Plaid Cymru has launched its election campaign by warning residents they face a hike in council tax if Labour won control of Caerphilly Council.
The party, which currently controls Caerphilly County Borough Council, will be contesting 56 of the 73 seats in next month’s election.
Council leader Allan Pritchard said council tax bills had risen by an annual average of just 1.3% since the party won control of the authority in 2008.
He said: “In contrast, the increases under the last Labour administration were more than three times higher. They were 4.8%, 4.9%, 4.9% and 3.5%, making an average of 4.5%.
“The simple message is that Plaid leaves more of your money in your pocket. While some individual charges have increased, you only pay them if you use the service. With council tax every household benefits by lower bills and the freeze for the last two years.
“I’d urge residents to judge us on our record. Do residents want to see their council tax bills shoot up under Labour – because that is what will happen? They have already opposed freezes in charges every time.”
Plaid’s key election pledges include:
- Building its training and apprentice scheme.
- A total of £92m will be spent on improving English and Welsh medium schools.
- Improving education standards in schools.
- Investing £172m in improving council homes.
- Improving recycling further – already the best in South Wales.
- £19m to go on highway improvements over four years.
- Regeneration continuing with new multiplex cinema in Bargoed
- New libraries to be opened in Caerphilly and Abercarn.
- Council tax increases kept to a minimum.
Cllrr Pritchard added: “Residents should remember that this is a local election about who can deliver best for Caerphilly county borough. It is not an election to judge the performance of the Tory-led Westminster Government and, of course, very few Conservative candidates are standing for election here.
“We have proved over the past four years that given the tools, Plaid has and will deliver first class services for the residents of our county borough.
“After all we have achieved so much through improving the running of the council by sound business management despite financial cut-backs imposed by the UK and Cardiff governments.
“We would hate to see this council revert to the dinosauric Town Hall system that Labour so loved. We have taken Caerphilly county borough into the 21st century, so let’s continue to stride forward and not look back to the dark ages.”
Earlier this week, Labour promised to abolish charges for bulk waste item collection and replacement wheelie bins if it won power.
All political parties have warned that Council tax will increase in Caerphilly Borough council in 2013 whoever runs the authority. So be prepared.
This smoke and mirrors attitude to the financial state of the council`s finances is a dangerous game to play, the Apprentice scheme as its number one priority and which the council is lauding all over the place is nothing more than a glorified Youth Training Scheme which last existed under the Thatcher Government, and, to suggest it is anything more is disgraceful,and, to suggest it is a panacea for disgustingly high levels of Youth Unemployment is an example of the appallingly low level some politicians, who engage in this rhetoric, like Cameron, Clegg, and Osbourne,and one or two local Caerphilly Councillors, will stoop to gain votes, and, for short term political gain.
I hope that someone more informed than me can tell us all what the REAL definition of an Apprenticeship is, and let us all decide if that is what Plaid Cymru and Caerphilly Council are promising and, according to at least one Plaid Cymru Cabinet Member, is already providing, or is it all a lie?.
These politicians, of whatever political party they belong have to remember that " people make communities not politicians".
As a Labour candidate standing for election in Morgan Jones Ward I want to make this election a positive campaign by speaking to people about the issues of the day and offering people a choice on the doorstep. From my experience people do not take fondly to the endless sniping and tit for tat that usually goes on both at a local and national level. People are seeking real change for their communities and they rightly expect better representation.
This election gives candidates the opportunity to state their own case rather than refer to speculation over what their opponents may or may not do. For me its about values and I hope that the campaign will be purely based on policies. Caerphilly has so much to offer and we need to engage with our people as much as we can. I'm standing because I believe everybody should have the right to expect an equal chance in life and their success should not be determined by their postcode. The politics of "I'm alright Jack" aren't in the DNA of the people I seek to represent. The politics of cooperation I hope will win the day. Its over to the people now. They hold the power, not the politicians.
There are four tiers to the Apprenticeship and Training scheme, this an extract from scrutiny committee Jan 2012.
