(i) Mayor (or person presiding)
(ii) Members of the Cabinet
(iii) Chief Executive
(iv) Monitoring Officer
Minutes:
Mayor
The Mayor extended his congratulations are due to the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Bridgend Extrication Team. The team recently retained their title of the very best in the UK for the sixth time. The team fought off strong competition from teams across the country at a Challenge event in Cardiff Bay which was hosted by the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. He gave a big thank you to all involved for their continued dedication and hard work.
He had a busy period since the last Council meeting, with Judy and he having carried out 28 official engagements, which had been varied, different and very enjoyable. He especially mentioned:
To conclude the Mayor reminded all male Councillors that after the meeting today there will be a photo opportunity in support of the White Ribbon Campaign. Members should have already received an email to this effect from Councillor David White who is our White Ribbon Champion and it would be nice if as many male Councillors as possible could participate to show our support and commitment to this important initiative he concluded.
Deputy Leader
The Deputy Leader hoped that Members found the pre-Council Budget workshop useful and illuminating, and those that could not make that, could attend a repeat session on the same topic after Council.
Our budget consultation recently crossed the half-way mark and is continuing to draw a strong response, but he asked all Members to please continue to make every effort to encourage their constituents to take part in this to have their say.
He was sure that Members will have seen recent media coverage about the forthcoming Council budget, warning that significant service cuts and an increase in council tax are now unavoidable.
Unfortunately, following an extremely disappointing allocation, this is no exaggeration. The Council would be receiving less money with increased pressures
The nationally-negotiated pay increase for teachers will take this year’s overall budget shortfall to more than £12m. While Welsh Government indicate providing additional funding to help meet this extra financial pressure, there was no indication yet whether or not this will cover the full amount, or whether it will only partially contribute to the cost.
A council tax increase by around 5 per cent next year would not cover even a third of the shortfall the Authority faces.
BCBC were no longer in a position to be able to protect services that many people regard as being essential, and therefore, significant cuts were now unavoidable.
Nearly three quarters of the budget goes towards Schools and Social Care services, but the Council had been forced into a position where it can no longer offer any guarantees.
The fact of the matter was that local authorities were not getting the increase they needed to cover basic costs. He was therefore appealing to all Councillors, now more than ever, to work together.
All Members needed to be realistic about this situation, and accept that a number of important services must be reduced or even withdrawn entirely. At the same time, central Government and Welsh Government must also accept that this cannot go on indefinitely.
As many views as possible needed to be taken into account, so he asked all Councillors to urge their constituents to complete the budget consultation.
It was available at the Council website, in hard copy, in a range of alternative formats, including easy-read and one produced especially for younger residents.
As part of the consultation, a Social Media debate is being organised for 7th November to help encourage as many people as possible to take part before the process closes for analysis.
The deadline for returning all completed consultation surveys is 18 November 2018. After that some very difficult decisions will need to be made he concluded.
Cabinet Member – Communities
The Cabinet Member – Communities announced that the first big storm of the season had been and gone and council workers were once more out in the thick of it as dedicated staff made sure that everything continued to run smoothly.
Gullies were regularly jetted to ensure that they remained free of obstruction, and our highway inspectors, supervisors and drainage teams responded to a number of incidents and resolved numerous issues to prevent them from becoming a bigger problem.
The Council had distributed a large quantity of sandbags, responded to reports of localised flooding and removed several fallen trees to keep roads safe and the county borough moving.
Flood sensors kept us aware of rising water levels, especially at Heol Faen, Greenacre and Wyndham Street. As before, much of this was caused by the sheer volume of rain that fell, but also by debris and fly tipping which washed downstream to block drains and culverts.
As Members could imagine, this was cold, uncomfortable difficult work, but our staff were on hand to respond and help, each and every time.
He was sure that Members will want to acknowledge their efforts, and thank everyone who played a part in keeping our communities safe.
We have received more than £1.7m from Welsh Government to fund further Active Travel schemes. These are designed to make it easier for residents to leave their cars at home when making local journeys, and the money will be spent on a number of schemes and improvements.
