Calls for council to get its fair share of investment

A COUNCILLOR has called for Rhondda Cynon Taff to get its fair share of investment as the council backed the idea of a Cardiff Capital Region development plan.

Councillor Pauline Jarman was speaking as RCT Council gave its support in principle to the creation of a strategic development plan (SDP) for the 10 authorities in involved in the Cardiff Capital Region.

Simon Gale, the council’s director of prosperity and development, said the panel which will oversee the SDP will have no power over planning applications in RCT but some strategic planning functions will be transferred to the panel from the council.

RCT’s contribution would be about £410,000 over five years. The plan is likely to be adopted in early 2025, with the Vale of Glamorgan taking the lead on it.

Council leader Andrew Morgan said the SDP is “long overdue” and what was needed.

Cllr Jarman, leader of the opposition Plaid Cymru group on the council, called for RCT and the Valleys to share the benefits.

She said: “I hate the prospect of RCT, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent being expendable compared to Cardiff, Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan. I want to see prosperity shared equally.”

Councillor Margaret Griffiths, Labour, said she’s delighted with this, as residents in Groesfaen and Miskin currently suffer with the amount of traffic in the south of the county borough.

Councillor Joel James, Conservative, said: “I welcome the regional outlook and my ward knows the pressures.”

But he highlighted the total cost of the the SDP is over £3m.

He also asked: “Is it wise giving the Vale the lead, given how long it took them to sort out their LDP?”

Cllr Morgan said he has “absolute confidence” in officers from the Vale and the cost will be spread over the next four or five years.

Councillor Geraint Davies, Plaid Cymru, asked that a railway extension from Treherbert to Tynewydd be included in the plan, but Cllr Morgan said they were only agreeing the SDP in principle at the moment.

Councillor Mike Powell, Liberal Democrat, asked if they could be overidden on anything in terms of votes, but Cllr Morgan said the fairest way was to find a formula which the funding should follow.

He said: “We have genuinely come at this from a regional perspective.”