Our city centre’s reputation is continuing to grow. A lot is going on with new developments, both public and private sector, making good progress. I visited the Palace Theatre yesterday with the Leader to discuss plans with Tramshed, the operators we’ve appointed to look after the building. Formal handover from our contractors to Tramshed is taking place soon, so I’ll keep you posted, but the transformation continues to impress. Also this week I took a tour of the new biophilic building in the city centre and nearby Princess Quarter. Both these developments are being delivered by the private sector and the millions of pounds of investment they are injecting into the local economy is testimony to the growing confidence there is in the future of the city centre and Swansea. Coming on top of our continuing work at Y Storfa and the recently unveiled proposals for the city centre public sector hub, things are looking up.
The staff survey closed on Wednesday and in the coming weeks we’ll analyse the results and come back to you about the actions we’ll be taking. I know that thousands of you participated in the survey individually and, for the first time, as part of the team. Thank you all for your support and ideas. Your views will make a difference and I’ll feedback as soon as I can.
While our reputation is impacted by our performance on what some might call the big ticket items, it’s pleasing to know that the day-to-day effort by our teams to keep services going and in great shape is positively praised by the public as well. This week we had some very complimentary feedback about our Cleansing team and team leader Stuart Willingale in particular. His work in dealing with issues ranging from litter to vandalism in public spaces was described as awesome, proactive and professional by a resident. Well done to Stuart and the team for their efforts and for going the extra mile. If your teams or individuals are being praised for their work by members of the public do let me know and I’ll share it in the blog.
Congratulations to our Parks team for securing Green Flag status, recognising the vital role they play in boosting residents’ wellbeing and improving the natural environment. Simon Lydiard, Team Leader for Parks and his team spend considerable time preparing for the independent inspections and hosting the judges, it is also Simon’s 40th anniversary with the council next week, congratulations Simon.
Next month our climate change team and our external partners are launching a series of workshops to generate public interest and ideas in the next stage of our work to tackle climate change and support nature recovery. It’s called Resilient Swansea and you can find out more about them here and sign up to attend a workshop. This issue is one of our top priorities and it already affects our work as we continue to aim to be a net zero council by the start of the next decade.
Congratulations to six members of our housing team who have just completed professional qualifications through Gower College Swansea. You can find out more about them here. Their continuing commitment to professional development reflects our own ambition to drive transformation at the council by investing in the skills of our teams. Find out more about learning and development with us here.
Farewell to Kath Thomas in our taxi licensing team and housing rents team leader Peter Morris who are retiring after giving a combined 84 years of service to our communities. Thank you both for your commitment over the years and we all wish you well in your next chapter.
Like many of you, I’m taking a couple of weeks leave, so the blog will return in a fortnight. Do keep your emails, ideas and news for the blog coming, ready for when I get back.
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