A new Welsh medium secondary school in the Rhondda, more PCSOs, a new railway station in Treforest, financial support for households to cope with the cost of living crisis and “the largest tree planting programme in a generation.” These are some of the commitments the Labour group in Rhondda Cynon Taf are making ahead of May’s council elections.
Having released its manifesto, the Labour group has announced its 20 pledges which include floodworks, social care, highways, town centres, tackling climate change and more. Labour has run the council with a majority over the last five years and has candidates standing in every ward.
The first pledge is creating safer communities by funding an additional 10 PCSOs in RCT – on top of those funded by the Welsh Government. Labour would also fund 10 of the council’s own community wardens to support PCSOs in patrolling town centres, parks, play areas and open spaces. Labour said it would double the number of community youth hub vehicles to build on the council’s youth investment over the last few years.
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Another Labour pledge is for more brand new, state-of-the-art English and Welsh medium schools, including a new Welsh medium secondary school for the Rhondda Valleys. The party also committed to completing the work now underway on the Llanharan Link Road and the dualling of the A4119 while taking forward the Cynon Gateway in Aberdare, subject to an independent review.
Labour said it will also work with Welsh Government to deliver a new railway station in Treforest and commit to further feasibility studies for extensions to the South Wales Metro. Labour said it will continue with and build on the progress made to date, delivering and implementing development plans for town centres, including Pontypridd, Tonypandy, Porth, Mountain Ash, Ferndale, Treorchy and Aberdare.
The party said they will also increase the discretionary rate relief from £300 to £500 for businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality and continue the successful town centre maintenance grant to support local traders as well as continuing to tackle the issue of empty shops and looking to bring them back into use where possible. Labour said it would achieve Net Zero as a council by 2030, exceed the 70% recycling target by 2025, develop the council’s own solar farm and introduce community grants for energy generation measures.
It has also committed to the largest tree planting programme in a generation and to vastly increase the number of electric vehicle charge points across the county borough. Labour said it will continue investing to future-proof the county’s infrastructure; from resurfacing hundreds more roads and renewing bridges and structures (including introducing an annual programme of improving unadopted roads) to heavily investing in parks and sports facilities, including development of hockey and netball facilities.
Another Labour commitment is to create more than 150 apprentice and graduate opportunities over the next five years. The party has also promised to maintain and enhance the enforcement team to continue taking tough action against those who are caught allowing their dog(s) to foul on streets or those who are caught fly-tipping.
Labour said it will continue the transformation and modernisation of older peoples’ services by building further extra care facilities and developing a multi-million pound refurbishment programme for existing council residential homes. It promised to fast track the delivery of the Welsh Government’s pledge to provide free school meals for all pupils and that it will invest in schools to upgrade kitchens and dining rooms to improve capacity.
Labour said it will build on the work that has reduced the number of empty properties in the county borough by 20% by committing to a five-year programme for empty property grants to turn empty properties into homes. The party committed to heavily investing in social care provision so services are both “sustainable and fit for the 21st Century, providing a high level of personal care that suit the needs of our older generation."
It promised to go beyond matching the real living wage and committed to continue paying staff over and above the real living wage including independent social care staff while also providing an enhanced training offer to allow staff to develop their transferable skills and publicly lobbying the UK Government for fair annual pay rises. Labour said it will work with the Welsh Government to deliver a further package of support ahead of the winter with the council committing millions of pounds to support families in addition to the £16m that the council has already committed with the Welsh Government over the coming weeks to support families and households with the cost of living crisis.
It said if elected it will continue with a multi-million pound annual programme to improve flood resilience measures across the county borough so that RCT is better prepared for future climate change and storms. Labour said it will look to enhance both the Taff and Cynon trails and start construction on Active Travel routes through the Rhondda Fach and Fawr and also build on the investment to date in tourism which has seen ZipWorld come to the area.
It would continue to invest in the Armed Forces Covenant and provide extensive support to veterans, along with a programme of investment in war memorials and the employment of a dedicated memorials officer. Labour promised to protect school core budgets and ensure they are funded for the cost pressures they face as well as ensuring they get the resources to help children catch-up following the impact of the pandemic and further expand the number of school community engagement officers.
Finally, Labour said it will continue the record levels of investment in play areas and commit to at least 75 more being upgraded over the next five years, in addition to building 10 new multi-use games areas across the county borough over the council term. To keep up to date with latest news from across RCT subscribe to our dedicated Pontypridd, Cynon and Rhondda newsletters here.
