AGENDA ITEM NO.

6(3)

REGENERATION SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - 10TH JANUARY 2012

SUBJECT: REPORT BY: INVESTMENT IN VILLAGES CHIEF EXECUTIVE

1. 1.1

PURPOSE OF REPORT To inform Members of the level of spend on regeneration projects in CCBCs villages over the course of the last 10 years and to identify sources of funding for future spend. This report has been requested by Members of the Regeneration Scrutiny Committee

2. 2.1

SUMMARY The report outlines the level of investment made outside of the main town centres within CCBC. Data has been collected on a village/community level where possible and is therefore presented in the appendices in the same format. It goes on to identify the funding streams that will be utilised to fund future physical regeneration projects. Members of the Regeneration Scrutiny Committee requested that a report on this matter be presented to them when they met on the 5th of April 2011. More recently, a further request has been made (at the same forum) for information specifically focused on the county borough area north of Bargoed.

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3. 3.1

LINKS TO STRATEGY CCBCs Community Plan identifies one of its main regeneration objectives as being to support town and village centres and other area based regeneration and develop sustainable tourism opportunities The Councils Improvement Plan 2009/12 - Building Better Communities identifies the following priorities: To improve the look and feel of our streets

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The Councils Regeneration Framework identifies Places as one of its 3 main regeneration themes, stating that People will feel satisfied with the quality of the places they live, work and play

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One of the proposed activity areas within the Framework is Regenerating Communities and Raising Aspirations: Working with communities to ensure that nobody is disadvantaged by where they live, closing the gap between our most deprived communities and the rest of the county borough, and ensuring residents can take pride in communities that are great places to live The Communities First Programme is the Welsh Governments flagship regeneration initiative supporting the most deprived communities in Wales. The programme provides mainly revenue funding to support communities through capacity building and achieving priority

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outcomes. A consultation is currently being undertaken to shape the future direction of the Communities First programme.

4. 4.1

THE REPORT Proposals for future regeneration projects in the county boroughs villages and smaller towns should be seen in the context of the achievements in this field in recent decades. Officers calculate that over 79 million has been spent on physical regeneration projects alone in village communities over the past ten years (see the Appendix to this report for expenditure by ward/village). As with all regeneration expenditure, the county borough has been and will continue to be, heavily dependent on tapping into external sources of grant aid for future schemes in villages. Investment Levels to Date

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Physical regeneration projects have predominantly been undertaken by CCBC, GAVO, and Groundwork within the county boroughs villages. Data on statutory functions such as Highways and Education have been excluded and the report concentrates on the investment made through Communities First and Heads of the Valleys (where applicable) along with the works undertaken through the Urban Renewal, Countryside and Housing sections of the Council. Since 2001 over 50m (see Appendix 1) has been invested in the communities north of Bargoed. This investment includes funding for a number of projects such as the Renewal Area Programme in Rhymney, Parc Cwm Darran in Deri and the White Rose development in New Tredegar. In addition, almost 27m (see Appendix 2) has been invested in a number of other communities throughout the County Borough. This investment includes funding for a number of projects such as the Gelligaer Village Square, Gelligaer Roman Fort and Cydcoed in Gelligaer & Penybryn; large scale works at Cross Keys and Pontywaun (Cross Keys), Renewal Area Programme (Llanbradach & Senghenydd) and the Senghenydd Square (Aber Valley) developments. The Renewal Area Programme has brought in substantial investment to a number of communities with over 12m invested in Rhymney and Llanbradach alone. The Renewal Area Programmes have also drawn in substantial funding to complement activities, providing an even greater level of investment for villages and communities. Local Action Plans have also played a key role in maximising investment by providing a framework and focus for investment in communities. This type of framework for investment has been taken further through Holistic Area Regeneration Plans developed through the Heads of the Valleys Programme (HOV) with communities in the HOV area, and has provided the basis for funding over 82 projects during the last two years. The sums quoted do not include staff costs through the Communities First and other initiatives. Alongside the environmental and economic investment in an area, this social investment building capacity and supporting residents and community groups, also plays a key role in supporting sustainable regeneration in the communities of Caerphilly County Borough. Future Investment Levels

