(i) Mayor (or person presiding)
(ii) Members of the Cabinet
(iii) Chief Executive
(iv) Monitoring Officer
Minutes:
The Mayor
The Mayor welcomed Members back after the August recess and hoped all had been able to get away for a few days ready for the autumn / winter season.
Since his last report to Council, both his Escort and he had carried out 34 official engagements, which had been varied and different yet very enjoyable, and it had been difficult to select a few to tell Members about.
They visited Mrs Emily McNamara on her 100th Birthday at her home in Maesteg, who enjoys good health, is still able to go shopping every week to ASDA with her granddaughter, and manages to climb the stairs every night. She told us about working in the munitions factory in Bridgend during the war and how she meet her husband at a dance in 1943 and they got married 6 months later, and the rest is history with a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was lovely to meet her and her family he added.
They also attended the Park Slip Disaster memorial service, a moving occasion with the great loss of life especially young men of 13 years of age, and in some cases several members of the same family lost.
The official opening of Bettws School by the First Minister was an excellent morning where we were shown around by the pupils who told us about their new school.
The Mayor/Consort had also attended the Maesteg Comprehensive School sports presentation evening, and at the Odeon Cinema Bridgend they attended the premier of Dragon Hunters, journalistic short films about the problems with dragons in the valleys, made in collaboration by all the primary schools in the Maesteg area, assisted by staff and pupils of Maesteg Comprehensive.
They also visited Trelales School Laleston to present the Platinum flag awarded to the school after 10 years having been awarded the green flag.
Further visits, included Year 6 leavers play at Tondu School, Bridgend car show, civic service of the Mayor of Porthcawl Cllr. Norah Clark, licensing of the Rev Ian Hodges as Area Dean with Bishop June. The Royal Welsh Show, visit to Tenovus mobile cancer unit at the pines, 65th Wedding Anniversary of Mr & Mrs Panter, presentation evening at HMS Cambria Barry. They had also visited the Dogs’ Trust at Pen-y Fai, Bridge FM radio local hero awards evening, Presentation of a cheque to the Mayor Charities from the Members and Management of Castle bingo, and Housing matters day at Llamau’s Morfa safe house.
He added that it was a sad occasion to attend the funeral of Audrey Thomas the sister of Councillor Jeff Tildesley, and who was his Consort when he was Mayor.
The Mayor had presented to him a cheque for Bridgend radio from Sainsbury’s, following which he then visited the radio station in the hospital, then attended the opening of the new Gym for Warriors kick boxing club at the YMCA in Bridgend with Councillor David White and the Leader.
The Mayor/Consort had been presented with Gideon Bibles at the Civic Offices; visited St Pauls open day at Heol –y-Cyw, Glanffrwd residential home summer fete in Pencoed, LGBGT Flag raising at civic offices, citizenship ceremony with 2 lovely families, ordination and induction of the new pastor for Hope Baptist Church Reverend Robert Hall QGM (Robbie to his friends). Also to Cefn-yr-Afon fete, Brackla in Bloom presentation, a concert by Porthcawl male voice choir with a talented quartet of singers ie The 4tunes. The Launch of Bridgend craft collective, Presentation and unveiling of a plaque at Porthcawl Harbour with Councillor Charles Smith to mark the double century of the birth of Robert Pearson Brereton who along with other projects in the area designed and built Porthcawl harbour, MPCT St David’s day run in Coopers field Bute park.
He concluded by advising that both his Consort and he, were looking forward to a busy autumn season, if the above was anything to go by.
Deputy Leader
The Deputy Leader was sure that Members will want to let their constituents know that we are preparing to hold the annual County Borough Job’s Fair.
This popular free event will take place tomorrow between 10am and 1pm at Bridgend Life Centre.
It was open to everyone, and is aimed at helping local people to find work or change career while receiving expert advice and support.
The event had been organised in partnership with Job Centre Plus, and more than 40 employers and organisations will be taking part.
There will be a wide range of temporary and permanent vacancies available to apply for on the day, and these will cover jobs in retail and sales, hospitality driving, care, manufacturing, banking, security, training providers, public services and recruitment.
The job’s fair has developed a solid reputation as a place where job seekers can access information and advice, and get back into work or find an opportunity to increase their skills.
This year’s event has attracted a large number of potential employers, and he was certain that it will be of great benefit to local residents.
Cabinet Member – Communities
The Cabinet Member – Communities advised that Members were no doubt used to constituents bringing potholes to their attention, so he was really pleased to see that our £1.5m highways upgrade is underway.
This is resurfacing some of the County Borough’s most well-used roads as part of a rolling programme of investment.
He was aware that Members and concerned members of the public, had brought many of the roads to our attention, and Council staff had identified those which needed to be included in the programme
The roads had been selected for work following technical surveys which have made use of radar, skid-resistance equipment, condition surveys and assessments conducted by highways inspectors.
