Swansea Manifesto

May 3 2012

City & County of

Swansea

Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales Manifesto for the local government elections May 3rd 2012.

Manifesto for Change

Manifesto for Change

A

Council financial situation

(i)

Major projects - more joint working with neighbouring authorities to ensure that we share the costs e.g. Human Resources, Finance etc.

(ii)

Publicly-owned buildings - maintain them so as to avoid any repetition of the LC and Guildhall fiascos.

B.

Community Leadership and Democracy

(i)

Town and community councils: 

Strengthen links with existing Town and Community Councils, work with them and give them a fuller role.



Support the setting up of appropriate town and community councils where there is a demand.

C. Top Performance and e-government (An efficient Council) (i)

Key services areas such as Education, Social Services and Housing must remain in the public sector and accountable to local people.

(ii)

Voluntary sector - Strengthen significantly the relationship between the Council and the Voluntary Sector in Swansea by working with SCVS and its network including commissioning and funding.

(iii) Review the robustness of the Council's equality schemes to ensure access to all Council Services for all of its residents.

D.

Economic and Strategic Development

(i)

A 'one stop shop’ to be developed within the Economic Development section to assist companies who show an interest in investing in Swansea to replace the current fragmented approach so as to remove decisions from the province of Planning.

(ii) Economic Development Section to maintain the Business Centre to provide local indigenous companies and small businesses with the necessary support to bid for Council contracts for goods and services and making the bidding process more accessible and comfortable for them. (iii) Outlying districts 

Work with the Development Trusts and local communities in outlying districts such as Gorseinon and Clydach to spread investment and economic development and to create local job opportunities.



Develop a ‘Regeneration Strategy’ for Pontarddulais outlining its economic potential arising from proximity to the M4.

(iv) Felindre site now designated as a development site - infra-structure development to be driven forward to accommodate the growth of indigenous, high value added companies, on the model of the local Technium Centres, working in conjunction with the Higher Education Sector, the local Job Centre Plus and Voluntary Sector, (v)

‘Back to work’ training and work experience scheme to be created by the Council offering places in a Council training and work experience scheme, recognised by local employers.

(vi) Swansea market to be developed as a focus for local produce, consulting with current traders on how we could develop the market as a real shop window for locally produced products, and market this across the whole of South West Wales, bringing more footfall to the city centre. (vii) Producers’ Markets - support and encourage the further development across the County.

E.

Social Services

(i)

Continue to prioritise this department for funding.

(ii)

Commitment to retaining this service in-house.

(iii) Protocols for multi-agency working.

F.

Education

(i)

Ensure the implementation of the strategy for community-focused schools to increase their income streams and benefits to the community.

(ii)

Welsh medium education - ensuring sufficient welsh-medium places on the basis of current evidence of the demand.

(iii) Education Funding to be prioritised to ensure quality 21st century education. (iv) A strategy to outline how schools can become community focused and also increase their income streams.

G.

Culture, Language, Recreation and Tourism Culture

(i)

Financial priorities  

Plaid will re-think the way public money is spent so as to reach the maximum number and those who can benefit most.

A distinct and separate policy focusing on the 'applied arts' to fund or to facilitate access to funding for effective use of the arts in e.g. helping individuals with difficulties, enriching community activities

working with children, intergenerational work, supporting young excluded people etc. (ii)

A venue for making and rehearsing community arts.

(iii) Promote welsh heritage and welsh culture.

Language (iv) Language strategy - in order to relaise the ambition of being a European city: audit of language skills of population in Swansea including Welsh; on the basis of that evidence, develop a strategy to improve our ability to communicate with people who are not fluent English speakers for purposes of economic development, tourism, cultural exchanges, education, public services. (v)

Welsh Language Scheme - ensure that it is followed and fully resourced to provide a bi-lingual service to the growing number of Welsh Speakers within the County.

Sport/ Health

(vi) Plaid will re-examine the way public money is spent so as to reach the maximum number and those who can benefit most. (vii) Continue to promote and develop the Passport to leisure scheme across the county.

Tourism (viii) Indoor Children's Play Centre for wet weather with equipment and play organisers for tourists, day visitors and for local children with no play scheme. (ix) Support the Swansea-Ilfracombe Ferry initiative. (x)

Implement the cycling strategy and promote cycling tourism.

(xi) Promote locally sourced food and drink with publicity, events, procurement.

H.

Roads and transport

(i)

European Fiscal Stimulus - ensure that Wales accesses some of the ÂŁ50 billion to fund the electrification of the railway all the way to Milford Haven.

(ii)

North Circular Bus Route - linking areas of population, employment and shopping from Bonymaen, Winch Wen, via Llansamlet, Morriston, Fforestfach to Gowerton, Gorseinon to reduce unnecessary bus journeys into city centre and/or unnecessary car use for people commuting to work.

