thanks – Page 7

Just another manic Monday

November 24, 2017 by Martin 2 Comments

I spent Monday in London lobbying for the tidal lagoon and the UK City of Culture 2021.

The Leader and Deputy Leader joined me, along with Nigel Short, owner of Penderyn Whisky. They delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street and took our giant postcard to the Wales Office in Whitehall.

It marked the end of the current phase of our Love the Lagoon campaign and was timed to drive the message home before the Chancellor’s budget speech. We hope the lagoon will be included in the UK Industrial Strategy when it’s unveiled soon.

We then went to the House of Commons for the UK City of Culture reception.

It was a well-attended event with speeches from Geraint Davies MP and our Leader, Rob Stewart. Alun Cairns, the Welsh Secretary, also spoke in support of our bid.

I met one of our cultural champions, Sir Peter Blake, best known, rather unfairly, for the design of the Beatles Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP cover.

His exhibition of illustrations for Under Milk Wood kicked-off our Dylan Thomas centenary events in 2014. His support is greatly appreciated.

“Dying to work” charter

We’ve signed a workers’ charter to provide further support to staff facing terminal illness. We already support key elements of the charter, including ensuring employees with a terminal illness have access to appropriate counselling and financial advice, and that we deal with terminal illness in a sensitive and supportive way.

Thanks to all the councillors, officers and trade unions who’ve been involved.

Leading the way

Congratulations to everyone involved in Monday’s event to celebrate our role in placing children’s rights at the heart of education. Schools have taken part in the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools initiative and more than 48,000 children and young people, 2,050 teaching staff and 1,320 non-teaching staff have played their part.

We’re the first council in the UK to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) at the heart of everything we do and that’s real cause for celebration.

Linked to this, the #IAMME Young People’s group collected their prestigious Diana Award, and were a credit to our looked after children. The awards’ roll of honour now states: “#Iamme are an incredible group of young people who have made a significant contribution to ensuring that the voice of looked after children is represented.” This is a fantastic achievement and I’m very proud!

Pontlliw Primary School

During a visit to Pontlliw Primary school I was delighted to see a clear focus on the STEMM subjects and a real commitment to promote science. The school will be visiting Valencia as part of the ERASMUS project to see how science and technology is taught elsewhere. Despite the uncertainty over Brexit and its impact on ERASMUS, I hope these exchanges continue. Thanks to headteacher Alison Norman, her team and the pupils for the warm welcome and I hope you bring back some great ideas from Valencia.

Well-being

In 2016, Swansea’s Public Services Board (PSB) started a conversation about well-being in the local area. People told us Swansea’s a great place to live but we need to work together to make sure everyone can live well, benefit from and be proud of Swansea.

Based on this we’ve developed a draft Local Well-being Plan, but we need your views to make sure we’ve got it right. I hope you can let us have your views by completing the survey here.

Christmas

I went to the fantastic Christmas Parade in the city centre along with 40,000 other people – the biggest crowd we’ve had at the lights switch-on. Congratulations to our events team for staging a successful parade and for getting Waterfront Winterland open on time.

Our cleansing team was on the case straight after the event – ensuring the city centre was back to normal for the start of the week.

We’ve already had loads of enquiries from people and organisations wanting to take part in next year’s parade and that speaks volumes. Thanks and congratulations to the many staff involved from all the departments who contributed.

Children in Need

Fund-raising events for Children in Need were held across the council. Just one example saw the Highways and Transportation team at Clydach raise £88 by selling cakes and dressing down.

Well done to all and here’s a picture of Lee O’Hara entering into the dressing down with gusto!

White Ribbon

A White Ribbon Day event will be held at Swansea’s Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop today as part of a national campaign. We’re working with Swansea Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Partnership to spread the message that domestic abuse and violence are unacceptable. You’ll find further information about the campaign here.

Sad loss

Grenville Phillips, Honorary Alderman and former Lord Mayor of Swansea, has passed away. Grenville was also Honorary Burgermeister of Mannheim and founder of the Portmead and Blaenymaes Community Centre. I worked alongside him as he strove to improve the lives of his constituents in the Penderry ward.

