17 February 2012
Councillors across Caerphilly county borough have heard how last year's budget has left residents smiling.
Cllr Colin Mann, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member responsible for Corporate Finance summed up the range of projects which have been funded as part of the Medium Term Financial Plan of the authority and brought improved services to all residents.
"Regeneration has been at the heart of our capital programmes with Risca and Bargoed, and their multi million pound library and customer service developments shows how much we can achieve" said Cllr Ron Davies, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning.
He continued, "A key component has been investing over half a million pounds in setting up training and apprenticeship schemes -107 young people have already started work through this programme and we are keen to continue this and have budgeted accordingly. Key Town centres in Caerphilly, Blackwood, Bargoed and Risca maintained or increased their footfall figures; some of this was due major events such as the Tour of Britain cycle race whereas in other areas continuing good relations with retailers in promoting the local shopping experience were strong contributing factors".
Cllr Phil Bevan, Cabinet Member for Education Lifelong Learning & Leisure said, "Blackwood Library was refurbished and we have spent three quarters of a million on refurbishing our premier arts centre Blackwood Miners' Institute - on 17th February 2012 we are celebrating the twenty years anniversary of the council reopening the theatre. We have also been able to support Newbridge Memo to start the refurbishment of this marvellous building with an investment in providing library and customer services on the site."
Cllr Bevan continued, "We are particularly proud of our two new primary schools which we opened recently - St James in Lansbury Park and the award winning energy efficient Greenhill School in Gelligaer."
Cllr Rob Gough, Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Engineering and Transport added, "We have spent over £5million on resurfacing our roads and we want to spend another £3million on further improvements to the highways and pavements across the county borough in 2012/13".
Cllr Mann concluded, "This is by no means a comprehensive list of the good things that happened around the county borough but we are presenting a budget which can, once again, be achieved with no increase in the council tax rate which has to be good news for residents".
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