Agenda item

To receive the following Questions from:

Cllr Freya Bletsoe to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Legal

Reports over the weekend in The Times newspaper have highlighted that still, years later public building such as schools, offices, libraries etc have significant levels of asbestos in the fabric of those buildings. The report highlights that despite knowing of these issues authorities are doing little or nothing to remove the asbestos and to therefore mitigate the risk to human health.

As legally a register of asbestos should be kept on a room by room basis of each premises affected, and I have no doubt that a significant number of premises that BCBC manage or maintain will have asbestos in them, can I ask what this authority is doing to mitigate the workplace harm of teachers, librarians and office staff from the long term effects of asbestos and what is this authority doing to safeguard children who are being educated in rooms that have asbestos in them – as per our statutory obligations under the WFG Act?

Could I also ask as an elected member and Chair of Scrutiny to see the up-to-date risk register and associated reports for asbestos that is contained in the premises we oversee.

Cllr Ian Williams to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Legal

With footfall in Bridgend Town Centre struggling to hit pre pandemic levels can I ask the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Legal what measures are being taken to work with bus companies to safeguard existing bus routes (See attached) and mitigate any further cuts to ever decreasing services?

Is the Cabinet Member prepared to make a commitment to this council that it will ensure that subsidies will not be cut and the lifeline for many residents that is local bus services will see no further cuts for the term of this current council.

Cllr Martin Williams to the Leader

Coity Walia Common is a unique landscape that covers over 1,000 hectare of our county borough stretching from Pencoed to Sarn, Coity to Bryncethin and beyond. The common is a diverse habit and a feature that we should be rightly proud of. However, it a largely forgotten corner of our county left to be maintained by volunteers on a meagre budget. Could the Leader please tell me how BCBC currently supports Coity Walia and what plans this authority has to protect this vital habitat for future generations.

Cllr Tim Thomas to the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment

Will the Cabinet Member make a statement on the quality of water from our rivers and seas within the County Borough?

Minutes:

Cllr Freya Bletsoe to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Legal

Could I also ask as an elected member and Chair of Scrutiny to see the up-to-date risk register and associated reports for asbestos that is contained in the premises we oversee.

Response

In response to the question, we would advise that the authority’s approach and policy on asbestos management is to actively manage the asbestos in-situ, to ensure that asbestos products remain in a good and safe condition thus meeting our statutory obligations under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 the legal frameworks which underpins the management of asbestos in non-domestic premises.

This approach reflects the Health & Safety Executive’s guidance on asbestos management which advises that the presence of asbestos is not a health hazard when safely managed and contained and is only hazardous when disturbed. We do not undertake the systematic removal of asbestos within buildings, as unnecessarily asbestos removal can be more dangerous than leaving it in place and managing. We do however take steps to remove asbestos containing materials where this is recommended as part of the management approach, and this is always undertaken through specialist contractors in accordance with approved methodologies. This approach has seen a spend of approximately £190,000 on asbestos surveys and monitoring and a further investment of over £1,000,000 on asbestos remediation and removal, from the opening financial year 2020/2021 to the close of financial year 2022/2023. This expenditure does not include asbestos related works that form part of planned maintenance or building projects and therefore the total expenditure on asbestos related works will be higher.

The presence of asbestos within our managed property portfolio has been identified through asbestos management surveys which have been undertaken for all BCBC managed buildings. These reports have been used to create a risk register for all Asbestos Containing Materials within our buildings which contains over 5000 entries within approximately 170 sites. All items are re-inspected on an annual basis through a rolling program of annual asbestos re-inspection surveys, which monitors and records the condition of all known asbestos containing materials. This annual check is supplemented by a quarterly inspection of the buildings which is undertaken by the site’s responsible person or their appropriate team member. The centrally held electronic asbestos risk register is updated based on the findings of these surveys and subsequent remedial actions will be carried out as required. This process is managed by the authorities dedicated Asbestos Officer who works with specialist asbestos consultants and HSE licenced asbestos removal contractors to ensure this process is completed in line with the relevant regulations. The asbestos Officer would be able to take the Chair of Scrutiny through the register if required.

The authority published a new Corporate Asbestos Management Plan and Asbestos Management Policy in 2021 and this is reviewed annually in accordance with any statutory, regulatory or guidance changes. For all premises that BCBC manage this is supplemented by a Local Asbestos Management Plan which holds copies of the sites most up-to-date risk registers and asbestos management guidance. These files must be reviewed by all personnel working on a property to ensure the Asbestos Containing Materials are not disturbed and their condition is maintained. These files also contain the sites asbestos management survey and are accessible for anyone wishing to review the documentation.