He was a deeply committed and fair politician and I‘ll always be grateful for his unwavering support, particularly through the challenging PRC homes project which saw the demolition and redevelopment of a large part of the Blaenymaes and Portmead estate.

London Calling

November 17, 2017 by Martin 2 Comments

Next week officers and councillors are in London to continue two important campaigns; the Tidal Lagoon and the City of Culture.

Hopefully you’ll have seen our giant postcard that’s been signed by hundreds of lagoon supporters. We’ll be delivering it to the Wales Office in Whitehall on Monday morning with a clear message to the Chancellor to announce its approval in his Autumn Statement. A few hours later we’ll be handing in a letter to the Prime Minister signed by more than 110 leading businesses calling for the lagoon’s go ahead. The campaign has been magnificent, driven by our Communications team and supported by a huge number of staff across the organisation. I’m grateful to every one of you. The highlight of the campaign for me has been the videos from some of our schools. Click on the attached link to see examples of their art submissions.

We’ll then be heading to the House of Commons to attend a City of Culture bid reception to win over the hearts and minds of MPs and to demonstrate what becoming the UK City of Culture 2021 would mean for Swansea. We’re entering the last two weeks of this campaign so I’d urge everyone who supports the bid to express themselves through our social media platforms as we head for the line in Hull on December 8.

The Sky’s the limit

We’re anxiously awaiting the decision of board of the Skyline Luge organisation on the location of their next project. I mentioned this in my blog on October 27. Following the visit by Skyline New Zealand our team of officers and members have been pulling out all the stops to attract this game-changing attraction. Whatever the outcome the team couldn’t have tried harder and deserve a big vote of thanks for their efforts. Fingers crossed!

Liberty Stadium

Cabinet this week approved the terms of an agreement with Swansea City FC for new lease arrangements for the Liberty Stadium. The report can be found here. Over the last few years the over-complicated existing arrangements have become increasingly outdated. The agreement will see a guaranteed rental income and, subject to continued Premier League status, a share in any naming rights deal the club secures. The agreement will also allow the Ospreys continued playing rights and the provision of a number of 3G pitches for the Council. My thanks to those involved in securing this deal.

School visits

On Tuesday I went to Penllergaer Primary School to meet the head teacher, Jayne Woolcock. We discussed a range of topics including her role as challenge adviser, the progress of the school improvement consortium (ERW) and the issues facing the Council and the school. Last year the school became the only school in Wales to be awarded Associate School status by the Royal Society so I was particularly interested in the work the school’s doing in relation to STEMM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics and medicine). I’m hoping we can link with Swansea University’s Soapbox Science programme which I mentioned in my July 7^th blog. The school is already working closely with the university in a partnership which sees pupils regularly going to the second campus to dig deep into science activities like using a scanning electron microscope. I also met Kelly Thomas, the school’s Science Leader, who recently won a national Outstanding Teacher Award at the Primary Science Teaching Trust 2017 Awards for her innovative approach to teaching science, encouraging inquisitive, critical thinking among pupils. Well done Kelly.

Congratulations and thanks

This week witnessed the start of the transformational changes along the Kingsway, a critical piece in the city centre jigsaw. Our Highways team have done a great job in implementing the traffic changes, introducing a temporary roundabout along with a number of other changes. They had to do this whilst ‘juggling’ the traffic which was no mean feat and was delivered with minimum disruption. We’ll be removing buses from the Metro track along with the temporary pedestrian barrier on the central reserve. We’re also putting in new bus stops and removing and planting trees. Thanks to all involved.

I was delighted to hear that all our Band B schools bids to Welsh Government have been successful. This means we’ll see an unprecedented capital investment in our schools estate over the coming years. Thanks and congratulations to all the staff and councillors involved in preparing our submissions.

