Council's work 'more important than ever'

LOCAL government has for the last decade remained a challenging environment.

Amid a set of circumstances where the council continues to face significant financial challenges we recognise that we will be unable to keep doing everything that we have done in the past.

But the work done by local public services is more important than ever.

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We have continued to listen to our communities, to find out what matters to them and to focus on these areas.

We won’t always get it right but we listen, learn and adapt.

And striking the right balance has been tough.

At the sharp end we have had to grapple with cuts in our funding and manage significant unavoidable pressures.

But we fight hard to continue to deliver great services, focusing on those most in need to ensure the most valued services continue to be provided into our communities.

Our communities have always been vocal when we bring forward changes that affect the services that they receive.

But the conversation is always constructive and we always look to listen and respond.

I’d particularly like to thank everybody for their recent support since some of the most significant changes to our waste and recycling collections.

Everybody has been very patient at an extremely busy time and our crews and call centre staff have gone above and beyond to respond to residents who have seen delays in their waste collections as we introduce the new changes.

But changing the shape of services will only get us so far as we look to balance our books.

We continue to be innovative and entrepreneurial as a means by which we can drive down cost and generate more income.

We are emerging as an investing council where we generate long-term commercial returns to the authority from assets we acquire.

In the last six months we have seen the acquisition of Castlegate Business Park in Caldicot and most recently Newport Leisure Park.

Why is this important?

Beyond demonstrating to investors nationally and internationally that Monmouthshire is a great place to do business, generating such returns means that we haven’t to consider further painful cuts to services or further increases in council tax.

I am proud of what the council continues to do in sustaining and providing great services to our citizens.