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More people in Caerphilly could be encouraged to live above high street shops, in a new plan to improve the county borough’s town centres.

Encouraging more residents will make high streets more “people-focused”, according to Caerphilly County Borough Council, which will seek out upper-floor units to potentially be converted into homes.

The proposal is one of many in the council’s new ten-year economic regeneration strategy, designed to “promote sustainable growth” and attract investment.

More job and skills opportunities will also be developed, and town centres will be diversified to attract visitors.

Cllr Jamie Pritchard, who presented the strategy to Caerphilly’s regeneration committee on Thursday, said it is “critical” the borough’s towns are “vibrant and successful”.

The strategy includes proposals to:

• Revive vacant commercial units by offering incentives and support to owners.
• Expand the council’s events programme in Caerphilly’s town centres.
• Renovate shopfronts and explore more shared and flexible workspaces.
• Develop the county borough’s tourism offer, focusing on Caerphilly Castle and promotion of attractions in the north.
• Sustain a “skilled, engaged and motivated” workforce through links between businesses and education providers.
• Improve skills in “key growth sectors” such as construction, advanced manufacturing and digital.
• Ensure a pipeline of workers that reflects the needs of local employers.
• Support long-term unemployed people to get back into work.
• Upgrade the public transport network to meet workers’ needs
• Maximise investment at an underused site in Oakdale, designated for employment use in the council’s Local Development Plan in 2010, with hopes of hundreds of new jobs being created there.

Cllr Pritchard said the local authority will take a “facilitation role” in implementing the strategy, working with other organisations – including businesses, the Cardiff Capital Region, housing associations, neighbouring local authorities, town and community councils, and education providers. 

The council’s events calendar is “extremely important” and will be further supported using an extra £450,000 from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, he added.

At the committee meeting, several members said current transport provision in the county borough was unsatisfactory.

Councillors Jan Jones and Walter Williams, who represent the Ynysddu and Argoed wards, respectively, told the meeting some people from their communities had been unable to take jobs because of poor transport links.

Senior officer Paul Hudson also said the strategy will have to factor in other challenges and societal changes.

These include pockets of deprivation, low average wages, and population change which could leave Caerphilly with a below-average proportion of working-age residents than neighbouring local authorities.

The council will also have to drive up annual housebuilding and contend with likely changes, driven by automation, to the manufacturing sector.