Future Torfaen: A County Plan

The Place

Torfaen County Borough Council is the third smallest borough in Wales and is situated just north of the M4 corridor bordered by Monmouthshire, Newport, Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent. Torfaen is also the third most densely populated local authority area in Wales and has a population of over 91,000 with 18 Electoral Wards represented by 40 councillors. It is a varied, 12 mile long valley from Blaenavon in the north to Cwmbran in the south. In common with the other Welsh valleys, the area has a great iron, steel and coal mining heritage.

Blaenavon was established to exploit the coal and iron resources in the area. Characterised by a dramatic environment rich in cultural and historic assets, and ecological diversity, the cultural landscape around Blaenavon was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2000. One of only four World Heritage Sites in Wales, UNESCO recognised that the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape is one of the best areas in the world where the full social, economic and technological process of industrialisation through iron and coal production can be studied and understood.

Attracting thousands of visitors each year, the area has many important heritage features linked to its industrial past and the town is now famous for the Big Pit National Coal Museum, its 18th century ironworks, Blaenavon Heritage Railway, Workmen’s Hall and the World Heritage Centre. The dramatic natural environment and proximity to the Brecon Beacons National Park also brings many walkers, cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts to the area.

Pontypool is located at the centre of Torfaen and was built around industrial wealth with a strong claim to be the first ‘industrial town’ in Wales. Iron furnaces and forges were operating from as early as the 1400s. Between the 1700s and 1900s the area thrived as a major centre for iron and tin-plated ‘Japanware’ products, and a bustling market town emerged. The town has strong links to the Hanbury family, which remain today and the Hanburys were responsible in the 19th century for creating most of the town’s important civic and religious buildings, as well as Pontypool Park.

Today, Pontypool is known for its distinctive architectural heritage, its listed park and Italian gardens, its Victorian market and a strong sense of community spirit. The town centre provides retail, employment and there are many opportunities for recreation and indoor and outdoor exercise, with Pontypool Active Living Centre and Pontypool Ski Centre located within Pontypool Park.

Walkers can choose to follow the Afon Lwyd River, explore the upland landscapes and visit the Folly or Shell Grotto or take in the tranquillity of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. The canal basin at Pontymoile makes an excellent starting point for exploring along the towpath. Llandegfedd reservoir straddles the Torfaen and Monmouthshire border and provides a great location for water sports, bird watching, fishing and walking.

Based around a network of older villages, Cwmbran was designated the first New Town in Wales in 1949. It was designed as a distinctive and modern town offering new opportunities for its residents. The name Cwmbran comes from the Welsh for ‘Valley of the Crow’. The landscape of Cwmbran is different to that Blaenavon or Pontypool, with the town nestled between the impressive backdrop of the south Wales coalfield and the Usk valley.

Cwmbran Shopping is the main retail centre attracting visitors from far afield and with its bus and train station, the town centre acts as Torfaen’s main public transport hub. Although compact, it has an extensive range of services from the pedestrianised retail area to leisure, theatre and arts. Today, Cwmbran remains a popular place to live, providing a successful town centre, excellent road and transport links, a high quality natural environment and varied employment opportunities. You can also visit the popular Greenmeadow Community Farm and enjoy miles of open green spaces that follow the course of the Afon Lwyd and lead to the boating lake.

The Council

Torfaen County Borough Council was established on 1st April 1996. The values of the council are to be Supportive, Fair, Effective and Innovative.

The County Plan is a key strategic document that will guide how Torfaen Council delivers its services over the next five years. The County Plan will focus the council’s resources on working with communities to create an improved, more equal and sustainable future for the people of Torfaen.

It sets out the Well-being Objectives the council believes will create a fairer future where everyone has the opportunity to lead healthy, independent lives regardless of who they are or where they live, where people achieve the best possible outcomes in life and where everyone contributes to creating cleaner and stronger communities.

These priorities recognise the challenges facing Torfaen residents as a consequence of budget pressures, rising inequalities in health outcomes and demand for services.

This County Plan highlights the ambitions for 2022-27 and set out the key delivery activities planned for 2022-23 financial year that will help realise our longer-term ambitions.

This plan has been developed out of commitments and previous key drivers including the Well-being of Future Generations Act to improve the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Torfaen by seeking to ensure ‘that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.

