Robs Weekly Round Up 

01 September 2023

Dear colleagues,

Thanks to the bank holiday this week will have been shorter for many of you, but I know no less busy.

It was great to be able to start the shortened week meeting colleagues who had recently completed our Gwaith Cymraeg courses. Alongside the Leader and Sarian, our Work Welsh Coordinator, I presented the certificates to the first groups of leaners to complete the courses we launched last year. It was really interesting to hear different people’s motivations for learning Cymraeg and encouraging to see so many people learning at work.

Llongyfarchiadau eto i Ellyn, Marie, Matt, Nick and Sharon for sharing their stories with us, and also to Aaron, Chris, Elyn, Elinor, Imogen, June, Kate, Laura who weren’t able to join the celebration. If you’d like to learn Welsh at work there are a number of ways you can, just get in touch with Sarian or take a look at the information on StaffNet.

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be able to attend the opening of the newly renovated Belle Vue Pavilion in Penarth. The event was an opportunity for local residents to see the new facility and it was great to be able to hear first hand from many what an improvement it is.

Work to revamp the building began in June last year. Funded through S106 contributions secured by our Planning team, project managed by the Major Projects team, and overseen by Neighbourhood Services, the new community centre, which will initially be managed by the Big Fresh Catering Company, is a perfect example of Team Vale working together. To top it off the Pavilion sits in recently landscaped gardens at Belle Vue Park and alongside the recently upgraded play area.

The new building was spotless to welcome local residents on Wednesday. As well as colleagues from the team’s mentioned above our Sports and Play Development team were also in attendance and ran games and activities in the park throughout the day.

There were lots of happy faces and so many lovely comments throughout the day. Perhaps the most memorable praise was from Ellenor, a local resident and frequent visitor to the park who uses a wheelchair.

The new building has a fully accessible changing space for disabled users. This is the third in the Vale, with others at Cosmeston and at Barry Island. Ellenor told the team that it was one of the best facilities that she had seen in a long time.  

Establishing a new community venue that is truly open to everyone is something that should fill all involved in the project with great pride. I’d like to thank everyone that made it a success, including those who worked behind the scenes ensuring that everything was in order throughout the project. Diolch yn fawr iawn i chi i gyd. 

I would also like to thank those in our Highways Maintenance team who gave up their time on Thursday to join a massive clean up operation on the Ogmore River.

Hundreds of local residents came together with teams from Bridgend Council, the Vale and other public sector partners. The effort was organised after reports of tyres and piles of rubble were building up. With the help of diggers and tractors, as well as a lot of effort and energy nearly 2,000 tyres were pulled out of the river, along with tonnes of old trolleys, bikes and scrap metal. While obviously it is hugely frustrating that unscrupulous traders would dump commercial waste in a beauty spot, the clean-up was a great reminder that there are far more people out there that care about their community and want to get involved. The clean-up will hopefully now allow more people to use the river for more positive pursuits.

A number of similar partnership initiatives have taken place over the summer. Colleagues from a range of partner agencies, including South Wales Police and South Wales Fire and Rescue, have been involved in joint operations to keep people safe at our resorts as part of Operation Elstree.

Also, earlier this month our Enforcement team led an operation on the A48 to disrupt the activities of suspected illegal waste carriers and to identify criminal waste and other offences. The team were able to take action against a number of suspected illegal waste carriers and several vehicles were seized by the Police. Diolch yn fawr to all of our Enforcement Officers that took part.

I am going to resist the temptation to make jokes about old trolleys, spare tyres or waste carriers in segueing into my next update which is to share the news that Miles Punter, the Council’s Director of Environment and Housing, has recently passed the milestone of 40 years of service in local government.

I have worked with Miles for many years. As well as being a fantastic and loyal servant to local government and the residents of the Vale of Glamorgan he has also been a hugely supportive colleague and friend. His impressive career to date is a testament to his hard work, belief in the importance of public services, and commitment to improving the communities he has always worked to serve.

In the coming weeks we will be publishing an interview with Miles on StaffNet in which I am sure he will share some of his story and what he has learned along the way. Ahead of this I wanted to go public with a personal thank you for all that he has given to the Vale. Diolch Miles.

Finally, I would like to pass on a thank you I received earlier this week addressed to the Council for its support of the Baton of Hope relay that passed through the Vale earlier in the summer. The organisers thanked us for helping to raise awareness and knowledge around mental ill health. Thanks to everyone who engaged in the information that we shared and those who passed it on to colleagues and friends.

Thanks as always to everyone for their efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr pawb. I am taking a short break next week and so am passing the baton of the end of week message to Matt Bowmer, our Head of Finance. I look forward to catching up on the latest news when I return.

Diolch yn fawr pawb.

Rob.