Archives for February 2020

Over the last few years there has been a good deal of discussion and a degree of confusion about the future of the Civic Centre.  It is a building that has historically been the subject of populist rumour, including the bogus claim that it was originally built as a hotel.  It was commissioned by the newly established West Glamorgan County Council as their new headquarters following the local government reorganisation of 1972 and was opened as County Hall in July 1982. 

In reality the building has aged and the cost of repairs going forward would be huge and so some years ago the options for its future were considered. The Council’s central area regeneration framework has identified the site of the centre as a major redevelopment opportunity and a former Welsh Government minister once described it to me as the best regeneration site in Wales. 

Despite the attractiveness of the site the depressed development market has delayed progress with regeneration and our focus has been on the Swansea Central Phase 1 and 2 schemes which will have the positive effect of raising land values on adjacent sites including the Civic Centre. 

The regeneration framework also emphasises the importance of retaining office-based staff in the city centre. So the way forward will be to relocate staff currently in the civic centre to other buildings, including a new purpose-built facility as part of Swansea Central Phase 2.  We are discussing this plan with other public sector bodies as we aim to create a hub in the centre of the city which will increase footfall in the retail area.  We have already discussed the proposal with the new Secretary of State for Wales and he expressed his support to the Leader and me.

The logistics are being factored into the Council’s accommodation strategy and I am hopeful that we will soon have a definitive timescale for the move. I know that many staff have been concerned over their future workplace and I have asked the property team to keep civic centre-based staff up to speed with developments over the coming weeks and months.

Storm update

It appears that things are getting back to normal in most parts of the city following the recent storms.  I hope to speak with some of the staff involved next week to thank them personally for their efforts.

Details of the Welsh Government assistance package are also emerging and Swansea residents affected by recent floods can apply for funding to help recover from the storms.

Welsh Government will make payments from its discretionary assistance fund (DAF) which affected residents can access for grants of up to £500 for those who are insured and £1,000 for those who are not.  People who are helped with their application by Council officers will be fast-tracked through the DAF application, approval and payment process.  Further information is also available here.

My thanks go to Julian Morgans and his team for reacting so quickly in developing this much needed support for our residents.

Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation

The WIMD is an important data source on deprivation across Wales and is used to prioritise and allocate resources at a national level.  It is therefore very important that we undertake a ward-level analysis of WIMD 2019 data.  The web page has now been updated with 36 individual WIMD profiles, along with a summary briefing note of the local results and a list of the indicators included in each deprivation domain.  Thanks to Steve King for updating me on this and I hope staff will take the opportunity to review it given our commitment to tackle poverty across the city.

Coronavirus

There has been a lot of media coverage about coronavirus. Public Health Wales is leading the response to this and our health and wellbeing team are working closely with them. There are links on our staffnet pages which are routinely updated with the latest information. The situation remains business as usual for all our services at present and there will be further updates as required.

Thanks

From time to time I get letters from residents thanking our staff for the difference they make to people’s lives.  They are too many to mention but I had a moving example of it this week when the efforts of our team of carers from Social services in supporting a client in Loughor and his family through his long illness and bereavement.  It reminded me again of the critically important job our staff do and the impact it has on citizens at times when they most need our support.  Thanks to the staff involved. 

You can’t have failed to have noticed that the Oystermouth Road pedestrian bridge was removed at last on Sunday, weather just about permitting. It was a painstaking operation carried out with professionalism and commitment by Bond Demolition on behalf of the arena main contractors, Buckingham and overseen by us. My thanks to highways and the arena development team their efforts.

The poor weather persists and our staff continue to pull out all the stops to keep the city moving and our residents safe.  Thankfully we didn’t suffer as badly last weekend as some parts such as RCT and Monmouthshire. This is partly due to the excellent work done by our staff in partnership with Natural Resources Wales to mitigate flood damage.  But more capital investment is needed to protect our communities.

On Wednesday the First Minister convened an emergency summit with council leaders. The Welsh Government now recognise the importance of preventative capital works funding as well as help for immediate impact on residents and businesses. The Leader made this point emphatically in the discussions with Welsh Government and hopefully the resources will be found for flood prevention rather than to pay for the consequences of it. But thanks again to our staff who continue to battle against the rain and winds. Their efforts last weekend were outstanding.

