08 October, 2021

Dear Colleagues,

This week has seen the announcement of another big investment in improving the Vale. This came in the shape of the latest phase of improvements to Penarth Pier and esplanade. A £200,000 investment will see railings, benches, bollards, lighting columns, the decking, pierhead hut, and toilets all refurbished. More road resurfacing work will also take place. While there will be some temporary road closures, the Big Fresh Catering Company’s popular café and other businesses on the esplanade and pier will remain open as normal throughout.

Very soon after the news was released I received an email from a local resident who said the works to enhance the Esplanade public spaces undertaken so far have been well received by the community and that they are excited about the next phase of the upgrade.Thank you to all of the teams involved. I know colleagues in Neighbourhood Services and Transport have been working particularly hard on this programme and it’s great to see that it is appreciated by the local community as well as by visitors.

Upgrading and maintaining public spaces is one of the elements of our work that touches the lives of huge numbers of residents and has a real impact on the quality of day to day life.  The role played by our public spaces has never been more important, given the events of the last 18 months.  It is vital that we continue to improve and maintain these important community spaces for the benefit of local residents. 

I am pleased to see that other works due to begin in the next couple of weeks include an upgrade to Belle Vue Park’s play area in Penarth. This is a Section 106 funded project and is part of a wider upgrade that will also see a new Pavilion building replace the existing pavilion, which will be more suitable to the needs of the local community. There are a team of officers who work closely together on Section 106 play area upgrades such as these, that includes Charlotte Raine, Christine Smith, Adam Sargent, Jon Greatreax and our newly appointed Principal Landscape Architect, Jon Green. I’d like to thank you all for your work on this project, and the numerous others that I know are in the pipeline. It is good to see such positive work taking place across departments through individuals and teams working so well together.  Well done all, diolch yn fawr. I look forward to seeing the completed schemes. 

Another team who make a big impact on residents’ lives but often in a very different way is Contact One Vale. C1V is the front door to many of our services and despite significant challenges over the summer period, the team work incredibly hard to offer the best experience possible to our customers. I’ve shared news of the new system that’s being implemented in the Contact Centre and back office teams to improve the service to our customers. I’m looking forward to sharing news with you, too, very soon about how this will also enhance the way our customers can interact with us on our website, too.

This week I want to give a particular shout out to Denise Davis, one of our Customer Service Representatives. I was pleased to read an email from one of her supervisors this week, Rochelle Gibbons, praising Denise’s support for her colleagues in Telecare and willingness to always go above and beyond the requirements of her role. In her email, Rochelle said:

“Denise has been very supportive to Telecare throughout the pandemic, walking over in all weathers between the Civic and C1V to give Telecare Operators a well needed break as at times during Covid – Telecare calls were hard and emotionally draining  – she was often the only person they saw during a shift when everyone else was working from home and she is always so friendly, supportive and positive – I know they really appreciate her support both practically and at times emotionally too.

“Yesterday her supportive nature went further than that, due to an emergency with one team member’s family causing them to leave work in a hurry, she jumped on the Telecare desk and took over from them without hesitation. A little while later the computer system then started to play up and it froze, Denise calmly diverted the line to Carmarthen, tried to fix the system issue and sought help to ensure customers were safe. 

“Thank you, Denise you are a diamond.”

I’d like to echo Rochelle’s thanks, it’s this type of support for colleagues that makes me proud of the organisation we work for. Throughout the pandemic and beyond, when colleagues have been struggling or needing an extra bit of support others have stepped up. It’s examples like this that remind us all to be kind, considerate and as helpful as we can be as we work together to deliver vital services to residents in the Vale of Glamorgan. 

On a related note, Suzanne Clifton, Head of Adult Services and Vale Alliance has also written an email this week praising colleagues in Adult Services & C1V for supporting an elderly gentleman. A situation occurred which left this person feeling vulnerable but thankfully these colleagues worked together to resolve the situation and ensure the safety of this particular service user. Suzanne praised their swift action and ingenuity, noting: 

“Thank you for being determined to resolve and understand the pieces of the puzzle, a great example of how seriously you take your roles and how you make lives better and safe. Also, that your response times were fantastic to be able to address the issues in real time to prevent further escalation and anxiety for this individual.” 

It’s feedback like this which shows how our staff have clearly demonstrated their commitment to their roles and to helping residents in the Vale of Glamorgan who are in need. A great example of teams working together around the needs of our residents. Da iawn a diolch yn fawr, Team Vale.

Before I draw this message to a close, it’s worth briefly referencing the most recent announcement from the Welsh Government earlier today. Wales remains at Alert Level zero which means very little change to the current situation, other than that already announced earlier this week in relation to covid passes for various night club or events settings. Although the number of coronavirus cases remain high, particularly in the under 25 age group. Whilst there has been a reduction in the number of people in hospital critical care with covid, the NHS is under significant pressure and much of what the First Minister announced was to seek to protect the NHS in the event of a further upturn in covid cases.

In addition, and importantly, the First Minister continued to stress that the important aspects to keep ourselves and our families, friends and colleagues safe, remains the same as they always have been throughout the pandemic – washing hands, wearing face coverings in certain settings, ventilated spaces, working from home if possible and meeting outdoors where possible. 

I attended a meeting with Welsh Government earlier this morning and all these aspects continued to be discussed as being of significant importance.

I look forward to sharing more such examples of our collective efforts next week and I hope that you all have an enjoyable weekend.

Take care and stay safe.

Diolch yn fawr,

Rob.