End of Week Message from Rob

11 September 2026

Helo Bawb, 

Looking after our environment and the places we call home is something we all have a part to play in.  

Whether it’s recycling more of the right things, making sure our streets and public spaces are clean and welcoming, or simply taking responsibility for the waste we produce, our individual actions can make a real difference.  

With Recycle Week starting on Monday, I thought this week’s message was a great opportunity to celebrate some of the work taking place across the Council and the Vale to support cleaner, greener communities. 

Recycle Week runs from 14–20 September this year, and it encourages everyone to recycle more of the right things, more often. Here in the Vale, we work hard to make recycling as easy as possible, with very few household items that can’t be recycled at the kerbside – and we’re always looking at ways to make that list even shorter. 

Last year, we introduced our soft plastics recycling scheme right across the Vale, as well as beginning the rollout of the first phase of our new textile recycling service in Barry. These are practical changes that make it easier for residents to make good choices about their waste, while helping us to reduce what goes to landfill and make better use of valuable resources. 

But recycling is only one part of the story when it comes to managing our waste. Once our bins have been collected, there is a huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to process that waste responsibly.  

Recently, we had a lovely example of how important it is to help our communities understand that process, when 11-year-old resident Francesca, her older sister Emily and their mum Siobhan visited our Waste Transfer Station in Barry. 

Francesca had recently written to the Leader of the Council after noticing that some bins in her local area were overflowing, with people leaving waste beside them rather than taking it home when the bins were full.  

As her letter showed real care for her community and a genuine desire to make a difference, Francesca and her family were invited to see for themselves what happens to the waste collected across the Vale. 

The visit gave them the chance to see first-hand how the Council processes waste collected across the Vale. It was also a great opportunity to talk about the importance of respecting our surroundings and the role that all of us can play in keeping our communities clean. 

The visit was also a really positive example of Vale 2030 – our corporate plan - in action. Vale 2030 is all about creating great places to live, work and visit, while also respecting and celebrating the environment, and it’s encouraging to see that these ambitions are shared by people of all ages across the Vale, and that young residents are already thinking about how they can make a difference. 

Of course, creating and maintaining the places we are proud to call home is something we all contribute to, and it also sits at the heart of the work our colleagues do every day.  

From responding to litter and fly-tipping, to keeping our town centres and public spaces looking their best, our Street Scene teams are making a real difference across the Vale. 

I was therefore delighted to hear that our Street Scene service has been shortlisted for a WLGA Innovation Award in the Leading Innovation category. 

Since February, Street Scene has introduced five place-based teams – covering the Vale’s four towns and our large villages – with a focus on maintaining the appearance of our communities and responding quickly to issues such as litter and other challenges. 

The teams have already been involved in alley clearances, town centre decluttering, weed and pavement clearance, new bin installations, toilet improvements and highway renewal work across Barry, Penarth, Cowbridge, Llantwit Major and beyond. We have also increased cleaning at key entrances and routes into the Vale and brought back dedicated town centre street sweepers in Penarth, Cowbridge and Llantwit Major, alongside those already working in Barry. 

Just as importantly, the service has strengthened its partnership working with Town and Community Councils, local groups, Keep Wales Tidy, the Probation Service, Youth Offending teams and our fantastic litter-picking volunteers.  

This is a great example of colleagues looking at how we can do things differently and work more closely with our communities to achieve better results and genuinely reflects our ambition to be the best Council we can be for our residents.  Diolch pawb am eich gwaith. 

Finally, I also want to take a moment to recognise another team that works incredibly hard, but very much behind the scenes – our Payroll Team, as National Payroll Week comes to an end. 

There are ten colleagues in the team, led ably by Sarah Jeans, and their work goes far beyond simply processing monthly pay. Over the last year alone, they have supported almost 600 new starters, dealt with more than 800 leavers, processed nearly 70,000 BACS payments, handled over 6,500 contract changes and paid thousands of absence payments and timecards.  

Every month, they run three payrolls covering more than 5,800 staff and more than 8,600 jobs, alongside managing huge volumes of information for HMRC, LGPS and Teachers’ Pensions. 

Quite simply, without their hard work, the Council could not function effectively. As such, I wanted to also say a huge diolch yn fawr to everyone in Payroll for all that you do to make sure our colleagues are paid accurately and on time.  

On behalf of myself and SLT, thank you all for your efforts this week and for everything you continue to do for the Vale.  

If you’re not working over the weekend, I hope you have a restful few days off. 

Diolch, 

Rob