Young people from Wrexham Open Award Centre and Wrexham Pupil Referral Unit have been celebrating achieving Gold, Silver and Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards following 18 months of hard work.
Between them they achieved 9 gold, 7 silver and 32 bronze awards which were awarded recently by The Mayor, Cllr Rob Walsh and British Paralympic Track and Field athlete Sabrina Fortune.
Also there to congratulate and support their achievements was Ricky Munday – founder of Inspire Alpine and conqueror of Everest who encouraged all the young people to overcome any challenges they may face in the future.
Wrexham’s own songwriter and performer Luke Gallagher provided his own unique brand of musical entertainment throughout the evening.
Achieving a Gold Award is no mean feat! During a 12-18 month journey, participants explore new skills and challenges, develop opportunities to enhance their knowledge and abilities in five areas: Volunteering, Physical Activity, Skills, Expeditions as well as Residential Activities. This is why Gold is the highest level of DofE award that can be achieved by young people aged 16-23 years.
Wrexham DofE has been supporting its young people to complete their awards for over 30 years; with Young People from Wrexham choosing to take on a wide range of interests and pursuits and the programmes are personalised to these passions and interests.
“Want to get involved?
If you are under 23 years, or know a young person who would like the challenge of doing a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Bronze, Silver or Gold then get in touch with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award team who are based at the Victoria Young People’s Centre on a Monday or Wednesday evening on 01978 317958 or mobile 07800689102 from 6.00pm to 8.30pm, alternatively email dofe@wrexham.gov.uk.
For more information about The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, visit www.DofE.org
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We have to put together annual reviews of our performance across a number of areas, looking at all of the areas where the council works – things like education, adult social care, the environment, highways, the economy and others.
And the results of those reviews are published in our annual Focused On Our Performance reports.
The Focused On Our Performance report for 2018/19 is now available to view, and will be discussed by our Executive Board next week.
It measures our performance against the objectives in our 2018-19 Council Plan, and the four important themes it sets out – economy, people, place and organisation.
It’s not an all-round check-up on everything we do, but instead looks at how we’re performing in key areas.
This year’s Focused On Our Performance report will be discussed at the Executive Board on Tuesday, October 8.
Let’s take a look at a few of the key areas set out in the report.
Where we’re doing well
The report points out a number of areas where we’re doing well, which are rated green.
Some of the improvements outlined in the report include:
more than £5million worth of investment in the physical regeneration of our markets and town centre;
84% of all commercial property in the county borough occupied;
More than 11,000 recorded businesses operating in the area – including 72 new business start-ups in the last year;
More than 10,000 recorded visits to our leisure facilities – a big increase on last year;
93 new units of affordable housing, and 35 empty properties brought back into use;
High percentages of council homes meeting the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS)
66 per cent of all waste recycled
That covers things like how much visitors are spending in the county borough; the amount of commercial properties occupied; the number of carers we’ve worked or engage with; the amount of visits to our leisure centres; the amount of empty properties we’ve brought back into use – and many others.
Where we want to improve
There are other areas in the Focused On Our Performance report where we haven’t made the improvements we want, or need to do better, and are rated either amberor red in the report.
On average, it takes about 206 days to deliver a Disabled Facilities Grant, allowing home improvements to help people live more independently at home.
In the most recent Perceptions of Safety survey – the results for which will be published soon – only 35 per cent of respondents said they felt safe in Wrexham town centre.
In the same survey, about 72 per cent of respondents said they felt safe in their home areas
The percentage of A-roads in poor overall condition is 3.3 per cent; while the number of B-roads in poor condition is 2.6 per cent.
Some of the above areas are heading in the right direction – but we still want to work hard to make improvements where we can.
To watch the debate on the Focused On Our Performance report, watch the live webcast from the meeting of our Executive Board at 10am on Tuesday, October 7.
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Over the past decade our funding has been slashed by Welsh Government. We’ve been forced to cut our budget by over £62 million since 2008, and we’ve had to reduce our workforce by over 600 people.
Now we’re being forced to make even more cuts.
Councils across the UK are going through a desperate time, and in Wrexham, the funding we get from the UK and Welsh governments is already below the Welsh average-per-person.
And it’s about to get worse. We’re expecting even less funding this year.
The uncertainty around national politics makes it hard to predict right now, but we think we’ll need to save at least £5.4 million in 2019-20…and maybe as much as £7.2 million.
What’s more, we think we’re going to be at least £9.8 million short over the next two years.
