Archives for January 2025

Swansea’s major regeneration programme is continuing at pace for the benefit of residents, businesses and visitors to the city.

The private sector is heavily investing in Swansea to complement schemes led by the council, so it was really encouraging to meet a number of developers and housing associations this week at the Development Advisory Group to find out more about their schemes which are either in progress or in the pipeline. These include the work being led by Kartay Investments to bring a number of empty units on Oxford Street back into use, as well as their plans to remodel the upper floors of the city centre’s McDonald’s building into flats.

As well as regenerating our city, providing support to the most deprived in our communities is at the heart of what we do as a council. At a meeting of Cabinet and the Corporate Management Team yesterday,  Lee Cambule gave an overview of current work to tackle poverty in Swansea. A new tackling poverty strategy is being developed, so the meeting gave the opportunity to discuss what’s being planned ahead of the strategy going out to consultation. My thanks to Lee and the team for developing the strategy but also to all council services who are involved in its delivery on a day-to-day basis. It’s a great example of joined-up cross council working that we wish to continue to promote.

On Wednesday, myself and directors met with representatives from Audit Wales, Estyn and Care Inspectorate Wales for our annual risk assessment workshop. It was a positive session where we discussed key risks facing the council, examples of best practice and areas for development and improvement.

As part of the legal requirements placed on all councils, we are also arranging a Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) of the council for June as we strive to continuously improve for the benefit of residents and our staff. This will see an independent panel appointed by us to carry out a peer review on a range of areas. These will include how we can best work together as one council to encourage more collaboration across departments and also how we build some resilience within our workforce. Councillors also had the first overview or the programme last night so work will continue in the coming weeks and I’ll keep everyone up to date.

Earlier this week, I visited the Revenues and Benefits team in the Civic Centre to see first-hand the great work they do. From the collection of council tax and business rates to hardship payments and assessing eligibility for free school meals, their work is hugely varied and I was really grateful for them spending the time taking me across the department and meeting many of the staff involved in this key area of work. If you’d like me to visit your team to see the fantastic work you’re doing, please get in touch.

Our social media pages are also a great way to keep updated with the work your colleagues across the council are doing. More than 300,000 people saw two of our corporate communications team’s recent Facebook posts – one detailing our improvement work on a coastal path near Rotherslade, the other highlighting new public art as part of our Mumbles coastal protection scheme. A video showing the lighting bollards that have been installed on the promenade has also been watched over 50,000 times since Tuesday evening.

My thanks to staff involved in the organisation of the Holocaust Memorial Day event held in the Guildhall this week where pupils from schools across Swansea joined faith and civic leaders. It was a moving event to commemorate those who have lost their lives in acts of genocide across the world as people of all ages come together to help create a better future.

Finally, I’d like to wish Alan ‘Chalkie’ White my best wishes for a long and happy retirement. A maintenance labourer at our Heol y Gors depot, Alan has given 44 years service to the council.  Alan and his wife, Tina, have recently bought a small property in Spain, so his time in the sunshine is richly deserved.

It’s really pleasing to see so much progress being made on transforming our city centre this year. Earlier this week Urban Splash – our city centre development partners – hosted workshop discussions with members and senior officers on its masterplan for the future of the Civic Centre. As you know, it’ll be a big change as staff make way so the landmark can become a multi-purpose visitor destination, creating jobs and boosting tourism. Work on the project will continue over the next six months before proposals come to Cabinet.

The project follows the work being done this year at Y Storfa and the public sector hub in the city centre which will also see staff moving to them. Along with 71/72 Kingsway opening soon and the transformation of Castle Square beginning this year too, 2025 promises to be a very busy year for our regeneration aspirations and our ambition to boost city centre footfall aiding its future viability. My thanks to all those involved in these vital projects and I will update you in the coming months on any arrangements that may affect you.

At CMT this week a range of items were discussed, including the current in-year budget position and the emerging New UK and Welsh Government public procurement legislation. Procurement may sound a bit dry, but it’s the way we ensure we get value for money for the millions of pounds we invest in ordering and buying all kinds of goods and services. Staff training is starting, so please look out for it.

CMT also got an update on recent emergency management matters that have affected Swansea and Wales, including responses to serious flooding events in the valleys and lessons learned. You’ll remember our staff responded to Storm Darragh magnificently and the discussion was quite topical given that Storm Eowyn has been in the news in recent days. We have been on a yellow Met Office warning for the storm, so my thanks to the teams involved in the response as the storm moves through today.

On Tuesday I was delighted to attend the official opening of the refurbished SPARKS Centre in Blaenymaes. Once a hub for young people, it’s been turned into much-needed safe, energy-efficient and affordable homes for rent. The project is part of our More Homes delivery programme which aims to deliver 1,000 new homes for residents in a decade. My thanks to all those involved in its delivery  from our housing and building services teams as well as frontline teams supporting vulnerable people in search of a place to live.

Congratulations to two of our apprentices Isaac Fabb and Ashleigh Johnson who have been shortlisted for awards in the UK APSE building and housing apprentice awards, 2025. Good luck to you both at next month’s final.

If you’re a manager please join our survey about how we can improve your monthly manager briefing. It will only take two minutes, the improvements will help ensure you have the most important corporate stories you need to share with staff at team meetings and you can find the link here.

Finally, on a personal note, I’d welcome your support for a blood cancer fundraising campaign I’m backing called Walk of Light which is taking place on the evening of the 29^th March in Swansea. As you know I have blood cancer and I’m glad to say it’s now in remission but want to try and support ongoing research and to shine  light on blood cancer. You can find out more about Walk of Light here to take part or get in touch with me directly.

