Archives for November 2017

Just another manic Monday

November 24, 2017 by Martin 2 Comments

I spent Monday in London lobbying for the tidal lagoon and the UK City of Culture 2021.

The Leader and Deputy Leader joined me, along with Nigel Short, owner of Penderyn Whisky. They delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street and took our giant postcard to the Wales Office in Whitehall.

It marked the end of the current phase of our Love the Lagoon campaign and was timed to drive the message home before the Chancellor’s budget speech. We hope the lagoon will be included in the UK Industrial Strategy when it’s unveiled soon.

We then went to the House of Commons for the UK City of Culture reception.

It was a well-attended event with speeches from Geraint Davies MP and our Leader, Rob Stewart. Alun Cairns, the Welsh Secretary, also spoke in support of our bid.

I met one of our cultural champions, Sir Peter Blake, best known, rather unfairly, for the design of the Beatles Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP cover.

His exhibition of illustrations for Under Milk Wood kicked-off our Dylan Thomas centenary events in 2014. His support is greatly appreciated.

“Dying to work” charter

We’ve signed a workers’ charter to provide further support to staff facing terminal illness. We already support key elements of the charter, including ensuring employees with a terminal illness have access to appropriate counselling and financial advice, and that we deal with terminal illness in a sensitive and supportive way.

Thanks to all the councillors, officers and trade unions who’ve been involved.

Leading the way

Congratulations to everyone involved in Monday’s event to celebrate our role in placing children’s rights at the heart of education. Schools have taken part in the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools initiative and more than 48,000 children and young people, 2,050 teaching staff and 1,320 non-teaching staff have played their part.

We’re the first council in the UK to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) at the heart of everything we do and that’s real cause for celebration.

Linked to this, the #IAMME Young People’s group collected their prestigious Diana Award, and were a credit to our looked after children. The awards’ roll of honour now states: “#Iamme are an incredible group of young people who have made a significant contribution to ensuring that the voice of looked after children is represented.” This is a fantastic achievement and I’m very proud!

Pontlliw Primary School

During a visit to Pontlliw Primary school I was delighted to see a clear focus on the STEMM subjects and a real commitment to promote science. The school will be visiting Valencia as part of the ERASMUS project to see how science and technology is taught elsewhere. Despite the uncertainty over Brexit and its impact on ERASMUS, I hope these exchanges continue. Thanks to headteacher Alison Norman, her team and the pupils for the warm welcome and I hope you bring back some great ideas from Valencia.

Well-being

In 2016, Swansea’s Public Services Board (PSB) started a conversation about well-being in the local area. People told us Swansea’s a great place to live but we need to work together to make sure everyone can live well, benefit from and be proud of Swansea.

Based on this we’ve developed a draft Local Well-being Plan, but we need your views to make sure we’ve got it right. I hope you can let us have your views by completing the survey here.

Christmas

I went to the fantastic Christmas Parade in the city centre along with 40,000 other people – the biggest crowd we’ve had at the lights switch-on. Congratulations to our events team for staging a successful parade and for getting Waterfront Winterland open on time.

Our cleansing team was on the case straight after the event – ensuring the city centre was back to normal for the start of the week.

We’ve already had loads of enquiries from people and organisations wanting to take part in next year’s parade and that speaks volumes. Thanks and congratulations to the many staff involved from all the departments who contributed.

Children in Need

Fund-raising events for Children in Need were held across the council. Just one example saw the Highways and Transportation team at Clydach raise £88 by selling cakes and dressing down.

Well done to all and here’s a picture of Lee O’Hara entering into the dressing down with gusto!

White Ribbon

A White Ribbon Day event will be held at Swansea’s Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop today as part of a national campaign. We’re working with Swansea Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Partnership to spread the message that domestic abuse and violence are unacceptable. You’ll find further information about the campaign here.

Sad loss

Grenville Phillips, Honorary Alderman and former Lord Mayor of Swansea, has passed away. Grenville was also Honorary Burgermeister of Mannheim and founder of the Portmead and Blaenymaes Community Centre. I worked alongside him as he strove to improve the lives of his constituents in the Penderry ward.

He was a deeply committed and fair politician and I‘ll always be grateful for his unwavering support, particularly through the challenging PRC homes project which saw the demolition and redevelopment of a large part of the Blaenymaes and Portmead estate.

