Chief Exec's Blog

The big news this week is that Swansea is now the official home of the new Welsh National Theatre, led by Hollywood actor Michael Sheen. It’s not just us who think it’s big news – WNT’s decision to make Civic Centre their headquarters and the Grand Theatre to host its first production has made the media sit up and take notice. There was coverage by the BBC and other media in Wales, as well as in The Guardian and the UK arts trade press. This kind of coverage and Michael’s decision to invest his creative talent in Swansea are brilliant for the city’s reputation and for ours as well. On top of our status as a city of innovation and inspiration in business, leisure and regeneration, we can add to it another example further showcasing our standing as a high-quality destination for creative arts and entertainment. You can read the back story of how the WNT came to Swansea here, but I want to thank all those involved for this significant achievement, especially Nerys Evans, Tracey McNulty and the wider Cultural Services and Property Services Teams.

Our reward and recognition scheme is designed to spotlight members of staff who go above and beyond the job in providing support to colleagues or residents. This week, I have two really good examples from our waste and recycling management teams. Andy Plaice, Josh Chambers and Natasha Perdue are being recognised for their great presence of mind and calmness in a critical incident that helped save the life of a colleague who suffered a heart attack. And Wayne O’Callaghan stepped in to help a resident who had an accident at our Clyne Housing Waste and Recycling Centre. The person involved has since been in touch to praise Wayne for his support, and I add mine to theirs. Don’t forget, if you know of someone who deserves a place in the spotlight for achievements that are examples of our values and behaviours in action, please nominate them through the reward and recognition scheme here.

This week has been World Refugee Week, and I was pleased to attend an event at Swansea Minster on Tuesday to celebrate the achievements of three new and five re-accredited Schools of Sanctuary. A School of Sanctuary must demonstrate a dedication to fostering a culture of welcome for people from sanctuary-seeking backgrounds. This involves staff training as well as curriculum activities around issues like forced migration. We now have 16 accredited schools of sanctuary, and I’d like to thank them all for their commitment, as well as the council teams in education and other departments which support them. You can read about what else we’ve been doing for World Refugee Week here including Dylan Thomas Centre formally receiving its Arts Centre of Sanctuary status I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

It’s good news for us on the latest Climate Emergency UK scorecard results, published this week. We have moved up 8% to 47%, making us the top Welsh council taking part in the scheme. While the climate change and nature recovery agenda remains a huge corporate challenge, our programme board members are continually striving to reduce emissions, change behaviour and increase biodiversity. The board meets bi-monthly and features representatives from departments and teams across the council, and proactive support from members. If you want to know more, get in touch with the team at ClimateChange@swansea.gov.uk

And finally, congratulations to our Transforming County team, who are celebrating success with the launch of a resource that’s bringing new enjoyment to historic parts of Swansea. Their recently launched Tawe Trails app offers facts, maps and audio guides on six Lower Swansea Valley heritage trails and has just chalked up 500 downloads.

Last week I promised feedback on how we got on with the Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) that many of you participated in. I am pleased to report that the panel’s initial feedback has been very positive. Thank you to everyone who participated – they clearly got the message loud and clear that our ‘Team Swansea’ culture is embedded in all that we do.

The PPA is part of a process that all councils in Wales go through. The panel’s purpose is to bring fresh sets of eyes and come back to us with their perspective on how we can amplify best practice and tackle the challenges we face. The panel describe us as a good and ambitious council with strong and experienced political and corporate leadership. Other things they said:

• An embedded and positive culture – ‘Team Swansea’
• Clear evidence of a major shift to a transformational, ambitious place-based approach
• Exemplary and inclusive political relationships across the Council
• Exemplary Member Officer relationships
• Well respected by partners, residents, business and stakeholders – again ‘Team Swansea’

About you, our workforce, they said your team culture is outstanding and that you are ambitious, motivated, and compassionate. They recognised your ‘can-do’ attitude, successful ‘grow your own initiatives and strong internal corporate communication.

There are always things to learn and challenges to meet, so we asked the panel to review some additional specific areas as well. This includes recognition that workload issues in some areas need to be addressed, and we should apply further focus on prioritising our activity in the medium and long term, both on project delivery and digital solutions to ensure we continue to operate effectively.

So, overall, this initial feedback is an excellent endorsement of your efforts by a group of people who are experts in their field with decades of experience in local government and public service. Congratulations, and thank you for your continuing support. We will be putting together an action plan after we get the main report later in the year. I will keep you posted.

On Tuesday, I attended our Annual Scrutiny Work Planning Conference, where I offered my thoughts as councillors discussed priorities for the year ahead for their Scrutiny Work Programme. I am pleased that our scrutiny function has also been praised in our Performance Panel Assessment. A strong scrutiny function is vital and depends on support from members and officers from across the council. My thanks especially to the efforts of staff in the scrutiny team for a service that is well-organised and forward-planned.