The Covid pandemic and the current cost of living crisis has provided a powerful reminder of the importance of frontline services and the council’s central role in supporting communities. It also confirmed the power of working together to address key issues and in making improvements to people’s lives.

We are realistic about the scale of the challenge - the loss of government funding, rising costs and changing demands means we face tough choices about where to focus resources. Our day-to-day services are important in making it possible for residents to get on with their everyday lives, for businesses to thrive, and provide support to people at different stages of their lives.

Our delivery plan focuses on commitments beyond our day-to-day services to show how the council will progress its priorities in meeting our vision to…

Improve the sustainability, connectivity and well-being of our county by strengthening our communities, by creating a thriving local economy and by protecting and enhancing our environment.

Anthony Hunt
Leader of Torfaen County Borough Council

Our County Plan sets out our ambition and aspiration for Torfaen and how we will do things differently in responding to the needs, challenges and opportunities for our residents and communities.

The County Plan is not a definitive blueprint for our work, but a framework within which change can be encouraged, directed and responded to. The plan will be reviewed on a regular basis and as schemes and projects are developed, they will form part of an annual delivery plan which moves our ambition into action.

This approach is important to ensure that the plan remains iterative and agile so that new initiatives, challenges and opportunities can be responded to throughout the life of the plan. Such as embedding the Marmot principles which address well-being and inequity and align to our 9 well-being objectives.

At the heart of our plan are four central themes that will guide our policy making and service design over the coming years. These themes are Connectivity, Well-being, Sustainability and Culture and Heritage. These themes will help to ensure decisions and planning is focused around the big picture and vision for the County.

Being better connected is not just about the physical or digital infrastructure. It’s about connecting people with their community, enabling that sense of belonging so that people can access the range of activities, services and support on offer when it is needed.

We want all children and young people to have a great start in life and be healthy, safe and inspired to be the best they can be. We recognise that for some children and young people life can be particularly tough, and we are determined to address the inequalities which put these children and young people at a disadvantage. We want our young people to be proud to grow up in Torfaen and feel able to build their lives here, this requires us to deliver excellent learning and education facilities, great job opportunities and homes that young people can afford to buy or rent.

We want to create a thriving economy and unlock the potential of the county as a unique and special place to visit at a regional, national and international level. Torfaen can offer a unique blend of heritage, rugged landscapes, high quality public spaces, modern leisure attractions, a diverse shopping experience and new cultural and arts developments.

We want to develop the environment and infrastructure that helps the county respond to the challenges of climate change and public health. A greener county that is sustainable with better walking and cycling options and good public transport links to encourage ways of getting about that benefits people’s health and is better for the environment.

We are committed to working in partnership with town and community councils, community partners, private enterprise and our fellow public sector partners. We recognise we will only be able to deliver on our ambition by working together effectively.

The council must also maintain financial resilience to enable us to continue to serve the people of Torfaen. We must invest prudently in the county and to continue to deliver the services that our residents need. This will continue to remain at the forefront of our thinking. Our ambitions are set out in this plan and to achieve them we will build upon the strengths of our people, our places and our past while embracing the future to create a county which is better connected in every way.

In a regionally competitive Wales, Torfaen needs to stand out and be prepared to attract inward investment that benefits all of our residents and ensures Torfaen remains a great place to live, visit, work, learn and do business.

Stephen Vickers
Chief Executive Officer

Well-being

Outcomes for learners in Torfaen need to improve across all of the council’s schools. As the council responds to the Estyn inspection, it is developing robust self-evaluation systems to ensure better planning and focus on key areas of work, supported by the Education Achievement Service (EAS). This will support every school improve the quality of their leadership and their teaching to get better outcomes for every learner.

A new Curriculum for Wales will also be introduced in all primary and some secondary schools from September 2022. Moving away from a prescribed National Curriculum, schools will move to a broad framework within which they can design their own school curriculum. This is one of the biggest changes in education for a generation.

The council must respond to the rising number of learners with complex Additional Learning Needs (ALN). Over the last five years there has been a steady increase in the numbers of learners with multiple and complex needs. An expanding Crownbridge school will continue to work with schools to understand and plan how the needs of learners with ALN are best met in mainstream, specialist resource bases and within Crownbridge over the next five years.

As part of the national ambition to see one million Welsh speakers by 2050 the county faces some significant challenges to develop Welsh speakers in an area where currently the numbers of Welsh speakers are low and the council faces some real challenges in recruiting staff to its education settings.