London Calling

November 17, 2017 by Martin 2 Comments

Next week officers and councillors are in London to continue two important campaigns; the Tidal Lagoon and the City of Culture.

Hopefully you’ll have seen our giant postcard that’s been signed by hundreds of lagoon supporters. We’ll be delivering it to the Wales Office in Whitehall on Monday morning with a clear message to the Chancellor to announce its approval in his Autumn Statement. A few hours later we’ll be handing in a letter to the Prime Minister signed by more than 110 leading businesses calling for the lagoon’s go ahead. The campaign has been magnificent, driven by our Communications team and supported by a huge number of staff across the organisation. I’m grateful to every one of you. The highlight of the campaign for me has been the videos from some of our schools. Click on the attached link to see examples of their art submissions.

We’ll then be heading to the House of Commons to attend a City of Culture bid reception to win over the hearts and minds of MPs and to demonstrate what becoming the UK City of Culture 2021 would mean for Swansea. We’re entering the last two weeks of this campaign so I’d urge everyone who supports the bid to express themselves through our social media platforms as we head for the line in Hull on December 8.

The Sky’s the limit

We’re anxiously awaiting the decision of board of the Skyline Luge organisation on the location of their next project. I mentioned this in my blog on October 27. Following the visit by Skyline New Zealand our team of officers and members have been pulling out all the stops to attract this game-changing attraction. Whatever the outcome the team couldn’t have tried harder and deserve a big vote of thanks for their efforts. Fingers crossed!

Liberty Stadium

Cabinet this week approved the terms of an agreement with Swansea City FC for new lease arrangements for the Liberty Stadium. The report can be found here. Over the last few years the over-complicated existing arrangements have become increasingly outdated. The agreement will see a guaranteed rental income and, subject to continued Premier League status, a share in any naming rights deal the club secures. The agreement will also allow the Ospreys continued playing rights and the provision of a number of 3G pitches for the Council. My thanks to those involved in securing this deal.

School visits

On Tuesday I went to Penllergaer Primary School to meet the head teacher, Jayne Woolcock. We discussed a range of topics including her role as challenge adviser, the progress of the school improvement consortium (ERW) and the issues facing the Council and the school. Last year the school became the only school in Wales to be awarded Associate School status by the Royal Society so I was particularly interested in the work the school’s doing in relation to STEMM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics and medicine). I’m hoping we can link with Swansea University’s Soapbox Science programme which I mentioned in my July 7^th blog. The school is already working closely with the university in a partnership which sees pupils regularly going to the second campus to dig deep into science activities like using a scanning electron microscope. I also met Kelly Thomas, the school’s Science Leader, who recently won a national Outstanding Teacher Award at the Primary Science Teaching Trust 2017 Awards for her innovative approach to teaching science, encouraging inquisitive, critical thinking among pupils. Well done Kelly.

Congratulations and thanks

This week witnessed the start of the transformational changes along the Kingsway, a critical piece in the city centre jigsaw. Our Highways team have done a great job in implementing the traffic changes, introducing a temporary roundabout along with a number of other changes. They had to do this whilst ‘juggling’ the traffic which was no mean feat and was delivered with minimum disruption. We’ll be removing buses from the Metro track along with the temporary pedestrian barrier on the central reserve. We’re also putting in new bus stops and removing and planting trees. Thanks to all involved.

I was delighted to hear that all our Band B schools bids to Welsh Government have been successful. This means we’ll see an unprecedented capital investment in our schools estate over the coming years. Thanks and congratulations to all the staff and councillors involved in preparing our submissions.

Our Beyond Bricks and Mortar Community Benefit policy has won the Go Awards Wales “Go Procurement Innovation/ Initiative award” against 10 other entries. This regional award follows the national award we won last March at Go Awards UK for “Best Employment Initiative”. We automatically go into the national awards taking place in Manchester in April. Congratulations to our Beyond Bricks and Mortar team who have every reason to be proud of their achievements.

You may have seen DIY SOS on BBC1 on Wednesday, which was all about the construction of a new base for The Roots Foundation in Fforestfach. Our staff in teams including building, parks, highways, building regulations, planning and social services were instrumental in helping support this Children in Need project, so my thanks to all involved. And I know many staff will be raising funds today for Children in Need. Thank you for all your efforts.

