Robs Weekly Round Up

16 January 2023

Dear colleagues,

You will have received a message from the Leader and me on Friday on the initial proposals for next year’s budget. This was in place of my usual end of week message but with so much going on at the moment I still wanted to round-up some of last week’s news from across the Council.

Christmas may already seem a distant memory, but it’s not too late to highlight and say thanks to those who organised a great event for staff at the Alps just prior to the big day. Christine Banfield, Joanne Lewis, Zoe Davies and Nick Jones were all instrumental in the Christmas food event where a range of hampers and turkeys, all donated by the management team and other sponsors were raffled and gratefully received by staff from within the Directorate. Diolch yn fawr. Well done to all involved in organising such a great initiative.

I’m proud that supporting staff is always central to how we work and so it was great to see the re-signed Armed Forces Covenant, evidence of our commitment to supporting both staff and residents who have served in the armed forces, hanging in the Civic Offices last week. The framed document was officially unveiled by our Armed Forces Liaison Officer Abi Warburton along with Cllr Bronwen Brooks and Cllr Eddie Williams.

Reaching out to communities is a big part of our work. I’d like to thank Linda and Caitlin in our Electoral Registration team for some excellent work that they have done in this vein. Late last year they worked with Stephen Segal, our Vale Communities for Work employment mentor, to register refugees from the war in Ukraine and elsewhere who are now living in the Vale. The team offered gift vouchers to those who signed up and helped sign up others and I know one family said they were so grateful as it meant they could buy Christmas presents for their children. They registered 150 people in total, a great success and important work that will make these families feel even more welcome in the Vale. Gawith da.

I am afraid I also have some very sad news to share. Three much loved colleagues have passed away in recent weeks. Craig Phillips, Amanda Phillips, and Elliot Pottinger, all made huge contributions to their teams and the Council in their own ways. They will be deeply missed by their friends and colleagues in the Vale. On behalf of the Council I’d like to convey my deepest sympathies with those who worked with them and their loved ones. News like this will affect us all in different ways and the Care First service is available 24/7 for anyone who needs it.

Today is ‘Blue Monday’ and January can feel like a difficult time for many reasons and so our Wellbeing Champions have arranged a tree planting session at Cosmeston to help get colleagues out into the fresh air. Originally scheduled for last week the session will now take place on Wednesday at 10am. Get in touch with any of our champions if you’d like to know more.

The first session was cancelled due to heavy rain and I am sure it will not be news to any of you that the rain continued throughout last week and into the weekend. Like much of Wales the Vale was hit by flooding. The weather caused serious disruption to our highways network and some of our buildings. On Friday evening the emergency planning team took the decision to open the Sandbag distribution site in Barry to enable those residents most at risk from flooding to protect their homes. As always in these situations our response was fast and effective and no doubt kept very many people and their property safe. I’d like to thank all of those who worked so quickly at the end of last week to make this happen.

Finally, the number of people with flu is on the rise this winter, and as well as keeping each other safe, stopping the spread is also important to keeping our services running at full capacity. We can all play our part in this by washing hands and staying away from others when ill.

Thanks as always for your hard work. I’ll be back in touch on Friday with an update on all of this week’s news.

Diolch,

Rob.