(iii) Work with First Cymru to make Llansamlet Industrial Estate more accessible by public transport at all times for working people NB early morning and night shifts prioritising convenience and safety.

(iv) Promote Council support for businesses by developing travel plans, to cut congestion in the city centre. (v)

Planned and emergency road works to be carried out in the most effective way possible by co-ordination to reduce traffic congestion.

(vi) Park and ride facility in the Western side of the city – serving Mumbles, Newton and the Gower villages. (vii) Continue to establish 20 mph speed limits outside schools across the city. (viii) Feasibility study into creating a bicycle station in the vicinity of the Quadrant Interchange. (ix) Cross company and through journey ticketing on subsidised routes across city and county to be developed in close co-operation with bus operators.

I.

Environmental issues – all aspects of.

(i)

Feasibility study into establishment of an ESCO (Energy Services Company) to generate income for communities from renewable and other energy sources.

(ii)

Assess energy efficiency in Council-owned buildings with the aim of reducing the Council's carbon footprint.

(iii) Allotments - more in inner city areas. (iv) One-stop shop to take on the function of directing people to energy efficiency advice.

J.

Environment and waste

(i)

Install recycling bins in outlying urban areas so that recycling becomes second nature.

(ii)

Partnership working with neighbouring local authorities to deliver a regional residual waste facility.

(iii) Implement an action plan to clamp down on fly-tipping and abandoned cars (based on recent audit of fly-tipping and abandoned cars recovery service). (iv)

Feasibility study into having one bag for all recyclables to simplify the collection and cost of sorting out in-house.

(v)

Partnership working with regional partners in trying to develop local industries for recyclables to cut down on transporting recyclables to China and create local jobs...

(vi) Environmental Health Department to pursue more aggressive and speedy enforcement procedures to ensure that individuals and communities do not have to endure health and safety risks due to the actions of others.

(vii) Council web-site section on recycling goods to be a living document with access to information on all materials, to be improved, up-dated and added to constantly as the latest information increases or changes. (viii) Dogs - stop dogs running around off the lead on beaches; enforce the bye laws and penalise offenders. (ix) Extension of Gower A.O.N.B. area to include areas around Penclawdd, Loughor inshore and Mawr/Pontarddulais.

K.

Community regeneration

(i)

Community boundaries - research user perception of where their community lies and use the data in all Council policy work e.g. community-focused schools, arts policy etc. to support community identities.

(ii)

Credit Unions - Promote the credit unions e.g. LASA in conjunction with the Council’s Social Inclusion Unit, particularly within our disadvantaged areas.

(iii) Interfaith forum - develop the Forum and promote links with the Council. (iv) Youth groups- encourage the establishment of groups throughout the county and resource them. (v)

Communities First - Work closely with Communities First projects throughout the county.

L.

Local Development Plan

(i)

Identify and campaign on controversial proposed development sites in the Local Development Plan.

(ii)

Promotion of micro-generation through the Local Development Plan process.

M.

Housing shortage and homelessness

(i)

Commitment to do all that we can within the statutory framework to keep current Council services in-house.

(ii)

Dealing more swiftly and effectively with vacant properties.

(iii) Bond Board - publicise it more effectively. (iv) Shared purchase to be promoted and supported with ready made legal models and legal advice to encourage and assist first time buyers to achieve their own homes especially young people. (v)

Landlords registration system for private landlords and extending the application of standards for public landlords to private landlords

(vi) Tenancy agreements in Council housing - earlier and better enforcement of tenancy agreements; training sessions for offending tenants as for drink-driving offenders.

(vii) HMOs - develop strong working links with the Students Union on their policy of tackling bad landlords. (viii) New developments - negotiate with developers at planning stage to include single person units as a form of affordable housing.

N

LOBBYING

(i)

Borrowing - lobby the UK Government to relax the borrowing rules and to write-off any Housing Revenue Account debt (as they were going to do for the proposed Community Mutuals), which would free up funding for meeting the Welsh Quality Housing Standard by 2012.

(ii)

Council tax - campaign, via the WLGA, for the scrapping of Council tax and replace it with a local income tax, based on people’s ability to pay.

(iii) Re-instatement of the Swansea-Cork Ferry. (iv) Dredging - Continue to object to the dredging of sand off the Gower coast until studies show that such activity does not have a negative impact on our coastline. (v)

Post offices - defend our local Post Offices and object to the reorganisation proposed by the UK Labour Government, campaign hard against such closures.

(vi) 'Right to buy' - the Council has adopted the principle of suspending the right of Council tenants to buy a Council House but has not yet applied to the Welsh Government for the right to apply it so we must lobby for them to do so. (vii) Tidal and hydroelectric power for renewable energy and local jobs. (viii) Lobby for restoration of original feed-in tariff for solar power generation.