(i) Mayor (or person presiding)
(ii) Members of the Cabinet
(iii) Chief Executive
Minutes:
The Mayor
The Mayor announced that she had the great pleasure recently of meeting with a wonderful lady, Warrant Officer First Class, Barbara McGregor. Barbara is celebrating 40 years of active service in the Royal Navy, making her the Navy’s longest serving female. It was lovely to meet her and her family and listen to stories of her long and varied career. Barbara is currently the Regional Development Manager for Wales and Western England and recently as part of the Wrens centenary celebrations, organised a fundraising 100 mile walk. The walk was mapped out to engage with local groups and personalities en route and was a huge success. She advised that she looked forward to working with Barbara in the future as part of the Armed Forces Community Covenant and congratulated her on her 40 years in the above service.
The Mayor announced that as some of those present may be aware, she had worked for the South Glamorgan Ambulance Service for many years, and therefore, it was an honour to visit the Hazardous Area Response Team – HART in Bryncethin. HART which is part of the Welsh Ambulance Service, provides clinical care in hostile environments like industrial accidents and natural disasters, as well as chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear and terrorist incidents. The team are highly trained professionals whose work takes them into hazardous and often distressing situations. They therefore had her complete support and admiration and she had been grateful to be able to convey her thanks to them in person.
On the subject of our emergency services, the Mayor advised that she had recently paid visits to a number of local police and fire stations to look at the work that they do. She wished to thank both services for taking time out of their normal working day to show her around. It had been great to have the opportunity to meet the staff and see “behind the scenes” she added.
On a more sombre note, the Mayor was sure that those present were all aware of the recent sad and sudden passing of Councillor Janice Dudley, the Mayor of Neath Port Talbot. The Mayor had the pleasure of meeting Janice during her short time as Mayor, and attended her funeral last Friday to convey the respects of the Council. On behalf of Council, she confirmed that thoughts be extended to her family at this difficult time, and the Mayor therefore asked that a minutes silence be given in her honour.
All those present stood for a minutes silence as a mark of respect to Councillor Dudley.
Deputy Leader
The Deputy Leader advised that together with Swansea City Council, BCBC have signed a 15 year contract with the new Agrivert plant at Stormy Down so that our food waste will be recycled locally in future. The plant will handle around 18,000 tonnes every year to generate both electricity and organic fertiliser, which will also be used on 3,000 acres of nearby farm land.
The scheme is being supported with Welsh Government funding and will help the Council to achieve ambitious Wales-wide recycling targets.
Working with Swansea has been a very cost-effective partnership, and he was sure that Members will welcome this environmentally-friendly, local method of recycling the County Borough’s food waste.
The Deputy Leader wished to mention a couple of forthcoming member development events. There will be a session on Scrutiny Questioning Skills on the 11 and 21 September. These are being provided by the WLGA and it was recommended that Members attend.
Of particular importance was the final session that has been organised for the Introduction to Local Government and the Code of Conduct on 12 September. This is for Members who have not yet been to one of the sessions, and the Deputy Leader stressed that attendance was expected.
Safeguarding sessions, also mandatory, were up and coming on 19 and 25 September.
A Risk Management session on 19 September will primarily be of interest to Audit Committee Members, but all Councillors were welcome to take part. Dementia Awareness training will also take place on 27 September, and again on 26 October.
The Deputy Mayor asked Members to note that the visit from the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales is on 22 September. Members have been advised via email of relevant timings, but if they wanted to discuss any issues with the above body, then they needed to contact Member Services by 8 September.
Any Member wishing to attend a regional induction in Swansea on 10 November should speak to the Head of Democratic Services by 8 November.
The Deputy Leader thanked residents for their recycling efforts, and patience during the first 3 months of the County’s new recycling and waste arrangements.
Since June residents had been recycling more than ever, with an increase in the amount of plastics, paper, food waste, cardboard and other recyclable materials being put out at the kerbside.
Compared to 2016, there was a 55% increase in the amount recycled from homes over the first two weeks of the new recycling arrangements.
The Deputy Leader wished to thank residents for the way they had embraced recycling since the new arrangements began this summer.
Obviously, there had been well-documented teething problems with missed collections in some areas and delays on recycling container deliveries, but the Council had worked hard with Kier to improve the situation, and would continue to do so.
There had been an overwhelming number of requests from residents who were keen to recycle food waste but don’t already have the caddies they need, and these were being delivered as soon as possible.
When combined, ie kerbside and recycling collected at Community Recycling Centres, the latest recorded stat for BCBC’s overall recycling rate, April to June 2017, this stood at 63.7%, meaning that the Council was well on track with achieving the ambitious recycling targets that had been set by Welsh Government, with new targets of 64% being set for 2019-20.
