Parking problems aired by town councillors

* The A5 is one the area's of town affected by parking problems.

 

The problem of parking came up for discussion by members of the Town Council at their meeting on Tuesday night.

Cllr Mike Pugh said “lots of liberties” with parking were being taken in Castle Street in particular.

He revealed how he had recently seen a vehicle left parked right by the traffic lights without attracting the attention of enforcement wardens.

Cllr Pugh added: “There ought to be a system where people are prosecuted for things like this by the traffic wardens or the police.”

Concerns were also raised about parking on the busy A5 opposite Stan’s store.

Cllr Tim Palmer said there was a “strong argument” for the whole of Berwyn Street and Regent Street, which form the main A5 through the town, having double yellow lines to prevent all parking.

It was agreed that all these concerns should be raised with the county council or the police. 

Campaigner replies on Town Council health discussion

We have received this letter from campaigner Martin Crumpton  in response to the story we published on Wednesday about the discussion at the previous evening’s Town Council meeting on proposed health changes in Llangollen:

Dear Llanblogger,

I read your article entitled “Town Council works out response to health shake-up” and I write in response to set the record straight.

I and other campaigners found out about Betsi Cadwaladr’s intentions at the beginning of August, as did everyone. Being somewhat seasoned campaigners, we knew that we had to begin our work immediately, even before the ten-week consultation period had begun, on September 20^th.

We were not alone in knowing we had to use every day available to us: so did Conwy, Prestatyn, Ruthin, Flint, Mold, Chirk, and many others in the same boat as us. The common thread of all these campaigns is they were either wholly supported by their town councils or actually led by them.

A number of us asked the Town Council for a public meeting. They could have done this themselves, without us prompting them. Instead they advised against it, so we had to organise our own public meeting, and even call for a local referendum.

The Town Council claimed they didn’t yet have enough information to give a response, yet as of their last Town Council meeting, 16^th October, neither they nor we know anything materially different from what we knew in early August.

They promised to give their reaction at the next convenient Town Council meeting, but at that meeting they decided to attend the consultation instead, to find out more detail. As before, they’re no wiser now than they were at the beginning of August.

We, the campaigners, on the other hand, have lobbied the Press and got several front page stories, had our message broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru and the BBC News website, gained the support of Mark Isherwood AM, Aled Roberts AM, and Llyr Gruffydd AM, and now Ken Skates has come on board with our message that we need to retain the hospital until its proposed replacement is up and running. We have written to the Health Minister, Mary Burrows, the Health Council, spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, organised a number of petitions and communicated our news far and wide in the community.

The Town Council, by comparison, has done nothing until twelve days before the end of the consultation period, and hasn’t even agreed the wording of their “response”. That’s to be finalised by the Town Clerk, apparently.

Perhaps this shows how high a priority the issue is with the Town Council, but we note the remarks by Cllr Mike Pugh and Cllr Tony Baker which fly in the face of the Mayor’s and the Town Clerk’s assertions of being “proactive” and “thoughtful and diligent”.

We could have joined forces and been far more effective, but the Town Council did not engage with us, and made no effort whatsoever to galvanise the town’s residents.

There will be a deciding vote [on the health service changes] in The Senedd in December. Perhaps the Town Council would like to become proactive, thoughtful and diligent in the little time we have left and engage with the people it purports to represent.

It could do no worse than look to other town councils in Conwy, Prestatyn, Ruthin, Flint, Mold, Chirk, and many others in the same boat as us and take their lead from them, instead of being the odd one out.

Martin Crumpton

"Mindless vandalism" at Riverside Park

* Picnic tables were torn out of the ground and dumped in the bandstand at Riverside Park, says a councillor.

A member highlighted what he branded an act of “mindless, wanton vandalism” during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Town Council.

Cllr Tony Baker said it happened in Riverside Park where vandals had recently ripped two picnic tables out of the ground and thrown them on to the bandstand.

However, he said he believed whoever was responsible had been caught on CCTV in the process.

Town clerk J Gareth Thomas said the tables had been taken away for repair by the county council’s countryside services team and that when they were returned to the park the intention was to anchor them more firmly into the ground.

A number of councillors mentioned other instances of anti-social behaviour in the town and Mr Thomas said he would invite a police representative to attend the next council meeting.

He also told members that it could be time to start looking at replacing some of the town centre’s CCTV cameras as technology had moved on since they were first installed some years ago.

Work on new locomotive steaming ahead

* An artist's impression of how The Unknown Warrior will look on its launch day in 2018.  

 

 * Daniel Williams, left, from Wrexham, and Jon Zuloaga from Spain have been working on The Unknown Warrior.