It all depends on what the UK and Welsh governments decide is most important…and we won’t know for sure until November.
Like we said at the start of this article, we’ve been forced to cut our budget by over £62 million since 2008. That’s the equivalent of over 25% of our current budget of £237m.
Although Wrexham’s funding has been hammered by Welsh Government over the last few years, we’ve managed to make savings by being more efficient, and we’ve tried desperately to avoid cutting services wherever possible.
However, there’s no question we’re going to have to cut services this time, and stop doing some things altogether.
Councillor Mark Pritchard, Leader of the Council, says: “We don’t want to do this. We just don’t have a choice.
“Welsh Government is gradually starving us of funding – forcing us to cut the services we provide for local people. It’s heart-breaking. People in Wrexham don’t deserve that.
“But we’re now past the tipping point, and we’ve got no choice but to cut or stop services when our budget is being reduced by so much.
“We’ll keep lobbying Welsh Government until it realises it can’t keep hurting public services and leaving places like Wrexham to suffer.
“And we’re urging people to lobby their Assembly Members for a better deal for Wrexham.
“But there’s no doubt we’re going to have to make some really difficult decisions that will hit people hard.”
Councillor Hugh Jones, who has lead responsibility for consultation, says: “Even though we don’t think we’ll have much choice but to make these proposed cuts, we’d like to know what people think and give everyone a chance to put forward other ideas.
“It’s really important we understand how people feel about these proposals, and it only takes a few minutes to fill-in the questionnaire…so please take part.”
The proposals include:
Generating more income from community resource centres and the Memorial Hall.
Charging more for certain services (in adult social care for example) by charging the actual cost of providing the service.
Introducing three-weekly bin collections for black/blue bins.
Lowering the standard of road repairs.
Increasing parking fees in our car parks.
Changing the way we deliver events and activities in our country parks, or stopping altogether.
Considering an increase in Council Tax of at least 5.5%.
The consultation – called ‘Difficult Decisions – Further Cuts’ – will run until November 13, 2019, and should only take around five minutes to fill-in online.
If you can’t do it online, you can ask for a paper copy by calling 01978 292000.
Your feedback – along with feedback from other consultations like our library services review – will help us make our final budget decisions in February 2020.
It might not stop there
Unfortunately, the cuts we’re consulting on at the moment probably won’t be the only savings we’ll have to look at. It’s that bad.
Cllr Pritchard says: “We’ll have to look at even more ways to reduce what we spend – in case our budget from Welsh Government is as bad as we think it might be.
“But because our funding won’t be confirmed until November, we won’t have time to do another full-blown consultation on any extra measures needed to balance the books…so the uncertainty and timings make this really difficult.
“However, we’ll make sure we consult with the groups most likely to be affected before we take any action.
“It’s a sad situation, and if Welsh Government continues to punish Wrexham year-after-year, a lot of key services just won’t survive…there just won’t be much left in the end.
“The impact on people’s lives will be pretty awful.”
The total capital expenditure in 2019/20 – including the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), which allows us to make improvements to our housing stock – is estimated to be £89million; about £8.5m more than the amount approved by the Executive Board at its meeting in July.
The main increases are down to increases in spending to non-HRA projects and the HRA capital programme
Our main Capital Programme is made up of borrowing – supported by the Welsh Government – grants, contributions, capital receipts we earn from sales, prudential borrowing and interest-free loans from the Welsh Government and Salix.
The Capital Programme is part of our usual financial processes – in order to make sure we know what our spending priorities will be in the near future, we plan out any major investment and put it for discussion at our Executive Board.
Future spends planned for 2023/24
As well as reviewing our current spends, we’ve also planned out capital spending for the coming years, with the help of the Corporate Land and Buildings Strategy Group.
We’ve taken a look at some of the spends we can make in 2023/2024 – and our Executive Board will discuss whether or not to approve them on Tuesday.
Project
Requested Allocation
2023/24
£000
Proposed Allocation
2023/24
£000
21st Century Schools Band B
1,000
1,000
Highway Infrastructure Improvements
1,000
750
Wrexham Town Centre Conservation Area Townscape Heritage Scheme (THS)
359
200
Window Replacement – Rhosnesni High School
422
200
Window Replacement – Clywedog High School
2,215
200
Disabled Facilities Grant
1,200
950
6,196
3,300
Investment has also been outlined for the Heritage & Community Well Being Bids for the same financial year, as follows:
Heritage & Community Well Being Bids
Requested
Allocation
2023/24
Proposed
Allocation
2023/24
Projects
£000
£000
Wrexham Town Centre (THS) – Heritage Regeneration as part of a larger Town Centre scheme (see HE 4 table 1 above)
100
50
Monument Repair Conservation and Redisplay at Ancient Monuments within the Borough
100
50
Total
200
100
Our Executive Board will meet to discuss the report on Tuesday, October 7.
