Archives for January 2026

Most of you will remember last year we had a Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) and we’re now looking at putting its feedback into action across our services. One of its key messages to us was that we have a strong vision, but we need to tell its story more consistently and clearly to you, our partners and our wider communities. The vision matters because it spells out what your collective effort is setting out to achieve for our residents and communities. The vision is about us and what we do; it’s your story we want to tell. So please take a few minutes to read about it here and help us share it in the coming weeks and months. If you’ve got ideas about how we can do that better, please speak to your manager or get in touch with me.

Doing all we can to deliver on our vision for Swansea to be a thriving community with a strong local economy is one of the reasons why the future of the Ospreys matters to us. We don’t want to lose first-class professional rugby in Swansea because of its economic, sporting and reputational benefits for our city. As a council, officers and Cabinet Members have been lobbying its owners and the WRU and we’ll continue with that work in the weeks ahead. You may also have seen that last night Council unanimously supported a notice of motion also in support of the Ospreys. We are pulling out all the stops to get a solution. I’ll keep you posted.

Our Child and Family Services team has been praised by Rocio Cifuentes MBE, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales for its work ensuring children and young people have the chance to help shape the way we design and deliver services. On a visit to meet the team and reflect on their work, Rocio welcomed our commitment to children’s rights and our honesty about where we can keep improving. Examples shared by staff showed how participation is becoming part of everyday practice. Her visit underlined the strength of our partnership and the difference children’s voices continue to make across Swansea.

A big thank-you this week to the nine schools from across Swansea who participated in Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations at Swansea.com stadium. It’s always a poignant and solemn occasion and this year’s theme – bridging the generations – is especially relevant at a time when many of the survivors of the Holocaust are passing on. It is always an honour to attend this event and my thanks also to Joanne Jones and her team for organising it.

I mentioned last week that exciting plans are being drawn up for the future of the Civic Centre, now it’s been closed to the public. Officers, along with Urban Splash, arranged a public drop-in session this week at Y Storfa which was well received. You can find more information here and there’s a chance to give your views.

As one flagship regeneration project begins, another regeneration story is nearing its conclusion. Earlier this week we took a ‘lessons learned’ report to the Swansea Bay City Region Joint Committee about 71/72 Kingsway. A project of this size and complexity will always have challenges and issues we can learn from for the future. But I was pleased to report the final product is exceptional and will be a tremendous asset in the years ahead. So many council teams were involved in its delivery, and I want to thank them all. They should be proud of their achievement.

Finally, congratulations go to Rhys Harries and the Trading Standards team for collecting yet another award for their work keeping consumers across the country safe. This time they gained a Highly Commended prize in the Chartered Institute of Trading Standards Hero awards at the House of Lords. The accolade was in recognition of their leading role in Operation Grinch and Operation Grinch 2.0 – Swansea-based investigations that led to the seizure of counterfeit toys and illegal vapes worth millions of pounds in London.

I’d like to thank all those who completed the 2025-26 staff survey. We’ve  now reviewed the feedback, and it gives us a clear view of how you are working and what matters most to you. It’s encouraging to see so many saying they have the tools they need, feel supported by their managers, and value the flexibility agile working policy. Team meetings remain important, and most people feel broadly informed about what’s happening across the council.

As always, your views have highlighted areas where we can continue to improve, including clearer communication, shorter updates and stronger follow-up when you give feedback. Some colleagues who are less ooffice-based or have limited access to devices say they occasionally miss important updates, so team-level communication remains vital. This is a key area I will be asking managers to ensure happens via the monthly team briefing. If you don’t have such a briefing with your manager, please raise it or speak to your trade union so we can ensure these happen across the whole council.

Heads of Service are now using the findings to develop local action plans, and managers will be talking these through with their teams in the coming weeks. Those conversations will help focus on what feels most relevant locally and ensure your feedback helps shape what we do in a meaningful way.

Work is also continuing at the Guildhall as our facilities team plans for the next moves from the Civic Centre. With customer-facing services now in Y Storfa, the Guildhall is becoming the main workplace for teams who don’t need a public-facing environment, and creating the right space is an important part of that shift. My thanks to Geoff Bacon, Becky Jones and the team for their work on this. In addition, our development partners Urban Splash have unveiled proposals for what comes next for the Civic Centre itself. Ideas are being shared at a public exhibition at Y Storfa on 28 and 29 January and a web page is being created for online feedback. I’d encourage staff and residents to  take part in this consultation.