 

SPECIALIST engineers at Llangollen Railway are steaming ahead on an ambitious £1.5 million project to build an entirely new locomotive to mark the centenary of the end of World War One in six years time. 

And early next month railway buffs can see for themselves how the steam engine, to be known as The Unknown Warrior to commemorate those who died in the 1914-18 conflict, is taking shape in the railway’s own workshops. 

The LMS-Patriot Project  was launched by heritage railway enthusiast David Bradshaw with the aim of building a new Patriot class loco, the originals of which ran in the 1920s and 30s.

This will tour heritage railways across the country and will also be capable of running on the mainline rail network.

 

Target date to have it rolling is the 100^th anniversary of the Armistice on November 11,  2018.

Cash for the project is coming from pubic donations, legacies , commercial sponsorship and grant applications.

It has received the endorsement of the Royal British Legion, and the engine will carry a Legion crest above its nameplate.

Many original LMS drawings have been obtained for the project and, where necessary,  draughtsmen are preparing new drawings using computer techniques which produce them in 3D.

Assembly of the The Unknown Warrior began in 2009 led by Dave Owen, chief mechanical engineer of Llangollen Railway Works.

Other workshops around the UK are making components for the new loco, including the Boro Foundry at Stourbridge, the South Devon Railway, LNWR Heritage and Tyseley Locomotive Works.

To mark Remembrance Day, visitors will be given guided tours of the project on Saturday and Sunday, November 3 and 4.

They will see that the massive steel frames – or chassis - of The Unknown warrior have now been laid using heavy gauge steel plate and enormous castings at a cost of £48,000.

Dave Owen, the man in charge of the project, explained that the next stages are to install the steam parallel boiler.

Roughly the length of a single-decker bus and three times as heavy, this will cost £500,000.

Fundraising for it began in May this year  with the national launch of an appeal at Crewe.

LNWR Heritage in Crewe, the company founded by pop mogul and steam enthusiast Pete Waterman, will be building the boiler.

Next after the boiler will come the fitting of the loco’s six 6ft high wheels iron wheels, which are now being cast at the Boro Foundry at a total cost of £60,000.

The “tyres” which encase the wheels and the axles on which they will turn are both being sourced from specialists in South Africa.

While some of the components for the engine are new, others are being reclaimed from scrap or bought from private railway collections.

The chimney which will sit proudly on top of the finished loco is actually from an original Patriot class engine and currently sits on the workshop floor ready to be lifted into place.

While Llangollen Railway runs almost entirely on volunteer power, the workshop has about a dozen paid and highly specialised staff, many of whom are working on the Patriot project, which will bring in much-needed revenue for the heritage operation.

If building The Unknown Warrior has an international feel because of where its components are coming from, so has the workforce.

Because among those involved on Patriot is 21-year-old Jon Zuloava from Bilbao in northern Spain who is currently on a spell of work experience in Llangollen.

He said: “I have been here since April and have enjoyed working on the project very much as it is so interesting.”

To keep the project steaming along, regular cash contributions are needed.

As Dave Owen said: “This is a very expensive thing to build and the people behind it have come up with a scheme in which various parts can be sponsored

“That can be anything from a simple nut at £2 right up to a complex driving wheel casing for £9,000.”

He added: “I’d say this has been a complex project to work in within the range of basic engineering but everyone is finding it very interesting.”

Llangollen Railway spokesman George Jones said: “It means great cudos for us that our workshop is putting this unique steam locomotive together.”    

On November 3 and 4 the Poppy Train will run out of Llangollen Station proudly wearing its own poppy. 

The service will depart at 11am, 1pm and 3pm on both days for a period of quiet reflection.  

There will be free entry to the workshops to see the Patriot project at specific times on both days with a valid train ticket.  

Tickets: Adults £12, seniors £10, children £6, family £30. 

