Happy New Year to you and your family. Here’s to 2026 🍻and I hope it brings you happiness and success.

👉🏽 “The only way Newport will get the love and affection it deserves is if people start thinking about it differently.” For too long people have listened to lazy journalists or those loud local voices who only offer negativity. Watch out for our plans 2026! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Pleased we have released our AI and automation policy for Newport City Council. It will form the framework to maximise the benefits of AI, while guarding against its pitfalls and fallibilities. We must press ahead in adopting new technologies to deliver better public services more efficiently.

A really energising meeting with Mike Flynn. Our shared commitment to Newport’s future was front and centre as we talked honestly about what’s working, what needs to change, and the steps to take to help the city realise its full potential.

Keep the date in your diary, Newport’s music trail is back next year. It’s free and across multiple venues across the city. Headliner is the one and only GLC. These are the first acts to be announced more to follow in the New Year.

The Wales Technology Awards was an incredible event. It showcased the best technology firms based here in Wales. Heartening to see so many cutting-edge Welsh technology firms. They will be the foundation of Wales’ new economy.

Major improvement for Newport. In 2019, Newport had 24% of the most deprived areas in Wales. In 2025, it has dropped to 18% - a 6% drop. Across all Pillgwenlly areas, we saw significant progress. We are getting Newport on the right track. www.gov.wales/welsh-index-...

Early morning for us local councillors. Huge thanks to the local community volunteers & Nathan Thomas from Keep Wales Tidy for joining. Bigger thank you to the queen of Newport litter picks @Julie27Rose who organised it. We collected 67 bags of litter. Let’s keep our city clean💪🏽

Absolutely fantastic announcement from UK gov for South Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. £10bn investment and will create at least 5000 jobs. Newport already leading the way on this. We will maximise the opportunities this provides for our residents and businesses. businessnewswales.com/south-wales-...

Fantastic Newport xmas lights switch on with Peter Andre. A big thank you to Newport Now and council staff for organising and delivering and to Newport City Radio for hosting the event. The city centre was absolutely packed. Joy to see.

This is our city’s highly impressive youth council and youth service team. I joined them at their anti-bullying workshop. It is anti-bullying week and they pressed upon us the scale of the situation and what more we can all do to help tackle this situation. Amazing video guys!

Here is Red Watch based at station 45, Malpas. I want to thank them for giving me a tour of the station, highlighting some of the amazing work they do & for their service to our communities. They save lives in Newport, and the rest of South Wales, all year round.

Guess who will be doing Newport’s Christmas lights switch on this year? 🎅🌲

Always a privilege to attend and speak at the Chartist Memorial at Newport Cathedral. The fight for democracy should always be remembered as those rights, which were hard earned, need to be defended by every generation.

Newport in the Guardian. We are going for boom 💪🏽💰https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/02/global-datacentre-boom-investment-debt

Delighted we can announce free car parking at council owned car parks across the city centre every Saturday between November 15 & December 27. Newport Bus to support with launch of a £13 app-exclusive ticket that allows up to four people all-day travel across city www.newport.gov.uk/newsroom/202...

Delighted there will be an East team & positive news for the city of Newport. I took an early stance against the original proposal & with the support of the entire council we made our feelings clear to the WRU. However, solidarity to one of the West teams & fans www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/...

Senior execs of Microsoft & myself speaking to national & international journalists about the new data centre at Newport. My message: This is only the beginning of the city’s rebirth. This development alone creates circa 2000 jobs for local people, according to a WPI report.

From the bottom up, we will fight wealth inequality, so no Newport community feels left behind. This will be led by local groups 💪🏽. Duffryn will be the first to benefit, but it won’t be the last.

I got into politics to try & make a positive difference. That is why we are committing £500,000 to a new no one left behind fund, starting in Duffryn. Local groups will choose the projects. Thanks to Lliswerry Independents for working with us on this. democracy.newport.gov.uk/documents/s337…

Excited to start our collaboration with LSE. Time for Newport to reach beyond the Welsh ecosystem. 5 cabinet members & 5 officers will have access to experts in behavioural science, modernising services & much more as part of LSE cities initiative. All focused on delivering better public services.

Newport at the top table where it belongs. We are the only Welsh city part of the Bloomberg & London School of Economics (LSE) leadership initiative. Delighted to join cities like Madrid, Turin, Oslo & many more. We will forge a city fit for now, our children & our grandchildren

Newport’s state of the art new leisure centre with two pools and lazy river is progressing.

Important we unite as a city & clearly stand against WRU’s proposal to cut the number of regions from 4 to 2. I’ve already made our position clear, but I hope all cllrs from across the political spectrum support the motion below and sign the letter to the WRU @dragonsrfc.bsky.social

Lovely to welcome the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Derek Walker, to Newport. He and his team wanted to discuss the great strides we are making in harnessing data and AI to improve our performance, improve residents lives and deliver more for less. @futuregencymru.bsky.social

Delighted to confirm we are building a brand new primary school in Bettws, an £18m investment. All our children and staff deserve the best facilities. More investments in our schools to be announced in the coming months. (Disclaimer - the image is not a real representation 😂)

Today at Cabinet I announced £450,000 for a state of the art CCTV system for the city centre & start getting Newport ready for the 21st century by creating a Smart City & developing a digital twin. By harnessing the power of real-time data, we will make Newport safer & smarter.

