The Welsh Government has confirmed that its Communities First programme is to end.
Launched in 2001 to tackle poverty and support vulnerable people in deprived areas across Wales, the flagship scheme has not been without its critics and is now set to be axed.
More than £300 million has been spent on the scheme, which has several outlets across Caerphilly County Borough, and the programme will now receive two-thirds of its £30m funding until March 2018.
Speaking in the Senedd on Tuesday February 15, Carl Sargeant, Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children, told Assembly Members: “No single programme can tackle poverty.”
In announcing plans to phase out Communities First, he said the programme’s performance had been “mixed”, adding: “Poverty remains a stubborn and persistent challenge.
“We need a holistic approach encompassing the Welsh Government, local authorities and public services board members.”
Mr Sargeant, who in October last year said he was “minded” to phase out the programme, added: “Change is never easy. But we cannot ignore the combination of new and deep-rooted challenges we face.
“We must have the courage to find fresh ways to respond. That is what I and all of my government colleagues are determined to do.”
The cabinet secretary also announced a so-called legacy fund of £6m for councils to ensure “some of the most effective” projects continue after 2018 and a continued support for the Flying Start and Families First programmes.
However, the announcement sparked a fiery debate in the Senedd, with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood calling the lack of a replacement scheme “absolutely scandalous”.
She said: “Communities First has been a matter of some controversy. I have personally been very critical of the programme’s inability to meet its original objectives or to even try to measure its success or otherwise, but I wouldn’t want to see the good elements or indeed the principle of an anti-poverty programme to disappear.
“In today’s statement, no sufficient replacement scheme has been set out, and frankly, that is absolutely scandalous. There is so little ambition here, and there is so little ambition in the way of new investment or funding.”
“This is you walking away from our poorest communities.”
Mr Sargeant responded by accusing Ms Wood of “purely politicising” the decision.