My name is Bronwen Brooks and your local Councillor on the Vale of Glamorgan Council and Barry Town Council for Court ward in Barry since 2007.

I passionately believe in local politics and have loved my time as a Councillor, helping to stand up for the local community and fight for issues on their behalf.

During my time as a Councillor I have served on Housing & Safer Communities, Social Services and Environment & Regeneration scrutiny committees – these committees bring together my values, believing that our communities start with somewhere to live that we can call home and to live safely in a community that cares about the residents and local environment.

I was delighted to become a Cabinet Member for Housing and Social Services. My proudest achievement during this time was to initiate the start of building new Council housing in the Vale – the first time in twenty years and to lay down a thirty year Council house building plan. We still have a desperate need for housing for many of residents, however we have started to build homes that are key to providing a safe haven that impacts positively on family life. We have also built some innovative temporary housing units to deal with homelessness and which include a full support package for these residents to attain a permanent housing solution.

I am also the Leader of Barry Town Council, representing Court ward at the grassroots level of local Government and where we work hard to support residents and promote local businesses and services.

On the Town Council the Labour group has the ambition to work on a long term investment plan for Barry, working in partnership with the Vale of Glamorgan Council to make the most of funding opportunities for Barry, with the recognition of town centres being high on the UK and Welsh Government regeneration agendas. We are in a key position to take this exciting work forward and play a key role around the table.

I also serve as a school governor on Jenner Park school, which is a hugely interesting role and I am incredibly proud of the support the teachers and staff give to young people and their families, alongside their formal education pathways.

We have had some fantastic achievements in Court ward over the years, including:

• Delivering the Welsh Quality Housing Standard (WQHS) on our Council housing, including new kitchens and bathrooms, external environmental improvements and roofs
• Built temporary housing pods on Court Road to help support homelessness
• New road surfaces, as well as keeping on top of pot holes and fly tipping
• Refurbished bus stops
• Improvements to Holton Road shops, including new signage and shutters, as well as pavements – leading to 7 new businesses opening
• Splash park on Pencoedtre fields
• Investment in our parks – Ty Iolo, Batts field & Bassett parks
• Develop a Community allotment, working with local organisations and volunteers
• Wild flower planting on verges and in parks

Overall I am proud to be an elected Councillor and community leader, it can be hard work but also extremely rewarding. My favourite time is spent talking to residents, albeit this has been limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic, hopefully this will improve in the near future and I can’t wait to meet up with residents at our Councillor surgeries for a chat or on the doors for our street surgeries.