Minutes:
The Leader thanked colleagues for his election as Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council and he pledged once more give the role his full attention and focus. There would need to be a strong focus will be necessary over the next twelve months, with the tenth year of national austerity fast approaching, with the future remaining very challenging for local government, with the Council requiring to save a further £35m over the coming years, which will impact significantly upon local services and council tax rises.
He informed Council that local government and society are in a state of transition, with the uncertainty of Brexit, the Council now being part of a new health authority area, facing increasing demands for greater regional collaboration, and seeing rapid changes in the roles that councils play in the lives of people living throughout the UK. He stated that the Council has not shied away from making difficult decisions during this period, nor had it lost sight of ensuring the continued safety and wellbeing of the most vulnerable residents despite having to provide services against an ongoing backdrop of increasingly limited resources and requiring an ethos of resilience.
The Council has over the last year recruited and appointed a new Chief Executive, a Director of Education and appointed a new Monitoring Officer, with Council growing its own and promoting from within the organisation. It therefore has the advantage of a new senior management team that has extensive experience of the organisation, and Cabinet will continue to work alongside them in order to meet future challenges head-on.
The Leader acknowledged the efforts of staff at all levels over the last nine years, who have been at the forefront of delivering council services and maintain high quality under some very difficult circumstances. Cutting over 400 posts from organisation has increased the demands placed on staff at all levels within the organisation, but it was reassuring that the authority has a skilled and dedicated workforce in place as it turns towards the year ahead.
The Leader stated that although the Council faces diminishing resources, it has always tried to balance this with innovation and investment in the future, and the Council can never lose sight of the need to invest in its communities, modernise and change services and invest in young people. The Council has opened a new Extra Care facility at Ynysawdre and a second facility preparing to open in Maesteg. Children’s residential homes have been remodelled to provide a hub with a new short-term assessment unit featuring for the first time specialist therapeutic care and a new emergency unit, which has helped to avoid making out of county placements in secure accommodation.
The Council has teamed up with organisations such as health and South Wales Police to establish the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, helping to respond to safeguarding concerns in a coordinated, joined up and effective way. Elsewhere, the Council has agreed to support young people leaving care by making them exempt from having to pay any council tax until they are 25 years old, and are supporting grieving families by scrapping burial and cremation fees for children and young people who are under 18 years old.
The Council is continuing to revolutionise the way in which people can access council services, and have seen people doing business with the Council around the clock thanks to the launch of the new My Account online feature. The flagship 21st Century school modernisation programme has delivered significant success over the last year, and we have been delighted to open state of the art primary schools for Brynmenyn, Pencoed, Bettws and Calan Y Cymoedd. Over the next five years, Band B of the programme will see an investment of more than £65m in a further five new schools, including two Welsh medium primaries and a modern new special school.
Investing in education will give young people the skills they need and the local economy the skills it needs to thrive.
There is a shortage of commercial space for small and micro businesses and the investment of £5.5m in the Enterprise Hub Programme to create 1,800 square metres of new business units at Brocastle, Village Farm Industrial Estate, and the Innovation Centre is the biggest ever expansion of business space for small businesses in the County Borough’s History. A pipeline of projects are under development through the Cardiff Capital City Deal which is a 10 year long term programme, and as Chair of the Regional Transport Authority, the Leader was delighted to announce proposals for a new park-and-ride at Pyle rail station recently. The Graduate Support Scheme will see the Council working with local employers to create opportunities with the likes of Sony in Pencoed and Rockwool in Heol Y Cyw, and with cutting-edge technological life science companies within the area employing highly-skilled specialists, we are seeking to capitalise on the world’s first semi-conductor cluster project.
The Council is the only one in Wales to have an energy strategy and plan in place for reducing carbon emissions by 95%, leading not just Wales, but the UK. More significantly, the County Borough will have the UK’s first and only largescale mine water energy scheme and the District Heat Network project in Bridgend. The Council is supporting a domestic energy efficiency initiative that will help households living in fuel poverty and are trialling the latest hybrid technologies in one of the UK’s only living labs through the likes of the Freedom project in Brackla. He stated that the potential of this is huge considering that the City Deal’s industrial and economic policy, Welsh Government and UK government identifies energy as a strategic and industrial priority. The kerbside recycling and waste collection service and the enthusiasm and efforts of residents, the Council is the second-highest performing authority in Wales and on track to smash the recycling target set by Welsh Government.
The Leader announced that the Council has invested millions in things like the replacement and resurfacing of roads and pavements throughout the county borough or the installation of more efficient streetlighting. Over the year to come, the Council will be investing millions more in initiatives that range from helping people to access and develop essential disabled facilities to ensuring that local bridges remain safe to use.
The Council has invested in new sea defences which have recently been completed at Porthcawl’s town beach, and the new watersports centre which is nearing completion at Rest Bay. These represent another piece in the overall regeneration jigsaw for the town, and we have exciting plans under development that will soon deliver further improvements. Progress continues on plans for the re-development of Maesteg Town Hall to secure it for future generations as regional arts and cultural hub. The Council is committed to ensuring maximising the potential value of the Welsh Government’s Valleys Task Force for the Llynfi, Ogmore and Garw. The Council has already seen investment in Garw Valley through the Valleys Regional Park Visitor gateway programme. This has all been achieved at a time when the Council has been forced to find multi-million pound savings in the face of ongoing austerity. The Council has had to fundamentally alter the way in which it provide essential frontline services, and through greater collaboration, partnership working and the use of innovations such as community asset transfers. He stated that the Council will need to continue to work in an engaging and inclusive way with other public sector partners, the third sector and private sector it faces.
The Leader informed Council that weighing people’s expectations against the reality of what needs to be done can be a Councillor’s singularly most frustrating experience. While this continues to be the case, it does not deflect or distract the Council from doing the right thing, and he believed this Council will continue to seek to provide the best possible outcomes under the circumstances. He stated that Members will continue to remain ambitious for the County Borough.
In his role as Leader, he is supported by Cabinet colleagues, and he acknowledged their contribution to the leadership of the authority and expressed his thanks for their ongoing and much-valued support. He stated that one of the positive hallmarks of this Council is the way that the Council can work across political parties and groups and achieve consensus. He thanked Councillors Clarke, Gifffard, James and Penhale-Thomas for working together as Group Leaders. He stated that elected representatives owed that to the communities it represented.
The Leader concluded that the Council remained strong, stable and largely united and by working together to protect essential services for the most vulnerable, prioritising investment in the future, it can ensure that Bridgend County Borough Council can continue to meet the inevitable challenges that lay ahead.