Caerphilly County Borough is set to benefit after a £1.2 billion investment deal was agreed.
The “City Deal”, which brings together ten local authorities, includes more than £500 million of Welsh Government and UK Government support towards improving transport infrastructure within the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR).
The deal is expected to deliver up to 25,000 new jobs and bring in an additional £4bn of private sector investment.
A key priority will be the delivery of the South East Wales Metro public transport network, including the Valley Lines Electrification programme.
Councillor Keith Reynolds, the Labour leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the South East Wales authorities to come together to develop a city deal that is hopefully going to create a substantial number of jobs and help the area.
“One of the many areas is the connectivity across the south east region.
“Once the jobs have been created people have to get to them easily, quickly and affordably.”
Announcing the deal on Tuesday, March 15, First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “We have lobbied hard for a city deal for the Cardiff Capital Region and put more than £500m on the table to support improving transport infrastructure within the region. Today’s announcement sees that vision become a reality – it is a vote of confidence in the region and a huge economic boost.
“Central to the success of a city deal is the close collaboration and partnership between all ten local authorities. It is a great example of what can be achieved by coming together for the greater good of our capital region.”
The ten local authorities in the CCR will contribute a minimum of £120m over the duration of the 20-year duration of the fund.
The South Wales Metro scheme is a project aimed at creating an integrated public transport network with a mix of rail, bus and potentially trams.
Or bring the jobs back to the valleys.
Jobs in the valleys is not going to happen. It is far more productive to have jobs in the big cities or in centralised locations, and have the valleys as the suburbs where people live. People need to commute to work. It is naive to think people should be able to walk ten minutes to a job in their valley.
Yes, it’s no good putting good money after bad, pumping milions into the valleys in a vain attempt at regeneration is an utter waste of time, if areas are dying then let them, don’t waste money on artificially propping them up, people should be prepared to re-locate if they want to find work, sadly long gone are the days when the masses could find plentiful employment right on their doorstep.
I don’t think there ever was a time when people could find plentiful work where they lived, barring a brief period after the Second World War. The history of our own town shows that there was a massive influx pf people in the second half of the 19th century. They came from Monmouthshire and Somerset, mainly, and came here because there were new jobs in the Caerffili coal industry and they were destitute at home.
In times gone by people were far more mobile than most people imagine and towns were built up complete with schools, churches, libraries and meeting halls in places where there was work, or the potential for jobs. Nowadays, sadly, we build houses where the developers can make most profit, regardless of jobs and amenities.
Agreed. There are people who commute to London everyday from Cardiff by train. If people want high-paying jobs the reality is they will have to commute.
I now work in a large factory at the top of the valley. It’s been there since the 70’s it’s very successful and most of the workforce live within walking distance.
Welsh Labour does it again, in attracting inward investment by winning the bid to attract TVR to the region, jobs in manufacturing (150) plus jobs in the supply chain.
This and the Aston Martin investment in Wales is testiment to the work Welsh Labour are doing in the face political unacceptabilty of the opposition of the Welsh Nationalist in the Assembly.
You are always blaming others why not give others the credit they deserve.?
I will, when they do. I dont see any of it at the moment though.