It’s All About You

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the It’s All About You 2 event at the Marriott Hotel which was a massive success.  Thanks to all the staff who attended and particularly those who spoke to me while I was wandering round or in the “Confidentiality Booth”.  It was great to see so many people there, particularly from staff based at the depots as well as office based employees.  We received a huge number of innovative suggestions about how services can be improved, how staff can be better involved and supported, and ways in which we can save money and generate income.   A comprehensive list will be prepared for the Corporate Management Team to consider over the coming weeks.

The event may have appeared chaotic but was incredibly well organised and my thanks go to all involved including Leanne Cutts, Bob Fenwick, Ann Smith, Anne Sennett, Rebecca Tribe, Mark Gosney, Lee O’Hara and Katja Davies. Congratulations also must go to the former Swans striker Lee Trundle who outscored the entire Corporate Management Team in his knowledge of unusual council statistics, including what types of animals have been left in council houses and how many thousands of tons of sand had been shifted to create dunes at Swansea Bay. A report of the day will be posted on Staffnet shortly.

This event along with the staff survey feedback and the upcoming staff roadshows show our determination to engage staff.

We’ll be holding staff roadshows in the next few weeks to update people on the budget and Sustainable Swansea. There are roadshows next week for senior managers followed by a series of events for staff starting on December 5 for two weeks. I’d like as many staff as possible to go along so please make every effort to attend.

We’re improving

The Wales Audit Office Annual Improvement Report (AIR) was presented to Council by Steve Barry from the WAO last night. The report concludes the Council has continued to improve in its priority areas and its arrangements are likely to support future improvement.  This is excellent news and the report was well received by the members of Council.  This report reflects the work done by officers and councillors in this authority and I’m delighted that your efforts have been reflected and praised by the WAO.  Having said this, there is still more to do and the WAO make further recommendations on how we might improve the effectiveness of decision making, the external reporting of performance, performance management, delivery of savings and service business planning.  The Corporate Management Team have action plans in place to respond to these recommendations so that we can maintain the pace of progress

City Centre

The Leader was at Meridian Tower on Monday to give a presentation of the progress of plans to regenerate the city centre to to Swansea’s business community. He was joined by representatives of Rivington Land, the company managing the regeneration of the site. The was the launch of the first stage of pre-application consultation on the proposals for Swansea Central (the development of the St David’s and Oystermouth Road sites in Swansea city centre).  This was an important part of the planning process and around 50 people attended.

A new indoor arena, new shops, restaurants, a boutique cinema, a hotel and a broad footbridge over Oystermouth Road are among the ideas and concepts, which have now gone out for consultation. All feedback received will help inform the submission of an outline planning application in March, 2017. You can have your say by visiting or by going along to a public exhibition next to New Look in St Mary’s Square on Thursday December 1 (10am to 8pm), Friday December 2 (10am to 4pm) or Saturday December 3 (10am to 4pm).

A second event is being held at the Grand Theatre on 16 December.

Chancellor’s Autumn Statement

This week’s budget statement contained a number of headlines but I think it was hugely significant that the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, recommitted the Government’s support for the Swansea Bay City Deal.  The Leader and I will be visiting London in the next week or so to meet with the Secretary of State, Alun Cairns, along with the business leaders who are supporting our bid. Wales will also get an extra £400m over five years to spend on capital projects, although it is not yet clear what this money will be targeted on.

Corporate Health Standard Gold Award

Congratulations to all involved in the recent visit by the assessor from Public Health Wales who was inspecting our work on wellbeing and as part of the revalidation process under the new Wales Government criteria for Gold Awards. We were successful in this, receiving significant praise from the assessor for the all the pro-active work and innovation. They recognised our commitment, strategy, innovation and investment in the staff wellbeing. Helping Hands was also praised for the idea, growth, its quality, staff engagement, diversity and support it offers. A report will be submitted shortly highlighting our strengths, improvements and development points for the future.  The Welsh Government will receive the recommendation to issue us with the new Gold Award shortly.

White Ribbon Day

Today (Friday November 25) is White Ribbon Day, where we’ll again be highlighting the issue of tackling male domestic violence against women. To mark the day, an event is taking place at the domestic abuse one-stop shop on Singleton Street, opposite the Grand Theatre, from 10am to 3pm.

Sparkle

Swansea Diversity Seminar takes place today to raise awareness of the diversity present within the transgender community and provide an opportunity for networking across a number of agencies.  It’s held in the Guildhall Council Chamber from 9am-1.30pm. and Swansea’s fifth Transgender Sparkle Event will be held at the National Waterfront Museum tomorrow. There’ll be information and retail stalls and evening entertainment from 7pm, including local performers and a resident DJ.

Amazing staff stories

We all felt the terrible weather earlier this week but thankfully our staff responded magnificently. Our highways teams were worked through the night to keep our city moving and our call centre were kept busy across all services, with one member of the team taking 175 calls in a day! These are just a few examples so thank you to everyone who responded so brilliantly.

Talk about going the extra mile to benefit residents! Sue Walters in our registrars team was conducting a wedding at the King Arthur Hotel on Saturday when she slipped and broke her leg. But unaware of the extent of her injury, Sue soldiered on in great discomfort to conduct another two weddings after her accident. Well done Sue and I hope you recover quickly.

And finally, our events staff do a terrific job every year in organising the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k. Now we can help them get the recognition they deserve by voting for the race to be named the best 10k in the UK at the 2017 Running Awards.  Please get your vote in for the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k here and vote by the end of the month.

The race came in second place earlier this year, so this is a chance to make sure it gets top spot next year.