Dear colleagues,

Over the past six months I have been working with SLT and the Council’s Cabinet to develop work that will guide this organisation to 2030 and beyond.

We are now ready to present it to you and hear your thoughts on how it can best be delivered.

This vision is set out in two key programmes of work: the new Corporate Plan and the new Reshaping Programme.

Put simply, the Corporate Plan is our vision for the Council we want to be in 2030 and Reshaping will introduce new ways of working that will help get us there.

The concept of Reshaping is not a new one. The first version of our transformational change programme launched in 2015. It enabled us to mitigate the impact of austerity whilst delivering significant financial savings.

In 2021 it was reviewed to consider a post-pandemic future for the Vale and a review undertaken by Audit Wales. Three new areas of challenge were developed and together helped guide our recovery from the pandemic.

Earlier this year, with a massive financial challenge again facing the Council, we decided Reshaping needed to be refocused. The underlying principles remain the same but now, in order to enable us to change more quickly and more radically than ever before, we will approach transformation in a new way.

This is the only approach that will allow us to make the financial savings that are required while continuing to meet our communities’ needs.

There are five themes to our new approach to Reshaping:

• Target Operating Model
• Service Transformation
• Strengthening Communities
• Digital Innovation
• Economic Resilience

Over the next six weeks, SLT colleagues and I will be introducing these to all staff and giving you a say in how we deliver our new Corporate Plan in line with them.

To start, Tom Bowring and I are hosting a Q&A session on Thursday 27 June. We’ll introduce the new plan and discuss the opportunities for you to get involved. Then over the following four weeks colleagues and I will be sharing a little more of the detail on each of the Reshaping themes and most importantly asking you all to start looking for new and better ways of working. There will then be a session to give all colleagues the opportunity to feed into the development of the Corporate Plan.

Here’s what you can expect:

• To be introduced to the 5 key themes that will help redefine our organisation.
• Discover how these themes align with and enhance our vision of Strong Communities with a Bright Future.
• Recap on  some of the transformative changes we’ve already implemented in our services.
• Get a glimpse of what's on the horizon and learn how you can play a pivotal role in our reshaping program.
• To have your questions about the future of the organisation answered.

Change can be daunting but we should remember the success we have had as an organisation in the past. We must also remember that the alternative to change is unpalatable.  If we cannot change and focus on new ways of doing things, budget challenges will mean a reduction in services which will significantly impact on those residents and communities who depend on our services. Put simply, this is not an option.

Our first Reshaping programme brought new service delivery models such as Shared Regulatory Services, the creation of a Neighbourhood Services model, the establishment of five community run libraries, remodelling of functions within Social Services and the establishment of Big Fresh Catering.

All of these were challenging at the time but all have delivered smarter ways of working, financial savings, and more sustainable services.

More recently the Llantwit Major More Than Food Project, the Council’s reacquisition and operation of Penarth Pier Pavilion, and delivery of the “Warm Welcome” scheme have seen us step outside of our traditional areas of work to get involved where our communities really need us.  

None these would have been possible without flexibility our digital and people strategies have given us.

Once again we are at the forefront of best practice in Wales. In developing this new approach we’ve worked with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner and CIPFA as well as looking at best practice from across the UK .

There is no doubt that the new version of Reshaping will be harder to deliver than any of those that have come before. It will need all of us to work together for the good of communities in the Vale.

I have full confidence in our ability to do this and look forward to sharing the vision with you all in the coming weeks and getting started on building the Council of the future.

Diolch yn fawr,

Rob.