Communities and Place

The communities and place investment priority will enable places to invest to restore their community spaces and relationships and create the foundations for economic development at the neighbourhood-level. The intention of this is to strengthen the social fabric of communities, supporting in building pride in place.

Towns

The change facing our communities and towns offers a substantial opportunity to deliver interventions that matter to local communities, developing community confidence and resilience as well as a strong and unique sense of identity and place.

Proposed Interventions

  • Enhance the public realm in our town centres including public realm improvements, decluttering of street spaces, introduction of smart solutions for business such as waste management storage and improved lighting design to enhance Caerphilly’s night-time economy.
  • Repurpose empty properties and heritage assets for meanwhile and community-led uses.
  • Fund the appointment of a dedicated Town Centre Response Team to work across all towns in the county borough to clean, green and undertake general enhancements and improvements.
  • Provide a Town Centre Enhancement Fund to ensure that the Council is able to react effectively to town centre audits.
  • Focus on town centre high streets and event spaces and undertake measure to design out crime through hostile vehicle mitigation and other safety measures, such as appointing an Intervention & Prevention Co-ordinator to deliver a Crime and Disorder Prevention Project by to improve / support local communities and deal with anti-social behaviour.

Transport and Accessibility

Caerphilly does have an extensive and well used network of walking and cycling routes which enable the public and visitors to access town centres, flagship country parks, green spaces and centres of employment.

The further development of Active Travel options will support health and well-being, tourism growth as well as contributing to the reduction in transport emissions and improvement in air quality.

Proposed Interventions

  • Support initiatives that support active travel use such as the provision of new or improved cycleways / paths and an Active Travel Promotional Budget to promote their use.
  • Increase Electric Vehicle charging points at key destinations.

Digital

Digital data can offer insight on travel movements, parking, mobile phone activity, social media interaction and Wi-Fi usage, and can provide cost effective insights about the changing use of our high streets and towns.

Proposed Interventions

  • Increase the accessibility and availability of digital infrastructure in local communities.
  • Identify key sites that need digital infrastructure improvements plus various employment sites.
  • Improve Wi Fi/digital connectivity in town centres and offer support to local businesses via the Caerphilly Enterprise Fund (CEF) to enable businesses to buy and implement new industrial digital technology solutions to add value to their offer.
  • Develop a digital application e.g. Near me Now which will enable residents to access the nearest shop, bank, restaurant online and allow independent companies to advertise appointment or promotional offers on the local high street.

Health and Wellbeing

Proposed Interventions

  • Promote the importance of community sports facilities and engaging in sports.
  • Establish a CCBC Sports and Recreation Grants programme for community groups to support community sports leagues.
  • Make provision for 3G pitches at a local Community School to improve the provision of sports facilities to create a county borough that supports a healthy lifestyle in accordance with the Sustainable Development Principle within the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
  • Make provision for Area Co-ordinators to signpost and link to existing services to improve health and well-being in the community.
  • Provide a programme of Fitness Suite Enhancements to increase the number of facilities supported/created with the aim of increasing the number of users of facilities/amenities.
  • Strengthen our social fabric and foster a sense of local pride and belonging, through investment in activities that enhance physical, cultural and social ties and amenities, such as community

Cost of Living Crisis

Proposed Interventions

  • Establish a Cost-of-Living Crisis Support Fund to provide programmes and campaigns to encourage the uptake of energy efficiency measures for homes such as heat pumps, water pumps, increased insulation etc.
  • Target the most deprived communities across the county borough with support via an Energy Efficiency Fabric First Programme.
  • Provide support for local foodbanks, social supermarkets and Fair Share Schemes to assist residents.

Community Engagement

Caerphilly has a considerable strength in its social fabric and community spirit, which provides optimism regarding the capacity to forge a strong and distinctive identity which will help it address the challenges it faces as well as build on its opportunities.

The involvement and engagement of the local community in identifying what they want and need from the high streets, towns and green spaces across Caerphilly will be vital to its success.

Proposed Interventions

  • Establish a Community Grants Programme for use by community groups/third sector/voluntary sector.

Natural Heritage

Welsh Government is clear that the path to decarbonisation puts the welfare of our people, the health of our economy, and the protection and enhancement of our natural environment front and centre.

  • Establish a new Green Team, to contribute to the effective management of the county borough’s green infrastructure and develop resilience to extreme weather events.
  • Develop a Green Infrastructure Strategy.

Cultural Heritage

The cultural heritage of Caerphilly is recognised and valued by communities and visitors as an important to the Visitor Economy and to the social, economic, cultural and health and well-being of citizens.

With such variety of history and culture in a relatively small geographical area, this provides a unique selling point and major opportunity for tourism, health and recreation and a significant opportunity for activity across both the Communities and Place and Supporting Local Business priorities.

Proposed Interventions

  • Provide support for existing cultural, historic and heritage groups and institutions that make up the local cultural and heritage offer recognising their impact on the social, economic, cultural and health and well-being of citizens.

Employment / Economic Activity

Improving local skills through workforce planning, training, apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities will help future generations find decent, rewarding work and avoid in-work poverty.

Proposed Interventions

  • Develop a Regional Innovation Cluster and Skills Academy ensuing a regional contribution based on regional analysis of need.
  • Funding for increasing scope and reach of businesses such as Welsh Ice / Town Square etc. to include the introduction of satellite hubs to provide an extension of the 5-9 club, boot camps etc, who have delivered similar programmes.
  • Accelerator and incubator provision (the development of smaller start-up units in the county borough) built by both CCBC and the private sector will support businesses to innovate, scale and reach new investment.
  • Employment unit improvements which comply with building regs and become energy efficient which will reduce running costs and help to ensure sustainability of business tenants.