Our Beyond Bricks and Mortar Community Benefit policy has won the Go Awards Wales “Go Procurement Innovation/ Initiative award” against 10 other entries. This regional award follows the national award we won last March at Go Awards UK for “Best Employment Initiative”. We automatically go into the national awards taking place in Manchester in April. Congratulations to our Beyond Bricks and Mortar team who have every reason to be proud of their achievements.

You may have seen DIY SOS on BBC1 on Wednesday, which was all about the construction of a new base for The Roots Foundation in Fforestfach. Our staff in teams including building, parks, highways, building regulations, planning and social services were instrumental in helping support this Children in Need project, so my thanks to all involved. And I know many staff will be raising funds today for Children in Need. Thank you for all your efforts.

Christmas in Swansea starts today with the opening of the Christmas Market on Oxford Street and the Waterfront Winterland at Museum Park. With the Christmas Parade in the city centre on Sunday, I’d like to thank all staff involved in organising these events. Head to www.swanseachristmas.com for more information.

Our City of Culture bid is in

September 29, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

City of Culture bid submitted

Yesterday evening the leaders of the political groups joined me and the City of Culture team in an event at Museum Green where our bid to the UK Government was submitted. There has been a huge wave of support in the city for this project and now we must wait for feedback and the visit from the judging panel next month.

The bid was launched electronically by community representatives and received in London by actor Rhys Ifans who delivered it to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Thanks to the team who have been working on this bid and for the cross-party support.

Director of Place

A large part of my week has been taken up with the recruitment process for the Director of Place which attracted interest from across the UK and beyond! Following a rigorous assessment centre and competitive interviews the six shortlisted candidates were whittled down to two. Following the Appointments Committee the Council yesterday appointed the current interim Director of Place, Martin Nicholls, to the post. I’m delighted with Martin’s appointment and look forward to working with him on the continued regeneration of the city. We’ll be discussing what changes need to be made to the management structure to deliver the core regeneration programmes of the council most effectively and efficiently.

Be the best you can be

Staff engagement is one of my personal priorities so I’m delighted we’re continuing to improve the ways we support staff and give them a voice. The annual staff survey is under way and I’d urge everyone to take the time to complete it – your feedback will be listened to – you can complete the survey here.

And we’re about to hold the Be the best you can be event for staff which is taking place at the National Waterfront Museum next Friday. There are plenty of activities and workshops for staff and it’d be great if we could fill all of the places. They include calligraphy, choir, digital photography and genius hour!

The aim is to get as many people as possible to attend the day, even if you just want to drop-in, so please try to come along. Further details are available here.

Outstanding service

This week we’re saying farewell to a number of long-serving colleagues who are well-known across the council. Rose McCreesh our Revenues and Benefits manager is retiring after almost 41 years’ service. Rose has led the transformation of our “rev and bens” team and she was recognised in 2002 when she was invited by The Prime Minister to a Downing Street reception for ‘turnaround managers’.

Lynne Miller our Pension Manager is leaving after 39 years, 38 of which have been in our Pensions Team, and we’ve all benefitted from her experience and professionalism.

Jon Thyer is retiring after almost 31 years. Jon started in the Treasurers’ Department and had numerous posts there before moving to Social Services in 2008.

And Phil Couch, who’s been instrumental in interpreting and steering us through the introduction of the Welsh Language Standards, is retiring to start a new life in France!

These are the latest long-serving and well-respected officers who’ve left the council in recent years. I’m so grateful to all of them for their outstanding public service. They’ll be missed but I wish them the very best for the future.

Benefit changes

Universal Credit (UC) will be introduced from December 13 in Swansea and initially affect benefits and tax credits for new claimants and those with changing circumstances. We’re raising awareness among staff at the earliest possible opportunity so they or their family members can begin planning for any financial impacts. The latest information can be found here.

Macmillan Cake Sale

Thank you to everyone who either baked or bought at yesterday’s cake sale in the Guildhall. There was a tremendous selection of cakes and bakes and I had Kath Banks’ amazing corned beef pie for lunch. Thank you everyone, £327 was raised for a great cause.

