Launch of the Heads of the Valleys Strategy

Ladies and Gentlemen, Bore Da, Good Morning to you all.

I am delighted to be with you for this most significant event.

This morning marks the launch of the Heads of the Valleys strategy, ‘Turning Heads’ – a key event in a 15-year programme of regeneration for the region. This is very much a flagship project – unique in Wales for its breadth of vision and sheer ambition.

It’s a strategy that sets out to transform the prospects for valley communities. One which I am sure will serve as a benchmark for regeneration projects world-wide. Regeneration plays a critical part in delivering the ambitions set out in the Welsh Assembly Government’s framework for economic development, Wales: A Vibrant Economy.

Market failure means that not every region and community is able to compete on equal terms in today’s global economy. The Valleys of South Wales have faced more than their fair share of challenges. And the Heads of the Valleys strategy tackles those challenges head on. It aims to secure a successful Heads of the Valleys region – vital for our ambition of a truly successful, confident Wales.

It’s fully aligned with the Wales Spatial Plan, which sets the overall context, and provides the foundation on which to build a whole range of regional and local initiatives, which complement and strengthen each other. It has benefited from appointment of a Director and project team, and from the special funding from the Assembly Government that I announced last year. But crucial to the development of this strategy has been the involvement and leadership of the five local authorities, working together with my team through the project board and with the voluntary, community and private sectors.

So let me – in the company of so many key members and officials – thank you for the hard work of yourselves and your colleagues.

Today we see how this co-operation can produce results. Already, here in Blaenafon, we see the evidence of how practical regeneration works for the benefit of the local economy and the local community. And I believe that by the year 2020 people the Heads of the Valleys will be a place where people want to live, work and play.

An area that drives forward sustainable, knowledge-based development. A dynamic and culturally rich network of vibrant and secure communities. The Strategy published today provides the roadmap that helps make that vision a reality. It sets out a number of specific programmes under five priority themes.

An attractive natural, historic and built environment – ensuring sensitive but imaginative use of the tremendous assets offered by proximity to the Brecon Beacons National Park and the potential of our own valleys scenery. The new opportunities of a dynamic economy, taking a joined up approach to support services in order to encourage business growth and job creation, and to help people looking for employment, work experience and training.

A well-educated, skilled and healthier population – promoting better lifestyles, making the most of new healthcare investment, and deriving maximum benefit from new opportunities in education, such as the merger of Merthyr College and the new Learning Campus at Ebbw Vale. An appealing and integrated tourism and leisure offer, telling the story of the Heads of the Valleys – its history, its stunning landscape and its range of quality facilities and attractions. And strong public confidence in a shared vision and a brighter future, giving local people the opportunity to take part in and delivering a better quality of life for themselves and their children.

The Strategy also specifies a mechanism for delivery, with a three-year action plan detailing proposed allocation of the special funding of 30 million pounds – part of the 140 million-pound package set aside for the next 15 years. The action plan provides for the Welsh Assembly Government to focus on major environmental projects during the first year; renewal of town centres in the second year; and development of the region’s tourism and leisure offer in the third year.

I am pleased that a meeting of the Project Board earlier today approved issue of the Strategy. And I am also delighted this morning to announce the board’s approval of environmental projects for each of the five local authority areas. In Rhondda Cynon Taf, Gateways and Greenways – a project that will provide river parks in the Cynon and Rhondda Fach valleys, including landscaping, planting and creation of access routes;

In Merthyr Tydfil, the River Taff Corridor Enhancement – a one-year programme of clearance, landscaping, habitat management and other improvements to transform the river corridor, integrating the East and West of the town, and producing an attractive asset for local people and visitors alike;

In Caerphilly, the Upper Rhymney Valley Landscaping Project – a three-year programme of mass planting, hard landscaping and artwork around a network of recreational lakes and reservoirs;

In Blaenau Gwent, the Ebbw Vale Landscape Initiative – a project to enhance land overlooking the key regeneration scheme at the former Steelworks site, with landscaping, planting, access and drainage improvements, and creation of a wetland and woodland centre;

And, last but no means least, here in Torfaen, the Blaenavon Vistas and Horizons project, promoting the town and World Heritage site as a gateway to the Valleys and Brecon, through landscaping, public art and a new recreation centre.

Taken together, these projects – all of them supported by the Heads of the Valleys programme, will involve a combined investment of at least £11 million in the future of these communities. A major contribution to kick-start the wider regeneration of the region. And a demonstration of the advantage of working together to deliver a substantial impact.

Working together on a shared agenda and agreed priorities means we can all achieve more than by working separately. And I am proud that devolution of power makes it more practical to get together and deliver joined-up action for the people of Wales.

Ladies and Gentlemen: the Heads of the Valleys are rightly famous for their contribution to economic progress and social justice.

Raising the Red Flag in the Merthyr Rising.

Election of the first Labour MP Keir Hardie.

And Aneurin Bevan’s struggle for basic welfare rights and a truly national health service.

Yet the last century dealt our valley communities a major body blow.

Local poet Idris Davies relates the story in his celebrated ballad, The Bells of Rhymney, describing how the plight of the valleys of Gwent and Glamorgan was reflected in the tolling of their church bells. ‘Who robbed the miner?’ cried the bells of Blaina. "Is there hope for the future?" asked the brown bells of Merthyr.

Today that’s a question we can answer in the affirmative. As well as their proud past, our valleys have a future – a future to which they can look forward with confidence.

Thank you for your support in charting the way ahead.

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