Tripadvisor

Another week passes and the future of the tidal lagoon looks in severe doubt following the announcements from the UK Government this week. Following the decision to press ahead with the nuclear power facility at Wylfa, the Secretary of State for Wales has clearly stated his concerns over the forecast cost of energy from the Swansea Bay project. Personally, I feel this would be a short-sighted decision by the UK Government and based on criteria that do not reflect the long-term nature of large scale energy infrastructure projects. We’ll continue to work with the Welsh Government and Tidal Lagoon Power to deliver this scheme along with other renewable projects, given our commitment to sustainable development and future generations.

Skyline

This week we welcomed Skyline, our partners from New Zealand who are working on our scheme at Kilvey Hill. We were able to formally agree the heads of terms and the company spent the week appointing consultants and advisers to manage and deliver the project. Huw Mowbray and the property team have been working hard to secure this investment for the city and if we can deliver it we’ll have an attraction that is unique to the UK and a potentially massive boost for our tourism sector. We we’ll continue to work closely with Skyline on pre-application for planning, land assembly and logistical support. We held a dinner at the Mansion House yesterday evening to review progress and agree the actions we’ll each undertake over the coming months.

Local Government Reform

On Monday afternoon the Leader and I travelled to Llandrindod Wells along with our counterparts from the other 21 councils in Wales to meet the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Alun Davies. The meeting was arranged by the Welsh Government to share views on merger and transformation of public services as councils prepare to respond to the recent Green Paper. This was never going to be an easy discussion and it’s clear there are some very strong and conflicting views on the subject. My personal prediction, and it’s just that, is that it’s highly unlikely that mergers will take place on a national level, if at all. The debate has been underwhelming and the case for a reduction to 10 councils has not been convincingly made. I met group leaders this week to get their views on the Green Paper and we’ll be reporting our proposed response to Council in a fortnight. I’ll add a link to my blog so you can see it for yourself.

University meeting

We recently established a joint Executive Board with Swansea University to help manage the delivery of joint projects including the regeneration of the city centre, the provision of accommodation, digital infrastructure and energy strategy. The Leader chaired the meeting and it was pleasing to see agreement on these as priorities for collaboration, which will now be developed into specific projects.

Western Bay

On Tuesday I was interviewed by IPC about progress made on the Western Bay Health and Social Care collaboration. Given the impacts of austerity on public finances, the confusion over regional collaboration footprints and the lack of clarity over funding responsibilities between councils and the NHS it’s a difficult backdrop for partnership working. However, I think some very good progress has been made but we need to focus on better joining up of services. We await the decision of the Welsh Government on the future geography for ABMU Health Board, with or without Bridgend Council following consultation, but I hope the review by IPC will come up with some positive recommendations that all partners can subscribe and commit to.

Congratulations

Well done to staff at the Glynn Vivian which has been awarded a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence. The Gallery has undergone a major refurbishment and is one of Wales’ leading venues. This follows hot on the heels of five other council venues receiving the same accolade.

Thank you to staff in Finance who’ve been working for months on closing our accounts. It’s a painstaking task which has to be done every year. I won’t mention everyone by name, but well done and thank you for all your efforts.

I was delighted to see former Cefn Hengoed Community School headteacher Sue Hollister at Buckingham Palace this week to collect the MBE for services to education. During her 10 years at the helm the school’s fortunes were transformed and rated excellent in all 15 aspects of its last Estyn inspection.

Welcome to my new blog. I think it is only appropriate that I start my first blog with a note of thanks to our previous Chief Executive, Jack Straw, and to wish him all the best for the future. A huge number of staff turned out last Friday to say farewell to Jack and to hear me describe his major achievements (and a few less positive stories of course). I owe a great debt to Jack for his leadership and friendship during the 27 years we have known each other and I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do in the coming years. He has certainly left big boots to fill!

The leaving party was an emotional event. Jack was certainly quite “emotional” by the end of it. The highlight of the evening for me was the video message from Swansea City FC midfielder, Leon Britton, Sue Hollister, the head teacher at Cefn Hengoed School and most importantly from some of the young people who had won High 5 awards. Although he was grateful for all those messages I know the words of thanks from the young people meant more to him than anything Leon, Sue or the rest of us could ever have said. One of the roles I most look forward to inheriting from Jack is the leadership of the High 5s.

