Robs Weekly Round Up

17 January 2025

Hi everyone,

Firstly this week, I wanted to update you on the latest stage of our budget-setting process after proposals were agreed at a meeting of the Council’s Cabinet yesterday (Thursday).

Welsh Government made its Local Authority funding announcement before Christmas, with the Council set to receive just under £216 million for 2025/26, representing a 3.4 per cent increase.

That figure accounts for around two thirds of our income, with the rest made up of Council Tax, charges for services and a share of business rates from across Wales.

Despite this 3.4 per cent increase, as you are no doubt already aware, demand for certain critical Council services continues to grow rapidly, as does the cost of delivering many other services.

All this means that, like many other councils across both Wales and England, we are experiencing major financial pressures, specifically within both Child and Adult Social Care; school budgets, especially provision for pupils with Additional Learning Needs (ALNs); and in the supply of school transport.

The bottom line is that next year’s funding is not sufficient to sustain services at current levels so some difficult decisions will need to be made to bring expenditure in line with income.

Our priority remains safeguarding services for our most vulnerable residents, while looking for new and innovative ways to deliver council provision.

This Council has an excellent track record of delivering creative business models through its Reshaping Programme and I have no doubt that will continue as I know from experience exactly how much this group of staff can achieve in testing circumstances.

While I’m confident there is cause for optimism as we look to overcome current obstacles and end the year in a stronger position, if anyone has concerns, please raise them with your manager so they can be discussed.

After being agreed by Cabinet, savings proposals will be put to scrutiny committees and residents through a public consultation before the budget is considered further and finalised at a meeting of Full Council in March.

The views of staff and all other interested parties are welcomed as part of that consultation, which launches on 20 January and runs for four weeks.

Yesterday, it was great to welcome Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant to the Vale of Glamorgan. During the visit, colleagues from our Housing Division, the Leader, Cabinet Member for Public Sector Housing & Tenant Engagement and I visited some of our key housing sites and discussed the work being done in the Vale to meet the demand for new Council homes. 

We took in several locations around Barry, where properties are being built to help address the soaring demand for Council housing.

This is not just an issue affecting the Vale, but one being seen across the UK, which is why projects such as these are so vital.

The outing included a stop at the 52 recently completed homes at Hayeswood Road, and a look inside properties under construction at the former Colcot Clinic site and at Clos Holm View.

Phase one of the Clos Holm View development involved building 11 housing units, with a further 31 to be created in the next stage of the scheme.

These are a mixture of houses and bungalows, including some adapted homes to meet the needs of those with a disabled family member.

On Coldbrook Road, we are building 20 one and two-bed homes, with work due to be completed in April, while 12 new apartments are being built on the former Colcot Clinic site.

These projects are the latest examples of Council work to tackle the housing crisis, which sees nearly 7000 households on our Housing Waiting List - 700 of which are in the highest priority band - and 300 households currently living in temporary accommodation.

During the visit, I was delighted to show the Cabinet Secretary work we are doing in this important area and share with her some information on how this is helping our residents.

Thank you to Mike Ingram and Andrew Freegard for joining me during the visit and for all your hard work in bringing these schemes to fruition. They are making a difference to some of the most vulnerable members of our communities so that effort is extremely worthwhile.

Elsewhere, pupils and staff at Sully Primary School have unveiled a new wildlife garden featuring hundreds of native plant species to promote biodiversity.

In partnership with Morgan Sindall Construction, the purpose-built space aims to encourage students to engage in a range of hands-on outdoor activities whilst also learning about the environment and conservation.

This aligns perfectly with our Project Zero initiative to become carbon neutral by 2030 and comes after we declared both climate and nature emergencies before the pandemic.

More than 500 species of native pollinating plants and five native trees were selected by local growers – including Comfrey, Cowslip, Wild Cabbage and Elder and Alder Buckthorn trees.

Four bee logs made from a local Cherry tree and seven volunteer-made bird boxes were also installed.

