In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
Deprived Areas
The details published on deprivation make pretty awful reading.
For the Lansbury Park area of Caerphilly was the second most deprived in Wales while the Twyn Carno 1 area of Rhymney was the third.
The Labour MP for Caerphilly Wayne David said that we are starting to see the impact of UK Government cuts on poorer members of society. Undoubtedly, that will have a major impact although the worse has not kicked in yet.
But Labour did have 13 years in government at Westminster and the gap between the rich and poor widened under them and certainly deprivation in parts of the county borough is not something that has happened just in the last 12 months.
I don’t believe throwing money at this issue is the answer to these problems. Our small and medium-sized businesses need help to grow and create jobs because it is jobs that will help get people out of poverty.
Local Government Shake-up by the Back Door
I’ve become increasingly concerned at the attitude to local government of some Welsh Government Ministers.
As a former leader of Caerphilly council, I believe they need to come clean on their long-term plans so we can have a proper reasoned debate.
I must say I’ve always found the leaders of all political parties on local authorities to be of the highest integrity even though I may disagree with their politics.
Invest in Apprenticeships
I read that the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (SEMTA) was stressing the need for a greater focus on apprenticeships in Wales.
I agree totally because we need trained recruits in those hi-tech, engineering and science industries over the years to come.
So that’s why I’m proud that Plaid-led Caerphilly council will be creating apprentice and training places over the next three years. I’d love to see other public bodies and private sector businesses also playing their part.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru South Wales East AM
“The CAERPHILLY COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL`S Community Strategy has been in place since 2004 and sets out a vision for a better county borough through improving quality of life for local people.
The Community Strategy recognises that Community Planning is about people and organisations working together to improve service delivery and to bring about lasting quality of life improvements for local citizens.
The Community Strategy has already made a difference in the borough but still has a way to go in considering the long-term impact of its activities on the environment, local people and the local economy”.
The above is taken from the Council`s regeneration segment of its own website, does the report, that Lindsay so genuinly expresses concerns about, mean that the Council has totally failed the people of St James under the terms of the above `Mission Statement`?
We have well paid Councillors elected to take care off, and, to take due recognicence of such appaling failures such as those outlined in the reports findings, we have an entire ` Regeneration Scrutiny Committee` made up of local Councillors, and Chaired by a Councillor representing the adjoining ward of St Martins, and which contains councillors from the area,who meet on a regular basis to consider and deal with issues which the report says they have failed to contribute to by way of any improvement for the People they represent.
It will be interesting to see what meaningful, specific actions the Plaid Cymru led Caerphilly Council will take to aid a rebalance of these appalling levels of local deprivation. I am sure they will have the full support of Lindsay in their efforts, but it is now necessery for all citizens of the Borough to scrutinise what action our Council intend to take to really deal with these issues, at least so far as it is in their power to do so.
Could it be that all opposition groups on the Council are silent on this issue due to their inactivity, or, inability to address the problems thenselves, when they held the authority to do so, and which everyone knows are apparent in Lansbury Park.
Lindsay says, "Our small and medium-sized businesses need help to grow and create jobs because it is jobs that will help get people out of poverty."
I agree with this assessment but he fails to mention the greatest barrier, in this town, to starting a business, let alone expanding. That is the business rate; not a matter under council control, I know, but nobody in the council seems willing to rock the government boat on this subject.
For some reason rentable values and therefore business rates are very high in Caerffili, which is deprived area. This is a massive disincentive to setting up a local business that needs premises to operate from. There is no shortage of brave and industrious people willing to risk all and set up business. All too often though, they are beaten by rent and rates and soon cease trading. Something needs to be done about this underlying cause of business failure, which has dramatic effects on local employment.
Its easy to blame Plaid Cymru for the problems of deprivation in Caerphilly County Borough, and I write as an ex member, but the problem is deeper than the alleged failure of one political party. If you look at the areas of deprivation in south Wales, they are all concentrated in the ares that were booming a century ago at the height of the Steel and Coal boom that made the area a magnet for thousand of economic migrants drawn to the Klondyke of the Valleys. The problem was highlighted more than a century ago when an industrilaist described the towns of south wales as mining camps, the unspoken emphasis being that when the mines closed, the towns would ahve no reason to exist. In an ideal world, the wealth that was created in the Valleys would have stayed there, but it didnt it went to London. In the late 19th century another commentator despaired of the fact that of all the pig and wrought iron produced in Merthyr Tydfil, there were no secondary industries processing the iron, unlike Birmingham. Allied to the fact that no Government in Brtian has had a real regional development policy, it was obviuos that as all the old idustries died, there was no attempt to replace them. So it is no wonder Caerphilly as well as much of south Wales has areas of multiple deprivation, because there has been no policy to create new industries. Scotland is different, and having worked there, I have seen the difference. The major factor was North Sea Oil, which did transform the economy, coupled with that the cities in Scotland are much bigger, and self confident than those in Wales. hence Edinburgh grew with financial services and banking, Aberdeen and Dundee were transformed by oil, and Glasgow redefined itself. So its no good blaming Plaid Cymru for the deprivation in St James Ward and Twyn Carno, the problems are the result of a boom and bust economy, and when the bust came, central Government, of parties Labour and Conservative looked the other way.