Budget

Yesterday Cabinet approved the budget reports for 2020/21 and recommends approval at Council on March 5.  I was particularly pleased to see the progress made on managing this year’s revenue budget which has required a considerable effort from all.  This is a substantial improvement on previous reports so thanks to all involved. I know spending restrictions can be frustrating, but they are necessary and have helped protect jobs and services.

Regional work

Once again a large part of my week has been spent in discussion with regional chief executives and other colleagues on the future footprints for local government collaborations.  Slow progress is being made but despite considerable frustration I remain optimistic we’ll achieve some form of agreement in the coming weeks and months.  It’s imperative we resolve the issues in our school improvement service rapidly and we need to attempt to get as many services planned on the same footprint. 

Congratulations

I was delighted to hear our Swansea Local Development Plan has reached the finals of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence.  These awards are the most respected in the UK planning industry. So qualifying for the finals is a major achievement which recognises our commitment to innovation and promoting place-making in the city’s transformation in the next decade and beyond.  The winners will be announced on April 30 and I’m hoping we’ll bring back the award, but congratulations on making the final.  Thanks to the Planning Team for getting this recognition which will help improve our reputation on the national stage.

Brynmill Primary School has said thank you and goodbye to Eirlys Morgan who’s retired at the age of 86, having been the school crossing patrol for the past 25 years. I’d like to add my appreciation to Eirlys for her service and wish her well in retirement.

Our run of exemplary Estyn school inspection reports continues. Wellbeing and attitudes to learning, along with care, support and guidance were found to be excellent at Talycopa Primary School. It was rated good in all other inspection areas so congratulations to all at the school.

Have your say

Like all public authorities we have to produce a strategic equality plan showing how we’ll go about promoting equal opportunities for everyone living and working in Swansea.  We’re now consulting on the plan and I hope as many staff as possible will take part here.

After months of hard work the budget reports were finally published on Wednesday.  This has been a mammoth task and I’m very grateful to Ben Smith and the Finance team for the countless hours of graft they’ve put in.  The reports and their recommendations will be considered by Cabinet next Thursday and then at Council on March 5. For those who missed the recent roadshows the main message is the budget settlement from Welsh Government was better than anticipated and this has helped us deal with some of the immediate pressures in 2020/21 without massive reductions in services.  A number of service areas will experience budget growth but it’s unclear if this will continue in future settlements, so our medium term financial plan retains a more gloomy outlook for the future.  This is based on our assumptions of service pressures for the following three years as well as some concerns about the likely state of the public finances, given some of the current economic forecasts.  It’s essential our advice to Members is consistent and I’ll be writing to directors and heads of service next week to set this out formally.

Commissioner Visit

I met the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Helena Herklots, on her visits to all Welsh councils.  It was an interesting session where she shared her priorities, including dealing with age discrimination and the abuse of older people as well making communities more age-friendly.  As usual, thanks to the hard work of our staff, I was able to point to some examples of our innovative and excellent work including safeguarding, intermediate care, local area co-ordination and many other services.  It’s likely Helena will want to talk to our Public Service Board given their priority on Living Well and Ageing Well.  I hope we can continue our productive and constructive relationship with the Commission in the years to come. Thanks to Dave Howes for supporting me through the discussion.

ERW

I‘ve spent much of the week dealing with issues at our regional school improvement consortium, ERW.  The ESTYN review of Pembrokeshire’s education service, followed by the resignation of the chair of ERW and leader of Ceredigion Council, Ellen ap Gwynn, have made it a busy week.  The impact of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill on regional footprints is also a preoccupation for many in the region.  It’s essential that we retain our focus on providing school improvement services across the region, and that will be my main focus.

Secretary of State meeting

As I mentioned in last week’s blog the Leader and I met with Simon Hart, the new Secretary of State for Wales.  We had some helpful and productive discussions about a range of economic development opportunities with the UK government in partnership with the Welsh Government.  Transport, clean energy and the city centre were at the top of our list and I hope we’ll benefit from investment into these areas by both governments.

Coronavirus

We’re working with Public Health Wales to provide guidance to staff who may have recently returned from those countries affected. In short, anyone who’s returned within the past 14 days and has symptoms of the virus should self-isolate by remaining at home and seek medical advice. The same applies to anyone who’s had close contact with someone who’s returned within 14 days and is showing symptoms. It’s important we take a measured approach as there still isn’t a single diagnosed case in Wales at this time.

