid a wreath on behalf of the people of the County Borough of Bridgend. The weather was fine and among the many veterans and service people marching, there was also a small group of people there wearing their orange hats. This was the Lads & Dads representation who for the first time since they were formed just over 2 years ago, decided to lay a poppy wreath at the Cenotaph. Poppy wreaths were laid at services across the County Borough by fellow Councillors and many thanks to all who participated in this day.

 

Finally, nominations are now open for the Mayoral Citizenship Awards and forms to nominate anyone in the community for one of these, were available on the BCBC web site.

 

I now have some Committee meeting changes to announce:

 

The following Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting dates will be altered, to accord with the timing of the Welsh Government budget settlement to local authorities. This has been agreed with the respective Committee Chairpersons:

 

SOSC 1 – change from 8 Dec to 20 Jan at 9.30am;

SOSC 2 – change from 13 Dec to 21 Jan at 9.30am;

SOSC 3 – change from 16 Dec to 24 Jan at 9.30am;

 

The meeting of SOSC 1 on 17 Jan will need to be cancelled in order to accommodate the above and wider work pressures in the Democratic Services team.

 

Further meetings of the following will also be required to be scheduled, again to deliberate the MTFS:

 

COSC 19 January at 9.30am

COSC 1 Feb at 9.30am (to receive Recommendations on Budget Proposals / MTFS from Scrutiny and BREP).

 

The rescheduling of the above meetings, will necessitate moving:

 

Development Control Cttee dated 20 January to 27 January 2022

Governance & Audit Cttee dated 27 January to 28 January 2022

 

The Chairpersons of these Committees are also in agreement with the rescheduling of these meetings

 

There is also a change of membership proposed on the Governance and Audit Committee, in that the Independent Alliance group wish to take off Councillor Elaine Venables and replace with Councillor Mike Clarke. This does not affect the political balance on this or any other Council Committees.

 

Deputy Leader

 

Plans for a new strategic employment site at Brocastle have moved a step closer following the completion of major infrastructure works.

 

Welsh Government has invested more than £10 million into the 116-acre site, which has outline planning consent in place for up to 770,000 square feet of floor space.

 

Key roads and utilities are now in place and can serve up to nine plots where modern businesses can be developed to aid economic growth and job creation. 

 

An active travel route is also planned for spring, again funded by Welsh Government, and enquiries have already been received from various property developers and owner occupiers.

 

This is excellent news for the county borough, and I hope that it will lead to the creation of many new jobs.

 

Cabinet Member – Communities

 

Public consultation is underway on what could prove to be the single biggest highways infrastructure project carried out so far in Bridgend County Borough.

 

Between now and Sunday 30 January next year, we are asking people for their views on ambitious £17m plans to address long-standing traffic congestion issues in Pencoed.

 

These proposals aim to ease the town’s congestion problems, increase safety and deliver new improvements for residents and businesses alike by separating the road from the railway line.

 

If approved, the plans will enable the eventual closure of Pencoed’s level railway crossing by rebuilding the Penprysg road bridge so that it can accommodate two-way traffic, and creating a safe, all-new active travel bridge over the line for pedestrians and cyclists.

 

This will then unlock potential development land located to the west of the current level crossing and enable fresh investment and facilities to be introduced.

 

We are carrying out a number of drop-in sessions where members of the public can find out more and ask questions, and the consultation survey is available in a range of different formats.

 

Full details on these exciting proposals are available at the council website.

 

Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help

 

This week marks National Safeguarding Week 2021, and Bridgend County Borough Council is joining with other organisations across Wales as part of a national campaign.

 

Under the theme of ‘Safeguarding our Communities’, a number of virtual sessions are taking place ranging from training sessions for professionals, youth council debates, public workshops, awareness raising events and more.

 

Each session will discuss a range of issues affecting children, young people and adults including domestic abuse, mental health, suicide prevention, child sexual abuse and exploitation.

 

Our communities have faced many difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we are encouraging residents to take advantage of these virtual events to learn more about the services and support that is available.

 

Full details are available at the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board website.

