Archives for May 2025

This week I went to the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) along with Joint Deputy Leader David Hopkins and our Regeneration and Development Manager, Lee Richards. It’s one of the biggest events of its kind anywhere in the UK. It gave us the opportunity to promote Swansea to influential investors and continue to build on our city centre regeneration and reputation. These are both among my appraisal themes and  it was an unmissable chance to tell Swansea’s story. More than 16,000 delegates and investors were there – and by the end I felt like we’d spoken to many of them!

They were looking for sites in cities on the up where they can see growth and investment opportunities and there was real interest in Swansea, thanks to tangible successes like Swansea Arena, 71/72 Kingsway and Y Storfa. There was also strong interest from investors in housing development and how they might be able to take what we’re doing here even further. We were also able to present, along with partners, the regional investment and development opportunities across South West Wales and I’ll keep you posted on how things go.

Today I’ll be meeting one-to-one with Sally Loudon, chair of the Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) team visiting us in early June. For those who don’t know, the PPA will be doing an in-depth review of the way we operate. You can find out more about it here, but PPAs are a new way of assessing how councils are performing, and all Welsh councils are taking part. Our PPA aims to provide independent assurance about how we run things, our leadership and how we use our resources – money as well as staff. It also aims to provide fresh ideas on how we can continue to improve performance and effectiveness. The panel won’t only be talking to me and CMT as there are sessions planned with members, partner organisations and community representatives too. As managers or staff, some of you will also be joining focus groups run by the PPA team. It’s your opportunity to have your say. If you are part of a focus group, please do go through the scoping document and FAQs which you can download from this article. It’ll be worth your ti to be prepared as this is about you helping us to tell the story for Swansea and the way the Council delivers its services.

Our Education and IT teams are supporting schools with the rollout of a new digital management information system called Bromcom. The new system aims to cut administrative and financial burdens and more than 250 school staff got a first look at it at an introductory discovery day run by Mike Jones and Iranga Hartnoll recently. My thanks to them both.

Also thank you to Tim Kingham from our emergency planning team for organising a major gas pipeline emergency preparedness exercise at South Wales Fire HQ. Incidents like it are thankfully rare, but stress-testing our response capabilities are absolutely critical towards ensuring we keep residents safe should the worst happen. More than 20 different organisations were involved in the event, including officers from our emergency management, highways and pollution teams.

Well done to our team in economic regeneration for collecting yet more awards for the Hafod Morfa Copperworks project, featuring the new Penderyn Whisky distillery and visitor centre. This time they picked up the RSAW (RIBA) Welsh Architecture Award 2025 and the RSAW (RIBA) Conservation Award for 2025. The project has been a really great example of how we and our partners invest in the city’s heritage.

Congratulations to the Dylan Thomas Centre are in order this week for achieving Arts Centre of Sanctuary status, awarded by the City of Sanctuary organisation. The award is based on the centre’s engagement with the sanctuary-seeking community which has been going for around 20 years. Well done to Jo Furber and the team.

I’d like to flag-up a reminder for staff to donate to the Welsh Blood Service. As you know, it’s a cause that’s close to me, so if you can give blood, please do.

And finally, there will be no blog next week as I am on leave. I look forward to seeing you the week after.

Appraisal season is with us. If you’ve not had yours, please speak to your manager about it. As I mentioned last week I’ve had mine with cross-party councillors who have kindly allowed me to share my goals for the year ahead. Check them out here, as many of you will directly input into these as the year progresses. Among those goals is to promote the reputation of the council and Swansea as a whole. So on Tuesday it was a pleasure to team up with local people and organisations to showcase the transformation of Swansea and the council to visiting judges from the LGC Awards. We’re finalists for the top award – Council of the Year – and we’re the only Welsh council shortlisted. The visit was a walk-and-talk around the city centre and our guests saw and heard about many impressive developments, initiatives and partnerships helping in the area’s and Council’s fantastic transformation. The judges met frontline staff and officers from a range of other services as well, highlighting how their professional achievements contribute towards supporting our communities in so many different ways. They also met business leaders who were keen to highlight their backing for us and a city growing in confidence and reputation. Traders at our award-winning indoor market even treated the judges to lunch, including laverbread and cockles – it was a unique Swansea experience! I’m pleased to say the judges said they left with a powerful sense of local pride, passion and trust. My thanks to the many staff involved in making their visit such a positive experience, and to Andy Pearson and the corporate communications team for organising it. We’ll know on June 11 if we’ve won.