I start this week’s blog with some sad news. As many of you will know, our Councillor for Penllegaer and Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Wendy Fitzgerald passed away recently. Many have paid tribute to Wendy’s character and commitment to her local community. I’d like to echo their sentiments as Wendy was certainly a force of nature and an outstanding ward councillor. Wendy’s funeral will be a small, private event for family and friends only but the family have advised that a memorial service will be taking place later in the year. I’ll let you know more when I have the details. In the meantime, my condolences to Wendy’s family, her councillor colleagues here and all her friends.

Public consultation on our budget for the next financial year officially opened this morning. Please have your say here and you can find the Cabinet report here. This is the latest stage in a process that started back in October with discussions between CMT, heads of service and Cabinet members. It’s a painstaking job and one feature is that we do all we can to protect jobs as well as the services our residents depend on every day. This year around 15 posts are affected across the Council and managers will be speaking to you if these changes affect you. Due to the devolved nature of school budgets, staff in these services would be dealt with separately within individual schools. Schools collectively have been involved through meetings with the Leader and all headteachers and school representatives through the statutory School Budget Forum. Public consultation ends on February 16.

This winter, teams from across the council have been pulling out all the stops for vulnerable people in need of support, food or a warm place to have a chat and a coffee. Yesterday, this important work was recognised by Welsh Government Minister Jane Hutt on a visit to the Swansea Spaces venue at Canolfan y Bont in Pontarddulais. It’s one of 80 Swansea Spaces to have received funding from our £650,000 #HereForYouThisWinter campaign that has seen thousands of people benefit from hundreds of grants. It is great for our reputation that a government minister sees first-hand how we support our communities through the cost of living crisis. I’ve no doubt Ms Hutt will share our best practice story with others. My thanks to all those involved, including Jane Whitmore’s team who’ve managed the campaign as well as all the council venues and staff for their assistance.

Congratulations to the Foster Swansea Wales team on a very positive Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) evaluation report published this week. The report highlighted how children are supported to have their voices heard and carers are well-trained and motivated to promote child wellbeing. You can read the report here. Fostering changes lives for good – as Alex Simpson’s story this week shows. If you’re interested in becoming a foster carer, please get in touch with the team here.

It’s goodbye soon to Diane Clatworthy from our Legal, Democratic and Elections team who is retiring after 42 years’ service. Diane began her career in Estates in 1983 and has worked in a number of services over that time. Good luck Diane and thank you for your support over the years.

Finally, as we start a new year I wanted to extend my usual offer to try and meet as many staff and teams as is possible over the coming year. If you want me to come along or have any staff recognition events or indeed any public engagement or stakeholder events, then please get in touch as I will do my best to attend even if it’s just to say hello. Please get in touch.

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you had an enjoyable festive period. This morning (Friday), Cabinet agreed a report on our budget proposals for the next financial year. The number of posts affected by the proposals is small this year and, as always, we will do all we can to minimise compulsory redundancies. Among the next steps will be discussions about the proposals with trade unions and other stakeholders. As staff, you’ll also be able to have your say as well when the consultation goes live. And if you live in Swansea, you’ll be able to participate in the consultation as a member of the public. Cabinet will then be updated on consultation feedback before it makes its final recommendations for a Council decision in March. I’ll keep you posted.

On Wednesday Senior Management Group (SMG) met at Guildhall for a busy day of discussions. With the next financial year coming into sight, we looked at service planning for the year ahead – a process that will affect everyone in the coming weeks and months. I also reminded managers of the importance of completing the annual appraisal reviews and provided an update on the arrangements for next year. I’ll issue some guidance shortly but if you’ve not had an appraisal, please speak to your manager On the staff survey, senior managers will now have their action plans for your area, so please ask them to update you.

One piece of feedback from the staff survey was about the importance of us getting out of our departmental silos and working together across the council on priorities so we can have the most impact possible on services and supporting our communities. One example is Tackling Poverty – one of our six corporate priorities. It’s everyone’s business and SMG received an update on our strategy from project lead Lee Cambule. We’re going out to consultation on the strategy in the coming weeks and you’ll have a chance to get involved, so watch this space. My thanks to Lee and the team for their work on this so far.

Similarly, community safety is a cross-council issue where collaboration can have more impact compared to teams working in isolation of one another. This week I was pleased to be part of the latest meeting of the new council-wide Community Safety Forum. It aims to share ideas, avoid duplication of effort and ensure we have a joined-up approach in implementing actions that benefit our communities in this vital area of our work. I’ll keep you updated on how this goes.

This year’s Swansea Grand Theatre pantomime – Jack and the Beanstalk – was yet another amazing success. The show broke its own box office record for the third year in a row with more than 35,000 people taking advantage of the traditional festive treat. The panto also raised more than £20,000 for the Lord Mayor’s Charities and other local good causes. As one season ends, planning for the next panto season begins and TV personality Joe Pasquale has already been lined up to star alongside our own Kev Johns in Aladdin in December. Congratulations to all involved.

Also well done to the Gower National Landscape team for securing coveted DarkSkies International status for the area. It’s a great achievement that has only been made possible through the work of officers, teams from a range of different services, Members and partner organisations. Find out more about what it means here, but it will undoubtedly be an important boost to our tourism industry, enhancing Gower’s reputation as a brilliant visitor destination.

Finally, it’s farewell in the next couple of weeks to Richard Stafford, our Swansea Bus Station manager, after 44 years working for the council in a variety of roles. Remarkably, Richard has not had to take a sick day in all that time. Well done Richard, thank you for your service and good luck in your next chapter.