Chief Exec's Blog

As mentioned in previous blogs, one of my key priorities agreed with councillors is to ensure staff and public engagement is effective and consistent, which is why it’s really important for me to understand if this approach is working. So, while I’m proud of the strides we’ve all made in engaging staff and listening to your views, I know there’s more we could be doing to address your concerns. That’s why I’m encouraging you to complete the current staff survey. It’s vital that we hear from you so that we can understand what’s important to you and identify the improvements we need to make. This year you don’t have to complete an individual response; you can do it as a team in your regular meetings. I’m encouraging managers to take the survey with you as part of their team catch-ups. We’ve also extended the deadline to July 19 to give managers time to hold these meetings.

Another way I’m trying to engage staff is by visiting teams across the council. Last Friday I visited the West Early Help Hub, one of a network of five hubs around the city providing support for children, young people, their parents/carers, and wider family. The range of work they do is hard to encapsulate in a few words. However, the importance of this type of early intervention and prevention activity cannot be understated. It can reduce the escalation of the need for more intensive services and ease dependency on more extensive or statutory functions the council and partners need to provide. Put simply, the teams can and do transform the aspirations and well-being of some of the most vulnerable children and their families in our communities – with potentially life-long benefits. The teams should be very proud of their work and I’d like to thank Sue Peraj for inviting me and the team for giving up their time and all those working in this essential area for their commitment and resilience.

One of our corporate well-being objectives is to try to help tackle climate change and protect our natural environment.  Sometimes this can be seen as something too big for us to deal with individually – but everyone can play their part. In addition to the climate implications, the council spends over £10m a year on energy across our public buildings and schools. Energy costs remain stubbornly high and have a continuing impact on our budgets. As a council, we’ve done a lot of work to tackle energy usage and costs. As staff and managers, there is still more we can do, as this recent intervention at YGG Llwynderw demonstrates. Easy things like switching off computers when you’re finished with them or making sure the lights are off when you leave all help. Our Energy Management team can also help by providing guidance so every service can play their part. Please take the opportunity to find out more here.

We’re fast approaching the General Election on July 4. Our elections team has done a brilliant job preparing for polling day, managing more than 29,000 applications for postal votes and dealing with issues around voter ID – the first time in a General Election. My thanks to Huw Evans, Alison O’Hara and their team for their work so far. If you can, please vote next Thursday and don’t forget to take your ID to the polling station.

Last weekend’s World Triathlon Para Series was yet another great advert for Swansea and our expertise in staging complex events that boost business and raise our profile as a sporting and leisure destination. Next up is the Wales Airshow on July 6 and 7. My thanks to David Price-Deer, the Special Events team and the Cultural Services department for their efforts.

Congratulations to our Dylan Thomas Exhibition which has been shortlisted for the Best Small Museum category at the Kids in Museums Awards 2024. Good Luck for the final in October.

Farewell this week to our Singleton Botanical Gardens supervisor Jeff Richards, after 46 years with us. The Gardens rightly enjoy a great reputation as a visitor destination and that’s thanks to Jeff, his team and the Friends group. We all wish you well in your retirement.

I want to start this week by paying tribute Liam Davey, one of our waste services team. In September last year Liam risked his own safety helping an elderly couple when he spotted their car on fire on Sketty Lane, near Singleton Hospital. Now his selfless actions have been commended by a Swansea Crown Court judge who has recommended him for an award following a trial of the man who set the vehicle on fire. In an email to us from South Wales Police, they said: “Liam is an absolute credit to Swansea Council and has portrayed you in such a positive manner as every witness we have spoken to stated ‘the council man just ran over to a burning car opening the door trying to get them out’.” Well done Liam, I could not express our appreciation of your actions better.

Our reputation among the people who’s lives we touch every day really matters and this week there’s a range of examples where your determination to go the extra mile for our communities has been noticed. At a Refugee Week exhibition at the Grand Theatre, I was touched by the kind words expressed by Ukrainian refugee Yuoana Vysotska who has made a new home here which she attributes to us. If you click on the photo below, you’ll be able to read her words. My thanks to Helen Clancy, our resettlement team and EYST for putting on such an important event.

A further example was a message I received from a Red Cross representative who praised the empathy and commitment of our housing team who this week had training to deal with distressed callers. The trainer said: “I was incredibly impressed by them and the ethos that appears to run through Swansea Council.”

We’ve also just been told our World Triathlon Paraseries Swansea event taking place this weekend has won a Gold Award from World Triathlon’s governing body for our commitment to sustainability in sports. Added to the last Friday the Hafod Copperworks won yet another accolade, this time at the Constructing Excellence Awards Wales.