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As part of the Council’s drive to deliver a more modern, reliable and efficient waste collection service to the residents of Wrexham, new refuse vehicles will shortly hit the streets of Wrexham, following the renewal of a lease agreement.
A total of nine new modern refuse vehicles have been procured, and will replace the existing fleet over the coming months.
Cllr David Bithell Lead Member for the Environment and Transport, said: “The new vehicles form part of a scheduled programme of replacement fleet vehicles to ensure it continues to deliver an effective and efficient waste collection service to our residents.
“They are more fuel-efficient which will help towards the councils’ commitment to reducing carbon emissions and they are also equipped with rear steer functionality, which will assist our skilled drivers to negotiate some of the more difficult residential areas where historically, access has proved difficult.”
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Wrexham Parks Rangers are organising a Community Clean Up of Stryt Las Park on Wednesday, October 16 between 1.30pm and 3pm.
The clean-up includes litter picking and a general tidy of the site. The clean-up will benefit the local residents that walk in the park and also the wildlife that live there. The park has a SSSI designation for the Great Crested Newts that live there but is also home to many animals and insects that thrive at the Park.
Cllr David A Bithell, Local Member for Johnstown said, “I would like to encourage everyone to take part in the clean-up. With the help of volunteers we hope to tidy up the park so it’s an inviting litter free place for all of the family to enjoy as well as a safe place for wildlife to live there.”
If you would like to take part in the community clean up meet the organisers by the main entrance at the Cwm Glas on Wednesday October 16 between 1.30pm – 3pm.
Recycle Week 2019 took place September 23-29 and each day throughout the week we posted a recycling tip on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
The theme for this year’s Recycle Week was ‘it’s in our own hands’ and our seven tips were to show how the small improvements we can all make will add up and make a difference.
Did you miss any of them? No problem if you did, we’re going to run through our seven recycling tips now 🙂
Fact: 25 two-litre plastic pop bottles can be recycled into an adult-size fleece jacket.
Tip: If you constantly have uneaten fruit or vegetables, perhaps you’re buying too much in the first place. Only buying the amount you need is a great way to cut down on our own food waste and have a cheaper shopping bill.
Tip: Choose cardboard boxes over plastics. You can buy a lot of the stuff you use at home – like washing powders – in cardboard packaging. The ones in plastic packaging are usually more expensive, plus cardboard is much easier to recycle.
Tip: Around a million people buy a bottle of water every minute, but this is just adding to the plastic problem. Get a reusable bottle and fill it up with tap water before you leave – you’ll be helping the environment and saving money.
Tip: Around a million people buy a bottle of water every minute, but this is just adding to the plastic problem. Get a reusable bottle and fill it up with tap water before you leave – you’ll be helping the environment and saving money. #recycling#recycleweekpic.twitter.com/FMLyHL4G6e
Tip: Wooden forks, ice lolly sticks and meat skewers are just some of the wooden cutlery can be recycled in your food caddy as food waste.
Tip: That last ‘meal deal’ or takeaway you had at lunchtime…just think about all the plastic or polystyrene packaging it came with…not to mention the price! Making yourself a packed lunch with reusable packaging is much better and cheaper too!
Tip: That last ‘meal deal’ or takeaway you had at lunchtime…just think about all the plastic or polystyrene packaging it came with! Making yourself a packed lunch with reusable packaging is much better and cheaper too! pic.twitter.com/PoJrKZHhvD
Tip: Do you have old plastic garden furniture such as chairs or plant pots that you don’t need? Because you can recycle these at any of our three recycling centres in Wrexham.
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This first session will provide an introduction to the form and function of seals in the Middle Ages, and will then focus on identification and recording, and how these small but powerful objects can be used for public engagement and outreach as well as research.
The session will be led by Dr Elizabeth New, a Senior Lecturer in medieval history at Aberystwyth University, and Co-Investigator for the AHRC ‘Imprint: a forensic & historical investigation of medieval seals project’. She is interested in all aspects of medieval and post-medieval seals and sealing practices in Britain, and has published widely in these areas.