The biggest single investment of £500,000, will complete the missing link between Coychurch and Pencoed Comprehensive School with an off-road route for pedestrians and cyclists along Coychurch Road.
The second largest investment, £450,000, is benefitting Porthcawl by extending the active travel route along the Eastern Promenade from Coney Beach so it that it continues through to Newton Primary School along New Road.
Other works are included in the funding, and we will also be investing it in design and feasibility costs for the next eight planned Active Travel schemes.
Active Travel improvements take time, energy and money to establish, and he was delighted to see how an extensive local network of safe cycling and walking routes is coming together in Bridgend County Borough.
Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help
Safeguarding and protection services for our most vulnerable residents received a significant boost recently with the official launch of the Bridgend Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub announced the above Cabinet Member.
Also known as MASH, the new integrated service became operational in September, and is the third hub of its kind in Wales.
Based at the Ravens Court offices, the MASH brings together more than 80 professionals including police officers, social workers, education welfare officers, nurses, probation officers and more.
It is a true partnership effort, and is designed to support more efficient information sharing so that faster assessments to take place, in turn ensuring that vulnerable people can receive the support they need.
This is an incredibly significant development in how we are finding new ways of providing essential services, and represents a welcome addition to the county borough’s existing safeguarding arrangements.
Members may also have noticed that it was National Adoption Week recently. As far as we are concerned here in Bridgend, every week is adoption and fostering week. As you know, we have dedicated staff in place who work to recruit more people able to offer a home to vulnerable children.
Our current ‘empty nesters’ and ‘bridge the gap’ campaigns are targeting households where children may have grown-up and moved away, and we are seeking people who are over 21, fit and well enough to care for children, who have a spare bedroom and who can provide a stable home for a local child.
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.
BCBC’s programme of support for newly qualified social workers has earned them an award at the Social Care Wales Accolades, the BAFTA’s of the social care world.
The local authority took top spot in the ‘Developing a confident and sustainable workforce’ category at the prestigious award ceremony held in Cardiff City Hall.
The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help, was thrilled to have been recognised for the imaginative way that our programme helps new social workers get their careers off to the best possible start.
New social workers are given support, teaching and mentoring through a mixture of in-house workshops and training events with outside speakers, as well as individual and group mentoring sessions.
The biennial ‘Accolades’ awards, organised by Social Care Wales with support from partners and sponsors, are held to reward excellent practice in social work, social care, early years and childcare he concluded.
Cabinet Member – Wellbeing and Future Generations
The Cabinet Member – Wellbeing and Future Generations confirmed that it was great to see that developers Lovell are creating 48 new energy-efficient, high-quality affordable homes for local people at Coychurch Road following their appointment by Hafod Housing.
The £5.4m design and build scheme has been developed in partnership with Bridgend County Borough Council, and will deliver some much-needed new social rented homes.
The new development will provide significant training and employment opportunities for local people, including 3 apprenticeships, 6 jobs, 7 paid traineeships and more than 150 hours of work experience placements.
The housing will be completed in phases, and the final properties are scheduled to become ready to occupy in May 2019.
She also took an opportunity to remind members that October is Black History Month, and asked members to help promote the Ethnic Minority and Youth Support Team Wales event.
This was taking place on Tuesday 30 October at Bridgend College, and is aimed at Black Asian and Minority Ethnic people living in Bridgend.
It hopes to gauge a better understanding of their experience of health and social services.
If Members knew of anyone who would be interested in attending, then she asked them to contact the Council’s Consultation, Engagement and Equalities Manager for more details.
Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration
The above Cabinet Member wished to congratulate Oldcastle Primary School for embracing a junior savings scheme organised by Bridgend Lifesavers Credit Union.
Around 76 children took part in the first week of the scheme and saved £340 of their pocket money.
Membership now stands at 236, and the school has saved a total of £11,900 so far.
As member-owned financial co-operatives, credit unions can accept deposits and give out low-interest loans.
The initiative is teaching the pupils about the importance of saving and financial matters, and is supporting the development of skills such as numeracy, team working, communications and more.
The school’s efforts have been recognised with a top prize from Credit Unions of Wales.