Well done and thank you

Our Team Around the Family (TAF) service has been shortlisted for honours in the Guardian Public Service Awards 2017. This initiative supports children – and significantly reduces pressure on the council – by empowering primary school staff to tackle early-stage social challenges faced by families. Well done to all involved and good luck at the awards in November.

Thanks to all staff who’ve been involved in the construction of new council homes at Milford Way in Penderry. Six of the 18 new properties will be soon be ready for occupation, with the other 12 likely to be handed over to tenants by the start of November.

Being more commercial

September 8, 2017 by Martin Leave a Comment

A common response to austerity from councils across the UK has been to become more commercial in carrying out their business. We’re a large organisation that commissions and delivers a broad range of services to our citizens and we must ensure we properly charge for our services, procure efficiently and manage contracts effectively. Every penny generated through these efforts will help to maintain services and jobs.

We also need to become more commercial in finding new income opportunities. This week the Leadership Team of Directors and Heads of Service held a workshop to develop our commercial strategy. The aim was to generate ideas and create the right culture across the council for increasing income. We heard about examples from across the UK such as councils charging companies to dispose of their confidential waste, providing commercial catering and offering funeral services. When you think about it, we’re already involved in this kind of work so it’s not a huge step for us to develop our existing services and offer them to new customers to bring in more money. And Richard Mears, our car parking manager, explained how he’s been working with our commercial team to sell city centre parking spaces to local firms. We know we face declining budgets in the coming years so we want to raise new income to replace the reduced funding from the government. The next stage is for us collectively to develop the Commercial Strategy and to feed into the up-coming budget discussions. Further workshops with be held with Leadership Team and Cabinet in the coming weeks and months as we complete the strategy and action plan.

APSE award-winners

Last night we picked up two national APSE awards for our waste management service and our highways team, winning service team of the year. We narrowly missed out on the overall council of the year and our building services team was also shortlisted in two categories for service team and workforce development. Well done to everyone involved.

Love the Lagoon

The Love the Lagoon campaign has taken off this week with more than 25,000 views of our online videos. Thousands of people have engaged on Facebook (which shows it is generating interest). MPs raised the issue at Welsh Questions in Parliament and one MP directly mentioned our campaign.

Now we’ll be putting more focus now onto getting people to post videos of support. I’d encourage staff who support the project to post either directly or through our communications team.

Culture

Another major campaign we’ve launched is to get support for our City of Culture bid. Banners are popping up to generate support. Winning the title would generate millions of pounds for Swansea’s economy, also attracting a year-long programme of top quality events, activities, exhibitions, concerts and shows. With the winner due to be announced at the end of the year, we need to show the independent judging panel just how much Swansea wants and needs this title. Head here to see how you can help.

Passing the baton

It might have been a wet and windy Tuesday morning but Swansea provided its usual warm welcome for the Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton’s Relay. Swansea had the pleasure of welcoming the baton into Wales where it had travelled from the Isle of Man. Making the most of our coastal assets the Baton made a dramatic entrance by sea when it was delivered to Knab by the Mumbles RNLI. The baton was then passed, by the Deputy Leader, Cllr Clive Lloyd, to the first of our celebrity Baton Bearers, boxer Enzo Maccarinelli.

I was considering running a caption competition for the photo of the Deputy Leader and Enzo but it would probably not be a good career move! Our teams within Cultural Services – Events, Marketing and Sports Development did a great job of setting the standard for the Welsh leg of the relay.

High 5s

On Tuesday the judging panel for the High 5 Awards met to assess this year’s entries. I wasn’t looking forward to chairing it given the 156 nominations, all of which deserve recognition, and was expecting a long and fractious meeting. To my surprise and delight there was strong consensus among the judges and the winners were eventually agreed unanimously. The awards ceremony will take place next month at the Liberty Stadium.

Crest

Last July I wrote about my visit to CREST (Community Recovery Education and Skills Training) in Cwmbwrla. There’s an open day next Thursday and Friday where the service will be exhibiting the work of people who attend the centre on the themes of recovery and stigma.

