Concerns raised over limited reach of £20m poverty funding in Welsh county

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter 

Concerns have been raised after it was revealed that just a small portion of a Welsh county will benefit from a £20 million UK Government funding package to address poverty.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Labour Cabinet on Wednesday, January 14, senior councillors received an updated on the Pride in Place neighbourhood selection process.

Where to spend the funding had been hotly debated by councillors at a meeting of the Economic Development and Environmental Management scrutiny committee on Monday, January 5.

At that meeting councillors chose to spread the funding across the whole of the county borough rather than focussing it all on the Sirhowy Valley – which had been the option recommended by council officers.

They ranked the three options which were then to be sent to the UK Government by the January 9 deadline.

Cabinet member for Economy Cllr John C Morgan (Georgetown) told his colleagues that the three options ranked by the scrutiny committee in order of preference had been sent to Westminster.

Joint Director of Economy for both Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen councils Christina Harrhy was brought to update Cabinet on the situation.

Ms Harrhy said: “Following discussion with UK Government officials I can confirm that both county borough-wide option together with the heads of the valley option, which was members option two, have been confirmed as not compliant if we formally submitted them as our preferred area.

“We then went on to our third option from scrutiny committee which was the Sirhowy Valley area.

“Following detailed discussions, UK Government official confirmed that was compliant against the criteria.”

She added that this option had already been submitted to the UK Government following “informal discussions” with the cabinet.

Ms Harrhy said: “We are waiting an outcome of that decision which is imminent.”

Council leader Cllr Steve Thomas said: “That’s a really useful update.

“Of course, you will be aware of the widespread disappointment across Blaenau Gwent and rightly so.

“We have areas of deprivation all through our three valleys and members quite rightly wanted to share that out as best we can, which is the right thing to do.”

Cllr Thomas said it “bemuses” him why the UK Government had not chosen the area for themselves, since they had stuck “so closely” to data provided from the Welsh Index for Multiple Deprivation.

Cllr Thomas continued: “We are where we are. Fundamentally, we can’t lose investment to Blaenau Gwent.

“Reluctantly we’ll look to support the update. We were originally going to support the scrutiny committee’s recommendation.

Cabinet agreed to support going ahead with the Sirhowy Valley option.

In September 2025, the UK Government announced that the Pride in Place programme will see nine more communities receive up to £20 million each, over a period of 10 years. Blaenau Gwent was identified as one of the selected places.

The UK Government’s Pride in Place Programme aims to support communities most in need.

The options were:

Option One – The Sirhowy Valley area – which comprises of three LSOAs in the top 10 per cent most deprived which are Tredegar Central & West 3, Sirhowy 2 and Tredegar Central & West 2.

Option Two – This would provide full coverage Blaenau Gwent and would focus on nine LSOAs.

These are Central & West 3, Sirhowy 2 and Tredegar Central & West 2, Beaufort 2, Ebbw Vale North 2, Ebbw Vale South 1, Rassau 2, Nantyglo 3 and Cwmtillery 1.

Option Three – The Heads of the Valleys area – if we were to define the area as the Heads of the Valleys Corridor.

This would include seven LSOAs in the top 10% most deprived.

These are Tredegar Central & West 3, Sirhowy 2 and Tredegar Central & West 2, Beaufort 2, Ebbw Vale North 2, Ebbw Vale South 1 and Rassau 2.