AS THE leader of Monmouthshire County Council I’m conscious that the decisions and actions we take have a significant impact on people’s lives in Monmouthshire, whether it’s on the sort of places you live, how you travel, the jobs you do or the community facilities and services available.

The council has recently approved a really important document called ‘A Monmouthshire that works for everyone’, which is a plan setting out the actions we’ll work on for the next four years, taking us to the end of our political term in 2022.

This corporate plan re-states the council’s purpose of building sustainable and resilient communities.

We collected a lot of evidence including things residents and businesses have told us and used this to set out the direction and ambition of the council to deliver services now and plan for the long-term future of Monmouthshire.

Included in the plan are five goals that we believe will have the biggest impact on well-being in the county.

These are:

  • The best possible start in life

  • Thriving and connected communities

  • Natural and built environment

  • Lifelong well-being

  • A future-focused council

Each of these five goals includes a number of programmes, 22 in total, to which the council is committed between now and 2022.

Many of the things we are doing are incredibly ambitious.

We recognise it’s not enough to keep our county and council going for now - we have to ensure we look forward and find ways to meet future needs.

We are already delivering on some of the commitments.

For example, we are proud of our great schools and have invested tens of millions to make them even better, and we are part of the Cardiff Capital Region, offering the potential to bring economic benefits to the area.

We recognise with less money we will not be able to keep doing everything that we have done in the past.

We will continue to listen to our communities, find out what matters to them and focus on these areas.

We are keen to help communities build resilience and we believe in and are committed to social justice and supporting a fair and equal society.

Whether you are a resident, a local business owner, involved in an organisation or a visitor I encourage you to read the plan at monmouthshire.gov.uk/improvement and become involved in helping build the future we want.

The future Monmouthshire deserves.