RCT Labour group leader interview about future priorities for the authority

THE Local Democracy Reporting Service has published an interview Anthony Lewis held with the leader of the Labour group in Rhondda Cynon Taf in the run up to May 5 local elections.

Andrew Morgan, who has led the council over the last five years having first become leader in 2014, spoke about the 20 key commitments that Labour are making to the people of RCT ahead of the elections on May 5 this year.

He said one of their main commitments as a Labour group is the stability of the council in terms of financial stability.

He said:

“I think it’s going to be really important over the next couple of years because we have no idea what’s going to happen with funding.

“We’re seeing that funding does slow down. We had a big settlement increase this year, it slows down next year. It slows down quite dramatically the following year.”

He said they don’t know yet if they could be heading back to a time of austerity or cash flat settlements in the future.

“So I do think that financial stability of the council is going to be imperative and I think that’s something we’ve had to take into account.”

Building on existing commitments:

In terms of the commitments the Labour group is making, Mr Morgan said some are an extension of existing commitments where the feedback from the public has been really positive such as continued investment in at least 75 of RCT’s current play areas.

He said: “In education it’s making sure we protect core budgets for schools to cover all their costs going forward and the pressures they face.

“We’re also looking to expand the number of community engagement officers.”

He said he wants to see as many schools as possible have an engagement officer because it’s not just about tackling attendance but it’s about understanding why families are struggling and what lies beneath and supporting families and children.

Armed forces:

On the armed forces he said there’s a big commitment to the armed forces covenant adding that RCT is one of two councils in Wales with the gold community covenant with the armed forces.

He said they’re looking to employ a dedicated officer and put a dedicated budget in place to upgrade and improve war memorials.

“The armed forces covenant is one of our core commitments in terms of doing more for the veterans.

“We’ve got a lot of veterans’ support groups which are really well attended. I know the deputy leader attends and supports with that and we’ve got dedicated staff.”

Active travel and tourism:

Mr Morgan said Labour wants to enhance some of the trails in Cynon and Taff to improve some of the links.

He said in the Rhondda Valleys, where there’s very little active travel, they’ve got multi million of pounds worth of commitments especially in the Rhondda Fach due to start in the next 12 months and in the Rhondda Fawr they’re looking at the best locations for active travel routes.

On tourism, he said they want to build on the success of Zip World in particular and how then they might take forward the Rhondda and Abernant tunnels.

“We do think that they are viable in terms of future proposals,” he said.

Flood resilience:

Mr Morgan said: “We’re committing to a multi million pound scheme every year for the next five years to make sure we’re as prepared as possible for future storm events.

He added: “We’re already doing a lot but I keep emphasising there’s a heck of a lot to do out there” so that if they were to face another Storm Dennis they would be as prepared as possible.

“So we’re saying that we will continue to put our own investment in because we have to put millions of our own funding in to be able to lever the Welsh Government funding.

Cost of living crisis:

He said there’s a package they’re trying to get out to people quickly which comes to about £16.1m and they will work with Welsh Government on a further package ahead of the winter.

He said the concern is that while people think it’s difficult now with bills increasing if they see a further increase in October, along with being months in to the National Insurance increase,  families going into next winter will really really struggle so they want to see what other packages of support they can provide particularly for pensioners.

Real living wage:

On the real living wage, Mr Morgan said: “We’re currently paying above the real living wage and we’re committed to continuing to do that.

“So I would like to see incremental increases every year above the real living wage. So if the real living wage goes up next year 30p we would want to increase our staff rate by 40p.”

He said it would help with recruitment and retention in social care and they’re aiming for £12-£12.50 an hour during this term.

Social care:

Mr Morgan said they’ve introduced a sustainable social care fund this year with £1.5m put into the budget.

He said: “Going forward that probably needs to double and triple each year if we’re going to continue to have social services on the level of what we need and what the growth will be both in adult’s and children’s so sustainable social services will have to be a priority for us.”

Empty properties:

He said Labour wants to put in place a five year programme on tackling empty properties and that they’d already reduced the number of empty properties in RCT by over 20% over the last few years through the council’s own scheme and a Welsh Government scheme

He said Labour are committing to at least £1m a year over the next five years with grants of up to £20,000 for people who want to renovate them and move into them.

Free school meals:

Mr Morgan said the council has put itself forward to be one of the fast track pilot areas in terms of rolling out free school meals.

He said they’re happy to start trying to upgrade and expand their kitchens and dining halls as quickly as possible as part of this.

Support for older residents:

Mr Morgan said they’re looking to continue with the programme of extra care facilities including in Aberaman, Pontypridd and Porth but they’re looking at two or three other sites as well.

