Party leaders outline their election pledges
Ahead of the local elections on May 5, Local Democracy Reporter Anthony Lewis has spoken to the leaders of the Labour, Plaid Cymru and independent groups in Rhondda Cynon Taf about their vision for the council and county borough if they are elected... LABOUR
LABOUR group leader Andrew Morgan, who has led the council for the last five years, has spoken of the 20 key pledges his party is making to the people of RCT ahead of the election.
He said one of the Labour group’s main commitments is the financial stability of the council.
He said: “I think it’s going to be really important over the next couple of years because we have no idea what’s going to happen with funding.
“We’re seeing that funding does slow down. We had a big settlement increase this year, it slows down next year. It slows down quite dramatically the following year.”
He said councils don’t know yet if they could be heading back to a time of austerity or cash flat settlements in future.
“I do think that financial stability of the council is going to be imperative and I think that’s something we’ve had to take into account,” he added.
In terms of the commitments the Labour group is making, Mr Morgan said some are an extension of existing commitments where the feedback from the public has been really positive, such as continued investment in at least 75 of RCT’s play areas.
He said: “In education, it’s making sure we protect core budgets for schools to cover all their costs going forward and the pressures they face. We’re also looking to expand the number of community engagement officers.”
He said he wants to see as many schools as possible have an engagement officer to understand why some families are struggling and what lies beneath issues such as attendance, and support them.
After the flooding seen in the area after Storm Dennis in 2020, one of the party’s commitments is to boost resilience.
Mr Morgan said: “We’re committing to a multi-million pound scheme every year for the next five years to make sure we’re as prepared as possible for future storm events.
He added: “We’re already doing a lot but I keep emphasising there’s a heck of a lot to do out there.
“So we’re saying that we will continue to put our own investment in because we have to put millions of our own funding in to be able to lever the Welsh Government funding.
As households face increasing bills during the cost of living crisis, the leader said there’s a package of measures that comes to about £16.1m that the council would try to get out to people quickly.
Labour would then work with Welsh Government on a further package ahead of the winter due to fears about further bill increases in October.
On council wages, Mr Morgan said: “We’re currently paying above the real living wage and we’re committed to continuing to do that.
“So I would like to see incremental increases every year above the real living wage. So if the real living wage goes up next year 30p we would want to increase our staff rate by 40p.”
He said it would help with recruitment and retention in social care and they would aim for £12£12.50 an hour.
Mr Morgan said Labour has introduced a sustainable social care fund this year with £1.5m put into the council budget.
He said: “Going forward that probably needs to double and triple each year if we’re going to continue to have social services on the level of what we need and what the growth will be both in adult’s and children’s so sustainable social services will have to be a priority for us.”
On Labour’s pledge for active travel and tourism, Mr Morgan said the party wants to enhance some of the trails in the Cynon and Taff areas to improve links.
He said in the Rhondda Valleys, where there’s very little active travel, the party has millions of pounds committed to projects that are due to start in the next year, particularly in the Rhondda Fach.
On tourism, he said Labour wants to build on the success of Zip World in particular and look at how it might take forward the Rhondda and Abernant tunnels.
“We do think that they are viable in terms of future proposals,” he said.
Mr Morgan said Labour is looking to continue with the programme of extra care facilities for older people, including in Aberaman, Pontypridd and Porth but they’re looking at two or three other sites as well.
He said the existing council residential homes need millions of pounds worth of investment so they’ve committed to a programme of renovating or, in some cases, knocking down and rebuilding.
He said: “We are committing to keeping the care homes in house so we won’t be outsourcing any of our residential care homes and we’re committing then to renovating them up to modern day standards.”
On infrastructure, Mr Morgan said, subject to the independent roads review, Labour would deliver the Aberdare link on to the A465 because without it traffic through Hirwaun “would increase considerably.”
He said: “We’re not an overly pro road-building council it’s just that we think that the schemes that we have worked on over the last few years and want to take forward we think they are justified.”
Mr Morgan said this year, his council put more than £2m into sports facilities. He said Labour would look into having a centre of excellence for hockey in RCT and improving netball facilities.
On climate change, he said the council has committed to be net zero by 2030 and they’re on target to exceed the Welsh Government’s recycling target of 70% by 2025.
He said they’ve committed to the largest tree planting programme in a generation in the county using unused council land, parks and schools.
Mr Morgan said they’re also looking to introduce a community fund for grants for people to put solar panels on their roofs.
