Lansbury Park estate and the Vanguard Centre at the United Reformed Church in Caerphilly have recently welcomed visits from First Minister Carwyn Jones and Labour Assembly candidate for Caerphilly, Hefin David.
The First Minister took a trip to the Vanguard Centre at the United Reformed Church on Van Road on Monday March 21.
The Vanguard Centre is based in a Grade 2 listed church which was originally built in 1904. It has been restored within the last six years at a cost of £1.2 million through grants and donations, and the fundraising efforts have been led by a dedicated group of volunteers.
Mr Jones said: “It’s a delight to meet the team here in Caerphilly. It’s hugely impressive that they have been able to access so much funding in a short space of time to save and restore the church. They are an example to their community and the benefits of this venue are there for all to see.”
Mr Jones then met with residents of Lansbury Park on Wednesday March 24, just nine days after BBC Wales’ Week In Week Out programme on the estate aired, in which a community group is followed fighting for a brighter future after the estate was named Wales’s most deprived area in 2014.
The First Minister was said to have been “very interested” by the subject of the programme, and wanted to meet the “ambitious” women behind the group, Lansbury Matters.
Chair of Lansbury Matters, Michelle Mckenzie-Jones said: “It was good to get a chance to speak to the First Minister.
“He said he was intrigued by the BBC programme, and that he felt he had to come down and have a look. We talked a lot about Communities First and what we can do to help make things better for the people of Lansbury Park.”
Lansbury Matters has a fractured relationship with Communities First, and Mrs Mckenzie-Jones has expressed frustrations around their role in the community.
She said: “I have no doubt that the people who run Communities First are good at what they do, but they don’t understand the Lansbury community. They’re target driven, and some people miss out on opportunities because of it.
“We (Lansbury Matters) want it to be community focused, and community led – local jobs for local people. We have laid the foundations in the community, we’ve got roots here, and people trust us where they might not trust Communities First.”
The community group want to set up accessible classes for residents on the estate, including lessons on paediatrics and how
to cook healthy meals on a budget.
Labour Assembly candidate for Caerphilly, Hefin David, said: “Residents I spoke to told me that they wholeheartedly reject the word ‘deprived’ to describe their home and I agree. There is a vibrant spirit here and everyone is made to feel welcome in the area.
“People who live in the community need to be closely involved in improving it and we are seeing this in action at Lansbury Park. I will do all I can to support them.”
WOW! This is Poverty Tourism. Forget Cameron visiting the flood victims, this takes the biscuit. He has had seven years as First Minister to improve things, and Labour had 13 years in Westminster but things have got worse. I hope the people ignore everything he says.
Mr Oracle is quite correct. ratepayers money spent via the Estates Community First Office, by it`s management and project staff, over the years, totalling millions of pounds, is money down the drain.
There are no measurable improvements, nothing the Community Can point towards, which has improved the lot of the Estate, and nothing which the Community First Office and management can point to which has contributed to improving the consistant high levels of poverty in the community it serves.
Regardless of what transpires from here on, regardless of the success or advancement of the `Lansbury Matters` group, SOMEONE needs to take a clinical, forensic look at where all the millions of pounds has been spent on Community First Projects on the Estate, if for no other reason than that failed past projects are NOT repeated. And these issue matters to all Caerphilly Borough Communities because it is our money which has been wasted, Millions of pounds in total. And, I would want to ask the question and have it addressed by the Auditor General for Wales, if all the funds committed by the Assembly to Community First have ACTUALLY been spent on the ESTATE to which it was supposed to be committed, was it ring fenced>, if not where has it gone? etc etc
Yes you’re right, somebody really should take a look to see where the money ended up and how exactly it was spent, communities first staff are most probably paid eye watering salaries, and waste a great deal of tax payers money, and then you have the fraudulent actions of some as in the Wrexham case, who knows where else this could be happening.
I do know that Community First funds, ringfenced for intervention measures on this estate have found their way to be spent on projects OUTSIDE that area, someone, preferably Lansbury Commnity First Management, should first explain how and why this has happened, and to check on the value of such projects to the Community it was awarded to help in the first place, Lansbury Park,. I am aware considerale funds have been spent enhancing other, more affluent areas, of the Caerphilly Basin, and elsewhere, so far as anyone knows.
For the above reasons, and before another penny is spent by the Community First Goup in Lansbury Park the Council Auditors, at the very least, should be challenged to highlight the facts of where the funds have been spent, and to assess if all money has been expended properly in accordance with the respective Welsh Assembly Protecol, only thereafter can the public be sure the ratepayers funds are being spent properly and that any mistakes are not replicated.