If you’re planning to use any of Denbighshire’s leisure facilities, town halls, parks or youth centres in August, keep an eye out for Jamie Groves, Denbighshire’s Head of Leisure Services.
For much of August, Jamie will be spending most of his time back on the frontline – including evenings, weekends and early mornings – And he wants to hear exactly what people think of the services on offer.
Jamie said: “Taking account of the difficult financial climate facing councils at this time, we need to ensure we continue to offer the best and most cost effective service possible.
“I want to hear direct from people who use our facilities what their thoughts are and I want to see for myself how we can ensure everyone gets value for money while making sure we continue to provide the best value for our customers.”
The schedule has now been drawn up and Jamie will be going ‘back to the floor’ to as many of the Council’s leisure sites as possible: leisure centres, youth centres, exercise referral schemes and parks. He will be doing everything from cleaning changing rooms to working reception areas, teaching swimming, being the pool attendant for the early morning shift to running weekend activities. He will also be encouraging all his managers to take part in their own ‘back to the floor’ exercises.
Denbighshire’s Leisure Service is already being held up as a model of best practice in Wales, having gone from being a failing service 18 months ago to now being regarded as an improved service while reducing expenditure significantly.
Because of this improvement, Jamie will be giving a talk on how the service has been transformed to delegates from across Wales at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) conference in Llandridnod Wells this week.
APSE is a not for profit local government body working with over 300 councils throughout the UK, promoting excellence in public services.