He said the existing council residential homes need millions of pounds worth of investment so they’ve committed to a programme of renovating or in some cases knocking down and rebuilding.

He said: “We are committing to keeping the care homes in house so we won’t be outsourcing any of our residential care homes and we’re committing then to renovating them up to modern day standards.”

Young people:

He said that having promised 150 apprenticeships and graduate roles previously, they actually delivered over 170 and they’ve committed again to funding at least 150 apprentices and graduates over the next five years.

Street care and enforcement:

He said that want to give enforcement officers more power to tackle fly tipping, litter and dog fouling.

Mr Morgan said they’ve committed to £100,000 extra investment into more litter and dog foul bins.

He said bins are very rarely missed but that most of the problems is that because many bins are so well used they probably need to be emptied more than once a week but they don’t have the resources to empty bins much more frequently.

He said: “But in some of these really busy areas especially parks, country parks and the Cynon trails or Taff trails, if we can put more bins in so instead of one bin being there there’s two bins obviously they will last that little bit longer.”

Key infrastructure:

On infrastructure he said they’re on site with the A4119 project and the second phase of the Llanharan link road is currently being built by Persimmon and they’re committing to continue with the third section.

He said, subject to the independent roads review, they will deliver the Aberdare link on to the A465 because without it traffic through Hirwaun “would increase considerably.”

He said: “We’re not an overly pro road building council it’s just that we think that the schemes that we have worked on over the last few years and want to take forward we think they are justified.”

He said they also want to take forward an unadopted roads programme with a pilot last year which has been extended this year and the intention is for a permanent programme with £500,000 a year for the next five years.

Parks and sport facilities:

Mr Morgan said this year they’ve put more than £2m into sports facilities.

He said they had a really positive meeting with sports clubs but while they said they have spent about £7-8m there’s a lot more to do.

He said they’ve committed to looking at how they could have a centre of excellence for hockey in RCT and improving netball facilities.

Climate change:

He said the council has committed to be net zero by 2030 and they’re on target to exceed the Welsh Government’s recycling target of 70% by 2025.

He mentioned that they are looking to develop the council’s on 6 Megawatt solar farm and vastly increase the number of car charging points with over 100 to be added over the next year to 18 months.

He said they’ve committed to the largest tree planting programme in a generation in the county using unused council land, parks and schools.

Mr Morgan said they’re also looking to introduce a community fund for grants for people to put solar panels on their roofs.

He said: “We’re really mindful of both the cost of living crisis but also our need to reduce the use of energy and generate our own.”

The plan is for a grant of up to £1,000 per household which would see the council put around £500,000 a year into that fund so at least 500 hundred houses could be funded every year to have solar panels.

There would be 75%-25% split so households would have to put in at least £3,000 to draw down the £1,000 so if the council put £500,000 a year in it would lever a further £1.5m and over the five year term would deliver a £10m investment, Mr Morgan said.

Town centers:

Mr Morgan said they’re looking to extend the town centre maintenance grant and the Labour manifesto commitment is to increase rate relief for all businesses in hospitality, retail and leisure to £500.

Transport:

He also confirmed that they had secured funding of around £14m for a new train station in Treforest.

Education:

He said one of their commitments is around the 21st Century Schools Programme and building a new Welsh secondary school for the Rhondda Valleys.

On youth services, he said they’re looking to double the number of hub vehicles to six through which staff can offer sexual health advice and substance misuse advice to reach youngsters who don’t go to the drop ins or cyber cafes but who’d rather be in the town centre.

Anti-social behavior:

He said Labour are committing to tackle anti-social behaviour in town centres and parks which he said “has become a real major issue I think over the last two years of lockdown.”

Their plan is to fund 10 extra PCSOs on top of the ones provided through the Welsh Government and 10 council community wardens to patrol and keep an eye on things.

Speaking about all the commitments, Mr Morgan said: “This does come as a significant package especially over the next five years. It’s millions and millions of pounds worth of investment.

“We have fully costed it. We have taken the opportunity as all political parties can to ask officers of the council to review what we are suggesting to make sure it’s deliverable.

“We think it’s an ambitious programme in terms of the level of capital investment.”

Labour’s prospects for the election:

Mr Morgan said:

“We’ve been able to select a candidate in every one of the 75 seats and I think I’m right in saying that none of the other political parties have been able to come near that.

“I’m quite confident. The team we’ve got I think are a good team. Clearly we’re going into the election in a majority position and I hope after May 5 we’ll still have a majority.

But he said they don’t take anything for granted and every seat is a battle and they’ll try to win as many as they can.