The council’s plan outlines how it will be creating additional Early Years Childcare provision, extending the opportunities for Welsh Language education and how it will create “immersion” opportunities for learners to join a Welsh Medium school later in their educational journey and improve the quality of our Welsh Medium schools.

The needs of the curriculum and learners has transformed over the last 40 years and continues to evolve. Most of the council’s school buildings were designed for a pre internet age when teaching methods were largely focused on whole class teaching. The demands of the modern curriculum and teaching methods means that many teachers have to find ways to overcome the shortcomings in the design of school buildings. The council’s 21st Century schools programme has seen it create a significant number of new schools and refurbishment of schools to address this and there is still much more to deliver.

There are a range of challenges that span across social care services that relate to overall demand on services and the consequent expectation of statutory services to meet this level of demand. From this challenge there is a continued need to focus on the development and delivery of services that are aimed at preventing escalation into and through services.

There is an ongoing focus on safely reducing demand for Children and Families Social Care by recognising and developing community, family and individual strengths. In reducing the level of demand on the service the council can shift and target more resource to develop and expand a local offer and ensure that services are more effectively and efficiently targeted to those who require statutory services.

Adult Social Care is in high demand, particularly as a result of the covid pandemic and the knock-on impact within health and social care. The council’s work impresses on the importance of information, advice and assistance and suitable signposting so that residents do not get drawn into a system and service when, with the assistance of alternative non-statutory support, they can maintain independence and live the life they want.

In order to address the challenges, the council recognises that Early Intervention and Prevention provision need to expand and a community offer is developed that enables a greater level of community resolution. This will enable the council to channel its resources and statutory services to meet the needs of those in most need of support.

Sustainability

Affordable, good quality housing is in high demand not just in Torfaen but also across Wales and the United Kingdom. House purchase prices and rents are at an all-time high, which is impacting on availability and affordability to the general public to access,particularly during a cost-of-living crisis.

This is also impacting on homelessness as households are unable to access affordable housing. The council is working with partners to respond, not just in terms of preventing homelessness, but also with registered social landlords to bring existing and new housing into use as quickly as possible.

Resident’s pride and confidence in their county is often informed through how they perceive and rate their local environment. Where they live, where they work and where they go for recreation, leisure and shopping.

The council wants its towns, streets and our natural environment to be beautiful,attractive, clean and sustainable. Far too often the tremendous pride in local communities is harmed by the minority. While not significantly different to surrounding areas, there is too much litter, too much fly-tipping and the council wants to work in partnership with communities to stamp out this behaviour for the benefit of all.

Maintaining and investing in green spaces, roads and pavements to encourage active travel and community use, and improve connectivity between residents and communities, as well as helping people access leisure facilities and job opportunities,are fundamental to achieving the aims of this plan.

Working with communities and also with national programmes, the council must act as a community leader to facilitate a whole system transition to net zero carbon to ensure the environment and the well-being of future generations are protected.

Increasing recycling and composting rates is one way all residents can live more sustainably. All local authorities in Wales are required to reach a 70% recycling and composting target by 2024/25, which forms a key part of the Welsh Government’s‘Towards Zero Waste' strategy. This represents a significant challenge for Torfaen Council and one that will need working closely with communities to achieve this milestone.

The success and prosperity of the local economy is essential to deliver much of what is in the County Plan. There is a proven link between better economic outcomes to individuals’ health, community well-being, and confidence in young people to aspire and succeed, whatever their ambition maybe. The Torfaen economy cannot act in isolation. It is part of a much bigger, regional, national and international jigsaw but the programmes delivered by the council and the relationships it forms can facilitate and encourage growth.

The Torfaen economy is diverse with both strengths from which we can draw and challenges we want to overcome. The council wants to capitalise on the strength of the highly skilled workforce primarily based around advanced manufacturing to diversify the sectors into which advanced manufacturing can grow with a particular focus on the life sciences sector.

The council wants to build on national and regional programmes that focus on promoting innovation, building local entrepreneurship and confidence to access new markets and take opportunities to build a dynamic, active and research led economy.

With the creation of Place Plans for all town centres, the council wants to rewrite their purpose. To halt decline, build ambition and hope, the council wants to inspire confidence in its town centres, with innovative investment, bold ambitions for regeneration and public spaces that attract residents, businesses and visitors to help keep the pound circulating in the local economy.

