The Leader announced that he was pleased to hear that work to bring Bryncethin Primary Schools Early Years Unit was expected to be completed within the next few weeks.  He informed Members that the Unit sustained considerable damage in July when a sprinkler head failed, causing flooding to the whole building damaging walls, floors and carpets, which in turn prevented the Unit from opening on time for the start of the new term.  The building was now expected to be completely dry and ready to open its doors again by the October half term.  Everything which had been damaged would be replaced so the Unit would be as new for the pupils return. He felt that Council Officers and the Emergency Services who had attended the incident for their prompt actions which kept damage to a minimum and also to staff who had helped find alternative temporary nursing care for the children whilst the repair work was being carried out.   

              The Leader informed Members that the Council’s Fostering Team were targeting “empty nesters” as part of their latest drive to encourage more people to foster.  The Fostering Team would like to hear from people whose children had left the family for new homes, University or to make homes of their own and who can use their valuable parenting skills to help vulnerable children.  He stated that there was a current shortage of approximately 90 placements in Bridgend County Borough and last year saw a 6% increase in a number of looked after children and young people and hoped that Members would agree that this was a very worthwhile initiative.  He stated that the Fostering Team will be setting up stands at local supermarkets next week and more information was available from the website or contacting the team directly.

              The Leader also announced that the Council was supporting a new national campaign called Pledge for Plastics which he hoped Members would encourage their constituents to support the campaign askes householders to try and recycle one extra plastic bottle or container each week, thereby cutting down on the amount of waste sent to landfill, 5 billion plastic items were sent to landfill sites in the last year.  He stated that this was a shockingly high amount, where the average household uses approximately 440 plastic bottles every year.  He urged Members to help spread the word about this very worthwhile campaign and encourage constituents to place plastic containers in their blue recycling bags instead of the bin.

The Leader announced a new initiative called ‘Access to Research’ which had been launched at local libraries in Bridgend County Borough, which as a free service making more that 10 million academic articles available to students across a wide range of disciplines.  The initiative is designed to help students in their studies and was a result of a unique collaboration between the Bridgend Library and Information Service and publishers, which further demonstrates the wide range of services that a modern local library service was offering communities throughout the County Borough.