Caerphilly County Borough is to get a chunk of Welsh Government money to fund four new Communities First programmes.
The four areas have been classed as:
- Upper Rhymney Valley – including New Tredegar and the Darren Valley.
- Mid Valleys East – including Argoed, Cefn Fforest, and Crumlin.
- Mid Valleys West – including Aberbargoed, and Bargoed.
- Caerphilly Basin – including Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen.
Making up a third of 12 areas (or clusters as the Welsh Government has labelled them) across Wales, Caerphilly County Borough is set to get a slice of £19 million in funding up to March 2015.
The 12 clusters are the first to be announced by Welsh Minister for Local Government and Communities Carl Sargeant. The others are four in Cardiff, one in Gwynedd, one in the Vale of Glamorgan and two clusters in Flintshire.
Launching the new round of funding last week, Mr Sargeant said the aim of the new programme was to help tackle poverty and support vulnerable people.
He said: “Each of the new clusters has a delivery plan that shows how the programme in that area will contribute to improved outcomes in relation to health, education and the economy.
“Overall, the programme will make a key contribution to the Welsh Government’s Tackling Poverty Action Plan. Every application has been carefully assessed to ensure that the highest possible proportion of the budget can be used to deliver projects in local communities rather than being spent on administrative costs.
“Community involvement will remain central to the programme. We want to see more local people becoming actively involved in Communities First and so each cluster has developed a Community Involvement Plan to ensure that this happens. It is essential that the community continues to be engaged and empowered under the programme.”
The changes made to the Communities First programme follows consultation in 2011. The Welsh Government has said the changes have received strong support from the organisations affected. They also take into account the recommendations of the Wales Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee reports published in 2009 and 2010.
There will be 52 areas eligible for inclusion in the new programme. Further announcements about other clusters will follow over the coming weeks with the expectation that the new programme will be substantially in place early in 2013.