Part of our pitch to the LGC judges was the innovative action we’re taking to deal with practical challenges we face. One example of this is how we’ve revitalised city centre digital infrastructure for the benefit of businesses and visitors alike. You can find out how it happened here. But the results and impact impressed an influential audience of businesses and government at the latest Swansea Bay City Deal Digital Infrastructure Programme meeting, hosted by our Leader, Cllr Rob Stewart. My thanks to our digital champions Laura Jenkins and Claire Hughes (pictured) for their presentation at the event and their work alongside the highways team in getting this important initiative over the line.

Also, well done this week to our tourism team for supporting the sector to achieve record-breaking results in this year’s STEAM figures. For the first time income achieved in 2024 by our local tourism industry broke the £650m barrier. It could not have been achieved without our support, including our tourism team’s innovative approach to promoting Swansea to a growing UK audience of fans as a destination of choice. It’s yet another demonstration of how our work to promote Swansea’s reputation is having a practical and positive impact that benefits our businesses and communities. 

This afternoon I’ll be attending the Lord Mayor’s inauguration at the Brangwyn Hall where current Lord Mayor Paxton Hood-Williams will be passing on the chains of office to his deputy, Cllr Cheryl Philpott. My thanks to Cllr Hood-Williams for his sterling work as our city’s ambassador over the last 12 months and my best wishes to Cllr Philpott for the year ahead.

This week has been Mental Health Awareness Week and our health and wellbeing team has developed some useful ideas and guidance about where to get help if you or someone you know needs it. Please take a few minutes to have a look; it could help make a difference. Our teams have also been working with colleagues across the Western Bay region, including Swansea Council for Voluntary Services to create valuble mental health and wellbeing resources for the public. You can find out more about them at these links: tidyMinds and Sorted Supported. We know they are valuable because when we mentioned them on social media this week, the post was seen more than 11,100 times and shared and liked almost 160 times. My thanks to all those involved.

It is farewell this week to Neil Llewellyn, who is retiring after 37 years with the council. Neil, who works for highways’ street lighting team based in Clydach, said he wanted to go quietly. Good luck with that, Neil, but I wish you well in retirement.

I’d like to finish this week with news of an appeal launched to support Rhys Delaney, one of our apprentice plumbers (pictured with nephew, Tate), who is having pioneering cancer treatment in London. His mum Toni works for economic regeneration and colleagues are fundraising to help pay for Rhys’ living costs for what will be a seven-week stay in the city. Find out more about the appeal and how you can help here.

As we’ve just started a new financial year, appraisal season is also upon us. Everyone must have an appraisal, and I had mine this week with the council’s political leadership on the Chief Executive’s Appraisal and Remuneration Committee. We looked at seven themes: reputation, regional collaboration, city regeneration, our transformation programme, budget, our corporate priorities and plan as well as corporate governance. Alongside those themes are actions I have to take and measures by which my performance will be monitored and assessed over the coming year. It’s quite exacting and very challenging, as it should be but I’m really looking forward to the year ahead.

On the reputation strand, I will be expected to continue to provide visible leadership inside and outside the council, promoting us and the city nationally, locally and regionally. This goal will be measured in a range of different ways, not least in terms of getting out  to see you in your workplace, finding out what’s on your minds and taking actions on your feedback. It’s also happening through my staff engagement group, the staff survey and improved internal corporate communication, but the momentum needs to be maintained over the next 12 months. I will be shortly publishing all my agreed objectives and intend to go through my remaining themes in more depth in future blogs. But it goes without saying that the ability for me to deliver on these goals is fundamentally dependent on your support. That’s why I continue to be grateful for your commitment and hard work every day.

Part of my appraisal also includes providing leadership and support to Senior Manager Group, the latest meeting of which took place on Wednesday. It was a very productive event; in particular we looked at changes to procurement arrangements and the workforce strategy around succession planning, staff recruitment and the upcoming review of agile working. Five years after the start of the pandemic, it makes sense to do an in-depth review now of how agile working operates, its benefits and challenges. I’ll keep you posted.

Our plans for the future of the city centre Debenhams store are going to Cabinet next week for a decision. The big news is that we’ve agreed outline terms with two retailers and a leisure business to take space in the former store. It is really important progress, influencing the city centre’s status among retailers as a destination and our growing reputation for getting things done, delivering on the priorities of residents and business alike. My thanks to Lee Richards and his team for getting this over the line.