Connectivity

The County Plan seeks to harness the role that communities already play in delivering information, advice, guidance and help focus early intervention and prevention resources more effectively. To achieve this means redesigning services around the how customers live their lives and use council services.

One of the council’s main responsibilities is to equip communities with the skills and resources so that they can become more resilient to the challenges that they face in a rapidly changing world. The council wants to support and empower communities so that responses to these threats are designed together in a way that puts the customer first and reflects the uniqueness of each area. In short, the council want to develop a ‘Communities Approach’ to public service.

Communities are at the heart of all 9 of its well-being objectives. Co-designing and co-delivering services with communities is vital to raise aspirations amongst young people; reduce inequalities; support healthy lifestyles; and respond to the climate and nature emergencies. To do this clarity is needed on how, when and from whom our residents can access information, advice, guidance and support. The council wants to create a ‘shared front door’ with communities and local partners which directs people to the right level of help, at the right time and from the right source, so that support will be delivered consistently and to the highest quality.

There are, of course, challenges in developing a Communities Approach to public service. Each area is different with its own set of service needs and its own community offer. Currently not enough residents feel that they can shape or influence the service offer in their local area, and we need to improve the coordination of volunteers across the borough.

Culture & Heritage

The wider challenges for the council are set out under the themes of wellbeing, connectivity and sustainability which are set in the context of its financial challenges. The theme of culture and heritage contributes to tackling challenges in each of these areas and on all fronts.

Access to heritage and culture widens horizons, enriches lives, and engenders a sense of pride and belonging. By capitalising on the strengths of individuals, communities and the collective assets within Torfaen, the county can be safer, healthier and more independent with a vibrant economy.

Torfaen’s culture and heritage is a reflection of its collective experience, endeavour and achievement over centuries. The county needs to celebrate its history and its place in the world as well as collectively recognising who we are, what we stand for and where we belong.

The lives of our county ancestors, its historic and newly forming communities and the assets within the county form the backdrop to all future hopes and aspirations.Respecting the county’s past helps to understand the county’s present and can inform every one of our futures. By working together, the county can celebrate its diversity and build a cohesive identity that everyone can be proud of.

Financial

The financial outlook facing the public sector and local authorities across Wales is extremely challenging and provides the context to the County Plan as the council focuses on what services matter most and what resources are required to deliver them.

The council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) published in March 2022 detailed a financial challenge of £16.2million over four years. The financial forecast for just 2023/24 now indicates a financial challenge of £12.5million. This scale of the challenge, and the speed at which it has arisen is quite unprecedented, and is being driven mainly through high inflation, particularly, the cost of energy and significant pay inflation. Additionally, there is a cost of living crisis and demand for many of our high cost services continues to grow, including pressures as the council and communities continue to recover from the pandemic.

While the financial landscape is very challenging, this is not a time to lessen the council’s ambition or resolve to meet these challenges head on. Like all responsible councils, costs will need to be reduced in a sustainable way that protects frontline services as far as possible. To that end, the council will be taking a thematic and cross-cutting approach to reductions rather than applying percentage cuts to all budgets, although there will still be difficult choices and decisions.

We will raise educational attainment, helping young people and adults to gain the qualifications and skills needed to lead positive lives

• All children and young people will have access to good quality education and no schools will be in special measures
• We will have reduced the proportion of young people leaving school not going into further education, employment or training
• We will have successfully embedded the new Curriculum for Wales into our schools to better prepare children and young people for a changing world
• We will be better at meeting the Additional Learning Needs of children and young people helping them to overcome barriers to learning and reach their full potential
• We will have increased support to address the negative impacts of Covid on young people’s education such as learning delay, increased anxiety, behavioural complexities and poor attendance
• We will have helped address recruitment and workforce issues in our Welsh medium education schools
• Proportionally more people will gain the GCSE or equivalent qualifications they need to lead positive lives
• More people will undertake community learning and undertake basic skills that help them gain employment
• We will develop the role of the school in the community and the role of the community to support our schools

We will encourage and champion children, young people and families so they can thrive

