Departmental Focus
This page will look in more detail at a department and the
achievements it has made. The first department we will look at in
more detail is Visible Services, which has just achieved Green
Dragon Level 5.
Visible Services
The Vale of Glamorgan Council has become the first local
authority in the UK to achieve top level recognition in a highly
acclaimed environmental award scheme.
The council’s visible services department is celebrating
achieving Level 5 - the highest - of the Green Dragon
Environmental Management Standard® that recognises organisations
for their work in improving the environment. The council is the
first to have this approved by a United Kingdom Accreditation
Service (UKAS) accredited inspection body - ANI Management
Systems.
Visible services comprises a vast portfolio including highway
maintenance, waste management and cleansing, engineering design and
parks and grounds maintenance, and has a wide range of activities
impacting on the environment.
The award follows a rigorous two-day environmental audit by ANI
which, itself, has just been nationally recognised through the
government approved UKAS. Accreditation demonstrates the
organisation's competence, impartiality and performance
capability.
Cabinet member for visible services Cllr Rob Curtis said: “A key
priority for both myself and my colleagues in the current
administration is appropriate management of the environment and I
am very pleased the department has received this award.
"I have fully supported the department in its quest to obtain
this accreditation which is richly deserved.”
Jane Davidson, Welsh Assembly Minister for Environment,
Sustainability and Housing, who presented the certificate to Cllr
Curtis, said: “My congratulations to the Vale of Glamorgan on this
impressive achievement and the excellent work to improve their
environmental performance. Reduction in carbon emissions, waste
going to landfill, and use of scarce resources are all critical to
achieving a more sustainable society and reducing our ecological
footprint."
Head of visible services Miles Punter said: “We are the first
council in Wales, indeed the first organisation in the UK, to have
obtained such significant accreditation and it is wonderful to be
recognised for the way we have implemented new systems and changed
others.
"We are a large department with a workforce of more than 400
people covering a very wide range of frontline services. We are
keen to ensure our environmental policies are embedded into
everything we do.”
Paying tribute to all the staff, Keith Jones, operational
manager (highways) and environmental manager for the department,
said: “This is the result of years of hard work by all the staff
and workforce. We have changed many of the ways that we operate to
minimise our impact on the environment and we have introduced a
range of innovative policies and procedures to constantly improve
our practices.”
Dave Humphreys, the ANI Management Systems auditor, commented:
"Green Dragon is a stepped environmental standard and, in reaching
the top Level 5, the council's visible services department has
demonstrated continual environmental improvement in all its
services. We are very pleased to award the council the first
UKAS-accredited Green Dragon certificate."
Caption: Welsh Assembly Minister for
Environment, Sustainability and Housing Jane Davidson presents the
Green Dragon Environmental Management Standard® Level 5 certificate
to Cllr Rob Curtis, Vale of Glamorgan Council cabinet member for
visible services, watched by from left: Phil Beaman, operational
manager (parks and grounds maintenance), Tahir Saleem, project
co-ordinator, Keith Jones, operational manager (highway
maintenance), Miles Punter, head of visible services, Michelle
Fitzpatrick, Green Dragon co-ordinator, and Carl Parsons, recycling
officer. The venue for the presentation was the site at St Hilary
where the Vale Council, the City and County of Cardiff and Bridgend
County Borough Council are working in partnership to develop a reed
bed filtration facility that will involve the recycling of waste
material from highways gullies.