The Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, Cllr Sean Morgan, has a frank message for residents as we enter the New Year and prepare for decisions in 2025 that are needed to ensure the sustainability of the council under ever shrinking budgets.
The council continues to explore ways to manage an unprecedented £47million gap in its budget. A number of key savings proposals were progressed in 2024 in dialogue with the community and Cllr Morgan wants to encourage residents to continue to have their say and help shape further decisions over the coming months.
Cllr Sean Morgan said, “Today (Friday 10 January) we have published three key reports which will drive service delivery changes across the county borough. It is important that residents engage in the consultation process and provide us with valuable feedback to help us make, and shape, decisions.
Firstly, we have published a report detailing our budget proposals for 2025/26. This report contains a list of savings and a Council Tax increase proposal, needed to set a legally viable budget for the next financial year. If agreed, this package of proposals will be subject to a three week period of consultation before the Council considers any changes and sets its final budget at the end of February.
We have also published plans to consult on proposals to close Bedwas, Cefn Fforest and New Tredegar Leisure Centres at the end of July 2025. Back in 2018, the Council adopted a ten-year Sport and Active Recreation Strategy (SARS) which proposes a reduction in the overall number of facilities, as Caerphilly operates more leisure centres than any other Local Authority in Wales. The strategy focuses on four strategic leisure centres at Risca, Heolddu, Caerphilly and Newbridge. The SARS strategy’s core aim is to ‘make more people, more active, more often’ and leisure centres are only one part of this. Along with our playgrounds and country parks, the huge investment that has been made in facilities such as 3G pitches, means we are well on our way to making our core aim a reality.
Finally, we are progressing plans to transform the way we deliver our Library Service across the borough. Last year we consulted on a strategic vision for libraries, and we are now going to consult on the creation of a more sustainable and resilient service. The focus of the new vision is the creation of improved central library ‘hubs’ in our town centres that will be a front door to Council services. This could see other smaller community library sites repurposed as community assets, delivering what the communities want. Unfortunately, this could mean that some sites may close if alternative arrangements cannot be agreed.
All three reports will be considered at a meeting of the council’s Cabinet on Thursday 16th January. If agreed, each proposal would then be subject to individual consultations to seek the views of the community. The Leisure Centre and Library consultations would run for an extended seven-week period, to reflect the significance of the proposals and the need to capture as much feedback as possible.
Full details are included in the Cabinet reports, which can be found here –https://democracy.caerphilly.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=128&MId=14788&LLL=0
These are difficult times that inevitably lead to difficult decisions, but we want to do this with the community, so please get involved.
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