The Plaid Cymru leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council today laid out the party’s record of achievement – and urged the public to give the party four more years in government.
Councillor Allan Pritchard, leader of the council, told Plaid’s spring conference in Ffos Las, Carmarthenshire, said: “I’m immensely proud of what has been achieved.
“One of key priorities has been to help families and individuals in these difficult financial times. Energy, food and fuel bills have been rocketing while job insecurity has grown and council tax is a significant part of the monthly household budget.
“That is why we decided to peg council tax for the last two years. We felt residents needed support and over four years the increase on the Band D rate has been the lowest in Wales and thanks to the Plaid led Caerphilly council, we now has the lowest council tax level of any of the South Wales Valley authorities.
“While we have kept bills down by tackling issues such as the number of senior managers and bureaucracy in general, we have also ensured that excellent frontline services have been maintained.”
He listed some of the authority’s achievements:
- More than £17m of efficiency savings made while protect frontline services
- Introducing a training and apprenticeship scheme which has so far created 162 places
- Opening new libraries at Bargoed, Blackwood and Risca against UK trends
- Achieved the highest recycling rate in South Wales – thanks to support from the public
- Spending an extra £4m on road improvements
- Multi-million pound regeneration of town centres
Councillor Pritchard added: “This is not a Westminster election or one for the National Assembly, it is one about who can run your local services better. I hope the public will look at our record and give Plaid four more years in control of Caerphilly.”
Plaid’s plans for the future include:
- £92m invest into our 21st Century Schools programme to improve English and Welsh medium schools
- £19m spend on improve roads further
- Investing £173m in improving council homes
- Continuing the successful new training and apprenticeship programme for young people.
- Investing in town centres, including more than £30m in Bargoed
- Providing over £5m for an international-standard centre of sporting excellence in Ystrad Mynach
- Boosting recycling rates further
- Developing new libraries in Caerphilly and Abercarn