Cabinet Member Communities
The Cabinet Member Communities advised that Members may have seen the announcement by Welsh Government yesterday concerning our ageing sea defences at the town beach in Porthcawl. The defences have been protecting the seafront area from flooding and coastal erosion since 1984, but are urgently in need of refurbishment if they are to be capable of continuing to do so.
Now the town is set to benefit from a £3m investment after Welsh Government agreed to provide 75 per cent of the cost for the work.
This is excellent news for the area. The so-called ‘tarmac beach’ will be replaced with a visually pleasing new terraced design and a sandy-coloured flat surface which will enable it to continue to protect the town centre and seafront area for many years to come.
This ambitious, year-long project will need to take account of issues such as unpredictable weather patterns and changing maritime conditions, but he was sure that the end results will be more than worth the effort.
Once the contract for the work has been finalised, the Cabinet Member Communities advised that he would provide further details including information about the various community benefits that the work will deliver.
He then drew Members’ attention towards the local ‘ambassador’ scheme that has been developed by the Reach Rural Development Team and Bridgend Tourism Association.
This initiative sees local volunteers helping to raise the profile of the area by meeting or greeting visitors, writing blogs, taking part in local events and more.
New recruits are always welcome, and potential ambassadors will need to volunteer some of their own time and have an interest in learning more about the area’s culture, wildlife, history, arts and cuisine.
This scheme may be of interest to Members constituents as it was lots of fun and a great way of socialising and making new friends.
Those interested could find out more by emailing ambassadors@bridgendtourism.co.uk
Cabinet Member Regeneration and Education
The Cabinet Member Regeneration and Education advised that the new school and college terms start this week and he wished to acknowledge the hard work of our pupils, teachers, governors and staff following the recent A Level and GCSE results. This year’s A Levels demonstrated further strong performance, and various success stories had been heard from schools all across the County Borough. It was also the first time that the new-style GCSE examinations had been in place, so he wished to especially congratulate all pupils for their hard work and achievements.
In Bridgend, the Rhiw multi-storey parking initiative that offered the first two hours for free was now in effect. It has been made possible by Welsh Government funding and will be available until the end of March next year. If the free parking is seen to have had a positive effect on the town centre, we will have to see whether the Welsh Government is able to provide a further allocation for the free parking scheme to continue in 2018-19. The free car parking will be particularly useful for anyone visiting the town centre Roots festival on 16 September. This was the second time that the festival has been held, and it will again fill the streets of the town centre with live music, entertainment, food and free activities. The last festival was very successful, so he hoped Members would help spread the word about this popular event.
The Jennings Building was now fully up and running, and recently received its official opening from Carwyn Jones AM alongside representatives of the Council, ABA Holdings, Finance Wales, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Cadw. This was part of a network of regeneration that could proceed without any complications regarding land ownership problems. The new businesses that have located there are proving to be exceedingly popular, but the Cabinet Member Regeneration and Education was particularly interested to see the first-floor units where people can both live and work on site, and in the process support other trade in the area. He confirmed that all the effort has been well worthwhile, and he urged those present to visit the Jennings Building, although they may have to wait for a seat, as it was proving to be extremely popular.
Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations
The Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations advised Members that she had two announcements. The first was to advise Members that the Council’s Fostering Team had launched a new recruitment drive by the to coincide with the start of the autumn school term, and also encourage Members to support the recruitment drive by making their constituents aware of the campaign.
The fostering team are appealing for ‘empty nesters’ and people whose own children have grown up and left home to come forward.
To be considered as a foster carer, a person needed to be 21 or over, have a spare room, good communication skills, be ready for the challenge and most importantly care about children.
Those who had an interest did not have to be married or own their own home, and there was also no gender, faith or sexual orientation requirement.
Courses, training and support were all provided, and more information was available at the ‘empty nesters’ page on the Bridgend Foster Care website.
her second announcement was to advise Members that they may also want to give local residents a heads-up that a wave of scam telephone calls are being made across the region and could soon reach as far as the County Borough.
The scams generally ask residents to provide personal information so that a Council Tax refund can be made to them, and try to pressure householders with tight deadlines and threats of legal consequences. A number of complaints had been received and the Shared Regulatory Service was currently investigating these.
The Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations, stated that residents should be reminded to never give out bank details or any personal information over the telephone, and if in doubt, to contact the Council for verification and report suspected scam calls, by phoning the Citizen’s Advice Consumer Service on 03454 040506.