Grateful to the council’s grounds team for putting up with me for a few hours. I wanted to see first-hand the great job they do, amongst many things, maintaining our flower beds across the city.

We are blessed to have an historic & great rugby club like Newport RFC. We will always support them. We must also retain Dragons RFC in Newport & Gwent. Newport City council will continue to support & work in lock step with the club to maintain professional elite rugby.

Another significant step for Newport’s economic future: the construction of a new Microsoft AI data centre. This is part of Microsoft’s £2.5bn investment in the UK. Positive conversation with the Head of Microsoft UK about a training centre where we could upskill local people.

Lots of community events taking place across Newport. Fun-filled sport, music and many other activities.

While visiting our schools, headteachers have told us about things that need doing at their school. We listened & I’m super pleased we have managed to grant over £1m to 8 schools before the end of term, including 100k to Malpas Park Primary for a new perimeter fence & gates.

Honoured to be asked to speak at the AI Unconference (a non structured conference) at the Spark building, Cardiff Uni. The benefits of AI for public services are clear: better services for less taxpayers money. Risks: being left behind.

After visiting Newport Wastesavers recycling centre & saw the scale of the operation, I asked for all cllrs to be invited to visit. The centre collects 22,000 tonnes of waste a year & we have a recycle rate of 71.41%. The highest performing city in the UK. Thanks to all residents.

Very pleased to announce at cabinet today extra investments for the people and city of Newport: - £100k into our youth services to expand our provision. - £250k fund for the roll out of road safety measures around the city - £150k to support more cultural and events in the city.

Today we are announcing an extra £2m, on top of the over £4m previously announced, for road resurfacing and repair across Newport. We are at the procurement stage of these major works, so bear with us, but you can see our plan. www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/2522106...

The only way we cut down lengthy bureaucracy, save taxpayer money & increase our effectiveness in this age of speed & convenience is by harnessing the power of technology and data. www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/2521488...

People ask why I’m bullish on Newport’s future. Today KLA opened a $137M world-class facility here, creating 750 skilled, high-paying jobs. They build machines that make the chips powering the AI revolution—98% of which are exported. British advanced manufacturing, right on our doorstep.

Truly privileged to be re-elected Leader of Newport Council. This city has bags of potential & community spirit. First year anniversary, I’ve visited & listened to many groups & residents; focused on their issues & delivered a bread-and-butter budget to start tackling them. Excited for what’s ahead.

Important conference today for Cardiff Capital Region about skills. We, through cross-sectoral partnerships, have to get better at harnessing and upgrading the skills of our residents, so they can get higher paying jobs and continue to drive an economic boom for the entire region.

A pleasure to visit Newport cricket club, led by the legends Dave & Mike Knight. They are absolute stalwarts of Newport Cricket. Completely volunteer run that has an amazing history & booming boys and girls teams of all ages. 1st team also beat Cardiff first game of the season 😬

Great visits to Newport Nursery, St Julian’s, Llanmartin and Glan Usk primary schools. Amazing schools, staff and pupils.

Taking in beautiful views of the Wales Coast Path with Amanda and @dimitribatrouni.bsky.social Just 4-min walk from the Six Bells which closed in 2018. The community has a plan to bring it back to life as a place to meet, buy local produce and learn more about the Gwent Levels! #savethesixbells

Good to catch up with the leader and deputy leader of Caerphilly council today. We are committed to working together and in partnership to maximise opportunities for Caerphilly and Newport.

Fantastic to be part of the delegation starting ABPs Newport Marathon and half marathon. Good luck to all the runners 🏃‍♂️

Footfall up again in the city centre, with visitor numbers up 10.3% on Saturdays & for the whole of the month of March it was up 18,000 people compared to last year. Why I know Newport is on the verge of becoming an economic and cultural powerhouse again. www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/mylocal...

We have started the work cleaning the Civic clock tower, as promised. This will take a few weeks, but it will be worth it.

Continuing the journey of visiting every school in Newport. Today, the amazing schools of Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd, Alway & Eveswell primaries. We are lucky to have incredible staff offering our children the best start in life. I’m always struck by how our staff go above and beyond for our children

Deputy leader & I visited our city centre youth service hub. What a brilliant team; their commitment to our young people is second to none. They showed us the new VR headsets for anti-gang and knife education, which is all about real-life scenarios and making the right choice.

Gorgeous day for the St David’s Hospice half marathon in Newport. I’m looking forward to it. Good luck to all those running 🏃‍♂️.