‘Identifying medieval coins’
Can you tell your Edward I from Edward II or your Richard I from your John? This session will help you do that be providing a basic introduction to English medieval coins from 1180-1544. This session will also provide a basic history of the English coinage and the development of the classifications we use today.
This session will be led by Carl Savage, who specialises in the medieval coinage of England and Scotland, with a particular interest in the Scottish coinage. He has identified medieval and post medieval coins for PAS for the past eight years. He also assists the Scottish Treasure Trove team with identification of coins from Scotland. He is currently working on his PhD at the University of York and National Museums Scotland on the interaction of the Scottish and English currencies in the Anglo-Scottish borders from 1136-1603.
Book your place now!
The workshops take place on Thursday, November 7, 10.30am-4.30pm.
This event is free to attend, but space is limited therefore you are advised to book your place.
If you have any medieval seals, or coins you would like help identifying, you are welcome to bring them along.
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It’s almost time to turn the clocks back and we are now turning our attention to winter weather 🙁 🙁
As always, our Environment department is hoping for the best but planning for the worst case scenarios of snow, ice, gales, or whatever may come our way.
We want to make sure we have all the arrangements in place to help us all deal with poor conditions and be able to get about with minimum disruption.
We have a very well maintained fleet of gritters and 30 hardworking volunteers from Streetscene who step in to drive the gritters.
We have 10 gritting routes along with 8,000 tonnes of grit which is topped each time we grit the roads.
We also have plans in place to cover extended periods of severe weather which includes plans to grit housing estates (where it is safe to do so) before bin collections and to keep areas such as sheltered accommodation and school routes as clear and safe as possible.
“To grit or not to grit?”
This is the question faced several times a day by our experienced supervisors. To grit too soon may mean it gets washed away by rain. Too late – and you could be in for a slippy ride.
If you want to know if the gritters are going out you can keep an eye on our Twitter account – or watch out for #wxmgrit.
We also send out reminders via the MyUpdates system which emails updates directly to subscribers.
When very poor weather is expected or we are experiencing a particularly long bout of cold, freezing weather we’ll keep you updated about where to find information including bin collections and school closures via this blog, our website at www.wrexham.gov.uk and our social media accounts so please keep an eye on them.
🚗 Remember to check your vehicle before you go out during or before poor weather. The Met Office has some excellent advice but always remember to allow extra time for your journey and stay safe.
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are as ready as we can be and drivers have already been checking their gritting routes to make sure they are aware of any potential problems. We value this service and we want to ensure that we keep everybody moving during adverse weather which is essential to the local economy. Please take extra care during the winter and look out for alerts and weather advice and take all necessary action.”
“Help where you can”
You should also look out for your elderly relatives or vulnerable neighbours. Poor weather can mean they face greater difficulties when carrying out every day basic tasks such as nipping to the shops or post office. Please offer help where you can – it could make all the difference to someone who can’t get out on their own.
Cllr Joan Lowe, lead Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said: “We all struggle during bad weather with transport and day to day tasks so imagine what it must be like for someone who has poor mobility and cannot get out at all. Please don’t underestimate just how much of a difference you could make by helping with shopping, taking a hot meal or just calling in for a chat.”
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Local business owners, staff, PCSO’s and members of the community took part in a dementia friends session at the Peal O’Bells in Holt recently.
The one hour dementia friends sessions, run by a dementia champion from Wrexham Council, aim to give people more awareness on what it is like to live with dementia.
A dementia friends session has also been completed with the Holt Community Councillors. So, Holt is well underway to being recognised as being a dementia friendly community.
Thank you to everyone who supports these sessions.
There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this number is expected to rise to 1 million by 2021.
It is crucial that we plan ahead and look at ways on how we can support this growing number of people and how to continue to raise awareness of what it is like to live with dementia and the impact this may have on carers.
Dementia Friends is an Alzheimer’s Society initiative and has just celebrated reaching 3 million dementia friends across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
If you would like to get in touch to either receive dementia awareness training please contact – commissioning@wrexham.gov.uk or if you are interested in entering the care industry to help care and support those living with dementia please contact workforcedevelopment@wrexham.gov.uk
Photographed:
Jeremy Hughes and Julie Croft – NISA stores, Holt Brian and Sue Payne, Anna Evans, Polly Griffiths, Marlene Ayling, Jane and Becky Griffiths – Secret Spa Holt. PCSO’s Lisa- Marie and Sue and Pauline Amphlett
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