Neath Port Talbot Residents asked to get creative over Let’s Talk Campaign

Neath Port Talbot Council is inviting people of all ages who live and work in Neath Port Talbot to send in videos, poems, essays, and pictures as part of its Let’s Talk campaign.

The campaign, launched in July, is aimed at using the views of people who live and work locally to inform the Recovery Plan for Neath Port Talbot after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The campaign does not ask people to respond to any proposals – its sole aim is to invite them to talk to the council about what matters to them most and what they’d like Neath Port Talbot to look like, five, ten and 15 years into the future.

The Let’s Talk campaign has been visible on posters on signs and many other places – online and offline – with people asked to communicate their ideas for a better NPT in a variety of ways, such as visiting the website www.npt.gov.uk/letstalk, looking out for #LetsTalkNPT online, emailing via letstalk@npt.gov.uk or go straight to the council’s online questionnaire here : https://wh.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=162645354073 .

But you can also get creative – by sending in pictures or videos  of what you really like in the area – and what you really don’t like and there will also be a chance to write poetry or essays about where you live and how you’d like that place to be in the future.

The idea is that you set the agenda for recovery from the pandemic.

And all those who complete a Let’s Talk survey form can enter into a prize draw – details and terms and conditions here: https://www.npt.gov.uk/29613 .

Whether it’s a short clip explaining your views in somewhere like Gnoll Country Park, or one of our valley areas or the seafront at Aberavon Beach – we want to see and hear your creative content.  You can send your pictures and videos to letstalk@npt.gov.uk. (Large files may have to use formats such as Dropbox).

You can also DM us on our social media channels and tag us in your Instagram story.

Instagram users can create a video on their own story and tag us in it by using @nptcouncil. Videos will only be live for 24 hrs so we would ask those using the format to save the content for us. People can direct message us text/image/video on Facebook and Twitter messenger via our page directly.

More than a thousand people – including some as young as three years old – have already given their views. Here are just some examples the campaign has gathered so far of what matters to people most in terms of Neath Port Talbot’s future:

• That the community spirit grows.
• Local businesses thrive.
• People being connected to nature.
• The council ‘putting NPT on the map’ in terms of some of our magnificent local attractions.
• Looking after and developing our environment.
• Green spaces, peace, spaces to improve wellbeing, leisure facilities, walks.
• Heritage and its preservation.
• Safe, vibrant towns.
• More police officers and more funding for them.
• Bringing more shops to our high streets.
• Greater support for carers.

And here are some answers to survey questions from local three-year-olds…

• Q What matters now? A Mummy and friends.
• Q What matters for the future? A Superheroes, playing and being happy.
• What matters now? Bella the princess.
• What matters for the future? Playing with horses.