Christmas in Swansea starts today with the opening of the Christmas Market on Oxford Street and the Waterfront Winterland at Museum Park. With the Christmas Parade in the city centre on Sunday, I’d like to thank all staff involved in organising these events. Head to www.swanseachristmas.com for more information.

Tackling domestic abuse is our responsibility

November 10, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

Domestic abuse affects one in four women and we recently launched our online training to help us respond to violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV).

The National Training Framework requires us to ensure that 100% of our workforce receive the basic awareness raising training by March 31 2018. Online training via the learning pool is now available to staff at this link.

Leadership Team discussed it to ensure we can create a culture which acknowledges these issues and can promote a quality response from our workforce who are alert to these issues. It was stressed that domestic violence can also be against men and boys and this was also the subject of responses to my previous blog. The training will be driven through our corporate approach to safeguarding and “a train the trainer” course arranged to ensure consistent messages are taken to our workforce through face-to-face training.

I’d urge as many of you as possible to undertake the training as soon as you can, not in order to meet the requirements of the National Training Framework, but because this is a significant issue in which we all have a responsibility to act when we’re aware of it.

Budget

Further discussions were held this week with Cabinet on the revenue budget to finalise proposals for consultation. Officers are now working on the development of the capital programme which is essential in the delivery of our corporate priorities. The regeneration of the city, the improvement to schools and the transformation of the Council will be key drivers for the capital programme. This work will need to be completed by the end of November in order to meet the consultation timetable. I’ll keep you updated.

Carl Sargeant AM

I was deeply saddened to hear the news about Carl Sargeant this week. Carl has helped us here in Swansea in many ways including the modernisation of the planning system, the regeneration of the city through the Vibrant and Viable Places initiative, the delivery of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and the response by Welsh Government to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Carl had the rare ability to be able to communicate to people at all levels, from the often heated debates at the Senedd to the visits he made with us to tenants homes in the city. Tributes have been forthcoming from across the political parties for his commitment and determination to improve the lives of people in Wales.

Another great first!

We lead the way in so many things but often they go unnoticed, but that definitely isn’t the case with Swansea’s and possibly Wales’ first specialist swing for disabled children. The new Ability Swing in Victoria Park allows children to play on a swing without leaving their wheelchair. It’s been widely welcomed, particularly by parents and children but also on social media where it’s proving to be one of our most popular posts! This is a great initiative and follows discussions with families. Thank you to everyone involved.

Awards

Our Looked After Children (LAC) Learners Participation Group have won a prestigious Diana Award. The group, created in 2008, support LAC in Swansea to have a safe space to meet, socialise, have a voice and highlight issues faced by LAC.

They meet in their own time to work on projects that will enhance the lives of others. This is a fantastic achievement and I hope they have a great time when they collect their award later this month – well done to everyone.

Congratulations to Liz Thomas-Evans, Tracy Dicataldo, Ray Mitchell and Gary Davies from our health and wellbeing team on their success at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Awards. Our ‘Helping Hands’ scheme won ‘Best health and wellbeing initiative’ with the judges impressed by the ‘people centred, holistic approach’.

It’s also great news that the council featured strongly at this year’s Swansea Bay Tourism Awards, staged at the Brangwyn Hall last night. The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery was Highly Commended in categories for Best Attraction and Best Renewed Tourism Business. In the Festivals and Events category our brilliant Wales Airshow and Proms in the Park were joint winners with the Gower Agricultural Show. And congratulations also to Lindsay Sleeman from Cultural Services who was Highly Commended in the Best Tourism Ambassador category. Well done to everyone and my thanks also to those involved in staging such a prestigious and exciting awards event.

Well done to Josh Wells who’s been named our Apprentice of the Year. A former Birchgrove Comprehensive School pupil, Josh also got through to the Skill Build National Finals held in Birmingham in November last year after winning the regional title. Other winners at the awards included Tyler Tipene, Charlie Leyshon, Daniel McGhee, Rory Grey, Lee Cutler and Lyn Hovvels. Four other apprentices –Kyle Freeman, Callum Williams, Rhys Barrow and Aaron Redden – have been selected for the World Skills competition taking place in January.

And later this month our Team Around the Family in Schools initiative will find out if it’s won a national Guardian Public Service Awards. TAF This initiative supports children – and significantly reduces pressure on the council – by empowering primary school staff to tackle early-stage social challenges faced by families. Thank you to everyone involved and good luck at the awards!