25 May 2012
A new council elected earlier this month signals a new start for Caerphilly County Borough Council. The Labour controlled council has announced its Cabinet with effect from the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 24th May 2012.
Leader of Council Cllr. Harry Andrews said, "We have been given a great responsibility by the people of Caerphilly County Borough to deliver the right services and make a real difference to their lives.
He continued, "The cabinet portfolios have been restructured, to meet the demands of business today. We have reduced the special responsibility payments from twenty two to eighteen and in doing so we have created a new cabinet post.
We believe this is the best use of the resources available as earlier this year we received an unequivocal mandate from our council house tenants; to spend over £173 million refurbishing the 11,000 properties in the county borough. We need to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standards over the next thirty years. This requires due diligence and the Deputy Leader Cllr. Gerald Jones has been given this responsibility, I believe he has the necessary credentials to successfully steer this major project
Deputy Leader Cllr. Keith Reynolds will be responsible for Corporate Services, which embraces a wide range of support services and delivers the financial resources for council. With a revenue budget of over £300 million we must ensure we meet all of the demands and provide the best use of our resources and Keith has a wealth of experience in this field. Keith will be greatly involved in the council's procurement impacting on the local economy and motivating businesses to create local jobs. His portfolio also covers all of our electronic customer interface and ICT support in our schools. Keith's role will be strategically important to all of our services.
Cllr. Dave Poole Cabinet Member for Community & Leisure Services holds an extensive service portfolio covering a range of frontline community services – from Community Safety to Trading Standards, Environmental Health to Refuse Collection. We have put the eradication of antisocial behaviour as a priority and Dave will be driving this forward.
He also has a key role in our collaborative partnership of Prosiect Gwyrdd which is committed to looking for the best environmental, cost effective and practical solution for waste from the five partner authorities. Added to this he will be responsible for delivering our leisure services and parks facilities across the county borough.
Cllr. Christine Forehead joins the team with responsibility HR & Governance and the Cabinet's Business Manager. The council employs over 9000 people across the county borough and looks after their wellbeing and health and safety as they deliver services to the people. The council is one of the largest employers in Wales and seeks to provide good quality employment relationships. We recognise to achieve our priorities and deliver the right services and make a real difference to the people we need well motivated employees to helps us.
Cllr David Hardacre – Cabinet Member for Performance & Asset Management. The council has an extensive property portfolio and ensuring our assets are properly managed and maintained enhances our ability to maximise their use for the benefit of the people. Our communities need good quality buildings such as youth centres, community centres and libraries in order for them to thrive and develop citizens who care about their communities.
Cllr. Ken James becomes the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning & Sustainable Development. His role will be to invest our resources in our towns and village centres creating good employment and training opportunities particularly for young people. We understand the need to have good transport links and have promised to remove the charge on car parking at our stations. He will concentrate on supporting local businesses and increasing our tourism offer which brings in approximately £84 million per annum.
Cllr Rhianon Passmore takes on the role of Cabinet Member for Education & Lifelong Learning and will continue to work closely with our colleagues in the Assembly to ensure we maximise the investment in new schools across the county borough to ensure our schools are fit for the 21st century. We are also committed to continuing the investment programme in building new libraries and refurbishing existing ones. Preparing our young people to play their role as good citizens is critical to the future of this county borough.
Cllr Tom Williams has extensive knowledge and will be a great support as Cabinet Member for Highways, Transportation & Engineering. He will play a key role ensuring our capital programme for roads aids and enhances business opportunities for the county borough and allows citizens to move quickly and easily around the area.
Last but not least is Cllr Robin Woodyatt – Cabinet Member for Social Services. As you know the council has embarked upon a major collaborative programme with Blaenau Gwent Social Services and this follows on from other joint successful health, social care and wellbeing projects. The work we undertook to achieve the building of our hospital Ysbty Ystrad Fawr is testament to this council's belief in bringing the right services closer to the people and making a real difference to their lives. We shall also work hard at providing services which care for all of our vulnerable citizens.
For more information and photos of each of the Cabinet members please go to our Cabinet page.
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