Archives for November 2019

CMT will be recommending to Cabinet and Council it’s time to review Sustainable Swansea and develop a new refreshed programme for the next five years.

As an organisation we’ve progressed transformation at a rapid pace over the last five years through our commissioning, commercialism and digital workstreams and this gives us a strong foundation for the future. But our approach now needs to be refined given the impact of legislative and financial drivers for change. 

Adam Hill, our Deputy Chief Executive, will be leading this work over the coming months. I have no doubt that the elements of the revised programme will be similar to those we have pursued since 2013, but as I see it the key drivers for the next five years are:

• Continued austerity – irrespective of the current barrage of election promises the prospects for the UK economy remain uncertain and this will be crucial in determining the share of the cake that goes to councils.  We must continue to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

• Regional working – the Welsh Government has in my view produced the first coherent strategy to improve and standardise collaboration between councils.  The key for us will be to determine what is best done at a regional level and what is better delivered locally.  As the capital city for South West Wales we must step up to the plate and drive this agenda forward for the region.

• New powers – including a general power of competence that will give us much greater freedom and flexibility in what we have the power to do. This has the prospect to open up a more radical and ambitious programme of commercialisation.

• Citizen engagement – in some ways the relationship between local authorities and citizens is old fashioned and paternalistic.  Improving engagement and partnership, focusing on co-production and community resilience are central to a renewed relationship with our citizens.  In the light of the proposal to extend the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds for the next elections I think we may need to fundamentally change our approach to engagement and involvement.

• Digital development – the nature and patterns of work are changing for many people as are the ways in which we all access services from public and private sector agencies. Whilst recognising the challenges of digital exclusion this feels like an unstoppable force in society and all organisations must adapt to it or become obsolete.  We are no exception.

I’ll keep you up to date with how this develops as it will set the medium term direction of the organisation for all of us.  CMT will be very keen to hear the thoughts and ideas of staff before anything is determined.

CMT continued its work to finalise next year’s budget. However, due to the General Election we don’t expect the final settlement figures from Welsh Government until 25 February so the timetable is tight.

CMT also discussed progress on performance in adult social care with a comprehensive report from Deb Reed, Interim Head of Adult Services.  Good progress is being made in this critical service area and although risks remain, CMT was reassured by the report.  Alex Williams will be returning to the substantive role next week and I would like to place on the record my personal thanks to Deb for the great work she has done in Adult Services during Alex’s absence.

Swansea Central

As I mentioned last week the Council has entered into a contract with Buckingham for the building of the Phase 1 Swansea Central scheme.  This week I met directors of the company to hear their views on the project and the City.  It’s clear they are impressed by Swansea as a place and by the Council as an organisation that delivers. 

Work has started in earnest on site and over the coming months there will be a good deal of activity in the car park next to the LC as the development takes shape.  I know they will attempt to minimise disruption as far as possible, particularly over the Christmas period on which our city traders rely. It’s also great to see the development has generated lots of media interest and UK-wide media exposure has included these stories in Music Week, IQ Magazine and Property Week. I expect that more will follow.

• 

• 

Elections

I attended the Wales Electoral Co-ordination Board on Monday to share with colleagues from local councils, the police, Welsh Government and the Electoral Commission progress on preparations for the UK Parliamentary election on December 12. 

The main area of concern seemed to be the possible impacts of poor weather conditions on access to polling stations and count venues and I’ve spoken to Huw and Alison in our elections team about our specific arrangements to make sure staff can get to and from their stations safely. 

Thanks to everyone who is helping out with the receipt of postal votes in the Guildhall at the moment.  I suspect they’ll be busier than ever this time round.

Awards

Well done to David Price-Deer and the team behind the Wales National Airshow who scooped the best large event at the 2019 Swansea Bay Tourism Awards. 

I hope they pick up more awards next year for their fantastic work all year round that puts the city on the national and international tourism map.

Yesterday the Cabinet considered the Swansea Central Phase 1 project and agreed to appoint the main contractor, Buckingham, and to add the scheme to the Council’s capital programme.  This is a significant decision as we attempt to strengthen the regional economy and drive forward city regeneration.

I mentioned a few weeks ago I’d read how our predecessors attempted to rebuild the city following the blitz.  That redevelopment was rapid and geared to the economic patterns of the 1950s. The consequences for us today are that residents were scattered to suburban areas, offices relocated out of the main city area, the retail footprint was too large and empty space grew.