Supplementary question from Cllr Freya Bletsoe

I'd like to thank the Cabinet Member and officers for their comprehensive response, and it's heartening to hear that BCBC take their statutory obligations seriously and execute them with such diligence. Who is undertaking these inspections? Is it a nominated officer within BCBC or is it outsourced to a third party company and if it is an officer, do they have the required qualifications to undertake these inspections? And finally, I'd welcome the opportunity to meet with the asbestos officer as offered in the response to further understand the authority's position on this very impactful and important subject.

Response

We have a nominated asbestos officer in post and they will contact you to find a suitable time for you to come over and have those discussions. That person was responsible for undertaking those inspections.

Cllr Ian Williams to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Legal

Response

In response to the question, we would advise that the provision of bus services in the County is a commercial activity, delivered by the private sector and not a statutory responsibility of the Local Authority.

However, we would advise that the authority does engage with the commercial bus operators in regard of local and regional services. Most recently with the ending on the 24th July of the Bus Emergency Scheme (BES) which was put in place by Welsh Government to assist bus companies to manage through the post pandemic recovery as passenger numbers had not returned to their pre Covid Levels that would have otherwise placed services at risk. This funding is being replaced with a Bus Transition Fund (BTF) to ensure that the majority of the current services will be protected, although some services may change to reflect different travel patterns following the pandemic. Work will be ongoing to develop a longer-term sustainable funding model that bridges the gap to franchising as mooted by Welsh Government.

Ultimately it is passenger numbers on public transport that will ensure their viability, and as such constituents should consider that it is either use the services or potentially loose them.

As bus services in Bridgend are on the whole run as commercial services, as stated above and do not receive any direct subsidies from the Council it is impossible to guarantee that future reductions in services are not made by bus companies for the reasons already mentioned.

Supplementary question from Ian Williams

My supplementary question is related to bus services but is directed towards the Cabinet Member for Regeneration. In light of the answer provided by the Cabinet Member and with no assurances the bus routes will be protected which could lead to a potential drop in footfall in Bridgend town centre, huge amounts of money being spent in Maesteg and Porthcawl in the last few years when Bridgend is not even thought worthy of enough funding to de-pedestrianise its town centre, keep public toilets open or fund the shop mobility scheme, all of which excludes many residents from our town centre. What plans does this Council have to revitalise the daytime economy in our town centre in the next 3 1/2 years? Please don't include the possibility of a new college as it's not even gone through planning and will only be open for 40 weeks of the year if it ever gets built.

Response

I'm really pleased about the developments happening in Porthcawl and Maesteg certainly, but I absolutely agree that we can find more things to do in Bridgend. I recently had a very exhaustive tour of the Town Centre, along with the Principal Officer for Regeneration discussing exactly that. Part of the issues that we find within the town centre is that many of the properties are owned by private owners, which then creates a lot more difficulty in terms of how we can plan and regenerate those units. It is something that I really want to push forward. It is something we're looking at in terms of placemaking and other strategies. As Members of the Town Centre will be aware, I also am very keen to sit down with the Town Council to look at how we best can do that and how we can work together to push that forward. In terms of footfall and de-pedestrianisation, I know there's been a lot of discussion around the pedestrianisation of the Town Centre. I must say I don't think it's the silver bullet that everyone thinks it will be. However, I'm more than happy to look at what we can do to find the best of both worlds. I know there have been previous discussion about why certain vans are allowed into the town centre through the bollards and that is simply due to police regulations, not the local authority, and not down to what we choose to let through. Again, I am more than happy to work and discuss with members on how we can look at new plans to try and encourage footfall at the end of the day, though, I think fundamentally we need to find new properties to be filled. We need to find new businesses that want to come and be excited about our Town Centre, and that's not an easy fix, but it's something I'm certainly determined to push forward and something I want to see happen in our Town Centre because our Town Centre deserves to be amazing, and I think we can do more.

Supplementary question from Cllr Ross Thomas .

I absolutely concur with the essence of Cllr William’s original question; bus services are absolutely a lifeline. Unfortunately, we've had notification in the Maesteg area that the early morning service is being withdrawn from a national provider. That would be a devastating impact on a number of people trying to get to employment opportunities, healthcare provision, all manner of issues really. I appreciate the commercial companies are facing difficult decisions much like this Council is on an annual basis. There really appears to be a lack of joint thinking, joined up thinking across the whole of Wales with regards to public transport across the network. So what conversations is this Council having, what pressure is this Council putting on Welsh Government to have that joined up approach and a long-term plan for sustainable bus services that can really help people in this borough?

