Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

Outgoing Caerphilly County Borough Council leader, Cllr Sean Morgan, said he stands by decisions to modernise services in the face of budget pressures – but added things could have been done differently.

Cllr Morgan announced today (Thursday September 11) he was leaving the Labour Party and stepping down as council leader.

His decision was based on concerns about Labour’s candidate selection process for the upcoming Senedd by-election in Caerphilly, as well as disillusionment with the wider party’s direction on several issues.

But on the council’s own decisions, Cllr Morgan believes a wide-ranging ‘transformation agenda’ aimed at streamlining services and making them more efficient was the right choice for the borough.

“My proudest achievement was taking the big step to look at the whole of the council operations through the lens of transformation,” he said.

Cllr Morgan called the ongoing project “a huge ask, because by looking that closely at our operations, you do find that there is some truth in people’s accusations of councils being run inefficiently”.

“You have to be brave enough to say, yes, there are inefficiencies here,” he explained. “We can do this better and cheaper, we can improve things for the residents, and we can improve things for the council’s finances – which are the residents’ finances.

“That’s my greatest achievement, having the bravery to turn over every stone and have a look underneath.”

Some of the council’s decisions within its transformation agenda have proved controversial and led to lengthy battles with critics unhappy at proposed cuts.

In 2024, cabinet members agreed to mothball the heritage site Llancaiach Fawr – which is in Cllr Morgan’s own Nelson ward – and there were demonstrations in Caerphilly town over the closure of the Coffi Vista cafe and visitor centre.

More recently, council proposals to shut down some leisure centres and libraries have drawn passionate opposition, and in the latter case are the subject of a legal challenge.

But Cllr Morgan said he believed it was right for a council to define what it should and shouldn’t spend money on.

“It’s not the remit of a council to run museums and restaurants that are only open in the daytime, which is what Llancaiach Fawr manor was,” he argued. “It was costing us £500,000 a year, of absolutely no benefit to the residents of the borough because very few of them ever went there.”

He claimed Llancaich Fawr “clearly can be a commercial enterprise, and I don’t think it’s the remit of a council to be in competition with commercial enterprises.

“There are things that councils can do and should do, and do well, and only councils can do – social services and education, collecting the litter, keeping the place clean, parks, and keeping the roads running.

“There are certain things the council has a responsibility for – it shouldn’t then be wasting money doing things that can be carried out by either the third sector or the private sector.”

A series of potential library closures have angered communities in smaller villages who argue they could lose an important space for socialising, doing homework and tackling isolation.

Cllr Morgan believes the proposed closures are “absolutely” right and said ongoing discussions to hand over some of the sites to interested community groups shows they can evolve to fulfil a more appropriate social role.

“Instead of just running a building that people meet in, and it’s not meeting its primary purpose, the council then moves to being an enabler or supporter of community resources,” he said.

Cllr Morgan did acknowledge, however, that “we may have handled it differently without the financial pressures” the council was facing – but said he “would have certainly moved the council in that direction” in any case.

Following Cllr Morgan’s departure as council leader, the role is expected to be filled on an interim basis by Cllr Jamie Pritchard, the deputy leader, until a permanent appointment is made.