He said: “We’re really mindful of both the cost of living crisis but also our need to reduce the use of energy and generate our own.”
One of Labour’s key education commitments is around the 21st Century Schools Programme and building a new Welsh secondary school for the Rhondda Valleys.
On youth services, he said they’re
looking to double the number of hub vehicles to six through which staff can offer sexual health advice and substance misuse advice.
Mr Morgan said his party is committed to tackle anti-social behaviour in town centres and parks which he said “has become a real major issue I think over the last two years of lockdown”.
Their plan is to fund 10 extra PCSOs on top of the ones provided through the Welsh Government and 10 council community wardens.
Speaking about all of the pledges, Mr Morgan said: “This does come as a significant package especially over the next five years. It’s millions and millions of pounds worth of investment.
“We have fully costed it. We have taken the opportunity as all political parties can to ask officers of the council to review what we are suggesting to make sure it’s deliverable.
“We think it’s an ambitious programme in terms of the level of capital investment.”
On Labour’s prospects for the election, Mr Morgan said: “We’ve been able to select a candidate in every one of the 75 seats and I think I’m right in saying that none of the other political parties have been able to come near that.
“I’m quite confident. The team we’ve got I think are a good team. Clearly we’re going into the election in a majority position and I hope after May 5 we’ll still have a majority.”
PLAID CYMRU
CLIMATE change, coal tip safety, flooding and the cost of living crisis are some of Plaid Cymru’s key focuses ahead of next month’s council elections.
Covering a wide range of topics such as the cost of living crisis, education, coal tips and the environment, group leader Pauline Jarman said the first thing her party would do is look at the Covid review and how it affects children’s education, which she said is a key consideration.
She said it would also focus on the mental health of children and the loneliness of the elderly postpandemic.
On the environment and the climate emergency, Ms Jarman said: “We need to do more and be more effective.”
As far as the section 19 flood reports are concerned, she said Plaid would want to look into these in greater detail and that the party is still pushing for a public inquiry on flooding.
She said: “In my ward, which was badly devastated by the floods, that section 19 report hasn’t yet been published.
“All of these things matter. I’d be eager as well to continue to pay due attention to tip safety in our area.
“We have so many tips. We are still awaiting the publication of the list that Welsh Government promised us would be published some time ago.”
“I’m anxious to have full and proper sight of that so that we can plan for the future.”
She said if the prevailing weather is anything like it was in 2020 then “we ignore tip safety at our peril”.
Ms Jarman said there are quite a few tips in her ward and they are high category.
“I think all of our communities, to some degree or other, would have a very keen interest in ensuring the council does its best to protect them from any failure of these tips in the future,” she said.
On the cost of living crisis, she said this is likely to overtake these priorities because people’s minds are fixated on how they’re going to manage daily from now before the big bills hit.
She said more people will come to rely on council services and she said that’s why she’s pleased to be strongly associated with the provision of free menstrual products in schools.
Ms Jarman said 50% of pupils aged 11 and over are girls, with some being in a family of two or three girls, so she’s sure that with the pressures on household budgets, the free provision of sanitary products in schools will be welcomed.
She also highlighted the introduction of free school meals as part of the co-operation agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government and the £200m grant that’s been awarded to councils.
In terms of staff, Ms Jarman said: “I’d be eager to avert any threat of industrial action by the GMB.”
She said she spoke at length at a recent council meeting on a letter sent to the council from the GMB which said some employed in front line services like refuse collectors and street care teams having to turn to foodbanks.
She said: “That’s symptomatic of those staff being some of our lowest paid but most publicly appreciated people and people don’t begrudge paying council tax for clean streets and having their refuse and recycling collected and we’ve got to look after those staff.
“We’ve got some of the highestpaid senior officers according to recent statistics that have been released but it isn’t good when our front line staff are some of the lowest.”
Ms Jarman said Plaid has a mix of candidates and they are fairly gender balanced.
She said: “We’ve got a mix of experienced councillors and new councillors. The one thing that none of them are lacking in is enthusiasm. I think that’s key.
“Our business is people and I’m persuaded and convinced that, if we do take control of the council, then we will make a pretty good fist of having a diverse cabinet with fewer members than the present administration has because I see there’s so many cross-cutting issues there that it it is due for a review.”
She said they’ve got some people who have disabilities who are good advocates for providing services for people with disabilities as some services are lacking like drop kerbs.
Ms Jarman said: “We’re very content that our candidates are diverse, enthusiastic and ready to go.”