The newly elected leader of Caerphilly council has said her appointment signals “a new beginning” for the authority.
Councillor Philippa Marsden was elected as the new leader of the county borough council at a meeting on Tuesday evening (November 19).
The first female leader of the council, and also one of the youngest councillors to take on the role at the age of 52, Cllr Marsden says her appointment “signals a new direction”.
“I absolutely see this as a new beginning for Caerphilly,” Cllr Marsden said, after being formally elected as leader.
“There is no more looking back, it’s about looking forward to taking us on a new transformation journey.
“I really want to see us creating the right environment for all of our residents.”
The Ynysddu ward councillor, who joined the council in 2016, has previously served as cabinet member for education and achievement.
Cllr Marsden said she felt ‘honoured’ to take on the role of leader and hopes to lead the authority on to “great things.”
Providing access to housing, raising education achievements and leading regeneration projects are among the priorities which she says will be set out in ‘exciting’ plans in the new year.
Cllr Marsden said a ‘collective’ approach will be key to taking the borough forward and said it it ‘vital’ the council is “the listening authority.”
It comes after the leader of the council’s Independent group, Cllr Kevin Etheridge, called for “more engagement and partnership working.”
And Cllr Marsden says there are “lessons learned” from the long-running pay row which saw former chief executive, Anthony O’ Sullivan, sacked over claims relating to pay rises given to senior officers.
“It’s about doing things correctly,” Cllr Marsden said.
“It’s about doing things by the book and it’s about doing things in a proper process.”
She added: “The lessons learned are that we need to uphold that everything is done correctly and in line with recruitment processes.”
Cllr Marsden’s nomination as leader was backed by fellow ward councillor John Ridgewell, who praised her “ability to inspire.”
The previous interim leader, Cllr Barbara Jones – who temporarily took charge after the resignation of Cllr Dave Poole as leader – also offered her congratulations, adding: “I know she is going to do a brilliant job.”
Meanwhile, Islwyn AM Rhianon Passmore described Cllr Marsden as an “energetic passionate socialist female leader” and called her appointment “good news for my constituents in Islwyn and for every resident of Caerphilly County Borough”.
Ms Passmore AM added: “In a decade where local government budgets have been decimated by the policies of the Tory UK Government, the challenge for the new leader will be to retain quality public services for the people with fewer and fewer resources.
“I look forward to working with Cllr Marsden and the Labour-run council to stand up for the people of Islwyn in the face of continued Tory cuts.”