As a nod to the school’s links to nearby beaches, the plants and trees were specifically chosen to withstand windy conditions, ocean spray and can thrive in salty soil.

Children and volunteers also set about work on the 70 metres of hedgerow around the school’s playground, which will provide a much-needed food-source to wildlife, essential for creating long-term biodiversity in the area.

Well done to all involved. We all have a responsibility to protect the natural environment and it’s great to see Sully Primary leading by example.

On the subject of carbon reduction efforts, Nathan Thomas, our Highways Manager, has been involved in trialling a new sustainable repair system to mend damaged roads.

Working with Roadmender Asphalt, the Council tested the Elastomac technique at Greave Close and Walston Road in Wenvoe.

The Elastomac system converts old tyres into an innovative road repair material which can lower the carbon footprint of patch repairs by 85 per cent so will help significantly in our Project Zero efforts.

The materials used also reduce material movement and waste by 90 per cent, which lowers costs, and avoids unnecessary disruption.

Elastomac can help fix a variety of surfaces including roads, car parks, bridges and other infrastructure

Well done Nathan and the wider highways team for looking to adopt such innovative new technology.

This trial comes after the team also recently tested a new greener resurfacing system on Barry’s Skomer Road.

Working with construction company Miles Macadam, a substance called Biopave was used, which is designed to significantly reduce the environmental impact of road resurfacing and maintenance.

Carbon is captured within the road surface meaning it can’t be released into the atmosphere and the use of recycled materials substantially lowers greenhouse gas emissions as these do not need to be quarried. 

The durability of the Biopave system, which has a five-year warranty instead of one, also means roads require less frequent maintenance, decreasing the amount of materials used and money spent in the long run.

Da Iawn!

Next, I wanted to mention St Helen’s Catholic Primary School from Barry, who visited the Council Chamber for an event arranged by our Democratic Services Team.

There they learned about local democracy, meeting the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Afterwards, teacher Anne Prosser wrote to Amy Rudman, Democratic and Scrutiny Services Officer, to pass on just what an enjoyable and beneficial experience it was for the children.

She wrote: “I just wanted to say thank you again for organising our visit to the Civic Offices and the Q&A sessions with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The children really enjoyed themselves.

“We have written separately to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor but thought you may like to hear some of the children's thoughts about their visit.”

Here are selection of pupil’ comments:

“Thank you for having us. It was a great trip. I really enjoyed sitting in the Council Chamber like the councillors do and asking you lots of questions. It was fun to use the microphones and see our picture on the TV when we were speaking.”

“I really enjoyed my trip to the Civic Offices and being one of the children who got to ask a question. I didn’t know that we had so many parks. I liked to know that when new houses are built that you make sure they also build another new playground for the people who live in the new houses to use.”

“Thank you for the visit. I really liked it when we had to ring the bell and stand up and wait for the Mayor to come in. It made me feel really important that I was starting an important meeting. I liked that the Mayor had lots of answers to the questions that we had thought about.”

“I had a great time visiting the Civic Officers. It made me think that when I’m older, I’d like to work for the Council.”

It’s clear the visit made a really strong impression on the children, helping them understand more about the Council and what it is we all do.

Huge credit goes to Amy and the other members of the Democratic Services Team involved in organising the event.

Finally, I wanted to congratulate Learning Support Assistant Ellie Jones, who has been named the Supporting Service Children in Education (SSCE) Cymru Seren (Star) of the Month for February.

This award recognises an individual who has positively collaborated with the SSCE and shown support for their local armed forces community.

Ellie gained the honour for her work with service children, their families and Ysgol Y Ddraig school on the Service Children Your Views project, an engagement exercise that helped capture the perspectives of children with parents or carers in the military.

Well done Ellie. That is really important work and the award is richly deserved.

Thank you all for your efforts this week – I and the rest of the Strategic Leadership team value and appreciate them.

For those of you not in work, have a relaxing and enjoyable couple of days off.

Diolch yn fawr iawn,

Rob