We know that feeling safe on our streets and in our homes is a top priority for our residents and it’s always a subject that comes up during public consultations. I am pleased to see a range of improvements across the city, including the retention of increased city centre policing levels that had been reduced in previous years. Notwithstanding this, it’s important we keep the momentum going in tackling anti-social behaviour and crime locally, both by the council and with our partners. As such this month we’ve set up a council-wide Community Safety Forum, bringing together expertise and building on the links with external partners like the police. The forum is one of the results of the recent scrutiny inquiry panel on anti-social behaviour and its membership features staff from 16 areas, including culture and tourism, education, housing and wider Place services, social services and city centre teams.
We know this kind of joint working is effective because our Community Engagement team’s school summer holiday ‘City Chill’ initiative, staged alongside extra police action, saw anti-social behaviour in the city centre, marina and beach-front areas drop by almost 40%. It’s very encouraging and I’d like to thank all those involved.
This week the Leader and I met with James Price, the chief executive of Transport for Wales to discuss the challenges facing our public transport services, the Swansea Bay Metro and local rail. We also discussed the potential behind introducing bus franchising across Swansea and Wales. You can find out more about it here. Franchising would give us much greater control and would ensure that vital routes and services in Swansea which might not be commercially viable but matter when it comes to getting to and from work, the city centre or hospital, for example. I will keep you posted.
Staying with ideas that boost our local economy, yesterday I joined with councillors and partners from across South West England and South Wales at the latest Western Gateway convention in Newport. Western Gateway is a regional partnership supporting joint action on strategic development. At the convention we looked at how we can work together to boost activity that matters to us in Swansea, like jobs in technology, net zero and public transport including rail and buses.
The Leader and I have been contacted by a member of the public with high praise for our National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) team member Mike Dalling and the staff at Bishopston Leisure Centre for helping him return to good health. You can find out more about NERS here. But it’s an important part of our overall effort to enable older people to lead independent lives for longer, promoting health and wellbeing and helping prevent the need for more intensive social care. My thanks to Mike and all the NERS team for their work.
Congratulations this week to our head of revenues and benefits Julian Morgans and his senior revenues officer colleague Rob Jones are celebrating their 40th anniversary at the council, having started on the same September day in 1984. Well done also to our Housing team’s neighbourhood officer Philippa Williams who is celebrating more than 41 years of service with the department, having started as a clerical officer in 1983. Thank you to them all for their outstanding commitment.
On a personal note, I’m a big supporter of the Welsh Blood service and I’m helping lead efforts in Wales encouraging business to enable their staff to donate. The service has just issued a new round of dates for donations in the Swansea area. So please take part if you can.
Finally, our latest resident survey is live now, so if you live in Swansea please join the conversation.
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