As research by the Money Advice Service has revealed that one person in every six in Wales is at risk of being unable to keep up with credit repayments, the scheme is even more worthwhile. He extended his thanks to all concerned.
He hoped members saw the recent feature about the latest developments at Bridgend Indoor Market, but for the benefit of those who may have missed it, since launching our plan to revive the market’s fortunes, five new businesses have signed leases for stalls and we are expecting to make further announcements soon.
The new stalls are offering a diverse mix of goods that range from vintage vinyl, protein health food and Welsh gifts to boutique fashions and specialist wool and knitting supplies.
Members will also see work taking place to give the exterior of the market a fresh new look as a series of illustrative panels are erected, and the historic market bell is moved to a more prominent location.
We have worked closely with market traders, the Rhiw Shopping Centre, Bridgend Town Council, the CF31 business improvement group, Watts and Morgan and local elected members on this, and it ably demonstrates just what partnership working can achieve.
The news has been extremely well received, especially on social media, and bodes well for future developments and further initiatives.
Finally, Members may also wish to advise their constituents that secondary school admissions for September 2019 have now opened, and that for the first time, parents and guardians can make applications online by using a form which is available in the ‘My Account’ section of the council website.
Chief Executive
The Chief Executive reminded Members that the Authority had embarked on a series of management reviews across the organisation. All Councillors will have received already an overview of the senior management structure in the new Chief Executives Directorate
Yesterday Zak Shell was appointed to the role of Head of Operations in the Communities Directorate following an assessment centre style competency based selection process.
Further changes at third tier are also moving forward in that Directorate and Members would be advised of the senior structure when that was complete.
He added that further changes to third tier management have also been completed in Children’s Social Services, with further consultations underway in the Directorate.
In the Education Directorate, the Adult learning and Skills and economy functions have been moved to become part of the education directorate thus better aligning our learning and skills offer from early year’s right through to working age adults. However, any senior management changes will only be considered once we have concluded our exploration of collaboration options with Merthyr Council.
All of these changes seek to strike a balance, responding to the overall reduction in staff numbers as the council becomes a smaller organisation, realising financial savings and maintaining our drive for ever closer integration of functions to support the ‘One Council’ approach.
As Members may be aware, the UK Government’s refugee resettlement programme is helping to provide safe, secure accommodation for families of refugees fleeing the Middle East conflict.
Up to 1,500 are expected to settle in Wales, and to date, six families totalling 31 people have been rehomed in Bridgend County Borough where they have fully integrated into local life.
We have recently agreed via Cabinet yesterday, to house a further five families between now and 2020. UK Government is making specific funding available to facilitate this, and we will be working with Hafod Housing to support them.
As before, Hafod will manage tenancies in the private rented sector for the refugee families, and there will therefore be no impact or knock-on effect on the existing housing list.
If it is still unsafe for them to return home after five years, the refugees will be able to apply to the UK Government to remain in the UK.
There will be further updates as the programme develops.
Members will also be aware of the wealth of activity undertaken by faith communities of all denominations, very often working on agendas that are also important to us and our partners. For example supporting people at risk or experiencing homelessness, supporting people living in poverty or connecting people and addressing isolation
The public service board of which Bridgend is a member is organising an event in November to coincide with interfaith week. This event will bring together representative of those organisations and facilitate networking and exchange of ideas and approaches. It is also intended allow networking between these organisations and some statutory agencies working to address similar issues such as the fire service, social care and housing.
Monitoring Officer
The Monitoring Officer wished to advise Members that an extra meeting of the Audit Committee has been added to the Programme of Meetings 2018/19, in order to adequately consider the number of items of business that comprise the Committees current Annual Forward Work Programme. This meeting will take place on Thursday 13 December 2018 at 2.00pm in these offices. Finance Officers and the Chairperson have agreed to the meeting being added to the Programme of Meetings, and Members of the Committee have been advised that a further meeting is required.
Council are asked to note this information, and that the meeting will be added to the Audit Committee Members’ electronic calendars in the immediate future.
She also reminded Members that they would shortly be forwarded a form to complete with regard to Disclosure and Barring Checks. This needed to be returned to the Council at the earliest opportunity.