Rhondda Cynon Taf Council - Leader's Blog

Last week saw the ground broken on our flagship redevelopment of the former Taff Vale Precinct site in Pontypridd, marking the start of the next and all-important construction stage of the development.  Since taking ownership of the site in 2015, we have made excellent progress in advancing this hugely significant project that will undoubtedly be of immense economic benefit to Pontypridd and the surrounding areas once completed.

Further milestones will continue to follow at pace over the next two years, with cranes due to be on site in the Spring of this year, and the work to construct the footbridge scheduled to commence the following year.  I look forward to working with our contractors, Wilmot Dixon, to see the project through to completion in 2020.

Another of our major projects also received a boost over the New Year period, with further funding announced to support the progression of the Cross Valley Link scheme in Mountain Ash.  Like Taff Vale, this has long been talked of in the local community and is now being made a reality thanks to the ambition of this Council.  The latest round of funding, totalling £500,000 is being provided by the Welsh Government through its Local Transport Fund, taking the current total to £9.001m.  To date, the Council has contributed £5m of this, with the remaining £4.001m coming from the Welsh Government - reflecting the importance of this scheme in alleviating the traffic flow problems on the key A4059 corridor.

Staying with Mountain Ash, I was delighted to see that the Nos Galan Road Races was officially announced as the best 5k event in Wales by the 2018 UK Running Awards.  The event has gone from strength to strength over recent years, and this award is a fitting recognition of all the hard work and dedication that is put in around the year in making this such a special occasion in the calendar of the County Borough.  Having won the Best in Britain award in 2014, we are hoping to be successful once again, as this year the event has been shortlisted in both the best national 5k event and best fun run categories. We now need your support to help make that happen by voting on the UK Running Awards website.

Finally, I’d like to say a big thank you to all of our residents for the excellent recycling levels over Christmas and the New Year, and also to our staff who were out collecting across the County.  Current totals have far exceeded last year’s figures, with almost 2,000 tonnes of dry recycling and 547 tonnes of food waste collected over the festive period, in comparison to the 1,655 tonnes of dry and 506 tonnes of food waste collected over the corresponding fortnight last year.