Robs Weekly Round Up 

12 April 2024

Dear colleagues,

I’d like to start this week by wishing Eid Mubarak to all of our colleagues who celebrated the end of Ramadan this week. I hope you were all able to spend some time together with your families.

This week has seen the publication of a piece of work that will be crucial in informing how our organisation changes in the coming years. On Thursday the results of the Let’s Talk about Life in the Vale survey were reported to Cabinet and the Leader introduced the report saying it would be a “step change” for how we work.

Let’s Talk About Life in the Vale was run in partnership with Data Cymru to understand residents’ experiences of life in the Vale of Glamorgan and their priorities.

We should be proud to know that 80% of people said they would recommend the Vale of Glamorgan as a place to live and that the results also show that the Council’s priorities are broadly in line with those of residents.

78% of respondents stated that they are either very or fairly concerned with the cost-of-living crisis, 68% are either very or fairly concerned with the climate emergency, and 65% are either very or fairly concerned with the nature emergency. These are already set as critical challenges in the Annual Delivery Plan.

Being able to easily access care and healthcare services and being able to buy or rent a good quality home were rated as top priorities and these areas of our work are central to the new budget strategy.

There are, however, areas of our work that the results show need more focus. Living in a neighbourhood that is clean and tidy is another of our residents priorities. The financial constraints we now work within means this is an area of our work that we cannot fund to the same level that we once did. This is an area of our work where transformation is key. There will be new ways in which these services can be delivered. Recent changes to waste collections in Neighbourhood Services show that we are able to provide high quality services in new and improved ways and at a reduced cost. There will be much more of this to come from this part of the Council.

from this part of the Council.

The results also show we must do more to explain to residents how we take decisions about our services and how they can shape these. In some cases we need to be clearer about what the Council is and isn’t able to do, even when we know this may not be popular. In order to do this we need to continue to find ways to talk with our communities and ensure we hear the voices from all parts of the Vale.

One particularly interesting finding in the report is the proportion of people who want to get involved in volunteering. The challenge for us is to build on the relationships we have to empower communities to help protect the services and facilities that matter most to them.

As always, there is much to be done. Ours is a Council that is committed to public participation and responding to the needs of our communities. We now, more than ever have a clearer understanding of what these are and I look forward to sharing details in the coming months and years of the projects that will address this.

I wrote last month about the bittersweet news that our PPE team was being disbanded. During the pandemic the team came to symbolise everything that was good about our organisational response and how important we were in supporting our communities during those difficult times. On Monday I had the chance to say as much in person to some of the team at a presentation event led by Sharon Miller. The event was first class and a fitting send off for the team. Diolch yn fawr once more to everyone there and to Sharon for leading the celebrations.   

Seeing first hand the work that makes a real difference is one of the many perks of working in local government. Too often this work goes unrecognised. For those of you who work closely with community groups you may be interested to hear that Bro Radio’s Community Awards are back to celebrate the very best of community, sport, and individuals in the Vale. The station is looking for as many nominations as possible from the local community.

The awards will recognise nominees at a black-tie event this June so if you know a group or individual that deserves some recognition then put them forward at www.broradio.fm/awards. Nominations will close on 3rd May.

As part of our work to deliver on our Project Zero commitments the EV Charging project team are looking for colleagues who own an electric or hybrid vehicle and who work at, or regularly visit, the Alps to take part in a trial.

There are a number of electric vehicle charging pods at the Alps where you can charge your vehicle. As we’re working to roll out wider electric charging to other sites and to allow members of the public to use the pods, they would like feedback on how the system works before launching it to residents and visitors.

I’d like to remind everyone that Monday is the deadline for all staff to review and update their personal details. All of the information that you provide is confidential and can only be viewed by authorised users from our HR and Finance teams who use the data for reporting and processing purposes. Having an up-to-date profile of our staff will enable better staff engagement, support the work of our internal networks, and help our HR team in applying the corporate policies that keep us all safe. Please do take the time to review and update yours.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate the Leader of the Council, Lis Burnett, on raising nearly £3000 for charity by wing walking last week. Lis volunteered to strap herself to the wings of a biplane for a fifteen minute flight in order to raise awareness of and funds for the work of the Big Moose charity that fundraises for mental health support. Lis said afterwards that it was “proof that chubby mature women can still rock it!” You can watch a video of the flight and find information on how to donate on her social media channels.

Thanks as always for your hard work this week. Diolch yn fawr iawn,

Rob.