Electrification Plans Derailed

July 21, 2017 by Martin 6 Comments

Rail electrification – a personal view

The UK Government’s announcement to scrap plans for rail electrification between Swansea and Cardiff has been met with widespread dismay and condemnation.

Having met government ministers and officials to present the original case for electrification some years ago, I was very disappointed by the U-turn. The economic case is no different now than it was then, although clearly the huge overspend on other parts of the UK-wide electrification project has contributed to the rethink.

South West Wales has struggled with its peripheral location and any reduction in travel time is a real benefit. The switch from diesel would have major environmental benefits and be much more energy efficient; the trains would have more modern facilities and greater safety measures. It felt like we were going to be a part of a new UK rail infrastructure, squarely on the map and fit for the future.

In the last few years I’ve travelled by rail in Europe which was all electrified with modern, energy-efficient trains and heavily used by the public. A modern economy requires not just digital connectivity but also the most efficient, clean and accessible rail network. The announcement felt like a real kick in the teeth for our city.

City of Culture – what next?

We’ve been shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2021 – along with Paisley; Sunderland; Stoke and Coventry.

We’re expecting feedback from the DCMS next week and we’re working with partners and funders to nail down the core structure and details required for the final bid on September 29.

The format has changed since our previous bid, with the emphasis on confirming the partnerships, funding, programme content, venues and social, economic and tourism impacts.

The DCMS team and panel members will visit Swansea and our team will travel to Hull in December to present our final bid – before a recommendation is put to Ministers. The announcement will be made shortly after that.

The city will be dressed with banners, posters, window dressings etc and events will engage the community. Our partners will be working on the programme details and we welcome any support you can offer to raise engagement among groups and communities that you work with and represent. Congratulations to Tracey McNulty and her staff along with all the councillors, officers and partners for getting us onto this shortlist. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter #Swansea2021

Public Service Board

Last Tuesday I joined 40 officers and councillors from across Swansea’s public services to identify where we might work together for a better Swansea. The Swansea Public Services Board event was the last in a series of workshops held with citizens, the community and voluntary sectors and public service leaders. We identified trends that will shape Swansea’s future and areas where we can work together to overcome challenges and make the most of opportunities.

Topics discussed included celebrating pride and belonging, developing social capital and tackling climate change. These will be used alongside evidence from the Local Assessment of Well-being to develop Local Well-being Objectives for Swansea.

There will be opportunities to feed into the development of the Local Well-being Plan in the summer before consultation in the autumn.

Director of Resources

I’m delighted Sarah Caulkin, our Chief Transformation Officer, has been appointed interim Director of Resources following competitive interviews. Sarah’s been instrumental in progressing the transformation programme and helping us to plan our future council. With digital transformation, regional collaboration and financial challenges on the horizon this will be a busy and exciting time for us all.

Eid in the Park

Thanks to Riaz Hassan and all the team for organising this year’s Eid in the Park event, which attracted more than 3,000 people. These events promote community cohesion and cultural awareness and lots of people gave their time to make it a success.

Awards

Congratulations to our Corporate Building and Property Services team for winning the Integration & Collaborative Working Award 2017 at the Constructing Excellence Wales (CEW) awards. We’ll be going forward to the National event in November. Let’s hope we win that one too!

Our parks’ staff work has been recognised by Keep Wales Tidy. Victoria Park, Parc Llewelyn, Cwmdonkin Park, Clyne Gardens, Bynmill Park and Singleton Botanical and Ornamental Gardens were all awarded Green Flags. The organisers tweeted this week: “Amazing work by all the team down at Swansea Council – your parks are a pleasure and a joy to visit”

Last week I mentioned the Swansea Life Awards, including the winning teams from Parks Operations and Development and Outreach for the work at Clyne Gardens – here’s a photo of them with their award. Well done.

Farewell

Dr Julie Sheppard, Head of the Education Strategic Planning & Improvement Group, is retiring at the end of the month after 14 years. Julie came to Swansea following a successful career in the private sector bringing with her years of international experience. I’d like to thank Julie for all her work and wish her well in her retirement.