Message from the Managing Director

06 August 2021

Dear Colleagues,

The First Minister has today announced that Wales will move to Alert Level Zero from tomorrow (Saturday 7^th August). The announcement in many ways draws a line under the past 15 months with the lifting of all but a few of the remaining restrictions. There will now be no restrictions on the number of people that can meet indoors and all businesses can now reopen. While I don’t see myself visiting a nightclub anytime soon this is of course very welcome news.

The move to Alert Level Zero has been enabled in large part by the fact that 82% of the adult population of Wales has now been vaccinated against Covid-19. This is a feat that would have seemed impossible only a few months ago. I have used these messages many times in the past to give thanks to all of our colleagues who have played a role in this effort and will make no apologies for doing so again. To everyone who has helped us reach this point, thank you once again.

Vaccinations are playing a vital role in our fight against the virus and I would encourage everyone to take up the offer of a vaccine. If you are not yet in the 82% then first and second doses are now available via walk-in appointments at both the Holm View mass vaccination centre in Barry and the Bayside centre in Cardiff.

One of the Council teams most heavily involved in the pandemic response has been Shared Regulatory Services and I am delighted to say the department has been recognised at this year's Regulatory Excellence awards for its work in supporting business.

The awards process is run annually by the Office for Product Safety Standards and Product Safety, part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to celebrate outstanding regulatory practice. The SRS team was highly commended for its work with the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) with which it has a co-ordinated Primary Authority partnership. The judges were particularly impressed with the 'Low and No Alcohol Beverage Guidance' recently produced by the partnership. Low and no alcohol drinks is a fast-growing market. SRS Officers Natalie Burrows and David Gregory were central to the creation of this guidance which was lauded by the judges.

If you visit any of the Vales' four town centres this weekend you’ll see they look blooming lovely thanks to the Vale’s first Festival of Flowers. As well as floral installations and a Flower Trail for high street visitors to enjoy, our Regeneration team have worked with traders across Barry, Cowbridge, Llantwit Major and Penarth to promote their floral offerings throughout the month. Supporting our high streets is a top priority for the Council and you can follow ValeTownCentres Facebook page and Instagram to discover what's happening where. Remember to use the #BloomingLovelyVTC when you're out and about taking photos.

In his announcement today the First Minister stressed that the national guidance remained for people to work from home wherever possible. There are many good reasons for this and it remains the Council’s position also for the current time. However, face to face contact is also important and as many of us are now back into the habit of socialising with family and friends in person,  our wellbeing champions are also developing new initiatives to get us out and about with our colleagues. The first of these are the woodland wellbeing sessions. There have so far been 3 woodland activity sessions at Porthkerry Country Park. All were great fun, gave an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and helped give something back to the community. The next session is planned for 20 August 2021. If you’d like to get involved just contact one of the champions.

Last week, I mentioned the excellent work undertaken by Housing colleagues in delivering 11 temporary bungalows at Court Road, Barry to assist people in taking steps towards their own home.  I can advise that the tenants arrived at the beginning of the week, and I was copied into this e-mail from Rebecca James (Temporary Accommodation and PRS coordinator) who said:

“I just wanted to send a message to express how incredible ‘Court Road day’ was yesterday. Everyone coming in to the Civic for their sign ups were super excited, lots had already been down to have a look which only added to their excitement. Spirits were really high for each and every sign up. Once all were complete myself and Denise popped down to see how everyone was settling in and it was honestly completely overwhelming. There was already an amazing sense of community, lots of open doors, people chatting and helping each other. Everyone had huge smiles on their faces and were laughing and joking. There were more ‘thank yous’ than I can remember, there were tears (positive ones, of course). The energy was just incredible. People had already taken great pride in their lodges setting them up to be home. People already discussing roles like watering the garden etc. It was an absolutely incredible atmosphere and both myself and Denise left feeling quite emotional”.

This ‘report back’ from Rebecca says it all and I cannot, in all honesty add anything better.  Thanks for sharing this Rebecca and again, well done to all involved. 

By chance, I was contacted by an organisation, New Local, late last week to ask for my thoughts on what one approach I would want to keep following the pandemic and I was extremely proud to be able to reference this excellent project in my response.

Finally I’d like to give a mention to a very significant development for us as an organisation that will be coming in September. The Council will soon be publishing our first ever Vale Culture Book. The Vale Culture Book has been developed by staff, for staff, and as a further development following on from the Staff Charter. It will be a guide to new and existing employees as well as the public on how we do things in the Vale, told through the stories of those colleagues that live our values and ethos in all aspects of their work.

The Vale Culture Book has been produced by our employee engagement group and the people behind it will be sharing a lot more information ahead of its launch this September. Watch this space.

As always, thank you all for your efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr.

Rob.