My thanks to all involved in these projects and initiatives that are getting us noticed for the great work we do and please continue to share your examples with me directly.

On Tuesday I attended our Scrutiny Work Planning conference to offer oversight and thoughts to councillors who are preparing their scrutiny programme for the coming year. Some of you may be directly involved in the work of scrutiny but it might not seem relevant to wider staff. However I mention it as scrutiny is crucial and important to the whole council as it helps improve the way we organise and manage services which, in turn, enables you to support our residents.

Today I am looking forward to meeting our Early Help West Team to see for myself the great work they do supporting families, children and young people to get the best possible start in life. I’ll say a bit more about the visit and what I learned next week and if you’d like me to visit your workplace, just drop me an email.

And, finally, it won’t have escaped your notice there’s a General Election on July 4. Our elections team is doing a huge amount of work getting ready to support voters in the Swansea West and Gower seats. Since the election was called, they’ve added 4,495 new voters to the electoral register and almost 27,500 voters across the two constituencies have decided to vote by post – an increase of more than 1,500 on last time. My thanks to Huw Evans, Alison O’Hara and the elections team for their commitment and resilience.

Crime and anti-social behaviour happens in all communities right across Wales and the rest of the country. It’s complex, it affects our reputation as a city and as a council and there’s no easy solutions. In Swansea we have been doing something about it, with officers and Councillors working with partners including the police to challenge anti-social behaviour and promote social cohesion. That’s why I was pleased to see so many people are planning to come to today’s Same Resident event at the Guildhall. It’s been organised by our community integration and partnership team and features discussions on policing, mental health, community relations and more. We’ll take the best ideas from the event and elsewhere and put them to work to support our city centre and local neighbourhoods. My thanks to Leanne Ahern, Paul Thomas and all the staff for their hard work in this important area of our work.

Well done this week to two of our Corporate Building Services team for taking timely action to help save a life. Lewis Barfield and Daniel Warne came across a runner who had collapsed on Llangyfelach Road. Thanks to swift action getting hold of a nearby defibrillator to help a passing nurse apply CPR, they kept him alive till the paramedics arrived. I’m told the runner is making a good recovery, which is great news for all concerned.

I met with BID, the Federation of Small Business, our partners at the universities and other businesses on Thursday for an update on plans to attract more inward investment to our city. We’re now looking to engage consultants to help us showcase our vision across the UK and internationally so even more investors know why Swansea is the best place for them.

Another example of our teams leading the way in boosting our communities, businesses and jobs was the successful City Deal digital infrastructure conference held recently at Swansea.com Stadium. Better digital infrastructure is critical to unlocking the economic potential of our communities and region and our current efforts are backed by City Deal funding. My thanks to Laura Jenkins and her team for their work.

There’s been yet another award for the brilliant restoration of Hafod Copperworks. Following last week’s RICS Wales Heritage Award, the project last night scooped the Sustainability accolade at the Insider Wales Property Awards. My thanks to all involved in a project that’s boosting our growing reputation for investing in the city’s heritage to stimulate wider regeneration and job creation. Along with Bishopston Comprehensive School, the project is also on the shortlist at tonight’s Constructing Excellence Wales Awards, so good luck to both for that.

Congratulations to the staff and pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr, Parkland, Sketty and St Illtyd’s schools who were awarded School of Sanctuary status at a Swansea Arena celebration this week. It was hosted by Swansea City of Sanctuary with special guests Rocio Cifuentes, Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and Siân Summers-Rees CEO of UK Schools of Sanctuary. The schools join nine other city schools which are already Schools of Sanctuary.

And, finally, don’t forget to have a say in your staff survey. For the first time, you can do it as part of a team as well as an individual. The survey has a particular focus on staff engagement, it’s easy to do and doesn’t take long. Past surveys have helped influence what the council does for you today and I can assure you that we will take all responses into account, so it will help make a difference this time too. If you know a colleague who’s not got access to the intranet point them in this direction or suggest they ask for a hard copy from their manager. Thank you.

One of our flagship projects has just received national recognition and is helping to put Swansea on the map. Our Hafod Copperworks scheme has won through the UK final of the of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors awards in October, having scooped the regional heritage award. The historic industrial site has been restored and now houses the Penderyn distillery and visitor centre and there’s lots more to come. As part of the Lower Swansea Valley improvement project the former laboratory, rolling mill and engine houses will be renovated to breathe new life into the former industrial wasteland. I’ve mentioned many times previously how important our reputation is, and this fantastic project is a massive positive for the council and city. Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved.