Storm Ciara

Thanks to all our staff who worked through terrible weather dealing with last weekend’s storm. Our tree services team, parks staff and highways teams dealt with fallen trees and fencing, clearing debris, blocked watercourses, fallen street-light lanterns, doors ripped off columns and traffic signals blown off posts.  We dealt with a fallen tree in Alexandra Road. We even had a trampoline which ended up in the middle of a road and a sweeper was deployed to Oystermouth Road to clear sand blown over from the beach.  These are just some examples and I know many staff such as our carers were out ensuring the vulnerable were looked after. This is a brilliant effort and I’m really grateful to all staff who braved these conditions. Unfortunately, it seems we may have more of the same this weekend so I want to thank you in advance.

Swansea used to be termed a city “of artists impressions” but that criticism can’t be levelled against us anymore. There is a huge amount of development taking place on the ground and I’m delighted we are leading on so much of it.

Last Friday I visited two sites to get a better understanding of the work colleagues in Housing and Corporate Building Services are doing on developing and refurbishing council homes. First stop was Parc yr Helig, Birchgrove, where we are developing 16 new council homes as part of our More Homes strategy.  The progress made since Cabinet approved the development is impressive, and completion of the site is expected in the summer.  The 12 x 1 bed apartments and 4 x 2 bed semi-detached housesare being developed to a very high standard and use innovative technology to make them energy efficient and affordable to heat.  This includes solar panels, ground source heat pumps and advanced battery storage. Thanks to Darren Thomas, Hugh Smith and Antony James for showing me round the site.

Then on to Craigcefnparc to see how these technologies can be retro-fitted to existing council homes.  This is truly innovative work putting Swansea at the head of the field in the UK and beyond.  Not only is it helping to regenerate communities, it’s also a physical demonstration of our commitment to tackling climate emergency.  Thanks to Ashley Taylor, Stuart Lloyd and Ben Collard for hosting the visit. I’d like to thank all the staff working on our housing programme as well as Councillor Andrea Lewis and Martin Nicholls for joining me on the visit.  Particular thanks to Nigel Williams and Chris Cutforth for arranging the visit and escorting us.

City centre

Yesterday saw another important milestone in the Swansea Central Phase 1 scheme.  I joined the Leader at an event to promote the start of the 18-month construction of a mixed-use scheme which includes new city centre living, multi-use arena, car parking, and the first city centre park in Swansea since Victorian times.  A huge amount of progress has been made over the last month and, weather permitting, the Oystermouth Road bridge by the LC should be removed in the next fortnight. We were joined by David T C Davies MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales.  The Leader and I spent an hour with him explaining the key investment priorities for the city including the tidal lagoon (of course), the South Wales metro and the public sector hub (I mentioned this at the recent staff roadshow).  I hope we can continue a constructive dialogue on these issues and Rob Stewart and I will be travelling to Cardiff next week to meet with the new Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart.

It was an important week for the Kingsway too as the Planning Committee approved the biophilic housing project I mentioned last October.  This will add even more momentum to the Kingway’s regeneration as well as setting a high standard for future sustainable development in our city centre. 

I was also pleased the Planning Committee approved the Mumbles skatepark proposal on the seafront as the absence of such a facility is something I’ve been consistently approached about over the last few years.

Lagoon

Thanks to Steve Brown, headteacher at Clwyd Community Primary School for telling me about the recent visit by two Clwyd pupils to 10 Downing Street to interview the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.   Lois and Kenzie from Year 6 used the opportunity to ask the PM the following question: “With a climate emergency declared in Wales, what will your government do to tackle climate change? For example will you now give new consideration to the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon?” The PM answered that he was in favour of tidal lagoons and was fully aware of the Swansea Bay proposal but queried the cost.  In the coming weeks we’ll be addressing this at Welsh and UK government level so thanks to Lois and Kenzie for reminding the PM about the project and that school children in the region are behind it. What excellent ambassadors they are.

Congratulations and well done

Two of our apprentices have been honoured by Gower College. Kyle Freeman won the carpentry apprentice of the year and Rhys Barrow won the bricklaying award. This is brilliant news and I’m sure both have a great future ahead of them.

A huge thanks to Phil Cuggy and Tony Baker in our security team who rescued a man from the sea near the Civic Centre. Both of them waded into the water where the man was face down. Luckily he was conscious and the ambulance quickly arrived. Well done for your great work.