Action plan to bring thousands of jobs to South Wales Valleys to be published

Wales
South Wales Valleys
Thursday 20 July 2017 at 6:30am

A plan to improve areas of the South Wales Valleys will be published today. One of they key priorities include getting 7,000 people in the area into work.

This comes a year after the Ministerial Taskforce for the South Wales Valleys was launched.

'Our Valleys, Our future' has identified three priority areas after visiting communities, groups and businesses from across the locality.

These priorities are:

Good quality jobs and the skills to do them.
Better public services.
And my local community.

The taskforce says it's aiming to close the employment gap between the South Wales Valleys and the rest of Wales by creating 7,000 new jobs.

We are launching Our Valleys, Our Future at a time of unprecedented infrastructure investment in South Wales - the South Wales Metro, the two city deals, our commitment to invest in affordable housing and the M4 relief road all offer opportunities for people living in the Valleys. These are opportunities which we must, and will, maximise. I am determined the taskforce will make a positive difference to Valleys communities and we must now work together to turn this vision into action. This is the beginning of a longer-term journey, which is being shaped by people working and living in the Valleys. I am excited to be part of this work in this region, which is so close to my heart, where I was born and brought up. I am hopeful that together we can make transformational, long-lasting change through this approach.