Yesterday, Cabinet agreed plans for the future direction of recycling and waste management. It’s well worth a read as it sets out a range of actions that will continue to transform our kerbside collection services and reinforce our continuing commitment to meeting Welsh Government targets. My thanks to Rachel Jowitt and her team for their work on this. This week I was also pleased to visit Pipehouse Wharf to meet with the waste collection teams and congratulate them personally for a brilliant effort to keep the service on track through the festive period and the recent extreme weather. It’s a challenging job and maintaining the service matters greatly to the people of Swansea. My thanks again to all involved. I’d also like to remind you that I am always interested in coming to meet teams and discuss what they do face-to-face. So please get in touch if you would like me to come and meet you and see the great work being done first-hand.

This week CMT’s meeting included a session on longer-term horizon scanning, considering the risks, pressures and issues that have the potential to affect what we do in the years ahead. It may not seem exciting, but it’s important and something all organisations like us need to do as it supports the resilience of our services and helps us plan effectively for the future. My thanks to Richard Rowlands and Lee Wenham for their work on this.

Also this week South Wales Police for the Swansea and Neath area held their annual awards and it was great to hear our teams and individuals featured prominently. Sue Potter and Gareth Pritchard from Housing and Rhys Harris and Chris Williams from Trading Standards all collected awards. So did our Neighbourhood Support Unit and the Area Housing Office for the Heol Emrys and Tudno Place. There was also recognition for housing officer Dave Thomas who retired last year and picked up an award for his sustained contribution to community safety. My thanks to all the individuals and teams involved, which reflects the continuing benefits for us and for residents of strong local partnerships.

Farewell to Adrian Ford from our waste management and recycling team, who retired last week after 40 years with us, 38 of them as an electrical and mechanical engineer at the baling plant. We all wish you well in your next chapter, Adrian. Also, while at Pipehouse this week, I spoke to Dino Lombardi, one of our waste collection operatives, who has clocked up over 30 years’ service with the team. It’s a great achievement.

I am keen to ensure that all staff who achieve long service or go the extra mile are recognised, so I’ll be picking this up with managers across the council in the coming weeks. However, if you know someone who deserves recognition for their work or for long service and would like me to mention in my blog, please let me know or nominate them in our reward and recognition initiative.

Finally, don’t forget that next week you can join our growing band of climate champions. Just pop along to the event at Guildhall on January 28 and sign-up. And there’s still time to have your say in our consultation on the 2026/27 council budget. The deadline is February 6.

This week CMT had an update on our continuing review of our HR policies. There’s a lot of them and they influence our working lives every day. They’re there to support you in your work and they need to comply with current legislation, reflect our values and behaviours and support our corporate objectives, including wellbeing, equality and effective delivery of services. The policies provide a robust framework for managing key aspects of employment, including recruitment, performance, and employee relations. They ensure clarity for managers and employees, promoting best practice across all service areas. CMT’s briefing included a schedule of what’s coming up over the next six months or so. It includes a refresh of policies ranging from capability and secondary employment to family friendly and early retirement and redundancy. It was really good to hear about the momentum behind the overall review and the positive engagement there is with trade unions on these issues through the joint consultative committee. My thanks to all involved, particularly Amy Hutchings and the HR team. This is valuable work demonstrating our determination to be a modern, forward-looking organisation people want to be part of that’s fair and consistent with its workforce. I’ll keep you posted on progress.

Homelessness is a major issue for communities right across the UK, and it’s no different in Swansea. However, alongside our partners, we are helping lead the way with innovative approaches that support homeless people taking steps towards a more secure, hopeful future and a permanent home. The latest example is the opening this week of Llys Glas, a 68-room temporary accommodation on Orchard Street that offers a real chance for change, compared to dispiriting bed-and-breakfast places. Read more about it here. We’re also working with Codi (formerly Pobl) on developing the former Sun Alliance building on St Helen’s Road into similar accommodation in the future. As a council, we should be proud of our commitment and expertise supporting vulnerable people to make the most of their lives. My thanks go to our housing and homelessness teams for their work in this challenging environment.