• More children will receive childcare and education through the Welsh language, contributing to Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 aspirations
• More families will be accessing the Flying Start programme
• More schools requiring investment from the 21st Century schools programme will be modernised
• More children and young people will be directly involved in council decisions and shaping council services
• We will have reduced our Children Looked After population and a greater proportion will be living with in-house foster carers
• We will have increased the number of in-house foster carers with the skills to manage complex situations
• We will have developed in-county therapeutic accommodation options for children with complex needs
• We will work with more young people to reduce anti-social behaviour, preventing people entering the criminal justice system
• We will have supported more refugees to settle into our communities
• We will promote the role and needs of young carers within the community, in order for them to be able to access services equitably
• We will protect children from harmful substances and products through undertaking test purchasing exercise with partners on the sale of age restricted goods, such as alcohol, tobacco and knives

We will tackle inequality by focusing on early identification and prevention activities that support people to live independent and fulfilling lives

• We will aim to prevent all families and individuals from becoming homeless through targeted intervention and support
• We will reduce homelessness by working with partners to ensure greater access to suitable accommodation and support services
• We will work with communities to support them to become more resilient and less dependent on statutory services
• More people will retain greater independence at home and to access services in their community through further developing our community based reablement services
• We will ensure that children with disabilities are provided with a quality service that promotes family life, independence and access to community facilities
• We will have helped address some of the serious impacts of the cost of living crisis with a range of financial support for those most in need
• We will bring new private and affordable housing to market through working with landowners to identify new parcels of land for housing
• We will provide free school meals for all nursery and primary aged children
• We will work with our partners and businesses to provide good sustainable jobs in the Borough which enable people to live well
• We will improve housing standards and identify risks to health and safety by responding to and learning from complaints from residents about private rented properties
• More people will live independently in their own homes through greater use of assistive technology

We will make Torfaen more sustainable by connecting people and communities, socially, digitally and physically

• More people will choose public transport as a means of travelling for social and business purposes with more trains stopping at Cwmbran and Pontypool and New Inn Rail Stations
• We will have more active travel routes with more people walking and cycling including improving accessibility for disabled people to ensure they can enjoy their local environment
• More people will be making journeys using electric vehicles supported by increasing the number of electric vehicle charging points in the county
• We will work with more volunteers and community groups to improve local environments and communities
• More people will be accessing council services using faster, more widely accessible wifi
• We will use digital solutions to help us monitor how people use our town centres
• Fewer people will be digitally excluded through improved access to broadband

We will respond to the climate and nature emergencies, recycle more and make improvements to the local environment

• We will have increased the area of council owned land managed for biodiversity
• We will be well on our way to meeting our target to be net zero carbon by 2030
• We will have exceeded our recycling targets with a greater range of materials collected for recycling
• We will crack down on environmental crimes to deter littering, fly tipping and dog fouling
• We will foster greater pride in place by providing greater support for community environmental action
• Council buildings will use less fossil fuels and suitable buildings will be used to generate renewable electricity
• More of our vehicles will be ultra-low emission, reducing the council’s overall carbon footprint
• We will have increased the borough’s tree coverage and established new orchards to increase carbon capture and promote biodiversity
• We will have trained over 1,000 climate champions so staff help people understand the impact of their decisions on climate change
• We will have developed a new local nature reserve to demonstrate our commitment to protect the environment and create valued spaces for our communities to enjoy
• We will work with communities and maximise funding opportunities to enhance the local natural environment and the condition of local parks and public outdoor spaces
• We will improve air quality within the borough taking the necessary action to protect public health and the environment

We will make Torfaen a great place to do business by working with local employers, encouraging new business start-ups and entrepreneurial activities

• We will have supported businesses in the county to deliver economic growth by helping residents into skilled, prosperous and secure employment
• We will have encouraged growth in the number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), micro-enterprises and business start-ups
• We will create an innovation ecosystem to promote local research and development in our businesses to help them grow and become more prosperous
• We will have promoted Torfaen as a place for investment and worked with developers to transform brownfield sites for employment
• We will have identified new parcels of industrial/employment land, working with landowners to bring them to market
• We will have driven up spend in our local economy by improving local skills and through our own spending as a council
• We will have upskilled the local workforce to attract and retain employers
• We will use some council buildings differently to encourage support new businesses and new industries

We will support and promote healthier lifestyles in Torfaen to improve mental and physical well-being