Tier Three are full traineeships / apprenticeships whereby the individual joins the organisation either on a fixed term contract or in a permanent post. It is normal practice that the individuals be placed at college on a formal learning programme with day or block release in a programme related to their area of employment. These traineeships / apprenticeships would likely be for a period of 2 or 3 years, with the intention of the individual entering our employment within the existing structure of the department. This will require planning within departments as vacancies occur, to accommodate trainees / apprentices as they end their training programmes. These posts would be evaluated under our scheme, and paid within our grading structure.
4.10 We have supported 23 number of placements in Tier 3 up to the end of the Calendar Year. There are approximately 10 placements currently awaiting advertisements in the new year
4.11 Tier Four will be a programme for graduates entering the work environment. This will be a mixture of individuals who require work placements as part of their studies (We refer to these as Students to differentiate the classifications) and graduates who we recruit at the end of their degree programmes. These tend to be limited to specialisms clearly identified rather than general degree programmes. Examples would include Environmental Health, Social Work, and Engineering etc. As students they may either be paid a bursary or will be paid in a role evaluated under our grading scheme. Graduates will be employed on salaries evaluated in line with our grading structure.
4.12 We have supported 12 number of placements in Tier 4 up to the end of the Calendar Year.
4.13 To date this year we have achieved a total of 107 placements, which has exceeded our initial expectations. The initial indicative target set for the rolling programme was circa 150 placements over the 3 year programme. It is clear that based on current figures being delivered that we should exceed this target. The note of caution here is that for Tier 1 & 2 placements we are heavily dependent and reliant upon our partners – Colleges, Training Providers etc. Whilst the demand for placements remains we anticipate hosting similar numbers year on year.
4.14 Relationships with partners are developing successfully. The team are building links with Job Centre Plus, Groundwork Caerphilly, Careers Wales, local training providers and building on links with Education providers, especially Ystrad Mynach College. Over the coming year we will also be extending this to links with the wider Private Sector (through the Caerphilly Business Forum) and our LSB partners to promote the use of traineeships not just as a vehicle for workforce planning but also as a means of delivering on the wider Social
Responsibility agenda.
4.15 We are currently reviewing our recruitment and advertising processes particularly for Tiers 3 & 4 parts of the programme in readiness for the next round of recruitment (activity will commence before Easter). We have identified some issues from this year’s exercise, which to be fair had to be undertaken at great haste given the point in the year when funding approval was granted. We also recognise that we need to consider different means of engaging with the target population, and have begun this process. The Council historically may not have appeared an attractive career option to some young people, and we need to consider how we address this. Work has begun with the Youth Forum and will continue in the New Year.
5. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
5.1 A budget of £485,000 has been identified to support the development of this scheme.
This does appear, from the above statement, to be, or has the prospect to be, quite a robust scheme of training for unemployed people.
Lets hope it is based on sound foundations, and where the statement says a huge part of the scheme is still under development, and, where it states that part of the scheme are simple proposals and inspirations that they can be put into operation.
These sorts of training programmes have a habit, in Wales, of turning into sycophantic empire building projects and less about what is best for the trainees, this of course should`nt happen with this scheme considering the minister for skills, responsible for such matters in Wales is our own Assembly Member Jeff Cuthbert.
I have to say that Plaid Cymru have to be congratulated for picking up the batten on this issue in Caerphilly.
Plaid have made extensive efforts to commercialise the reaper, profiteering from the dead and offloading services. With a pay-as-you-use model, will they further extend this Tory policy post-election, or will council tax rises suddenly become more palatable. As surely they have already picked the plumpest of charges for milking and easiest of targets for charging.
Perhaps we could have an opt-out approach and only pay for services used.
It would also be interesting to know how much of the 172 million investment in council housing will be re-doing works completed within the last 18 months. As the council has deliberately ensured that no work would meet housing standards even where the costs to do so were negligible. Curious how a vote that was not in their favour suddenly became the success they'd always hoped for. If nothing else Plaid are at least masters of spin.