Response

The position we were in back six months ago, we could have ended up with no buses running. All the bus services in the County Borough are private companies, they're not statutory and we do not have to fund them. There has been a lot of work done across Wales for Labour Welsh Government to put money there to keep that service going though this year into the next March. We have still got a lot more work to do now to see where we go and what we do to support the bus services from April 2024 because they are vital to our communities. They are not a public service, but Welsh Government have plans within the next two years to bring in a franchising system, where we will be looking to bring the bus service back into public control because the big mistake was many years ago when they were deregulated, and we ended up with the situation we have now. We don't have a lot of control but there is a lot of support going in from Welsh Government. The officers in this County borough have worked hard day and night for the last couple of weeks and months to get the situation of the subsidies to continue. We do provide support from the revenue budget for the bus stops which are not free of charge and again, not statutory. Maybe in the future we need to look at this. There is money going in there, but I can assure you, there's a lot of discussion behind the scenes with Ministers and officers to make sure there's a joined-up approach across Wales. When it comes to Maesteg, when they looked at this service, there was .9 persons or less than one person, per bus journey using the bus service. It was heading towards £70,000 to £80,000 subsidy we would have to put in. It would be cheaper to pay for a taxi. With the situation with the finances, we really cannot justify spending that sort of money for one person per bus journey.

Cllr Martin Williams to the Leader

Response

It is understood that a Board of Conservators manage two areas of common land (Mynydd-y-Gaer including Allt-yr-Rhiw woods and Cefn Hirgoed/Hirwaun) which extend to about 2,400 acres in total.

These areas are noted for their high scenic quality and are crossed by metalled highways and public rights of way. As land managers the Coity Wallia Board of Conservators undertake maintenance but also need to deal with nuisance such as litter being deposited by persons traversing the common and straying animals

Up to 2018 the Council had provided £21,170 per annum as financial assistance to the Board of Conservators but due to the need to make financial savings a decision was made for this funding to cease.

Since that time it is understood that the Board of Conservators had sought financial support from alternative sources such as the Town and Community Councils within whose areas the commons are situated together with the landowner, Dunraven Estates.

In 2021 the Coity Wallia Board of Conservators requested financial assistance from the Council to assist with the increased maintenance burden. Officers considered the matter as there was only limited potential to assist.

At that time the Council decided that an annual grant of up to £5,000 could be provided as a contribution to the Coity Wallia Board of Conservators maintenance burden subject to the submission of a programme of works from the Coity Wallia Board of Conservators and paid retrospectively upon submission of invoices/evidence of works being carried out.

Supplementary question from Cllr Martin Williams,

Thank you for the answer to the question. It has been recognised that Walia is a very valuable natural resource for the County Borough and also within the written answer it is acknowledged that this authority's contribution to the to the Board of Conservators has reduced from £21,000 to 0 and then there was a deal brokered where it went back up to £5000 a year. Four of the local Community Councils, Pencoed, Coity, Coychurch Higher and St Bride's minor are all now contributing as well. What we have there is a Board of Conservators who are maintaining this 2400 acre natural resource on a shoestring and at a time when this authority quite rightly, is championing the green agenda. We have our aspirations of Net Zero by 2030 and we contribute £35,000 to Kier to run their fleet on biodiesel and we dedicate officer time to balsam bashing and planting trees and the rest of it. It does seem that we're missing an opportunity to support this natural resource which can do so much as a carbon sink and more locally enhance our environment. What I would ask the Leader is perhaps not to double the contribution that this Council makes and maybe not make any more direct contribution at all, but to work more closely and perhaps dedicate some officer time to work more closely with the Board of Conservators to perhaps work in in a more collaborative way that is beneficial for all and aligns with our Net Zero objectives, but also to work with the Board Of Conservators to help them extract grants and external funding which we know is out there for this sort of enterprise so that we all have a mutual benefit from that. I would like to seek that assurance please.

Response

Thank you for the supplementary question. Can I thank Coychurch Higher, St Bride's Community Council, Coity Higher Community Council and Pencoed Town Council for their contributions. We are, of course, more than happy to work and provide officer time and support to any organisation that wants to conserve and indeed enhance the biodiversity features of the County Borough. We would also call upon the landowner as well to work with the Board of Conservators because of course there is a responsibility on landowners and we are happy to try and help you give that assurance. We can give no guarantee, though, that that help can secure funding, but we've been very successful in the past where we worked with organisations. I was very pleased when Awen Cultural Trust secured over £130,000 worth of funding through the National Heritage Lottery Funds Woodland Investment grant as an example of a grant and funding and support that is available to organisations within the County Borough and indeed I know that this is several years ago now, but certainly in my time as a Member, the Board, was successful in securing a grant from Biffa and that was for biodiversity enhancement works on Coity Walia Common. I'm sure there's a possibility of success in the future if other pots of funding are applied to and of course we'll look to work with any organisation in the County Borough that we can to do that. We have a very strong track record where we've worked with the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and with our win on the investment in our Valleys Regional Park, that has boosted the biodiversity in the County Borough.