• All schools will have plans to support emotional and mental well-being of staff and learners
• All pupils should be able to participate in 60 minutes of activity every day
• We will expand mental health support for people of all ages
• We will expand inclusive play facilities suitable for all children
• We will work with communities to develop a range of provision so that more residents can access support and take part in volunteering activities
• We will work with Torfaen Leisure Trust to provide greater access to facilities for school pupils
• We will develop community support services and reduce the number of adults and children needing formal care
• We will carry out inspections of food businesses in Torfaen to ensure the food is safe and is what it says it is
• We will develop a sport and leisure strategy with our partners to engage more people in healthy activities and increase opportunities for more people to take part in sports and physical activity

We will support our local culture and heritage and make Torfaen a thriving, safe and attractive place to live and visit

• We will increase visitor numbers to destinations in Torfaen including a revitalised Greenmeadow Community Farm
• We will rejuvenate our town centres and encourage a night-time economy with more visitors enjoying good quality places to eat and drink
• The Blaengafog Brook on the British will be taken out of culverts and will flow in a new channel as the first stage of the British masterplan
• We will have reduced the level of anti-social behaviour and serious violence within our communities
• We will work with communities and maximise funding opportunities that improve the appearance of communities and town centres that help promote pride in place
• We will promote Torfaen as a ‘Destination’, working with our outstanding visitor attractions so that we can offer attractive packages for day and overnight visitors that include venues throughout the Borough

We will provide efficient customer focused services that reflect the way people live their lives and wish to access services

• We will be a digitally enabled and efficient council providing excellent customer service, allowing more residents to complete their transactions online
• We will be proactively signposting residents to a wider range of well-being information and preventative services to increase the number of people who access information and support from their community
• More residents will be accessing public information, advice and guidance anytime, anyplace and anywhere
• We will ensure our services are designed to reflect customer not business needs through involving, engaging and consulting customers to ensure services listen and improve

The activity detailed in this plan will be managed through a robust approach to project and performance management to ensure visibility of progress, risks and accountability for delivery.

The involvement of residents and stakeholders in the development of services and projects is critical to ensure that we do the right things at the right time and in the right way.

As part of the Local Government and Elections Act 2021 the council has undergone a major review of its governance and participation arrangements, resulting in clarity on how members of the public can be involved in decision making, scrutiny and holding the council to account.

We recognise and value the central role our employees play in delivering this plan and the running of our many statutory services. We will continue to invest in activities that ensures we attract and retain skilled and committed workforce, whilst making the most of working with external partners to share particular expertise to ensure this plan is delivered.

Our County Plan 2022-27 shows the outputs we will monitor to demonstrate progress and the high-level outcomes, which will evidence the success of our ambitions. Activity will be managed through a robust approach to project management to ensure visibility of progress, risks and accountability for delivery, that will form the basis of quarterly monitoring and reporting for 2022/23 and beyond.

Our service planning process will be central to delivering upon our aspirations. We are developing the process to ensure each service area’s plans are comprehensive, living documents that are the vehicle for delivering, reporting and giving account of all high-level plans and strategies. We will continue to build a culture of high performance throughout the council, regularly monitoring the impact of our actions to enable us to develop as an organisation and achieve our aspirations for Torfaen.

• Councillor Anthony Hunt - Leader of Torfaen Council
• Councillor Richard Clark - Deputy Leader of Torfaen Council/Cabinet Member for Education
• Councillor Sue Morgan - Cabinet Member for Resources
• Councillor David Daniels - Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Housing
• Councillor Fiona Cross - Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Communities
• Councillor Joanne Gauden - Cabinet Member for Economy, Skills and Regeneration
• Councillor Amanda Owen - Cabinet Member for the Environment
• Councillor Peter Jones - Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Performance

We will raise educational attainment, helping young people and adults to gain the qualifications and skills needed to lead positive lives.

We will encourage and champion children, young people and families so they can thrive

We will tackle inequality by focusing on early identification and prevention activities that support people to live independent and fulfilling lives

We will make Torfaen more sustainable by connecting people and communities, socially, digitally and physically

We will address our climate and nature emergencies, recycle more and make improvements to the local environment

We will make Torfaen a great place to do business by working with local employers, encouraging new business start-ups and entrepreneurial activities

We will promote healthier lifestyles in Torfaen to improve mental and physical well-being

We will support our local culture and heritage and make Torfaen a thriving, safe and attractive place to live and visit

We will provide efficient customer focused services that reflect the way people live their lives and wish to access services