Robs Weekly Round Up

01 November 2024

Hi everyone,

I’ll start this week’s message with some positive news after our development of temporary accommodation in Llantwit Major began welcoming its first tenants.

The Leader and I went to visit Heol Croeso yesterday where we were shown around and met the Resettlement Team based at the site.

Located where Eagleswell school once stood, it contains 90 single and two-storey one, two, three and four-bed homes.

These will be used as short-term housing for those in significant need, such as refugees from the war in Ukraine and local families on the Council’s housing waiting list.

This is an important project for the Council as it underlines our commitment to support the most vulnerable members of our communities.

Helping residents, particularly those in severe need, is at the core of public service and everyone involved should be very proud that we have been able to deliver this scheme.

Heol Croeso will offer a safe place for people to live, many of whom have suffered greatly and might otherwise have nowhere to call home.

The Council is bidding to become a County of Sanctuary, which reflects a commitment to support refugees and others who have suffered forced displacement, so this scheme aligns perfectly with that aim.

In addition, it will help address an urgent need for new homes as Wales experiences a housing crisis created by a shortage of accommodation, growing waiting lists and increased levels of homelessness.

This site will help ease the pressure on council housing stock and is a far better solution than temporary hotel and bed and breakfast accommodation, settings we have had to start using again since the covid pandemic in cases of homelessness for the first time in over 10 years.

The Council has seen unprecedented levels of extreme housing need and a significant rise in the number of homeless applications in the last two years.

There are more than 200 families in temporary accommodation with on average four new cases moving into temporary accommodation each week.

That is why this development is so important.

Delivering it has been a real team effort involving colleagues in Planning, Housing, Neighbourhood Services and more recently, our legal team. It was a privilege to be shown around the site by colleagues from Housing, including Ian, Kathryn and Shona who are at the forefront in supporting our most vulnerable residents. It was also great to meet newest members of the Ukrainian Support Team, especially Medea, Kristina and Kateryna for the first time to hear about all the good work that they are doing to support families as they move into their new accommodation.

Our teams and colleagues have worked exceptionally hard in challenging circumstances to get to this point, and I’d like to thank them and everyone else involved for those efforts. Diolch pawb – you should all be very proud.

This has been a week for visits as Luke Pollard MP, Minister for the Armed Forces, was shown around St Athan East Camp on Thursday.

There, among others, he met Martine Booker-Southard, the Council’s Learning Links Manager.

Martine has played a key role in helping Entitled Persons from Afghanistan, who are free to live and work in this Country, settle into accommodation on the base after they were forced to leave their homeland.

She has been assisted by many other colleagues from Education, Social Services, Housing and other departments.

They have worked with counterparts from Welsh Government, the Home Office, the Health Board and the MOD to address any needs these families may have and help them adjust to life in the UK.

I have previously met with Afghan families and was touched by personal stories of the hardship they have endured.

These are people who are free to live and work in this country, individuals who are being supported as a show of gratitude for their efforts supporting British Forces.

Well done Martine and others for helping a very deserving group.

Next, I have another important announcement, this time regarding a Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) taking place in a couple of weeks.

From November 12 to 15, a group of external experts will visit the Council to evaluate how we are doing in key areas after being selected with help from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA).

We have asked them to help establish whether certain steps being taken will allow us to become more outcome and future focused and increase our resilience in delivering key services to our residents.

Another aim is to get feedback on the Council’s leadership and important pieces of work like the Corporate Plan and Reshaping Programme.

Under the Local Government and Elections Act, all Local Authorities are now required to have a PPA every five years.

Denbighshire and Ceredigion councils have already been visited by assessors so we will be the third Local Authority in Wales to go through the process.

This is not an inspection, but an opportunity to benefit from the insights of experienced people from outside the organisation.

It is a chance to strengthen and sense check work already underway and will be especially advantageous to the annual self-assessment we carry out each year.

The process will involve discussions with senior mangers and focus groups and should be a really useful experience.

Going back to the Corporate Plan briefly, public consultation work in in this area continues.

Following drop-in sessions in Penarth, Barry and Cowbridge, another will be held at CF61 in Llantwit Major between 4pm and 6pm on Wednesday.

There have also been a range of sessions held with particular groups to gather a broad range of opinions.

Feedback from residents has been an important aspect of the Plan’s development to date and included results of the Let’s Talk residents survey and findings from the Annual Self-Assessment.

We also want to hear further views from anyone interested in setting the organisation’s direction from 2025 to 2030 and beyond.

That most certainly includes staff so I would encourage all colleagues to take part in this exercise.

Opinions can be shared by completing an online survey, which will run until December 8.

Talking of productive exercises, the next round of Work Welsh / Cymraeg Gwaith classes will begin in the New Year.

Lessons, which are conducted over zoom and free for all staff, are available at beginner, foundation and intermediate levels.

They can also be counted as part of the working day with line manager approval.

Beginners lessons will be on Fridays, starting on January 10 and take place between 12.30 and 3pm.

Foundation sessions are on Wednesdays from 10am until 12.30pm from January 8, and intermediate classes will take place on Tuesdays between 12.30 and 3pm, beginning on January 7.

More information is available by contacting Work Welsh Coordinator Sarian Thomas-Jones or Equality and Welsh Language Officer Elyn Hannah.

As we look towards 2025, we are currently evaluating what Wednesday’s budget means to us from a a local government perspective.

The budget and associated announcements are always important as that’s where the majority of our finances come from and it will have a bearing on the amount of money coming to Wales and Welsh councils for all our key services.

At first sight it appears that we will see an increase in revenue funding for important services such as social care and education and it also appears that UK Government Levelling Up money and Long Term Plan for Towns finance previously committed to Barry is secure.

That is great to hear as it has been allocated for important schemes, such as the Making Waves project to develop a Barry Marina and the use of the Dock Office as facilitated office space as well as other significant work to enhance communities within Barry. As we continue to analyse and understand the budget, we will feed the outputs into our budget-setting process for the year ahead, so that we can continue to deliver for the Vale of Glamorgan.

I hope you can all take some time to relax over the weekend and have an enjoyable couple of days.

Thank you very much for your efforts this week, they are sincerely appreciated.

Diolch yn fawr iawn,

Rob.