The Chief Executive presented a report, that sought Council approval of the new Corporate Plan 2018-2022, shown at Appendix A to the report.

He advised that the proposed Corporate Plan set out the Council’s priorities for the above period, and defined the Council’s commitments for 2018-2019.

He referred to paragraph 4.3 which confirmed that in January 2018, the Council’s Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the draft Plan, and made a series of constructive comments and suggested amendments for inclusion in the Plan. These had been collated, and wherever feasible, amendments had been made to the Plan, and examples of these were shown in bullet point format in this section of the report.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the Plan would be supported by the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), Directorate Business Plans and Service Plans. He added that the Plan’s priorities and commitments would be reviewed annually, to take into account changing circumstances and progress made, and to ensure that the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009, and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 are met.

He then referred to paragraph 4.9 of the report and the three listed Priorities of the Plan, and emphasised that whilst these were not subject to change (but to review), the commitments of the Plan were subject to change, usually on an annual basis. The Priorities of the Plan also had the support of constituents of the County Borough following a consultation exercise that had been undertaken in 2017, in relation to two pieces of different legislation as detailed above.

A Member referred to page 97 of the Plan and the Aim – To create successful town centres. He asked how this aim could be fully achieved if there was a proposal as part of the MTFS, to close public toilets and cut certain bus services into town centres and other areas.

The Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration responded by stating that nothing had as yet been fully decided with regard to both the above proposals, as they were presently out for consultation.

A Member referred to page 102 of the report and the comparable data with regard to the number of vacant properties in the 4 town centres that comprise the Bridgend County Borough, and questioned the accuracy of this.

The Corporate Director – Communities confirmed that the target(s) for 2016-17 and 2017-18 had been the same, however, when the Actual(s) data was received and collated, and in particular, for Bridgend, Maesteg and Porthcawl, these totals were all different. He advised Council that in future, the Actual figures would be looked to be maintained from the previous year going forward.

The Cabinet Member – Communities wished to point out, that the prospect of bus services being cut was not a decision governed by the Council per se. The Authority were going out to consultation on bus service subsidies. The companies who provided bus services would ultimately be making decisions regarding the future delivery of these services, he concluded.

RESOLVED:                    That Council approved and adopted the proposed Corporate Plan 2018-2022.