Robs Weekly Round Up 

21 July 2023

Dear colleagues,

I was fortunate to start this week visiting along with the Leader of the Council the sites of some big projects that have either recently been completed or soon will be.

First up, was the brand new Belle Vue Park Pavilion in Penarth. While much loved, the former pavilion had no heating and very limited accessibility. Thanks to the use of S106 funding and a collaboration between our Neighbourhood Services and Property teams a fantastic new community facility, open and accessible to everyone, will soon be available in the heart of the town.

After this we went on to the development of 14 new council apartments for over-55s at Lon yr Ysgol. The incredible pressures on social housing are well documented. One- and two-bedroom properties for older people are what is most acutely lacking in the Vale and this scheme being led by our Housing team will go some way to addressing that. The finish on the apartments is absolutely first class and I am sure the new tenants will be delighted when they begin to move in before the end of the month.

Our next stop was to the site of another 54 homes at Hayeswood Road in Barry. Work here is also progressing very well, with the first residents likely to move in before the end of the year.

Finally, as the latest modernisation to our waste collection arrangements was being rolled out this week, we called in to the new waste resource and recycling station in Barry to see aspects of the service at work. I am going to use my message next week to talk about the excellent work that has been done across the Council in recent months to support the move to three weekly collections and a subscription-based garden waste service. For now, I’ll say that it was great to be able to see in action how the move to separated recycling means we are able to recycle more of the Vale’s waste than ever before and do so extremely efficiently.

I’d like to thank to Jo Lewis, Andrew Freeguard, Colin Smith and Emily David for their time showing us around on Monday as well as all the colleagues working on making these schemes such a success.

Less than 24 hours after we were at Belle Vue, the park was being celebrated as one of ten Vale of Glamorgan Council parks to be awarded Green Flag awards for 2023 on Tuesday. This made us once again one of the top performing local authorities in Wales.

Keep Wales Tidy award Green Flag status to those parks with the highest standards of cleanliness, sustainability, and community involvement. Cosmeston and Porthkerry country parks both received the accolade, along with Romilly Park, Belle Vue Park, Central Park, The Knap Gardens, Victoria Park, Gladstone Park, Alexandra Park, and Barry Island Promenade Gardens.

I was delighted to be able to say thank you in person to some of the Neighbourhood Services team who work so hard to maintain these valued public spaces but will say it again here for good measure. Our parks draw in visitors all year round and they are much more than just attractive green spaces. They play a vital role in supporting people’s physical and mental wellbeing, are crucial to community cohesion, and are central to our response to the nature and climate emergencies. Diolch yn fawr iawn to everyone who played a role in the success.

On Wednesday, another community information and social event was held at the Paul Lewis Community Centre in St Athan, hosted by St Athan Community Council and our Age Friendly Vale Officer. As always at these events there were a great range of our teams and partners working together to offer information on local opportunities and even offer some taster sessions. Another great example of partnership working making all parts of the Vale a great place to live and grow old. Thanks to everyone that took part.

Working in partnership is the only way in which we will enable our communities to overcome the huge challenges many people face. A significant event was held last Friday to bring together colleagues from the council and schools in the Pencoedtre cluster in Barry to pilot a new approach to ‘improving the life experiences of families and communities’ in line with the our Corporate Plan and the Vale Public Services Board’s Well-being Plan.

I know there were some very constructive discussions throughout the day and the outcome will soon be a plan of short and long term actions to give families in the Pencoedtre community the support they need while also making better use of public money. Diolch yn fawr to Janet Hayward Executive Headteacher at Cadoxton & Oak Field Primary Schools for arranging the session.

With similar ambitions to improve our organisation for everyone who needs it, the Diverse group met on Tuesday at Holton Road Primary School to discuss ideas and objectives for the year ahead. A number of new members were in attendance and the work proposed to help more schools establish themselves as being anti-racist sounds particularly interesting. The first meeting of the group in the Autumn will now focus on this with a presentation from schools in the Vale who have been working with Cardiff Met on an Anti-Racist Action Research Learning Project. As part of this school staff were given honest feedback from the pupils on their approach to diversity and racism. It is brave and important work and I’d like to thank everyone who is making Diverse such a success. The group are still looking for suggestions for future priorities as well as new members and I’d encourage anyone with thoughts on how to make the Council and its services more inclusive for the global majority to get in touch.

Every action that we take impacts on our residents but some obviously more directly than others. Earlier this week I was copied into a letter of thanks from a resident to our Customer Relations team. The team had been able to make special arrangements for processing an application while the resident was undergoing cancer treatment. In their words it “made all the difference” and is a great reminder of the real impact our services have.

That was one of two messages of thanks I received this week. The other praised two colleagues – Katie Jane-Cooper and Vince Westall – in the SRS Licensing team for their support. Thanks to both of you for providing such a great service and to everyone in Team Vale who goes the extra mile in helping our customers.

Looking ahead to next week our Organisational Development team will be hosting two webinars to explain the new #itsaboutme process. The sessions will offer an in-depth overview of #itsaboutme and #itsaboutus and how the new approach aligns the submission of team plans and supervision meetings with elements of self-reflection. The webinars will offer a great way to get to grips with the new process and help managers and team members get the most out of it.

Next week will also see the second webinar from our partners AVC Wise. Working with AVC Wise the Council is now offering Local Government Pension Scheme members access to a Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme. While this might sound a little dry it can help colleagues retire early, or with a greater pension so is well worth tuning in.

Finally, as many of you will be well aware today is the last day of the school summer term. I would like to give a huge shout out to every member of staff – teachers, learning support assistants, business managers, lunchtime supervisors, and far far too many other roles to list here – who has given their all since last September to ensure pupils in the Vale of Glamorgan get the best education and school experience possible. Diolch pawb.

The Leader and I met last week with the Head and Deputy Head, Matt Gilbert and Polly Davies at Barry Island Primary School.  During our visit we had a tour of the facilities at the school and saw first hand the fantastic work done at the school to give children the best start in life.  We also, importantly discussed the very many challenges that our schools are currently facing and the scale of these is certainly not lost on me. Thank you Matt and Polly for your time – diolch. One of the things that makes me certain that we will find solutions, and ways in which to continue to improve outcomes for children and young people whatever the other crises we are responding to, is the dedication of our colleagues in schools. I hope you all have had the opportunity today to reflect on what a difference your work will have made to the lives of the pupils you support. On behalf of the Council I’d like to thank you all greatly. Diolch.

And thanks as always to everyone for their efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr pawb.

Rob.