The Valleys needs 40,000 jobs created and £350m in investments over the next 10 years, according to one of Wales’ leading think-tanks.
Ahead of the Senedd 2021 election, the Bevan Foundation’s Transforming the Valleys: A Manifesto for Resilience outlines a vision for transforming the Valleys.
It calls for a sea-change in approach taken to developing the area, which continues to face deeply entrenched challenges.
The report states that the Valleys is home to approximately 800,000 people and says that while every area of Wales faces challenges of some kind, they believe few have experienced them to the same scale and persistence as the Valleys. They believe that to many the Valleys has become a byword for decline and deprivation, a view they do not share.
The broad Valleys area consists of Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen.
More than 400,000 jobs are based in the region but the Bevan Foundation has calculated that if the core Valleys area had the same jobs density as the rest of Wales, it would have around 140,000 more jobs than at present.
Among its proposals, the think-tank urges the Welsh Government to designate the Heads of the Valleys as a “new town”. The report says that designating a new town along the Heads of the Valleys corridor as part of a network of anchor towns could be a catalyst for an enhanced Valleys identity, offer and new investment.
Compared to other coalfield areas of the Ƶ, the Valleys has the additional complication of the area’s geography, which makes travelling more difficult.
The Foundation recommends that through a Valleys jobs incentive, an apprentice premium, the relocation of public sector jobs, the creation of co-working spaces and a plan to grow fair work in two key sectors, the next government could reduce the jobs deficit.
When making the case for accelerated job creation, the report argues that commuting is not a viable way of meeting jobs needs because Cardiff, Newport and Swansea do not have the capacity to create jobs on the scale required.
Speaking about the challenge, Dr Victoria Winckler, director of the Bevan Foundation, said: “Concerted action to address the jobs deficit in the Valleys is long overdue. Successive government programmes have lacked the vision and scale needed to turn around the Valleys’ fortunes. Every area of Wales faces challenges, but none has experienced them to the same scale and persistence.”
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The report says that without ring-fenced and dedicated resourcing, there is the risk of the commitment being diluted in the face of competing priorities.
The Foundation argues that a long-term, multi-agency delivery that brings together key agencies working to a strategic vision is the only credible means for delivering transformative change. It states it should have a clear mandate to focus on jobs, investment and skills to reorientate the economy of the Valleys to be more sustainable and resilient.
The reports says: “The programme should have powers of planning and implementation and should join up existing initiatives including the Welsh Government, City Deals, local authorities, Corporate Joint Committees and Public Services Boards. It should be resourced to deliver against ambitious but realistic targets and outcomes that would not otherwise be achieved. The government should consider penalty clauses to drive excellence in outcomes.”
It says the desirable outcomes are to create 40,000 sustainable jobs in the Valleys over 10 years, attract £350m investment over 10 years, and to increase by 15% the proportion of workers in the Valleys with level three qualifications.
