Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence received from Councillors Ray Thomas and Kate Moran.

Members of the Council are reminded of their personal responsibility to declare any personal and prejudicial interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000, the Council’s Constitution and the Members Code of Conduct.

Note:

a.            Members are reminded that they must identify the item number and subject matter that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest; and

b.            Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chair when they leave. 

Councillor A Jones declared an interest in item 25 (Biffa Profit Sharing Scheme).  He advised that he has dispensation but this does not apply when financial/funding matters are being considered.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on Thursday, 3^rd September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of the Standards Committee held on Friday, 4^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of Scrutiny:  Learning and LAESCYP held on Monday, 7^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of Scrutiny:  Social Services held on Tuesday, 8^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of Scrutiny:  Governance, Performance, Business Change and Corporate Services held on Wednesday, 9^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, 9^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record. 

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of Full Council held on Wednesday, 9^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of Scrutiny: Neighbourhood Services and Public Protection held on Monday, 14^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of Scrutiny: Governance, Performance, Business Change and Corporate Services held on Tuesday, 15^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on Wednesday, 16^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on Wednesday, 16^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, 16^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The minutes of the Planning, Regulatory and Licensing Committee held on Wednesday, 16^th September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The minutes of the Audit Committee held on Monday, 21^st September 2015 be accepted as a correct record. 

The minutes of Scrutiny: Regeneration, Planning and Countryside held on Tuesday, 22^nd September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, 23^rd September 2015 be accepted as a correct record. 

The minutes of Full Council held on Wednesday, 23^rd September 2015 be accepted as a correct record.

To consider a Notice of Motion from Councillor B Toomey (Leader) and Councillor P Williams (Deputy Leader).

Councillor B Toomey, Leader of the Council, read out in full the Notice of Motion..   

This was moved and seconded.

RESOLVED that:

 “Given the punitive and undemocratic nature of the Trade Union Bill 2015 Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council wholeheartedly opposes the Bill in its entirety.  The Council urges the Conservative Government to abandon the Trade Union Bill 2015 and to work in partnership with the Trade Union movement to achieve a fairer society.

To receive a Notice of Question from Councillor Richard Thomas (Leader of the Opposition).

Question by Councillor Richard Thomas, Leader of the Opposition

‘Would the Leader of the Council please explain why there has been such an extraordinary delay in making repairs to the A472 Viaduct at its junction with the A470 in Quakes Yard.  I understand that there is a joint responsibility for this Bridge with Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council but also that the part funding for the repair to be paid by this Council was agreed and within budget from April of this year’.

Response by Councillor B Toomey, Leader of the Council

As a cross border structure the Fiddler’s Elbow Viaduct is jointly owned by MTCBC and RCT. Within this arrangement MTCBC has sole responsibility for the carrying out the requisite inspections but the cost of any repair works is shared equally between both Authorities.

As everyone is aware some of the eight expansion joints within the bridge deck started to display signs of failure back in February 2014.

Following initial meetings between engineering staff from both authorities, information reports were prepared to brief Members of the issues and the estimated costs of replacement, which at that time was thought to be in the order of £1m. This estimate was based on information received from the German company responsible for the manufacture of the original joints. The latest estimate including all design, accommodation work (traffic management) and supervision cost is in the region of £1.9m. This will be split equally between us and RCT.

Further meetings between engineers from both authorities to discuss options resulted in RCT commissioning Capita Glamorgan to investigate replacing the joints with a potentially cheaper alternative.

Whilst it was evident that some of the joints had or were about to fail the precise nature of the failure was unclear. In order to stablish the mechanism of failure a CCTV survey of the joints was completed over the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2014. This operation enabled the engineering team to gauge the effectiveness of the traffic diversions that were expected to be used during the main contract, when the bridge was likely to be closed to some of the traffic for up to 5 months. As a result of this “dry run” a meeting was held with WG’s Trunk Road Managers to discuss the potential impact that the works were going to have on the A470. This meeting concluded that in order to minimise the impact on the heavily trafficked trunk road it would be preferable to priorities traffic moving west-east across the viaduct i.e. all traffic leaving the A470 would be unaffected by the works.

This decision resulted in Capita receiving a further commission to undertake a feasibility report and subsequently a detailed assessment of the impact of diverting east bound traffic over the west bound deck and the potential impacts of diverting all West bound traffic throughout the duration of the works.

The subsequent road safety audit of this option highlighted potential issues at the junction from the A4054 onto the existing A470  ...  view the full minutes text for item 517.

To consider a report of the Chief Executive.

RESOLVED that:

The Updated Timekeeping and Attendance Policy be approved with immediate effect.

To consider a report of the Chief Executive.

RESOLVED that:

The Hot Work Policy be approved with immediate effect.

To consider a report of the Chief Executive.

RESOLVED that:

The Expenses Policy be approved with immediate effect.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director (Place and Transformation).

Having declared an interest, Councillor A Jones left the meeting whilst this item was considered.

RESOLVED that:

The request for the allocation of funds be approved as follows:

Penydarren Electoral Division

Bluebird Boys and Girls Football Club  -  £250.00

To consider a report of the Corporate Director (People and Performance).

Councillor A Jones returned to the meeting.

RESOLVED that:

The Annual Performance Report for 2014/15 be approved.

To consider a report of the Chief Officer (Social Services).

Members were advised that the report should read “Wales Audit Office” and not “Welsh Audit Office” as outlined in paragraphs 1.1 and 3.2 of the report

RESOLVED that:

·         The Corporate Safeguarding Policy be implemented with immediate effect.

·         The work of the proposed MTCBC Safeguarding Reference Group be supported.

The Mayor advised that there was no business deemed urgent.

There was no communication from His Worship the Mayor.