Successive Labour governments and councils have let down Wales, failing to encourage regeneration. They have not built the strong, thriving communities that Wales needs. We want to see every community, rural and urban, benefit from economic growth and strong local services.
Local councils need to be at the forefront of regeneration efforts. They can best tapinto local knowledge to rebuild communities in a way that reflects local priorities.
We want to bring communities back to life across Wales and provide everyone with quality local services, amenities and employment.
Strong and prosperous high streets and town centres with small, independent shops help ensure economically active communities. Across Wales, we have supported investment in town centres. In major cities, such as Newport, the council has unveiled plans to redevelop the city centre and in Cardiff a new retail centre has been built and a business district has been planned. But we've also supported smaller towns that are finding the economic downturn difficult by improving the appearance of neighbourhood and community high streets including regenerating district shopping centres and town centres in rural areas.
We've invested in local amenities to ensure that communities are thriving. In Swansea, we reopened the leisure centre after it was closed by Labour. In Cardiff, we have invested in libraries, saving and refurbishing many that were under threat when Labour ran the council as well as building a state-of-the-art central library in the city centre. We have also undertaken a major refurbishment of libraries in Aberystwyth.
Our record of investment in school buildings, new houses and local road improvements has helped regenerate communities across Wales.
We are also proposing a Community Bill of Rights, which would give local councils new powers to protect local heritage so it can be used to spur local regeneration. For example, important local buildings could receive extra protection from development and green spaces could be protected from development.
Our approach will see investment in local communities.