Long leases at low rents has historically frustrated regeneration activity. The economic failure of those buildings has been simultaneous and has accelerated. The future role of cities is changing, shaped by structural changes to the economy, environmental concerns and the internet.

Evidence shows the fundamental problem is one of footfall. Swansea is no different. The reasons to visit the city centre have diminished. Consequently many buildings in the central area have become redundant and unoccupied. The Swansea Central scheme is a comprehensive regeneration strategy based on hard evidence showing that without significant public sector intervention the infrastructure will continue to decline, along with our economic and social fortunes. 

By working with UK and Welsh governments on the City Deal we have the opportunity to address this decline.  This project has magnetised national and international interest and has helped attract other development, much of which is already taking place, and I’m confident it will help us secure other major projects like Skyline and Hafod Copperworks. 

On Monday the Leader and I attended the Development and Regeneration Performance Panel to discuss the report.  The panel has the important job of scrutinising the report prior to its consideration by Cabinet and its views formed an essential part of the considerations by the Cabinet yesterday.  Questions focussed primarily on finance for the scheme but also included biodiversity and the impacts of 5G technology. 

I’m indebted to all the officers and councillors who have worked so hard on this incredibly complex project, particularly Huw Mowbray, Lee Richards and their team in Economic Regeneration and Planning.

Regional working

The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill has been published by the Welsh Government this week. The Bill includes provisions:

•   Reforming electoral arrangements for local government, including:

• extending the voting franchise to 16 and 17 year olds and foreign citizens legally resident in Wales,
• changes to voter registration, and
• enabling a principal council to choose between the ‘first past the post’ or the ‘single transferable vote’ voting systems;

•   The development of a framework and powers to facilitate more consistent and coherent regional working mechanisms;

•   Powers to facilitate voluntary mergers of principal councils and restructuring a principal area;

•  Local government finance including non-domestic rating and council tax;

I’ve previously referred to the proposal to establish Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs) for a core set of functions in the areas of Transport, Strategic Planning, Economic Development and Improving Education.  The Welsh Government wishes to progress the CJCs for Transport and Strategic Planning as soon as possible.  

The ball is now in our court and it’s timely to present our preferred footprint for the region.  Council members have clearly expressed their preference for the City Deal footprint with Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire as our core partners and this will undoubtedly be the proposal from Swansea.  I’ll keep you informed of developments.

Cyber attack

For anyone who missed my message earlier this week relating to potential cyber attacks on the council, please take time to read this link

Christmas Parade

Thanks and congratulations to all involved in organising this year’s annual Christmas parade.  I must confess I was nervous after experiencing last year’s rather damp squib for which my grandchildren held me personally accountable! 

This year’s parade was spectacular to say the least.  This felt like a genuinely co-produced community event, underpinned by the impressive logistical support of officers from special events, streetscene and public lighting.  Once again the clean-up operation was rapid and effective.  The response from the media, businesses and citizens has been universally positive.  Well done all.

Finally, thanks to all involved in organising the event at the Waterfront Museum this week celebrating the fifth anniversary of the council’s Children and Young People’s Rights Scheme. Many of our schools took part and the feedback has been very positive.

As you might expect, the majority of my effort this week has once again been spent working with CMT and the Cabinet to address the revenue budget for next year and beyond.  We are making good progress but as I mentioned last week we will not be able to get the formal settlement announcement from the Welsh Government until 16^th December.  This means that the budget report will have to be delayed until the New Year, which is far from ideal. 

We also discussed the future capital programme and the two main elements; Band B schools and City regeneration.  Over the coming weeks some key decisions will be made on both these programmes to support the Council’s established corporate priorities.  The delivery of both these programmes is incredibly complex and challenging and I know staff involved have been working full speed to make sure that the necessary resources are in place.  The clarity given to staff by councillors has been critical in keeping things on track and it has been a great example of team work between elected members and officers.

Remembrance Day

On a cold, gin clear, Monday morning I joined a large crowd of people at the Cenotaph to mark this year’s formal Remembrance Day event.  The Leader and Lord Mayor were among those who laid wreaths at the monument members of the armed forces paid their respects in this important annual show of gratitude to those who lost their lives in wars.

Stormy weather

The poor weather continues and many of our staff have been working round the clock to keep the City moving.  Thanks to all of you.

Thank you

This week Social Services and colleagues from education, housing and other departments came together to stage Keeping Our Children Safe events for parents and guardians at Cefn Hengoed and Penyrheol Comprehensives and their feeder primary schools.

