Miners’ institute supporters to organise rally against planned ‘mothballing’

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

Town councillors who oppose a plan to mothball Blackwood Miners’ Institute are organising a rally for supporters of the venue to make their voices heard.

Caerphilly County Borough Council has proposed mothballing the cultural attraction to save money.

It currently provides a subsidy of £347,000 a year to the venue, where Manic Street Preachers played some of their earliest gigs.

The county council maintains it needs to make “difficult” decisions to reduce its spending and save an estimated £45 million so it can balance its budget over the next two years.

Anger

But the proposal to axe funding for the miners’ institute, as well as the Tudor manor Llancaiach Fawr, in Nelson, has provoked an angry response from many, including more than 5,000 people who have signed a petition calling for the Blackwood venue to be saved.

That petition was set up by Cllr George Edwards-Etheridge, the deputy mayor of Blackwood Town Council, who previously accused the local authority of pursuing “cuts in the wrong places”.

The town council has announced a rally “against the closure of Blackwood Miners’ Institute” will be held on Saturday September 7.

Organisers have asked attendees to gather at 11.30am opposite Blackwood Library, with a march scheduled to begin at midday.

Fellow town councillor Kevin Etheridge, who also represents Blackwood as an independent in the county council chamber, is also hoping to pressure the local authority into deferring any decision on the miners’ institute until next year.

He hopes all councillors will then be able to debate the proposals early in 2025 as part of next year’s budget-setting process.

The two town councillors said the support from the community has been “overwhelming”, and invited “Labour and all councillors to join the rally to save our heritage”.

‘Financial challenge’

Caerphilly Council said it faces a “huge financial challenge” to deliver a balanced budget, and must make savings of around £45m over the next two financial years, on top of the £20m of permanent savings that have already been identified”.

Announcing the proposals at the end of July, Cllr Sean Morgan, leader of the local authority, said: “We can’t continue to run our services in the way we always have. We need to explore all options and consider ways of doing things differently.

“I want to be honest with the community, because it is clear that the scale of savings means we need to make some very difficult decisions over the coming months.”

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