Once the work has been completed, it should ensure that the road will not require any further major repairs for between 20 to 30 years.
This makes far greater sense than patching or mending potholes as they occur, and is far cheaper in the long run.
While some inconvenience is inevitable, all efforts are being made to try and keep this to a minimum, and the work is going to make quite a difference as we move closer towards winter.
Finally, he reminded Members of the RAF Centenary event that would take place at 4.30pm (ie following Council) this afternoon.
Cabinet Member – Future Generations and Wellbeing
The Cabinet Member – Future Generations and Wellbeing, advised that as the autumn term rolls around, the Council’s annual ‘Empty Nest’ campaign has begun to recruit new foster carers.
The campaign is aimed at households where children have grown-up and moved on. It provides a positive solution for parents and guardians who may be trying to adjust to the sudden change in their lives.
It also encourages parents and guardians to use their skills to help ensure that children can remain in the local area, and as close to their school and friends as possible.
Foster carers were also being sought, as part of the ‘Bridge The Gap’ scheme, which provides specialist short-term care for children who have a range of additional needs.
Ongoing training and advice is provided for all foster carers along with a competitive financial package.
She concluded by stating that anyone who would like to find out more can do so by visiting the Bridgend Foster Care website, or calling the fostering team on 642674.
Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration
The Cabinet Member Education and Regeneration, stated that colleagues will be aware that this Council’s ongoing school modernisation programme has been delivering state of the art educational facilities for some time now.
Together with the Mayor, Youth Mayor, Deputy Youth Mayor, Leader, and fellow Cabinet members together with local Councillor Martin Jones, he was delighted to attend the official opening of the all-new Betws Primary School.
First Minister Carwyn Jones was also on hand for the event, and they seen for themselves what a huge difference the school is making in the lives of over 200 local children aged between four and eleven.
As Members were aware, in 2012 Betws Primary was partially damaged after a fire broke out in the junior block. Together with the Welsh medium primary which is being constructed at the same site, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Calon Y Cymoedd, both schools represent a £10.8m investment into the southern part of the Garw Valley.
With Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen located just a few miles down the road, he felt that this ably demonstrates the efforts being made to create a formidable lasting legacy for education in this part of the County Borough.
He both thanked and congratulated everyone who had helped to deliver this wonderful new community resource.
He was also delighted to attend a recent event organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers, or ICE for short, to mark the contribution of Robert Pearson Brereton, a 19th century engineer and colleague of Brunel, who was responsible for a number of local feats of engineering.
These included the construction of the new Porthcawl dock, which opened in 1867, and the completion of the Maesteg district to Bridgend and Porthcawl railway line.
In the past thirteen years ICE Wales Cymru has placed or supported 27 plaques and information panels throughout Wales, marking important historical engineering sites and commemorating famous engineers such as Trevithick, Brunel and Telford.
ICE had provided us with a commemorative plaque which we will place on permanent display once some of the current harbour works are completed.
It will be the 27th plaque that ICE has awarded to mark important sites and commemorate famous engineers, and he was sure that Members would wish to check this out for themselves.
Chief Executive
The Chief Executive wished to provide Members with a brief update about some staff engagement work that was currently being carried out.
Over the summer, the Leader and himself held a number of sessions with staff here in the Council Chamber, and around 150 employees attended these in total, and they gave them a real cross-cutting flavour of the sort of concerns and issues affecting staff.
The sessions also enabled them to share some of the major issues facing the Council, and to answer any questions that were raised. They also encouraged staff to view the sessions as an open forum where anyone could raise an issue, and they responded to this positively so.
Staff had expressed a lot of interest in the forthcoming health board changes and Local government reorganisation was also a hot topic. As of course was the budget and austerity.
The staff updates form part of a rolling programme of measures which are designed to help us better understand our staff, and support us in addressing their well-being needs.
This was something that the Leader and he were likely to repeat at regular intervals in the future.
Additionally, we launched a staff survey which is designed to enable staff to provide us with honest, anonymous feedback, and give us a true insight into their views and feelings. This will conclude on 10 October, after which time we will analyse it in order to identify what actions might be necessary for things like supporting staff wellbeing and morale.
He would update Members with more details once the results of this process were known the Chief Executive concluded.
Monitoring Officer
The Monitoring Officer announced of a couple of changes regarding Committee memberships.
Firstly, she advised that Councillor Radcliffe would take the place of Councillor T Thomas on the Development Control Committee.
Secondly, it had been agreed between the two following Members, that Councillor J Williams comes off SO&SC 1 and becomes a member of SO&SC 3 instead. To facilitate this, Councillor JH Tildesley would relinquish his membership on SO&SC 3 and become a member of SO&SC 1.
The Monitoring Officer added that the above changes would not affect the current political balance of Committees.