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When it comes to core services residents associate with the council, you would be hard pressed to not think of waste and highways.

The way we collect the bins and resurface the roads are real council issues. The public aren’t short of a view on these, so I will be going into territory no other council leader has ventured before.

I’ll be hosting a Facebook Live on these issues on Monday June 15 at 5pm on the council’s Facebook page. It’s up to the public what questions you want to put to me, but I really am looking for your thoughts on whether you believe our refuse collections are okay as they are, or whether you think there’s room for improvement and change. Likewise, what do you think about our roads? And what can be done to improve them?

If we look into waste a bit further, my cabinet colleague has just received a response from Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s new cabinet minister for rural resilience and sustainability. He says expectations regarding local authority waste collections, the Collections Blueprint, remains the best practice.

He says councils who have implemented the Blueprint have successfully increased recycling rates substantially in that time. Caerphilly has not gone to Blueprint – but what is Blueprint? 

The Welsh Government is encouraging local authorities to collect residual waste no more often than once every three to four weeks, and provide residual waste capacity equivalent to 60L, or less, for the standard service. I know residents have strong views on whether we should change our collections to comply with what the Welsh Government is asking us to. But what are your views? Let me know in the Facebook Live session.

When it comes to resurfacing, I get it. Residents want their roads improved – so that is why we are pumping more money into the resurfacing budget.

Compared with 2024/25, this financial year we will see a six-fold increase to the budget. In March this year, the previous Labour Welsh Government sent us £2.647m to be spent on capital improvements. We decided to put all this money into resurfacing and pothole repairs.

We could have chosen to spend it elsewhere, but sorting out our roads is a key priority for residents. Last month, cabinet agreed to give the green light to 25 additional resurfacing routes.

From Rhymney to Risca, and from Trinant to Trethomas – roads will be improved this year.

But even though we have dramatically increased the resurfacing budget. Is this enough? Do residents want to see more investment in the coming years? Clearly, any extra investment has to be paid for.

I am somebody who knocks doors every week, and on every door knocking session, I hear somebody saying they want the roads improved. So, my commitment to you is we will keep this investment coming.

Finally, at the recent AGM, I proposed an increase in the number of questions that can be asked to the leader – from a previous maximum of two to six. I also proposed that the council leader be invited to the relevant scrutiny committees to answer questions on the performance of the council. As the leader of the council, I am not afraid of constructive challenge. No leader should be. Bring it on.