Lee Wenham gave Jack a bound copy of all his blogs as one of his leaving gifts and he really appreciated that. A number of colleagues have asked me to continue to write a weekly Chief Executive’s blog and, although I cannot promise that it will be on a par with Jack’s, I am committed to continuing to do so. So here goes.

Following the Senior Management Review I am pleased to announce that Mike Hawes has been appointed as our Director of Resources from 1^st June. I have known Mike for many years and his appointment will help to stabilise the management of the organisation following the departure of Jack and Dean Taylor. On Tuesday Mike and I attended the Budget and Performance review group where, along with senior councillors, we consider the main issues relating to finance and service performance that face the Council. It’s certainly a challenging time for everyone and Mike’s knowledge and experience will be essential in developing and driving the budget strategy for us. I will keep you up to date with developments.

Yesterday I received a briefing on the Counter Terrorism Local Profile along with Chris Sivers, Director of People and future Chair of the Western Bay Contest Board. The board is charged with making sure all agencies plan and work together to combat the threat of terrorism and make sure that appropriate arrangements are in place.

A related issue is the impact and disruption of the recent school bomb hoaxes in the region. There have been many examples of this across the UK and the police take hoaxes extremely seriously because they divert police resources and cause disruption and alarm to the public. Last week saw the evacuation of 400 pupils from Gwyrosydd Primary School. All reports indicate that this was handled in an exemplary way by the head teacher, Jonathan Atter, his team and the pupils. A big thank you to all involved in the evacuation and in helping to reassure the children and parents. Guidance has been sent to all schools in the city and this includes the procedures that must be followed in the event of any future incidents.

The coming weeks and months will be critical for Swansea. The crisis in the steel industry is a major concern. Although Tata’s major facilities are not within Swansea’s boundaries most of us know at least one person or family that would be affected by closure, many of whom live in Swansea. The steel industry contributes 5.8% of the output of the Welsh economy and many other businesses in the city and the region will suffer if the rescue package currently being prepared is not successful. The Leader and I have been supporting the Swansea Bay City Region Board, led by Sir Terry Matthews, to do what we can to help shape the case for continued steel production in Wales.

On a similar note the Leader and I will be meeting the Chairman of the Government Independent Review into tidal lagoons, the Rt Hon Charles Hendry, next week. Our job will be to explain the importance of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon to our city and the local economy. More on this in future blogs.

It’s always nice to have some good news, so I’m delighted to offer my congratulations to County Archivist Kim Collis who’s been awarded the prestigious Distinguished Service Award by the Archives and Records Association of the UK and Ireland for services to archives in Wales.

Similarly, a number of our attractions and events are up for a Swansea Life Award next month. They include the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k, Swansea Museum, Christmas by Candlelight at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea Market, the Wales National Air Show, Proms in the Park, Waterfront Winterland, Singleton Botanical Gardens, Clyne Gardens, Plantasia, Penyrheol Leisure Centre, Swansea Grand Theatre and the Swansea Library Service. Well done to all the staff involved in these.

Go to SLVOTE16 to vote by Wednesday June 8. Please encourage as many people to vote for these as possible. Our recent customer feedback shows how highly these events are thought of by the public.

The Brangwyn Hall has again been awarded a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor, the world’s leading travel website. Brangwyn customers have given the venue a 93% average satisfaction rating on TripAdvisor. Over 65% of visitors also gave the attraction the top five-star rating, making the Brangwyn Hall Swansea’s favourite venue for concerts and shows. Thank you to all the staff.

And finally thanks must go to all the officers and councillors who have worked tirelessly on the Hafod Copperworks Project. Earlier this week the Heritage Lottery Fund announced that the Council has been successful in the first round bid for a £3.75m funding bid that could see restoration of historically significant buildings and the Penderyn whisky company invest £4.2 million in the expansion of their business into the city with a new distillery and visitor centre at the former Hafod Morfa Copperworks site. Judging by the amount of whisky people bought Jack on Friday night it will not come a moment too soon.

Dead in the water? No.

Big Boots