 

Cabinet Member – Future Generations and Wellbeing

 

I would like to briefly mention two things. Firstly, Members should be aware that our housing options service is still under considerable demand as a result of the Covid pandemic,  

 

In practice, this has resulted in considerably higher numbers of applications being made to the service, which in turn has impacted upon the timescales for processing and reaching decisions on applications. 

 

To give you an idea of the current demand, the service is currently receiving approximately 350 applications every month.

 

There are also up to 40 additional homeless applications which, due to their often complex nature, are resource intensive. 

 

While the department is doing all it can to manage this demand, the increase does mean there is an inevitable knock-on effect, and we are making every effort to support the service and manage expectations in an efficient and realistic manner.

 

On more positive news, I would like to congratulate the Shared Regulatory Service after they won Gold, Silver and Bronze awards at the 2021 RSPCA PawPrints initiative.

 

This is Designed to recognise achievements in stray dog services, contingency planning, housing policy, animal activity licensing and kennelled dog welfare, the SRS were recognised in three different categories – Stray Dogs, Animal Activity Licensing and Kennelled Dogs.

 

You may recall that the service also received gold, silver and bronze awards in 2019, so to do so again despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic over the last 18 months is something they should feel rightly proud of.

 

Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration

 

There have been a number of achievements at local schools recently which I would like to share with members.

 

Pencoed Primary has become the third school in South Wales to receive Reference School status from the online technology company.

 

The accolade, which is awarded to individual schools and colleges as well as specific regions, recognises the outstanding use of educational technology within the classroom.

 

Meanwhile, Afon-y-Felin Primary School has become the first primary school in the Cwm Taf region to win the Cymraeg Campus Gold Award for their commitment to the Welsh language. The Leader and myself will visit the school soon to personally congratulate teachers and pupils.

 

The school’s success is also set to be featured on national television after S4C spent the afternoon filming with staff and pupils for the daily magazine programme, Heno.

 

In Maesteg, Plasnewydd Primary has been removed from special measures after inspectors from Estyn confirmed that the school has made significant improvements since issues requiring addressing were identified in 2018.

 

Following intensive support from Bridgend County Borough Council and the Central South Consortium, Estyn has confirmed that a broad base is now in place upon which the school can make further improvements. Some similar news will follow with one of our other schools, before very long.

 

Finally, Coychurch Primary teacher Melanie Treadwell has taken part in an event organised by the Office for Climate Education which preceded the COP26 conference.

 

Melanie was one of only three UK-based teachers chosen to make a presentation on leading the way in Climate Education, and the only primary school teacher to do so.  As a result, ITV Wales recently visited Coychurch Primary to film some of the good work that is taking place there.

 

I am sure that members will want to join me in offering all the above our congratulations.

 

Chief Executive

 

Members may have seen that Bridgend County Borough has been selected as one of four areas in Wales where new, flexible ways of voting are to be piloted. The others are Torfaen, Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent/

 

These trials have been organised by Welsh Government and will coincide with the local government elections scheduled for May next year.

 

They are designed to find ways of making it easier and more convenient for people to vote and will each test out a different way of enabling residents to cast their ballots.

 

Welsh Government has now agreed further details about what we can expect to see, so I thought I might share some of that with you now.

 

Two pilot schemes will be running in Bridgend County Borough, the first focusing on Cynffig Comprehensive.

 

Following last year’s lowering of the voting age to 16, a new polling station will be created within the school so that eligible pupils can cast their votes in the days ahead of the main election day.

 

The second scheme will focus on wards where people have previously voted in low numbers and will see 20 existing polling stations opening for early voting in the week running up to the election.

 

Details are still being finalised, but they are expected to be located in Brackla East and Coychurch Lower, Brackla East Central, Brackla West, Brackla West Central, Cornelly, Pyle, Kenfig Hill and Cefn Cribwr, St Brides Minor and Ynysawdre.

 

Concurrently there will be a promotion campaign led by WG with the aim of increasing voting through engagement with the public and increased campaigning.

 

All of the findings and evidence gathered from the pilot schemes will be analysed by Welsh Government and will ultimately influence how future elections are carried out throughout Wales.

 

We will be fully publicising what this means for eligible voters and how they can take part and more details will be provided as we draw closer to the election.

 

 

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