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It is difficult to be as precise with data relating to future investment levels in our smaller towns and villages. There are a number of ongoing projects where the level of investment can be calculated for 2011/12 but once these have been accounted for it becomes more problematic

trying to establish what funding vehicles will be available and the likely level of success in accessing these. 4.10 Members will also be acutely aware of the fact that the economic climate is having a drastic effect on both internal council budgets and external funding sources. Funding for regeneration in any area in the foreseeable future will be much more limited than in the recent past because of the poor national economic situation since 2008 and the consequent UK and Welsh Governments spending reviews that aim to significantly reduce public expenditure. Several programmes which have provided funding for physical improvements in villages in the past have been wound up such as the Physical Regeneration Fund while others, like the Heads of the Valleys Programme have had their available funding drastically cut back. The Councils own Urban Renewal budget has also been significantly reduced in recent years. No further housing Renewal Areas are proposed in the county borough at the present time due to the uncertainty of future Welsh Government funding support. All is not doom and gloom however and several sources of funding are still available for suitable village projects. The Rural Development Plan (RDP) will remain in place providing approximately 900,000 (including revenue costs) funding supporting villages until September 2013. Current RDP projects include the Basic Services Community Key Fund, Healthy Villages and the Village Renewal & Development Key Fund. Funding has been secured from the Welsh Governments Heads of the Valleys Programme in 2011-12 through the HARPs (Holistic Area Regeneration Plan) programme, with investment of over 400,000 supporting environmental enhancements in villages throughout the Heads of the Valleys area of Caerphilly County Borough. It is anticipated that the HoV programme as a whole will be reduced by 40% over the next 3 years. Officers of both CCBC and WG are working towards securing a further round of European Convergence funding for environmental works. Any forthcoming funding is likely to be focused on meeting the objectives of the Natural Environment Framework and Water Framework Directive and may result in wider cross boundary working. The Welsh Governments Communities First programme will continue in a revised form with a reduced but still substantial budget of 40m per annum for Wales most deprived communities including all the Caerphilly County Boroughs communities in the Heads of the Valleys area. Funding through Communities First is mainly revenue-based and a clearer picture of its priorities will emerge following the outcome of the consultation on the programme, which is currently taking place. A limited number of Commercial Improvement Grants are still available from the Councils Urban Renewal budget and in the coming year it is anticipated that grants will be disbursed as they are at present throughout the county borough, including the smaller settlement centres. In addition, existing Renewal Areas are ongoing with the level of investment in 2011/12 being approximately 800,000 at Llanbradach and 350,000 at Senghenydd. Future years are difficult to predict but purely using a pro-rata calculation it could be assumed that future Renewal Area funding at Llanbradach and Senghenydd would be:2012/13 - 900,000 2013/14 - 725,000 2014/15 - 700,000 4.16 There are several Lottery Fund programmes that provide another source of finance for community projects. Although funding from Lottery funds has been severely reduced in recent years in order to contribute to the London Olympics, more finance should be available again for local projects after 2012. Where they exist, local community councils can provide support for small projects and the county borough itself maintains a substantial Community Regeneration Fund, which this year

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will provide approximately 170,000 capital funding for projects by the voluntary sector in 2011-12. 4.18 Details of some of the village projects that will be funded through the above sources were included in the Regeneration Action Plan report on Regenerating Communities and Raising Aspirations. Officers will continue to seek access to the above funding sources and any new ones that may become available in the future for village improvements and also assist in the production of community action plans that provide a context and programme for local improvements.

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5. 5.1

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS This report is for information only and there are no financial implications attached to it

6. 6.1

PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS This report is for information purposes only and there are no personnel implications attached to it.

7. 7.1

CONSULTATIONS This report reflects responses from key stakeholders.

8. 8.1

RECOMMENDATION Members observe the findings of the report

9. 9.1

REASONS FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS See above.

10. 10.1

STATUTORY POWER Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Local Government Acts 1972 and 2000.

Author: Consultees:

Tina McMahon Community Regeneration Manager Allan Dallimore. Team Leader, Urban Renewal Cllr Allan Pritchard, Leader of Council and Cabinet Member for Constitutional Affairs Cllr Colin Mann, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance, Procurement and Sustainability Cllr Lyn Ackerman, Cabinet Member for Public Services and Housing Cllr Phil Bevan, Cabinet Member for Education, Lifelong Learning and Leisure Cllr Ron Davies, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Countryside Cllr James Fussell, Cabinet Member for Human Resources Cllr Rob Gough, Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Engineering and Transport Cllr Colin Hobbs, Cabinet Member Performance, Property and Asset Management Cllr Judith Pritchand, Cabinet Member for Social Services Anthony OSullivan, Chief Executive Pat Mears, Head of Regeneration and Planning Nicole Scammell, Head of Corporate Finance

Terry Shaw, Head of Engineering Services Roger Tanner, Strategic Planning and Urban Renewal Manager Jan Bennett, Group Manager Advisory Services Norman Liversuch, Countryside and Landscape Manager Phil Griffiths, Principal Planner Dan Coles, RDP Delivery Manager Kenyon Williams, Private Sector Housing Manager Ian MacVicar, Group Manager Operations Antony Bolter, Group Manager Strategy and Funding Dave Roberts, Grants Manager Vicki Doyle, Policy Officer (Statistics and Funding) Victoria Phillips, European Officer Owen Ashton, Heads of the Valleys Project Officer Appendices: Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3

Upper Rhymney Valley Villages Other Villages/Communities Countryside EU Funding