It was an opportunity for them to find out about current national and local safeguarding issues including ‘County Lines’. These were just two of 40 events taking place in the West Glamorgan region as part of National Safeguarding Week. Thanks to all for the work involved.

A lot like Christmas

Thanks also to the special events team, the culture team, highways and others who have been working hard with many local groups over a number of months in preparations for this Sunday’s Christmas Parade. I’m well aware of the effort that has gone into making the event a big success as part of the Swansea 50^th anniversary celebrations.

This is a vital time of year for our city centre which is why the work on Kingsway is also being put on hold for the festive period.

Another traditional part of the Christmas countdown is the Mr X appeal which has just been launched for 2019. It’s the 60^th anniversary of the appeal and over the years it’s made all the difference on Christmas morning for many thousands of young people who might otherwise have gone without. What is less well-known is that behind the scenes it is council staff who support this much-loved and much-needed appeal. If you want to contribute to the appeal, check out this link.

Once again the majority of my week has been spent with CMT working on the budget for next year and our medium term financial plan.  We’re making good progress but still face some uncertainty, compounded by the fact that the Welsh Government will not now release its budget plans until December 16, meaning we must continue to plan for the worst.  Hard decisions lay ahead but I’ll give staff my reassurance that we’re doing everything in our power to protect core services, focus on priorities and avoid redundancies where we can.  CMT is developing a number of actions, over and above the current vacancy management and spending restrictions, to help ensure this year’s revenue budget comes in on target.  It’s essential we curb all unnecessary spending and I’ll be reminding all managers this is an absolute expectation which we’ll be monitoring over the coming months. In the meantime, the Leader and I, along with other colleagues, will continue to make the case to the Welsh Government for an improved settlement for councils, with some stark reminders of what continuing austerity would mean for core council services.

Potential move

We’re considering plans to move council services to a new public sector hub in the heart of the city centre. There’s a number of reasons for this. We’d need to spend £15m on repairs on the civic centre site in the next decade and £6m in the years after that. The success of our agile working programme means demand for space for staff has almost halved and is expected to reduce further with agile working at the Guildhall. We’re also planning to sell the civic centre to regenerate the Swansea seafront. We want to give residents easier access to services, avoid millions of pounds of unnecessary costs, reduce overheads and help to revitalise the city centre by increasing footfall and encouraging further investment there. These are early proposals and no decisions will be made before a full business case has been drawn up and staff and public have their say early next year. If it goes ahead the earliest any staff would transfer would be 2023 as part of Swansea Central Phase 2, the £1bn project to revitalise the St David’s area of the city centre. Discussions with heads of service are taking place to consider the implications for services and for staff.

Election

With the Brangwyn Hall pre-booked for Christmas parties we’re making arrangements to hold the election count at the LC on December 12.  We’ve also had to change the location of some polling stations, which will be communicated in the coming weeks.  The elections team, who appear to be surprisingly calm at the moment, are working hard to ensure an efficient poll. Today we’ve published the Notice of Election and this means we are in the pre-election or Purdah period so all staff must observe this in accordance with the guidelines published on Staffnet here.

Greener City

I was delighted to see the press coverage on proposals to make our city a greener place.  This is a key a policy commitment of the Council so the production of the Green Infrastructure Strategy is a milestone in delivering improved living environments for residents.  Hopefully, we can join cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and San Francisco in driving forward positive change and reshaping a built environment that’s more sympathetic towards nature and global sustainability.  Thanks to all our staff who are working on the strategy and the projects that will spring from it.

Remembrance

On Monday I’ll be attending the Remembrance event at the Swansea Cenotaph and there are a number of events taking place over the weekend.  I hope staff will join me in remembering the great sacrifices made by our service men and women.  There will be a two-minute silence at 11am on November 11 and Silence in the Square will take place on Monday morning as Swansea commemorates Armistice Day. 

Go Orange

The Guildhall will be lit in bright orange today as part of the Maggie’s ‘Go Outrageously Orange’ fundraising day.  We’re all being encouraged to dress in orange and donate to this important charity that relies on generous contributions of supporters.  It costs £590,000 a year to keep a Maggie’s Centre open so let’s do our best to make sure they can continue to provide emotional, practical and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends.

Congratulations

Well done to the Wales National Pool lifeguards on an excellent performance at the RLSS Lifeguard Triathlon and to our own Water Safety Team who carry out the testing and training. Long-serving lifeguard Robert Silvey came second out of more than 200 entries, while the pool was the fifth best centre in the UK in the competition that tests lifeguard knowledge, fitness and first aid skills.

