WELCOME - CROESO
Welcome to the Cwmtillery Ward Communities First website
Croeso i wefan Cymunedau yn Gyntaf Cwmtyleri

As the 79th most deprived ward in Wales in the 2001 Wales Index of Multiple Deprivation, the Cwmtillery Ward comes under the Welsh Assembly Government's Communities First programme. The Communities First programme will help regenerate the Cwmtillery Ward through community-led initiatives. This site provides specific information about about the Communities First programme within the Cwmtillery Ward

What is Communities First?

Communities First is a long-term strategy for improving the living conditions and prospects for people in the most disadvantaged communities in Wales. The programme ensures that the funds and support available from the Welsh Assembly Government and various other publicly funded agencies are targeted at the poorest areas.

Communities First is different from other funding programmes in a number of ways:

• It is a long term programme which will run for a minimum of ten years;
• Communities themselves decide what is needed and are helped to realise their ambitions;
• It aspires to increase the level of participation of local people;
• It brings in funding and support from a number of different sources;
• It is about making a long lasting difference to our disadvantaged communities;
• It encourages creativity, risk taking and imaginative approaches; and
• It involves an integrated approach to addressing poverty and the factors that cause or contribute to it.

The aims of Communities First are to:

• Build the confidence and self esteem of those living in these communities and developing a 'can do' culture;
• Encourage education and skill training for work;
• Create job opportunities and increase the income of local people;
• Improve housing and the surrounding environment;
• Improve health and well being through an active and healthy lifestyle, and by addressing a range of issues that affect people's health;
• Make communities safe and secure places in which to live, work and play;
• Drive forward changes to the way in which public services are delivered.

Community Action Plans must be developed by a Communities First Partnership, formally constituted as a legal entity, comprising members of the community and representatives of statutory agencies, business and relevant community and voluntary bodies.