Sticking with reputation for a bit longer, my thanks to Rhys Harries, the trading standards and corporate fraud teams for leading a major raid in London this week on a UK-wide counterfeit children’s toys distribution business. The raid stemmed from work the team did last Christmas confiscating fake-branded toys in Swansea city centre. The trail led them to warehouses in Southall where they found many thousands more toys, some of which were a risk to children’s health. The work was praised by brand-owning companies, who attended the raids and praised our actions. It’s another example of UK recognition for the work we do to keep people safe. 

On Tuesday I caught up with the team at the West Glamorgan Regional Partnership which plays a significant role supporting our work with unpaid carers. Unpaid carers are the largely unsung heroes of the social care system. Many – among them children – can slip under the radar when it comes to getting the support they need to do what they do. So, if you know an unpaid carer who could do with a helping hand, please point them in this direction.

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week and our health and wellbeing team has developed some useful ideas and guidance about where to get help if you or someone you know needs it. Please take a few minutes to have a look; it could help make a difference.

Over the last 18 months or so I’ve been updating you about the activities of the staff engagement group. The group’s purpose is for me and staff from across the council to discuss what’s happening in your areas. It’s about having a two-way flow of information that’s informal and complements other discussions. It allows me to get first-hand views from a group of staff and also gain an insight into the organisation’s temperature. It was introduced as one of my appraisal objectives to improve cross-council communication and has proved very successful to date.

Yesterday, we caught up to review what’s been achieved so far, look at the year ahead and consider how the group is structured for the future. We also discussed issues ranging from our updated management of absence policy to how the group can help us improve off-line internal communication, the manager brief and promoting our reward and recognition scheme. I want to thank everyone who gives their time and insight to the group – it’s having a real impact. There are some gaps in membership from some services, so we are seeking to address this in the future. If you think your area needs representation on the staff engagement group, please check with your manager or get in touch with me direct.

CMT on Wednesday considered the innovative new ways we are taking to recruit and retain staff, especially hard-to-fill roles. It’s part of our workforce transformation plan that we want to be an employer of choice. And we were taken through what that means in practice in terms of developing our existing staff, encouraging skills development, the Social Services Academy, graduate recruitment, traineeships and apprenticeships. We also discussed the wider job and training opportunities that council teams across the Council facilitate to assist people back into employment. My thanks to Rachael Davies, Rachel Healion and Elliott Williams for their presentation. If you want to further develop your career with us – or know someone who does – please speak to your manager now or during your appraisal.

On a similar note, CMT also heard from Rhodri Jones, head of Education’s Achievement and Partnership Service, about our Swansea Pledge. It’s a pledge that connects our education team, schools and businesses to help develop post-school support for school leavers, including work experience opportunities and routes to local employment. There’s also a commitment towards ensuring that local businesses can help us ensure that what pupils learn in school will be useful to them in the world of work. It’s part of our commitment through the corporate plan to the young people of our city that they have opportunities to take advantage of the jobs being created by our work in economic regeneration. 

Our appointments committee have in the last couple of weeks made two important appointments to our leadership team. I’d like to congratulate Lucy Moore on her appointment as Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer. Lucy will be replacing Deb Smith in her role when she retires later this year. Also, congratulations to Heather Young, who will be taking over from Julian Morgans as head of revenues and benefits when he retires. These are two crucial leadership roles to ensure the smooth management of the council. I’m delighted that on these occasions, there was good succession planning in place, allowing internal candidates to compete and ultimately secure the roles. I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Lucy and Heather well in their new roles.

I’m also pleased to report progress on the new special school which will see the merger of Ysgol Crug Glas and Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn from September with a new £40m state-of-the-art home to come in 2028. Transitions of this kind are extremely challenging, with lots of sensitive issues that need careful management. My thanks to Jeff Fish, our Stakeholder and School Support Manager, and the education teams involved in this project for their commitment.

It’s time to say farewell to our property maintenance team’s Senior Project Surveyor, Rob Perkins, who is retiring after 35 years’ service. Rob started out with us as a painter and decorator, so he’s a really good example of how we like to invest in the potential of our staff so they can make the most of their talent. Good luck to you for the future, Rob.

A big thank-you in advance to our special events, highways, cleansing and all the other teams for their support in this weekend’s Tunes on the Bay. It’s not a council event, but it’s Swansea’s first-ever beach festival and would not be possible without the effort put in by our teams. It’s yet another example of our growing reputation as a destination of choice for major events and should be great for businesses too.