John,O.
I don`t see anyone, currently, blaming Plaid Cymru for the recent deprivation statistics, or did I miss something?
Nor are the current problems the fault of central government, consider one thing, St James sits in the middle of what is otherwise a relatively affluent set of wards in Caerphilly, the factors and the conditions of which you speak applies to them all, yet, we find that one very small community, in the middle of this relative affluence is singled out as the third most deprived area in which to live, raise children, and to survive in old age in the country. It is my considered view that much of the problem rests with the inactivity by the Labour Party when they were in control of Caerphilly Council, a time during which they should and could have sponsored community project in all the areas which have now been found to be deficient in St James and in so doing help to raise the community out of this situation, the same critisism has to apply to Plaid Cymru during the last four years, if, they have not increased the same project provisions in the community, however, that still remains to be tested by public debate, that, I think may come next year in the Local Elections.
Unless Councillor Lynne Hughes gets her way and is able to stimulate a debate and considerations by the Caerphilly County Borough Council Cabinet in the meantime.
It is a matter of great concern that two areas in the constituency remain amongst the most deprived in Wales. And this is after several years of the Communites First programme. But despite this I remain a keen supporter of that programme because I've seen the benefits that it's brought. One can only imaging what these areas would be like if that extra support was not available.
One of those areas is Lansbury Park. I attend the Communities First Partnership meetings as often as I can. There's no doubting the desire of local activists to improve the condition of that estate. The local County Councillors should attend regularly but I've not seen the current ones there for some time. But even if they don't attend they should be well aware of conditions on the estate. Recent statements suggest to me that they were taken by surprise at the news of Lansbury Park still being extremely disadvantaged!
If the current CCBC want to launch a serious debate about deprivation then that's fine. And I'll be happy to be involved. But that discussion must look at the biggest single issue which is unemployment. Which is not an easy one to tackle given the cuts we're seeing from central government.
Sorry Trefor, but if you attack Lynne Hughes, you must be attacking Plaid, not that I know her, in fact these days most Plaid Councillors are too posh for me to know.
Yes the biggest problem is unemployment, but it just hasnt happened, its been a long term problem. I was an Mechanical Engineer until I retired, and forty years ago there was a reasonably large engineering supply train to the Steel and Coal industries, but with the virtual disappearance of those industries, those supply train industries have also gone and the employment they provided. The problem was visible to anyone with an ounce of sense, yet nothing was done by succesive UK governments to solve the problem. Perhaps in a Global Economy, nothing can be done to replace the lost jobs, because the Far East can do the job more cheaply, I speak from experience, because in my work in oil and gas, over the last twenty years, more and more equipment was sourced in the Far East, on the basis of quality and cost. Despite that, I would have thought succesive Labour governments could have tried to solve the problem. If unemployment is the main problem is the Communities First Partnership a little like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?.
Sorry again John, O, you have got me wrong, I do not intend to attack Lynne Hughes personally, and she will know that,I do know her and she is a personable, dedicated and hard working local politician and has the ear of her husband Ron Davies, the local politician responsible for regeneration and sustainable development of all borough communities, so, collectively they are probably the most experienced couple in local politics.
I am agreeing with Lynne that the CCBC has to consider why this situation exists at all in relation to deprivation of a small localised community.
You are correct when you say ` succesive` ` governments` should have solved the problem, but much of the deprivation rest in the hands of the local community, local politicians, Local Health Boards, the Gwent Police, Department of works and pension, AND CAERPHILLY CBC. I fully accept your point about decline in Industry and other factors which have an effect when considered `In the round`, but I repeat there are local agencies and statutory bodies who`s local performances can be measured as abject failure.
As the former leader of Caerphilly council who was in power at the time the lansbry area declined to its courent condishion. there for as leader at the time were it was your responcebilety to organice the councle.
whould you like to take this opertunity to apolagise to the peaple of st james for you and your plide councles failer?