3. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services: 'Our Valleys, Our Future' Progress Report

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:23 pm on 10 July 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 3:23, 10 July 2018

Presiding Officer, the points made by the Member for Cynon Valley are very well made. In terms of health and co-operatives, of course, we have just celebrated what many people described as the seventieth anniversary of the national health service. Of course, for those of us from Tredegar, Presiding Officer, it is simply the seventieth anniversary of the Act of Parliament that created the national health service. We have been celebrating the one hundred and twenty-eighth anniversary of the founding of the Tredegar medical aid and sick relief fund that led to the creation of the health service. And that's a very well-made point, because those of us who are Members of the co-operative party recognise that there are ways that active citizenship can be used in order to deliver significant change in our communities, which takes us back to many of the themes that have run through our conversation this afternoon.

My ambition for the Valleys isn't simply doing things to the Valleys whether the Valleys like it or not, but active citizenship determining our futures throughout the Valleys. The future that we would want to see in the Sirhowy valley and in Blaenau Gwent may well be very different to the view of the Member for Neath on the Neath valley and the Dulais valley, where we were very recently, where we'd have a different set of priorities and a very different set of ambitions. But it is right and proper that we put in place the means of enabling active citizens to take control of their own futures and to ensure that we provide the means and the funding and the structures to enable people to do that.

When I think of the great history and heritage of the Valleys—we talked about the Abernant tunnel this afternoon, but we've also talked about the tunnel in the Rhondda valleys on previous occasions—there are opportunities here for us to change the future of the Valleys. I think the Valleys landscape park is one of these very, very exciting initiatives and concepts that could actually do far more than it says on the tin. It can actually change the way that we look at ourselves, which is absolutely crucial for me. When I was talking to people in Aberdare, in the Dare Valley Country Park, a couple of months ago about their ambitions for the future, it struck a chord with me about my own ambitions, and that we share that vision for the future.

When I think of the landscape park, I think also of gateways—areas into the Valleys—and I think the Dare Valley Country Park could be one of those areas. I think Merthyr could be one of those areas. I think areas around my own constituency, with the heritage of the national health service, could also be one of those, and you can bring in Blaenavon with Big Pit, and other areas as well. There are a number of ways in which we can transform the future, but we will only do it if we root our visions with the visions of people living in the Valleys at the same time. When we were talking about the economy of the Heads of the Valleys, it was great to see Tyrone O'Sullivan, the great miners' leader, talking there about his ambitions for the future of the Tower site, and what that can continue to offer the people not just of Hirwaun and Aberdare, but people of the whole of the Heads of the Valleys region. It's that ambition that I hope we can unleash in the future.