A LOCAL authority has developed a blueprint to improve the standard of living in one of the most deprived areas in Wales.

Blaenau Gwent council has just published its Community Plan following widespread consultation over the last three years.

It will govern the actions and aims of every department for the next four years.

Councillor leader John Hopkins said: "This is a vital document.

"The plan must now be the document that takes us forward as a council in the way in which we regenerate the area, provide services to the community and listen to the community."

Contained within the plan is the aims and objectives to make Blaenau Gwent in 2009 a better place to live.

The area currently has one of the highest levels of unemployment and long-term sickness in Britain.

The ambitious community plan covers a wide range of areas such as regeneration, the environment, housing, transportation and lifelong learning.

It also involves co-operation with a large number of agencies such as ELWa, the National Assembly and local health boards.

In social services, the council plans to reduce the number of looked after children, increase the number of foster parents and reduce the number of families living in poverty.

In education, plans to improve attendance by achieving at least 91.5%, reduce the number of people leaving school without a recognised qualification by 2% each year and increase the number of teenagers gaining 5 A to C grades at GCSE to 46%.

To regenerate the area, the council hopes to attract a further £6.5 million in Objective One money by 2008, and increase the employment rate from the current level of 63% towards the Welsh average of 69.8%.

It also wants to raise the average wage in Blaenau Gwent from 84.4% of the Welsh level to 87.5%.

The plan has already been approved by Blaenau Gwent council but will now go to the National Assembly for consideration.

Councillor Hopkins said: "If we don't deliver on these issues, we will be seen to be failing. I'm confident we can deliver, however.

Independent Nantyglo councillor John Mason, who lives in one of the most deprived wards within Blaenau Gwent, said: "It's all very well producing a glossy brochure with many agreeable aims but I would like to see the improvements filter down to the grassroots.

"For example, I'm concerned the housing stock in Nantyglo will not meet targets set by the National Assembly without a massive cash injection.

"The roads in this neighbourhood are also in a terrible state and we are just patching them up."