Robs Weekly Round Up

17 May 2024

Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to start this week with an update on a significant piece of work for the Council - the Long-Term Plan for Barry.

Last Autumn it was announced that Barry would receive £2 million a year for the next ten years in funding from the UK Government’s Levelling Up scheme. The funding will focus on improving the town in three ways: regeneration – with a focus on high streets and heritage; tackling anti-social behaviour with a focus on improving safety and security; and improving walking, cycling, transport.

As part of the project, a Barry Partnership has been established by our Place team to gather feedback from local residents and other key stakeholders in order to determine the priorities for the funding and develop a long-term plan to transform the town.

This week saw the first workshop session and community drop-in event for the project. The sessions were well attended by residents and local business owners who shared some good ideas for the town.

The remit of the programme is a wide one and certainly not one that the Council can fulfil on its own so it was great to see so many people turn out and to see the prospect of a real partnership for the town developing.  Thanks to all who made the event a success.

The Place team want to hear from as many people as possible and as one of only four towns in Wales to be awarded this funding it really is a great opportunity for Barry. I’d like to urge as many of you as possible who live in Barry to get involved in the project where you can. If you’d like to attend future community engagement events or keep up to date with the project’s development, you can subscribe to future updates on the Participate Vale webpage.

Our regeneration priorities are also likely to come under discussion through a series of new regular meetings that the Leader of the Council and I are having with the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government and Planning, Julie James MS, alongside other Leaders and Chief Executives from around Wales.  The first such meeting took place earlier this week when housing provision came under the spotlight. I am keen to use these regular meetings as a way to highlight both the great work we are doing and the challenges that we face in the Vale and the wider public sector.

The role and value of effective and responsive public services is undisputed, but often underplayed.  Issues like the housing crisis and strategic planning policy can only be addressed with strong leadership and a partnership approach from our all levels of government and this is something that all Leaders and Chief Executives will be striving for through these regular meetings.

Just as important, with public services likely to be under increased scrutiny in the run up to a likely general election later in the year, we need leaders at all levels of government to be making the case for local government and talking up the value of the work that we do.

I am pleased to say that our conversation this week was positive and I am hopeful that this new dialogue will give a route for us to ensure that Ministers and officials in Cardiff Bay are fully aware of the issues affecting local government.  

On Wednesday I had the privilege of meeting many of our newer colleagues and was able to speak to them directly about the value of local government and the good work that we undertake.  The Council is a social business and as public servants we should all view ourselves as a power for good in the communities. The Welcome to the Vale sessions are always a highlight for me and Wednesday’s was particularly good with colleagues in attendance speaking so positively about the teams they had joined and the role they played. One even described his new team as being like the Avengers! Not a comparison I have heard about the Council in the past but one that I wholeheartedly agreed with.

One of the points I always hope I get across that these sessions it that Team Vale is a home for everyone. In this same spirit all this week the Council has been supporting Black Inclusion Week which serves as a reminder that the challenges faced by Black people should not be forgotten and that we must make sustained efforts to make meaningful changes that will make a difference.

As part of the Black Inclusion Week’s programme of events, a number of colleagues attended an “Effective Allyship to the Black Community” event also on Wednesday.

Equalities Officer Elyn Hannah, who attended the session, said afterwards it was “was an eye-opening experience to the issues that affect Black and Global Majority colleagues in the workplace and how you can take action as an ally to be actively anti-racist.”

We as a Council strive to create a working environment that is a positive, inclusive, and safe for all members of staff, which is why I’d like to remind you that our Staff Networks – Diverse, GLAM, and ABL - are open to all members of staff, including those who wish to attend as an ally.

To make this easier the Diverse Network has today launched their brand-new hub on StaffNet+ where you can keep up to date with upcoming meetings, the latest news, and find out how to get involved in the network.

This is one of three awareness campaigns we are currently supporting as this week is also Mental Health Awareness Week. This year’s theme is Movement: Moving More for our Mental Health.

There can be lots of barriers to incorporating regular physical activity in our day to day lives, so earlier this week, the Learning Café shared a useful video on how we can become more active by making small adjustments to our everyday routine.  

Physical activity has been known to enhance our moods, reduce stress, boost self- esteem, improve social lives, and increase focus. As part of Mental Health Week, take a pledge to prioritise your self-care – every small step counts.

I have one final awareness week I’d like to draw your attention to: Dementia Action Week.

Dementia Action Week is the Alzheimer’s Society’s biggest and longest running awareness campaigns. Each year, individuals and organisations across the UK are encouraged to ‘act on dementia.’

Dementia Friendly Vale has been working in partnership with Dementia Friendly Cardiff and the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to produce a resource which provides information on how to reduce the likelihood of developing dementia.

The guide provides information about some of the risk factors associated with developing dementia and how making small changes to your lifestyle now can help keep your body healthy and prevent damage to your brain.

Colleagues from Adult Services launched the guide yesterday at a Dementia Friendly Vale Festival at Barry Library. It is now available across all Hubs, Libraries, and other community locations across Cardiff and the Vale. Diolch yn fawr iawn to all those who’ve helped pull this important resource together.

Everyone within the organisation will not have failed to notice the significant investment in our Microsoft environment over recent years and recently we took the opportunity to upgrade from our existing phone solution to integrating telephony into Teams.  This is something that I have mentioned previously in this message but I make no apology for doing so again.  We know that change can be challenging and it’s a credit to teams across the council who have positively responded to this, genuinely embracing the new functionality and already reporting improved experiences. The Digital team have worked extremely hard to deliver this from procurement to live systems in less than 12 weeks and have engaged with over 1700 members of staff in the process.

It’s a fantastic example of how we can make rapid improvements at pace when we all take a Digital First approach to looking at how we create an organisation that’s ready to take on the challenges ahead of us. I would like to thank all of our colleagues in Digital for their hard work, response to a new way of working and their dedication to all of our colleagues. Thanks also to all of you who have responded so positively to this latest initiative.  Diolch!

I’d like to finish off this week by reminding you all that Gwyl Fach y Fro returns to Barry Island this weekend.

The annual festival is a wonderful celebration of the Welsh language and culture in the Vale. There will be live music, dance performances, workshops, food stalls and family-friendly activities throughout the day. All performances and entertainment will be delivered in Welsh, which may be the perfect opportunity for the Cymraeg Gwaith learners amongst you to practice your Welsh.

Importantly, a number of our schools will also be in attendance too, as pupils from Ysgol Sant Baruc, Ysgol Dewi Sant, Ysgol Sant Curig, Ysgol Pen y Garth, Ysgol Gwaun y Nant, Ysgol Iolo Morgannwg, Oakfield Primary, Colcot Primary, Cadoxton Primary, and Ysgol Bro Morgannwg will all performing on the Community Stage. I have seen across a number of the school’s social media channels that pupils have been working hard all week to prepare for their performances, so I’d like to wish them all, and all the staff supporting them, good luck for tomorrow.  Pob lwc i chi gyd a mwynhewch y dydd.  And diolch yn fawr to our Neighbourhood Services, Equalities, and Tourism teams who work with Menter Bro Morgannwg to make the event a success each year.

Thanks, as always, for your continued efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr iawn,

Rob