The Appointment: Marcus Goldsworthy doesn’t just run directorates

When Marcus Goldsworthy isn’t overseeing a brand-new Council directorate, he enjoys running something else – half marathons!

The Council’s new Director of Place has taken part in races at Swansea, Cardiff and Newport and a host of other 10k events. He also enjoys golf - playing off 10 - and walking around the Vale coast.

Marcus’ quickest time over 13.1 miles is a very respectable 1:46, though he insists Director of Social Services Lance Carver is faster!

“I’m not ideally built for running at 6’5””, smiled Marcus, pointing out that his best performance was not produced recently.

The former Head of Regeneration and Planning was recently promoted to his new position following a reshuffle of the Council’s Senior Leadership Team that also saw Tom Bowring appointed Director of Corporate Resources.

For Marcus, it was the latest step in a 24-year Vale of Glamorgan Council career, while he has worked in Welsh local Government since 1991.

After attending Cardiff University, Marcus joined Rhondda Borough Council as a Student Planner that year.

He then took up a Junior Planning Officer position with Newport Council while finishing a postgraduate diploma in planning before moving to Port Talbot Borough Council as a Planning Officer.

Following local government reorganisation, Marcus worked for Neath Port Talbot Council and was appointed Senior Planning Officer at the Vale in 1998.

From there he became Team Leader for Planning Enforcement, Operational Manager for Planning, Head of Regeneration and Planning and then, last month, Director of Place.

“It’s been more of a slow grind than a meteoric rise,” joked Marcus, who started in his new post on April 25.

“I originally applied to the Vale of Glamorgan Council to be a Planning Student in 91 but missed the cut.

“It shows that I was always interested in working in the Vale of Glamorgan and that your career doesn’t always go in a straight line.

“I’ve always had a soft spot for the Vale. In my view it’s one of the most attractive councils, both visually and from a professional perspective.

“When I was a student, a number of people were very kind, giving up a lot of time to help me with my dissertation.

“Jane Crofts, who was then Team Leader for Development Management, and Operational Manager Tom Dunnon gave me a great deal of support as a student to get that piece of work finished.”

Interestingly, Marcus’ dissertation focused on how renewable energy might power the national grid and, more than 30 years later, sustainability is at the heart of his new Director’s role.

The remit includes looking at carbon reduction initiatives - in line with the Council’s Project Zero commitment - but also how the local economy can be grown, and land used sustainably.

“Sustainability was a consideration in planning way back, long before it ever became a thing from the point of view of climate change,” said Marcus.

“I wrote my first dissertation on the benefits of wind power and that was in 1990 so that tells you a little bit about how planners have been looking at the potential of renewable energy for a long time!

“My interest has always been how we can sustainably use our resources and make best use of what we have in terms of land.

“The Vale is in a very important location next to the capital city of Wales. It’s also sandwiched between the valleys and the industrial land of Bridgend.

“The importance of this role really is to ensure that the issue of sustainability and carbon reduction is right at the heart of what we do as a Council. It should also be at the heart of what we do in terms of promoting and supporting development in the Vale.

“We’ve got a lot of rural communities in the Vale as well as the major urban areas and we’ve got to make sure that all of these can live sustainably going forwards. We’ve also got to create jobs for people and good places for them to live and enjoy themselves.”

Though his family are from Bridgend, Marcus was born in Mansfield and grew up in Oxfordshire.

Despite those early years spent across the Severn, he is a proud Welshman now living back on the edge of the Vale in Bridgend.

A family history in farming sparked his interest in the physical world and he considered a degree course in surveying before opting instead for town planning.

“We’re on the cusp of a massive change in terms of the way we travel, how we work and indeed how we fuel our houses, our business and our vehicles,” said Marcus.

“All these things are coming at us in one go and it’s important that both land use and how we use our assets is done in as sustainable a way as possible and we switch to a carbon-neutral economy as quickly as we can.

“This role is central in coordinating that whilst other Council departments also have an important part to play.

“Work around the Green Infrastructure Strategy, The Active Travel Strategy and the Tree Strategy are major components of that.

“Then there’s the replacement Local Development Plan, which will have a renewed and reinvigorated emphasis on sustainable development.

“There will be a very close focus on how we develop sustainable communities, sustainable business and sustainable growth.

“Finally, a key area will be how the Cardiff Capital Region can develop the Aberthaw site for green energy. Also, how we build relationships with the Welsh and UK Governments to facilitate levelling up and the Shared Prosperity Fund, which involves millions of pounds of support that the Council will look to secure for the Vale.”

Clearly there is much work to do and a lot of ground that Marcus wants to cover.

But a few weeks into the job, the half-marathon man seems delighted to be up and running.

Submissions can be made for a Question Time event with Marcus that is being held on June 7.