As a newly elected Member of the Senedd one of my key aims will be to try to tackle poverty and deprivation. Unfortunately, Llanelli has its fair share of deprivation, as do many other towns in Wales.
I am however heartened to see that Plaid-led Carmarthenshire Council are ploughing ahead with work to transform the Tyisha area of the town.
When I was a member of Carmarthenshire Council’s Executive Board I had the privilege of starting and leading on this important work. Since being elected to the Senedd I am pleased that my colleague Councillor Linda Evans has now taken over as the Chair of the Project Steering Group.
I firmly believe that the work that the steering group undertook in the early days – of engaging with the local community and with key partners such as Dyfed-Powys Police and Llanelli Town Council means that we now have a real chance to see the area’s fortunes being turned around.
Instead of accepting the area’s position as one of the most deprived wards in Wales, I am pleased that the Plaid led council set its sights high, and have brought forward a range of planned interventions aimed at tackling the socio-economic and environmental challenges. They have also put their money where their mouths are, pulling together £9.3m in investment for this part of Llanelli.
Tyisha is clearly an area of strategic importance, providing a vital link between Llanelli town centre and the Wellness Village being developed at Pentre Awel.
The plans for Tyisha include a number of physical adaptations to the area – demolishing the 4 Ty’s apartment blocks and providing around 110 new housing units, landscaping with better links to the town centre, new shops and offices within the area, improvements to the railway station and promoting greener travel with new accessible cycle routes and turning the old goods yard into offices and potential community facilities.
A renewed focus will also be given to tackling crime and disorder, in particular drug misuse.
We have already seen the installation of a new children’s play area in the ward, and last month, two new community wardens started to patrol the Tyisha and Glanymor areas of Llanelli in a bid to crackdown on crime, along with vandalism and anti-social behaviour. Three new Neighbourhood Watch schemes have also been rolled out.
I am hopeful that the new wardens and neighbourhood watch schemes will help to strengthen the community. Volunteers who join the neighbourhood watch scheme will receive support from Carmarthenshire Council’s community wardens and PCSOs from Dyfed-Powys Police so if you are keen to join and do your bit to help improve the area, please email tyisha@carmarthenshire.gov.uk.
After decades of neglect, I am pleased and proud that a Plaid-led administration in Carmarthenshire has taken on the challenge in starting to work with, and deliver for the people of the area.
Together, we can help create a brighter future for Tyisha. My hope is that once this model of community focused regeneration is completed we can then move on to do similar work in other deprived communities in Carmarthenshire. It’s a development I would gladly support as a Senedd Member covering the Llanelli area.