Supplementary question from Tim Thomas

It’s quite clear that the Commoners Association have a vital role. With the reduction in funding, I am just seeking reassurance that the common land in the County Borough will continue to be protected from any development.

Response

Thank you for that supplementary question. Of course, common land is protected by legislation and regulation. I'm not sure the specific regulation that is in place for that common because there are different acts of Parliament and different forms of regulation for different commons across the County Borough across Wales and across the UK. We can of course establish the relevant regulation that applies to Coity Walia then in addition to the most important protection, which is the regulation and the law, there is of course, the protection within the planning process and indeed the common land is recognised for its importance within the replacement local development plan, just as it is in the Local Development Plan.

Cllr Tim Thomas to the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment

Will the Cabinet Member make a statement on the quality of water from our rivers and seas within the County Borough?

Response

Whilst we agreed that this is a matter of concern, the management of water quality in our rivers and the sea is the responsibility of Natural Resources Wales (NRW). We do of course value our rivers and waterways and wherever possible will work with partners organisations and agencies to demonstrate this. An example is the Ogmore River clean-up that is taking place in August this year, with officers from BCBC, the Vale of Glamorgan Council, NRW, the Police and Fire & Rescue Service and a number of volunteers. There will be many pieces of rubbish, including hundreds of car tyres removed, that would otherwise have found themselves flowing out to sea from the mouth of the River Ogmore.

Supplementary question from Cllr Tim Thomas

Firstly, I appreciate that responsibility for river cleanliness lies chiefly with organisations such as Natural Resources Wales and a couple of other stakeholders, but nevertheless, I do believe that we still have a role in this Council as a Community Leader to ensure our rivers are of a certain quality. The danger otherwise is the other areas of responsibility that the Council has, such as biodiversity, could be severely compromised. With that in mind, I'm concerned by the BBC who reported back in 2018 about high pollution levels in the River Ogmore. Perhaps more recently, it was reported that the River Garw, which runs into the Ogmore, has some of the highest levels of untreated sewerage deposits in Wales and England. My question is to either the Leader or the relevant Cabinet Member, has he made any representations to Welsh Water or any relevant organisations regarding improving the situation? If not, will he do so in the near future?

Response

I have not sent anything recently to Welsh Water but last August the Leader sent letters raising concerns but that was almost a year ago and it's perhaps time that we now get back in touch with Welsh Water and Natural Resources Wales. He's mentioned the River Ogmore and lots of parts are of good quality but the Garw clearly needed more work. It's not our responsibility but in terms of wider biodiversity, the green and blue agenda it is our responsibility. Along with the Leader I will take that back to Natural Resources Wales and press for further action on the Garw River.

I recently had a series of conversations with representatives from Natural Resources Wales in Cardiff, with senior managers and the Chief Executive, because Natural Resources Wales are the regulatory body in Wales in terms of water quality in our rivers and in the sea and along the coast. I did raise that issue and I've also written to Welsh Water and will continue to make representations because we do want our rivers and the sea to be cleaner.

Supplementary Question

I would like to ask that we as a Council recognise the tremendous work that goes on in cleaning our rivers throughout the county and in particular the work of the Llynfi Valley River Group, a group of volunteers who give up their Saturday mornings once a fortnight, in sunshine or rain, and they're doing tremendous work to rid the river of so much waste, it is just incredible what comes out. I’m also aware of the other voluntary organisations as well so I think if we could acknowledge the tremendous work that goes in by organisations like that. What I would also like to stress is the work that Huw Irranca-Davies and Chris Elmore, MP and MS are doing in working with Welsh water to try to get to do something about this shocking statistic of the Garw River. I really look forward to a combined effort by all authorities to try to bring this matter under some control before too long.

Response

I would like to say a big thank you to the Llynfi Valley River Group, the Ogmore Valley Priide Group and Keep Nantymoel Tidy. I would like to shout out again about the Ogmore River Clean up where the River Ogmore approaches the sea. This massive project is going on at the end of August and it's basically an Army veteran with environmental concerns and he's organised more than 30 groups, some volunteer groups, ourselves and the Vale of Glamorgan working together. I've seen drone footage of how bad that river is and a lot of has come from the Garw River. Thousands of tyres and shopping trolleys lying in the mud in that river as it flows into the sea should be removed by the end of August.