Last month Cllr Anthony Hunt became the youngest council leader in Wales when he was given the role at the head of Torfaen County Borough Council. Ian Craig met him at his office in Pontypool to talk about what he wants to achieve in his new role and some of the biggest issues facing the area.

AS if stepping into the role of council leader wasn’t enough of a challenge, when Cllr Anthony Hunt replaced Cllr Bob Wellington at the head of Torfaen County Borough Council last month, he also became the youngest council leader in Wales at just 36 years old.

Growing up in Stevenage in Hertfordshire, Cllr Hunt said he got his interest in public service from his mother, who worked as a nurse.

“I’ve always been interested in representing people,” he said.

“Often in life it’s the people with the pointiest elbows, the people with most in their armoury to defend themselves who get the most.

“I’ve always liked the idea of standing up for people who are less able to do that.”

The Labour councillor moved to Wales when he was 18 to study law at Cardiff University and today lives in Griffithstown with his wife and two young children, aged six and nine.

After a stint working in the Labour office at the Welsh Assembly, in 2002 Cllr Hunt came to work for long-serving Torfaen MP Paul Murphy who served the constituency for 28 years from 1987 until 2015.

He said working for Mr Murphy, now Baron Murphy of Torfaen, helped him gained not only valuable political experience, but also a love of the area.

“He taught me lots of things about politics,” he said.

“The learning the ropes stuff but also how to treat people with respect and consideration, how sometimes listening is better than talking.

“I think sometimes in politics people forget that, treating people with courtesy even if you don’t agree with them.

“There’s too much people shouting at each other and saying anyone who disagrees with you is awful, while really it’s just people with different points of view and you have to try to come to some common understanding.”

So stepping onto the council in 2012 seemed the logical next step.

“I assured my wife ‘don’t worry, this won’t take over my life’,” he said.

“She was probably more aware of what might happen next than I was.

“I’m involved in lots of local groups, I’m a coach at the junior football team and I volunteer at the local theatre and I’m about in the community lots. I just saw it as an extension of that

“Little did I know it would become more than that in my life.”

Now in the leader’s seat just five years later, he said he believed the biggest issue facing the council and the area as a whole was a lack of cash and resources.

“If you’ve got less and less each year and demand for services going up and up as people live longer, people with complex medical conditions and needs especially, we are caught in that trap as local politicians of valuing local services but having to make savings.

“That’s always going to be difficult, especially the longer you go into it.

“Maybe for two, three, four or five years you can get away with making efficiencies, but sooner or later you start to get through to the bone.

“Unlike any other level of government we can’t just pass down responsibility and say ‘it’s your decision’.

“We are the ones at the coal face and there are some very difficult decisions to be made.

“I understand it’s very difficult for people in the public to understand that, especially in recent years as they pay as much council tax as they have ever paid, not taking into effect inflation.”

Although he said he recognised there were options to raise money in other ways, Cllr Hunt ruled out one in particular.

“We don’t charge for car parks,” he said.

“If we did it would pretty much kill Pontypool town centre stone dead, so we won’t do it.

“Maybe Cardiff or Newport or a more affluent area could look at doing that to bring in resource, we don’t have that option.”

He added: “I really worry for the generation that are just coming of age now.

“The old certainties of life have disappeared.

“The old promise that each generation will have a better deal than the last that we try and bring through, that’s in danger of being broken at the moment.

“I think that’s something government of all levels needs to address, how do we provide a positive future for the generation that’s coming through.”

Now aged 37, Cllr Hunt said he believed being one of the younger council members and the youngest council leader in Wales gave him something of a unique perspective.

“It’s nice to be thought of as young, when I’m on the football pitch I’m the old one,” he said.

“When I was appointed I strapped myself in for the response because you know what social media is like, especially for politicians, but actually a lot of people who commented said it was nice to have a fresh face.

“I hope I do bring a fresh outlook.

“I’m the father of two young children myself so I see firsthand the schools and a lot of the community facilities through that.

“I don’t just care about services in this area because I’m a council leader, I care about services in this area because me and my family depend on them like other families do.”

He added he believed taking advantage of the diverse range of viewpoints and experiences on the council was key to good leadership.

“Too much in politics is people not wanting to listen, just wanting to talk at people,” he said.

“That’s my view of leadership, it should be as much about listening to people and bringing people with you about convincing not about telling.”

He added: “One of the first things I did as leader was set up a Twitter account and put up there a simple message saying local business and voluntary groups are the backbone of our community, I’d love to come and visit you, listen and learn about what you do.

“The response to that has been incredible, I had 30 things in my diary over a month.

“It shows there is a real appetite out there for reaching out.

“It’s about listening and not thinking you’ve got all the answers yourself.

“That’s how I’ve tried to set out my stall because I think it’s the right thing to do and the way to get results.”

But it’s not all work – Cllr Hunt is a keen cyclist and last year clocked up 5,000 miles with the Pontypool Cycling Club and Army Cycling Union Club.

He said he believed having hobbies and interests outside of the council was important both personally and professionally.

“It’s important as politicians to have a hinterland, to have something in your life other than politics, otherwise you don’t have that perspective and you don’t have that escape,” he said.

“Having kids is great for this, they don’t care if you’re leader of the council.

“When I was elected in December I got a flicker for two seconds when they asked me ‘Daddy did you get elected?’

“I said yes they cheered and then it was ‘Can you play on the Xbox with me?’

“They don’t care and it keeps you grounded.”

But he conceded being a council leader was no ordinary job.

“Whereas in some jobs you could just switch off I might have a call at 9pm from someone with an issue.

“I love that really, I love that one day you can be dealing with a £165 million budget and the next minute Mrs Jones calls you up about a leaking gutter above her kitchen.

“If you don’t like that you shouldn’t be in the game, that’s just how it is."