Council Leader calls for tax office rethink
Council Leader, Cllr Russell Roberts, has released details of the representations he has made to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs regarding the proposed closure of its Pontypridd tax office and relocation to Cardiff.
Speaking at a Council meeting following a presentation from the Public Commercial Services Union on the subject, Cllr Roberts declared that the Council opposed the proposal currently under consultation and that he had written to HMRC Chairman Paul Gray to express the Council’s serious reservations over what he saw as inconsistencies with existing policies to promote the dispersion of jobs and prosperity into the Valleys.
The Council also supported a Motion moved by Cllr Geraint Hopkins and seconded by Cllr Teressa Bates against HMRC’s plans.
The proposal that HMRC has published for consultation is for the four offices within the ‘Cardiff Urban Centre’ to be merged and co-located at Ty Glas at Llanishen in Cardiff. This would mean the closure of offices at Pontypridd, Newport and elsewhere in Cardiff. Although a review of the office in Merthyr Tydfil is yet to be undertaken, Cllr Roberts also said that the centralising of those jobs in Cardiff would also be opposed if such a plan materialised.
Cllr Russell Roberts, Leader of RCT CBC, said:
“I have conveyed my severe reservations at these proposals in writing to the HMRC Chairman Paul Gray as they would see the loss of 57 jobs from Rhondda Cynon Taf to Cardiff.
The centralising of jobs away from areas such as Pontypridd would be inconsistent with major public sector policies in Wales such as the Convergence Programme, which will bring £1.3 Billion into West Wales and the Valleys, the £500 Heads of the Valleys Programme, and the Assembly Government’s own job relocation programme that has seen a new Assembly office in Merthyr Tydfil.
Given the regional approach to regeneration, particularly in the Heads of the Valleys area, we would be also concerned if HMRC announced similar plans to centralise its Merthyr Tydfil office.
In the Council, we are working with the Assembly Government to promote more jobs in the Valleys and develop the Rhondda Cynon Taf economy, building up the consumer support for local businesses that high employment makes possible.
HMRC’s proposal needs a dramatic rethink. We are trying to establish more jobs in Rhondda Cynon Taf not see them moved somewhere else and that is the clear message I have given on behalf of the Council.”
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Last revised on: 27/7/2007