Then yesterday our 21^st Century Schools team won the Demonstrating Environmental Sustainability award at the Ystadau Cymru awards for their pioneering decarbonisation programme.

“An all-electric model has been enhanced by additional renewable sources of electricity - creating the first net-zero carbon ‘in-use’ school in Wales. The model is being developed further to address net-zero.”At the ceremony the work of the Council was praised. Minister for Finance & Local Government, Rebecca Evans, MS said: “Building on experiences of designing and delivering school decarbonisation projects, the Council are developing a model for ‘in-use’ decarbonisation of their educational estate.

It is always satisfying to see the work of our teams recognised at a national level. However, for me it is even more so when our achievements are recognised by our residents.

Earlier this week I was sent a Facebook post shared by one of our residents. It reads: “When my youngest son was born in the Vale of Glamorgan in 2002, the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill was close to 90%. In 2020-21, it was below 5%.

“The county where he was born received a 71% recycling rate last year and just a short distance from where he was born you can now find a Benthyg Cymru – a library of things, a zero waste shop, and several eco schools.”

We are all working hard to change our organisation into one that is fit for the future. The work of our Neighbourhood Services team in recent years is a great example of this and it is hugely encouraging to see our residents appreciating it as much as I do.

I have regularly referenced some of the excellent work that some of our schools have led on during the pandemic and this week I was pleased to receive an e-mail outlining some of the initiatives put in place at Rhws Primary School. The school has recently installed a new outdoor learning area in the form of a tepee. This not only adds a wow factor to their skyline, but also creates a much needed, huge, exciting and well-ventilated space. It provides 100m2 of floor space which has been used for a variety of activities. The school will host both classroom and practical lessons in the tepee and are looking forward to holding school performances and conducting PE lessons there too. This is just one aspect of some really innovative work at the school which will be subject to a StaffNet+ feature soon.

It is often said that the only constant in life is change and one thing we know for sure is that the pace of change in local government is only going to increase in the coming years. Though we don't yet know what then Council’s financial settlement for next year from Welsh Government will be, even the best-case scenario will still leave a big shortfall. It is in this context that we have today launched our public consultation on our budget for 2022-23.

We want to hear from as many people as possible, including our staff who live in the Vale. In drafting our initial budget proposals, we have prepared for a range of possibilities, from a 1% reduction in our settlement to a 4.42% increase, which would be the same rise as last year. In each of those scenarios, the predicted impact of Council Tax increases of 3.2%, 3.9%, 4.2% (the October CPI rate) and 7.05% (the latter being the figure that would bring the Vale in line with average cost for Wales) have been factored in.

The budget consultation gives people an opportunity to tell us what they think about the proposals. A short video explaining the proposals and online survey can be found on our website. We want to hear from anyone who lives in the Vale so please take a look and share the information that is online with friends and family so that we can take account of as many views as possible.  

You should by now have heard about our Christmas working arrangements from your manager. As was the case last year we will be closing our office buildings for non-essential services from 4:30pm on Friday 24 December until 8.00am on Tuesday 4 January.

With much of the organisation currently working remotely this is an office closure rather than a service closure but I hope it also allows as many staff as possible to take a break if the demands of the service and the needs of our residents allows.

I know and appreciate that this is not an option for everyone. Essential services will still need to be delivered. I am as always hugely grateful to those teams in C1V, Social Services, Housing and Neighbourhood Services, as well as other areas, who will be working just as hard, if not harder over the Christmas period as they would at any other time of year.

Thanks as always for your efforts this week and for your continued support. Diolch yn fawr.

Rob.