Search Continues for New Council Chamber in Blaenau Gwent

THE search to find a new council chamber for Blaenau Gwent continues, as councillors reject a proposal to use Torfaen’s council’s chamber in Pontypool.
All Blaenau Gwent council meetings apart from one held in confidential session, have been held wholly online since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
While the pandemic is over, face to face full council meetings in Blaenau Gwent have not returned as they have done at other authorities.
This is because the council do not have a space big enough to potentially hold all councillors, staff, and members of the public at the Grade II listed former steelworks General Offices (GO) in Ebbw Vale.
Earlier this year a working group of councillors looked at a number of options for the return of face to face council meetings.
The preferred option put in front of councillors at a meeting on Thursday, September 26 was to use the facilities at Torfaen which came with a £1,800 hiring fee.
But as the debate started it was revealed that this option would not be backed by the ruling Labour group.
Council leader Labour’s Cllr Steve Thomas said: “The view of the Labour group is that at this point in time they don’t want to take up the offer, although they are thankful to Torfaen for the offer for putting that up.
“There’s some concerns around having meetings outside Blaenau Gwent.
“The cost issues are not great, but they are costs.
“Some people think they are not a necessity when we can do the same thing online as we are today.”
Cllr John Hill of the opposition Independent group had chaired the working group meetings.
Cllr Hill said: “This was set up because councillors wanted to get together.
“They felt they were losing something by not spending time together.
“The valuable time being pre and post meeting where you have a chat and learn a lot of stuff – that was the intention of the group.
“There’s members here that have probably not seen everyone in person, and this was set up to put it right.”
Cllr Hills explained out that the offer using the chamber in Torfaen provided: “everything and a bit more.”
Cllr Hill said: “It was all singing all dancing, and the view was it was a good option to get people together if they wanted to.”
Cllr Thomas stressed that Labour’s concerns were around “losing identity” and “cost issues” while thanking Cllr Hill for his hard work.
Independent Cllr Godfrey Thomas recalled travelling years ago to all Gwent Social Services meetings at the Torfaen council headquarters.
Cllr Thomas said: “The traffic going down to Pontypool was horrendous at times, queuing and queuing to get in.”
Council voted to continue holding meetings online and task the chief executive to explore solutions that includes using the Jack Williams room at the GO.
The working party would be kept in “abeyance” so they can look at any ideas for chambers as they pop up.
The GO effectively became the council’s headquarters after staff moved out of the Civic Centre in Ebbw Vale in 2020.
The decision to permanently leave and demolish the 1960s Civic Centre in Ebbw Vale was then taken in March 2021.
The building has now been demolished and it is expected that the site will be sold so that houses will be built there in the future. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​