On Monday evening I attended the Swansea Area Committee of One Voice Wales. I presented an overview about our priorities and how they link with the valuable work committee members do at the heart of their communities. It was a very good session and an opportunity for me to understand a little more about their priorities too. I was also very pleased to hear direct such positive feedback about our frontline services and the support we provide to our communities. My thanks to all involved.

Later this month our climate change and nature recovery teams are launching a recruitment drive for staff to join our growing band of Climate and Nature Champions. You can be part of it by going along to an information event on January 28 in Committee Room 3A at Guildhall between 10am and noon. Email Jane Richmond, our Project Manager for Strategic Climate Change for more information.

Congratulations to the hard-working team at the Grand Theatre for another brilliant effort with the festive panto that took its final curtain-call on January 4. The panto attracted more than 34,000 theatre-goers, which is a great result. If you are into forward planning, tickets for next year’s show are already on sale!

Finally, don’t forget our budget consultation has started. As a resident or a member of staff, please take time out to have your say. Thanks.

Happy New Year to you. I hope you enjoyed the festive period and my thanks, as always, to those who were on duty so that our services were maintained for our communities.

The annual consultation on how we fund vital services has started, so please make sure you take the chance to have your say as a member of staff and as a resident if you live in Swansea. Although more than 40% of our costs are staff-related, we always try to keep the number of jobs affected to a minimum and this year is no different. As the report to Cabinet says, a dozen jobs may be affected and we’ll be working with trade unions to find ways to reduce that number over the coming weeks. Thanks to prudent financial management of our resources over the years and a 5.2% increase in Welsh Government funding, we’ll be spending around £980m on essential public services in the coming year – the equivalent of around £4,000 per household. My thanks to Ben Smith, Sarah Willis and the finance team for their work on the budget so far. Final decisions on the budget will be made by Full Council in March.

The weather has been a dominant feature for some service areas over the last week or so. A big thank-you is due to all our teams who’ve gone the extra mile to keep services on track through the snow and icy conditions. Our teams were out for several days in succession gritting major roads and responding to requests from residents for support. The weather also impacted other teams including waste collections and the recycling centres who are also continuing to work hard to catch up with all the additional seasonal waste being presented by residents. My thanks to all the staff who are out and about delivering wider services in such difficult circumstances as its truly appreciated.

On Wednesday, the latest meeting of senior management group – our middle managers, heads of service and directors – discussed a number of issues that affect what you do every day. One session was dedicated to looking at business continuity and how resilient we’d be in the event of a  major cyber-attack on our operations. The session considered the potential costs incurred in terms of stolen confidential information and our ability to provide critical services. It also looked at the time and money needed to recover from a cyber-attack, figures which were very sobering. I cannot stress enough how important you are in preventing those who would do us harm from getting access to our systems. Of course, prevention is better than cure and as such please go here to refresh yourselves on what you can do to help. My thanks to Craig Gimblett, Ben Cromie, Sarah Lackenby and Jo Harley for arranging the session and to the wider digital services team for their work keeping us safe from the criminals.

SMG also looked at our debt recovery programme and the significant progress that’s seen most debts more than a year old now paid up. Making sure we’re paid in a timely way what we are owed by people who’ve had a service from us is critical. If we don’t do it, we’ll have less money to spend on services and if there’s a write-off needed, then the money comes directly from the budget of the department concerned. So, if you are involved with managing budgets, please make sure you do all you can to follow our Accounts Receivable rules. If you need advice, speak to the team. My thanks to Michelle Davies and her team for their achievements over the last year and for the presentation to SMG.

Also on Wednesday, I was extremely pleased to be at the launch of the Swansea Pledge, an innovative collaboration led by our Education team. The pledge encourages local business to work with us to offer real-world experiences that inspire young people and help them to develop skills for work and for life. We want our young people to be as well-placed as possible to take advantage of the new jobs and other benefits being delivered by our £1bn regeneration programme and wider opportunities across the city. By linking in with partners including Gower College, the Swansea Pledge will help us do that and my thanks to Dave Bawden and Rachel Rimmer and the wider team for leading the way on this important initiative. The council, as well as facilitating the initiative, has also signed up in its own right as an employer so we will also be exploring how our services can look to continue to create further opportunities for our young people and the future workforce for Swansea.

And finally, well done to the Revs and Bens team on the success of its Christmas raffle organised by Anne Furlong. It raised £570 for one of our local charities, Zac’s place.