News
How is the council doing?
It’s time to have your say!
This September sees the launch of the council’s Stakeholder Survey for 2023 to 2024.
We want to know what Denbighshire residents, businesses, staff, elected members and partners think of the work we are doing here at the council.
The survey is a great opportunity for the council to learn and improve so we hope you’ll help us by answering a few short questions as soon as it’s up and running.
It’s also a great way for you to find out more about the themes that make up the council’s current Corporate Plan.
To take part and have your say, please complete the survey by visiting countyconversation.denbighshire.gov.uk from Monday 11 September.
Register for the new Absorbent Hygiene Product collection service
A pilot of Denbighshire’s new Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHP) collections will begin in September 2023.
The new scheme is initially available to residents with LL16 or LL17 postcodes but will be rolled out to the rest of the county at a later date.
Some of the things that constitutes AHP are nappies, nappy bags and wipes, disposable bed pans, incontinence pads, and colostomy and stoma bags (a comprehensive list is on the Denbighshire website). This free weekly service aims to reduce this type of waste in residents’ black bins, as currently, 20% of it is AHP waste. It is part of wider work the Council is undertaking to improve recycling rates in the county.
Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said, “We’re starting by collecting this waste separately now so that when a contract is in place with a recycling facility, we’ll be ready to recycle it straight away. In future, this waste could be used to produce a variety of new products, which might include fibreboards and acoustic panels for floors and walls, and as an engineering material used in road surfaces.”
He went on to say: “While it’s great that we’re looking at even more things we can recycle, we also encourage residents to consider other ways of reducing their waste. One way of doing this is using reusable nappies which is a cheaper alternative to disposable nappies. The Council offers a reusable nappy voucher scheme to help residents by providing £25 worth of vouchers to buy reusable nappies.”
Registration for the new AHP collection service is now open with collections starting from Monday, 25 September.
Further information about the new service, including how to register, is available from on the Council’s website.
Free play day held in Rhyl sees over 2,800 attendees
Over 2,800 people came to this year’s Denbighshire National Play Day event, held at the beginning of August.
Following on from a highly successful event last year, this was the seventh time that the hugely popular free play day event was held at Christchurch Playing Fields in Rhyl.
Rhyl’s Oak Tree Centre hosted the event, that was organised by the Council's Play Ranger service to help children enjoy their summer holiday.
The free event featured a number of activities including a circus skills session, Jurassic Live, den building, arts and crafts and a water slip and slide.
Dawn Anderson, the Council's Childcare and Play Development Manager said: “It was great to welcome families back for the seventh time to this year’s play day, this event is always so popular with local families.
"It is always lovely to see families enjoying themselves and the feedback we received from the attendees was positive once again this year”.
Denbigh Care Home start busy work on Memorial Garden
Dolwen Care Home in Denbigh are currently busy building a memorial garden, which will honour the memory of the residents lost during the covid-19 pandemic.
They hope to include more garden furniture, planters, plants and ornaments, all of which will feature in the new memorial garden.
The garden will provide a space for the residents to relax and remember.
A coffee morning was held earlier this year, helping with the funding of this new garden.
Pamela Pack, Care Home Manager at Dolwen said: “The garden is going to be a place where the residents can go and enjoy, as well as remember those who were sadly lost during the Pandemic.
"Spending more time in green spaces is shown to improve wellbeing and mental health.
"Our residents thoroughly enjoy building a green space where they can spend time in”.
A resident at the care home said: “It is lovely to go and sit outside and look at the flowers, especially when it is sunny”.
The Council publishes artist’s impressions for 4 Great Highways Project
The Council's 4 Great Highways project has published artist’s impressions for what parts of Llangollen will look like on completion of the works.
The project aims to enhance the landscape and improve accessibility, interpretation and signage in Llangollen.
The project is part of investment by the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund that was secured through a joint application between Denbighshire County Council and Wrexham County Borough Council for the Clwyd South Constituency. The application was supported by Simon Baynes MP. £3.8 million was allocated to Denbighshire to invest in the communities of Llangollen, Llantysilio, Corwen and surrounding areas.
In recent months, the Council has undertaken a number of consultation activities to gather feedback from the public about what improvements they would like to see as part of this project. These have included walkabouts in the project area to hear from residents about their thoughts on the plans, opportunities to submit feedback via County Conversation, the Council’s online consultation portal, a drop-in session at Llangollen Town Hall and an opportunity to express views on preliminary designs through a public display of the artwork at the library.
Based on this feedback, the Council have finalised designs and published the artist’s impressions for what the area will look like once the project is complete. The detailed plans are available on the Council’s dedicated 4 Great Highways webpage under the Gallery section.
The Council has recently begun its tendering process to find a contractor to undertake the work and hopes to appoint one by the end of September 2023.
A further public consultation will also be held soon to gather feedback on people’s preferred design options for the new signage that is due to be installed as part of the project.
The latest information about the Council’s 4 Great Highways project can be found here: https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/four-great-highways
Exciting developments for Ruthin and surrounding communities thanks to Levelling Up funding
In January this year, the Council was delighted to receive confirmation that they had secured £10.95m from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund for the Clwyd West constituency to support the development of ten projects aimed at protecting Ruthin’s unique heritage, wellbeing and rural communities. The proposals were supported by the constituency MP David Jones and local elected members.
There are two main strands to the Clwyd West Levelling Up programme. The first will focus on protecting Ruthin’s unique heritage and wellbeing through public realm enhancements and revitalising historical buildings and landmarks to support local identity, promote pride of place and boost the image of the town.
The second will focus on protecting Ruthin’s rural communities and wellbeing through improvements to the AONB sites of Loggerheads and Moel Famau and new community hubs in the rural surrounding villages of Bryneglwys and Gwyddelwern.
The Council will be responsible for delivering eight of the projects, while Dyffryn Clwyd Mission and Bryneglwys Cymdeithas Canolfan Ial Association will deliver the final two projects.
These projects are expected to be delivered by March 2025 with construction work likely to begin later next year.
In July, an information event was held at Ruthin Gaol which welcomed dozens of local residents through the doors to find out more about these exciting developments.
The drop-in event provided an opportunity for Project Managers to share the aspirations of the projects and how they will help to ensure that the rich culture and heritage of Ruthin and the surrounding communities are protected.
Information on the project plans, including timescales for expected completion dates, will be shared with the public as they develop.
Councillor Jason McLellan, Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Economic Growth and Tackling Deprivation, said: “We were delighted to see so many local people taking an interest and coming down to the drop-in session at Ruthin Gaol to learn more about projects that are due to take place in the area soon.
“We are keen to ensure that the public are kept informed about the plans for Ruthin and the surrounding communities and promote the significance that these projects have in protecting the town’s heritage.”
Details about the ten projects that have received funding through the Clwyd West Levelling Up programme can be found on the Council's website.
Reviewing the Council's performance
Every year, the council produces a report to summarise its performance. The report is a core part of the way we evaluate our performance; to ensure we are delivering positive outcomes for people and places in Denbighshire, and to ensure our governance is effective.
Published online here, our executive summary for the year seeks to draw out the highlights of our performance against our functions and looks ahead to the challenges that we face. We have highlighted areas we should focus on to ensure performance can be sustained and where needed, improved. Also published online are our detailed quarterly performance reports. The January to March 2023 report is the first for our new Corporate Plan 2022 to 2027. As a first report, it is our baseline for judging our performance at the start of the new Corporate Plan. There are some significant issues we are trying to tackle through our Corporate Plan and these will take time to see improvement; particularly given the current economic climate.
For more information, contact us by email at strategicplanningteam@denbighshire.gov.uk.