Our position as an ambitious council performing well was also highlighted this week by the UK local government Oscars – the LGC Awards – where we were the only local authority in Wales shortlisted in any of the categories out of over 1,000 entries. In their feedback, there was warm praise from the judges who recognised the passion and pride we have in our regeneration ambitions and their positive impact on residents. We just missed out on the overall Council of the Year title, but being shortlisted is an achievement and an opportunity to showcase ourselves to our peers, offering them the opportunity to learn from us, and us from them. My thanks to all those staff who helped secure this accolade via the application process, and for the judges’ visit last month.

Well done to our waste and recycling team, which this week hosted a drop-in session as part of their campaign to recruit more drivers and carriers and the ongoing endeavours to stabilise the waste service after a few challenges recently. It was highly successful with more than 200 people turning up, and a similar number have already put in job applications. We have also launched our latest digital apprenticeships recruitment campaign, and together they demonstrate how we are an employer of choice in Swansea. This is not only good for workforce development and local jobs for local people, but also for our reputation in our communities. My thanks to all involved.

This week saw the latest step in the transformation of Castle Square Gardens with the removal of The Leaf artwork at its centre. In the coming weeks, you will see hoardings go up around the square as work begins on the revamp. It is a vital project that will help continue our city centre’s regeneration, boosting both Swansea’s reputation and ours. My thanks to the teams who have got us over the line with the project.

And finally, this week is National Blood Donor Week, celebrating the vital life-saving contribution donors make every day to their communities. It is an issue that matters a great deal to me, so if you can give, please do.

A big part of this week has been taken up with four days of visits from the Panel Performance Assessment (PPA) team. We are required to hold a review once every five years, and ours has just been completed. It’s significant for all of us because its aim is to give us an independent stock-take of our performance, strengths, issues and plans for the future. As it affects us all, the PPA team has been meeting people from across the council – from frontline staff and managers to directors, Cabinet, and ward Members. The PPA team was also in touch with partner organisations, business groups and other external stakeholders who use our services or work with us to get a handle on their views as well. I want to thank everyone involved in supporting the PPA team with their work, including all those who attended focus groups, 1-2-1s and briefings with them. The panel have said how welcoming, open and transparent everyone has been. It demonstrates a really positive culture across the council and among our partners, which is only achieved by everyone’s collective efforts over the last few years.

Thanks are also due to those involved in preparing the way for the panel’s visit, pulling together the scoping document, arranging staff pre-briefings and much more besides, in particular Director of Corporate Services, Ness Young and Joanne Jones, our Cabinet and Civic Office Manager. We will get further feedback from the panel in the coming days with a formal report later in the summer, and I’ll share more details as soon as I can. It was certainly a very positive experience for me and offered a great deal of opportunity to reflect on the positive work the council does. No doubt there will be some areas where we will need to continue to improve – that will always be the case with any review. But in the meantime, I am grateful to all those who took part.

Another important event this week was the launch of our updated Management of Absence policy. I’d urge you to take a look now. The policy has been agreed in consultation with trade unions, and managers have mandatory training this month to get them up to speed on the changes. I’d like to thank the HR and OD team led by Rachael Davies for their commitment to getting this important policy over the line. We know that working in the roles that you have can sometimes be challenging, and ill health is inevitable. However, our absence levels are collectively higher than we can live with, so I certainly hope that the new policy helps provide the additional support needed for our workforce, whilst also ensuring we can consistently manage absence in the way we and the public would expect.

I’m pretty sure everyone knows about the impact AI is having on every area of our lives. It’s no different here at the council, where Sarah Lackenby and her team are working with sections across the council to assess how AI can support what we do. There is also a free Microsoft 365 Copilot offer available to all staff, which you can find here. And if you’d like to find out a bit more, our Microsoft Copilot consultant Andy Labrum is running a Teams session next week to which you can sign up here.

My thanks this week go to Ryan Williams, one of our city centre rangers, who stepped in to support an elderly woman who had a severe fall. In the words of the lady’s son, Ryan’s response was one of calmness and professionalism that turned a stressful experience into one of comfort and reassurance. He said the support his mother received was exceptional, and I’d add my endorsement to that.

Congratulations also to Senet Doble in our Revenue and Benefits for another example of outstanding customer service. The support she gave a businessperson who needed help with tax collection issues was of such high quality that they sent her flowers to say thank you.

Well done to the team at the Dylan Thomas Centre, which has just secured Arts Centre of Sanctuary status from the City of Sanctuary organisation. The award is recognition of their work providing support to refugees and others fleeing persecution, helping to change their lives for the better. 

Farewell to our IT team’s Nichola Davies, who is retiring this week after 36 years with us. Nichola is particularly well-known among Members for her role in setting up their devices and providing them with advice and ongoing support. Thank you for your service, Nichola, and good luck in your retirement.

And finally, next week sees the national Local Government Chronicle awards, where we are shortlisted for Council of the Year. This, like the PPA, is an opportunity to pitch ourselves against the best in the UK and highlight the excellent work you all do day in, day out. Things like this enhance our reputation and continue to improve our visibility and standing, leading to further opportunities to attract jobs, housing, tourism and inward investment. I’ll let you know how we get on in next week’s blog.

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.