Congratulations to the staff involved in this year’s 50^th birthday fireworks on the beach.  I have to admit to a slight nervousness when the delays occurred but thankfully the problem was fixed and the event was a great success.  Thanks to all involved in organising the evening and the clean-up afterwards.

It’s been yet another interesting week in politics.  After the twists and turns of the past few months, the inevitable parliamentary election date of December 12 has finally been agreed by MPs and will determine who will govern the country through the difficult and uncharted waters towards the extended Brexit deadline of January 31, 2020.   It remains to be seen whether the result of the election will give us more certainty in relation to the UK departure from the European Union or whether we remain members. 

Organising an election is complicated enough without accounting for the potential for poor weather conditions.  Our elections team and Design Print (among others) are working hard to prepare but the short notice means this will be more challenging than usual.  This requires significant corporate effort from across the Council so thanks to all departments involved. We also need to be aware of the protocols to be followed in pre-election periods that prevent officers from making announcements about any new or controversial initiatives that could be seen to be advantageous to any candidates or parties in the forthcoming election.  This doesn’t mean we stop business but it does mean we must observe the rules carefully. Details about these arrangements will be published on Staffnet.  The pre-election period will follow immediately from the Notice of Election which will be issued on Tuesday, November 12.

Budget

CMT considered the budget again this week and we’ll be discussing a range of options with Cabinet.  Uncertainties around national government and the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s postponed budget make planning especially hard this year, especially given our Cabinet budget proposal day looks likely to clash with the date of the General Election! All at a time when we face final substantial investment decisions around the City Deal and city centre regeneration which are likely to be once in a generation defining moments. The grant settlement from Welsh Government will be key and we expect this relatively late this year, on 26 November. This will be the first indication as to whether we’ll see a beginning to the end of austerity or not. And whether it can be sustained with future grant increases. Whatever the outcome we will continue to face substantial savings of similar magnitude to the last few years which will mean tough choices. Cabinet’s proposals will now be published a bit later in December than planned, and the public consultation will run until very early February. Cabinet will make final recommendations on 13 February and the budget and council tax will be set on 27 February.    

Rough Sleeping

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the challenges our staff face in dealing with rough sleeping. Swansea Winter Night Shelter is looking for volunteers for 2020.  The Night Shelter has been providing emergency overnight accommodation, hot food and positive social company for more than 200 homeless men and women for the past nine years.  We want to continue this service for the early months (Jan-March) of 2020.  The shelters are run by around 200 volunteers and located at various church venues throughout the winter. If you’re interested in helping in 2020, there are information and training sessions on November 6 and 13 at 7:30pm in Parklands Church, Sketty.  So far 140 volunteers have signed up, so thanks to you all. 

Fireworks

A quick reminder for staff to make every effort to vacate four of our car parks before 5.30pm on Tuesday, November 5. The Civic Centre East/West, Paxton Street and Guildhall Rotunda sites will be used as paid-for parking for the night’s free seafront fireworks display – and the revenue will help us to offset the cost of the event. Many thanks for your understanding – I appreciate your assistance. More here.

Crowdfunding

We’ve teamed up with national crowdfunding platform Spacehive to launch Crowdfund Swansea, an initiative to help improve communities throughout the area.

The initiative gives residents with project ideas the ability to attract the funding they need to make it happen from the community, council, businesses and foundations via an online portal. My thanks to Paul Relf and Michelle Parfitt for their work on this project.

Congratulations

Swansea’s first Black History Month launched recently at the Grand Theatre, with 200 attending a concert of local musical talent. The event illustrates how black citizens have helped develop the city’s cultural heritage. Our Cultural Strategy Manager Chris Mellor was awarded a Legacy Maker Award by the Race Council Cymru for his work on promoting community cohesion and racial inclusion.

Congratulations to Ian Jenkins, chair of governors at Craigfelen Primary School, on being awarded the British Empire Medal. Ian has been a volunteer at Craigfelen for 23 years and he received the award from the Lord Lieutenant of West Glamorgan, Mr D Byron Lewis.

Work is now rapidly progressing on the new school in Cockett that will house our Pupil Referral Unit. This much needed project was hit by the collapse of Dawnus earlier this year so I’d like to thank all our staff who have worked to get it back on track with the new contractor Kier.

Finally, many staff are taking retirement around this time and among them is Jeff Green, our Road Safety Manager, who’s leaving us after 33 years’ service. Jeff has been instrumental in making our roads safer during that time. Good luck to all our colleagues who are retiring.