I visited another major scheme this week to see progress on the Mumbles sea wall project. It’s only when you walk the site that you realise just how big and complex the work is. It’s a great engineering feat, working right on the seafront. It took me back to my younger days when I worked as a quantity surveyor on engineering projects.  The scheme isn’t without its challenges but the work will protect homes and businesses from the effects of climate change and the improvements to the prom will make the area even more appealing for residents and visitors. Thank you to Dave Hughes, Alun Thomas and Richard Organ for planning and overseeing this project.

As part of trying to get out into the wider Council and meet staff across the council and this week I joined the education management team meeting. We discussed budget pressures and risks facing the service and our schools, but it was also a chance to get a better view of the great work our central team is doing with schools and front-line services to support our learners. If you want me to come along to visit your team or join a meeting just let me know.

In the meantime, please don’t forget to complete the staff survey or take part in team discussions so that your views get fed back. I want to hear from you to understand if our communication and engagement with staff is working and also make any improvements needed to reach all our employees where they work so please take the time to participate. Linked to engagement, on Thursday we also had our monthly leadership team meeting of all directors and heads of service which looked at how we can work better together and tackle the key issues we face. It was a really positive meeting and helped us understand further the workload pressures and how we, as officers, can collectively support the delivery of our priorities and yours. We will continue to progress and it’s a good example of where we’re improving engagement at a senior level in the organisation. We also plan to restart the senior manager group meetings and I will be looking at a date to be arranged after the summer, so more on that later.

Best wishes to Simon John who is retiring after 34 years’ service. Simon is a council tax team leader and some of you will know him from his time organising the council’s beach football and rugby teams for many years.

Finally, and on a personal note, you may recall I shared some news with you last year that I was undergoing some treatment for blood cancer. I am very happy to be able to advise that after completing 18 months of treatment this week I am now in remission. As mentioned previously, the Welsh Blood Donor service kept me alive in the early months of treatment and I wanted to highlight that next week, June 10 is the start of National Blood Donor Week. I know many of you have signed up to be blood donors but if you haven’t and can do so, please take a look and book yourself in https://wbs.wales/SwanCoun

The city centre is undergoing huge change and our new community services hub in the heart of Oxford Street is taking shape.

Y Storfa will offer the public easy access to a range of public services such as the West Glamorgan Archive Service, our main public library and non-council services such as Careers Wales and Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot. Another non-council tenant will be announced shortly.

I went to see progress on-site this week and the work is reinvigorating the former BHS building and bringing together key support services into a single accessible location. This will bring more people in the city centre and boost footfall businesses. Thank you to our corporate property officers and the wider council  teams for all their work on this. When you walk through the city centre you can see the amount of redevelopment and investment taking place. Y Storfa is just one of the many projects nearing completion including 71-71 Kingsway, Albert Hall, Palace Theatre, the Biophillic Living Building (former Woolworth) and Princess Quarter. The changing face of the city centre is helping to promote Swansea and improve our reputation as a place to live, work and visit. On the other side of the city centre, work will soon be re-starting on unfinished parts of the Copr Bay development which includes the multi-storey car park and retail units opposite the Arena. This follows our original contractor going into administration and we’ve now got Andrew Scott Ltd on board on this important project. Thank you to all the staff involved in all of these projects.

I’ve started attending departmental meetings to get a better feel for what’s going on in each area of the council. This week I joined social services’ performance and financial management meeting which was a really thought-provoking experience given a lot of the discussion focused on the difficult financial position and the risks across the directorate. It was also a chance to hear more about the great work being done by staff. I’m happy to come along to any team meetings so please let me know if you want me to attend. This could link to team meetings you’re having to discuss the staff survey as I can join those discussions.

Just a reminder that the staff survey is live and we’ve already had a good response so please take the time to complete it as we will listen to what you say and act upon your feedback.

The General Election campaign is now in full swing – if you hadn’t noticed! After some confusion last week, the official pre-election period starts today so we need to be mindful of the restrictions we now face in work. The guidance is here, but if you have any doubt please speak to your manager. Preparations for the election are progressing and our elections team is making all the necessary arrangements for candidates, postal votes and polling stations as well as the count on election night. If you’re interested in working at a polling station please email electionstaffing@swansea.gov.uk. There’s no need to email if you’ve already been contacted. 

Congratulations to a few of our “more mature” (but fit) employees who are part of the Swansea veterans’ football team who’ve won a league and cup double. The team is managed by Gary Lloyd in building services and includes Henrik Kowalski from building services and Dai Rees from highways all of which I played 5 a side with in my younger days!. Well done boys and if anyone is interested in joining you can contact Gary.