Business life continues for Stephanie Booth

llanblogger brings you the following story courtesy of the Leader

STEPHANIE Booth has no intention of calling time on her business career.
The colourful businesswoman and one-time prospective Wrexham FC owner (pictured right) has spoken of her delight at seeing all four of her hotels in the Llangollen Hotels chain sold, more than a year after that part of her business empire suddenly collapsed.
In a rare interview, Mrs Booth has also revealed the philosophical approach she adopts to life following the hotel group’s collapse.
Mrs Booth, 66, insists she is not contemplating retirement and is pursuing other business avenues.
“I’ve been overseas for a few weeks but I can’t say anything more than that,”she told the Leader.
“I really do not think we are ready to retire.
“It is my belief we should keep going, it is not in our nature to retire.”
In July 2011 Llangollen Hotels’ parent company Global Investment Group was placed into administration.
This led to four hotels in the Llangollen and Llandegla areas being put up for sale, with all having now been taken over and continuing to operate as hotels.
Mrs Booth, who ran the hotels with husband David, has expressed her pleasure at seeing her former colleagues stay in work.
“Although this doesn’t have any direct impact on me personally, I am pleased to see they have been sold,” she said.
“My concern is for the staff and I am just glad their futures all appear to have been secured.
“From what I have been told the people that work at the hotels seem to be happy and like the new owners. I am very glad to hear that.”
Reflecting on her time in the hotel trade, Mrs Booth said: “We were never remote bosses.
“The workers called us by our Christian names. They were both colleagues and our friends.
“We did hotels because we loved them, we had a really good run. I loved to see happy customers, it was really rewarding but hard work.
“What happened in the end was out of our hands.”
Mrs Booth has continually insisted the collapse of the hotel group was due to issues over settling a large tax bill.
She said the couple are now only involved in one hotel, The Anchor in Ruthin.
The Wynnstay Arms in Wrexham closed suddenly in July last year, leaving staff out of work and couples’ wedding day plans left in tatters, but it has since reopened.
The closure of The Wynnstay came just months after Mrs Booth emerged as a contender to buy Wrexham FC, with the club eventually being taken over by the Wrexham Supporters Trust.
Looking back on the events of 2011, Mrs Booth has a philosophical attitude.
“The world is a cruel place,” she said. “Nobody promised us it would be easy.
“I believe you cannot live life with regrets. I don’t hate anybody, I think that destroys you.
“I always recognise we live in a very privileged society in Britain.
“I’m always conscious I could have been born in a very poor country, but we are very privileged here.”

Town Council works out response to health shake-up

Town councillors worked out their official response to controversial plans to shake up health services in Llangollen at their meeting on Tuesday night.

Although the precise wording has yet to be worked out by the town clerk, this will be along the lines of a suggestion from the mayor, Cllr John Haddy, that there must be some certainty that if the Cottage Hospital closes as proposed, the services it currently provides will continue to be delivered locally until a planned new health centre is opened.

The closure of the hospital and its replacement with a new health facility, possibly on the site of the derelict River Lodge just up the road, is proposed by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) as part of a major programme of changes to services across the region.

The current public consultation exercise on the programme ends on October 28.

The plan has already sparked a backlash in Llangollen and led recently to calls for a local referendum to be held on the issue.

Last Monday evening at a public meeting hosted by newly-formed action group Keep Llangollen Health Services (KLHS) there were calls for a mass letter-writing campaign to oppose the loss of any local health facilities.

The Town Council has in the past come under fire for not playing a more active role in the issue.

As its official response to the consultation was being discussed on Tuesday evening, these criticisms were referred to by Cllr Mike Pugh.

Explaining that he had attended the KLHS public meeting, he said: “There was a feeling there that there should have been more input from the Town Council.

And Cllr Tony Baker said: “I have been asked by members of the public why the Town Council has not been more proactive.”

The mayor replied that there had been a group who called for a referendum under legislation that was not appropriate.

He added: “Although we advised that this was not the way forward they decided to go ahead anyway.

“There are two problems with that – first, it put us in a position where we could not support that and, second, the emphasis was on a referendum rather than the health board’s proposals.

“We were proactive but there are limits to the areas in which we can act.”

Town clerk J Gareth Thomas said: “We have been thoughtful and diligent in the way we have taken it forward.”

Concerns were voiced by a number of councillors about the possibility of a lengthy time gap between the hospital being closed and a new heath centre opening.

Cllr Robert Lube said: “I accept that it is not really economical to keep the hospital going and I like the idea of the new health centre but I am concerned about that gap.”

And Cllr Tim Palmer said: “We must express to the health board that while the investment is very welcome, we have to ensure that no services are lost.”

Summing up the response to BCUHB, the mayor said: “We need to make sure that services we already have are, as an interim measure, guaranteed.” 

Hillsborough survivor welcomes new probes

NEWS that police wrong-doing at Hillsborough will be the subject of two major investigations has been welcomed by a survivor of the tragedy.

Last week, 56-year-old Kelvin “Kelly” Davies (pictured right), who works as a machine operator at the Dobson & Crowther factory in Llangollen, gave his harrowing account to llanblogger of how he narrowly survived the human crush at the Sheffield Wednesday stadium, which claimed the lives of 96 fans in April, 1989.  

He told of how he watched a young boy die beside him but was himself plucked to safety by a friend and carried away from the body-strewn terraces by fellow Liverpool fans on an advertising hoarding torn from the side of the pitch.

It has now been announced that two separate probes are to be carried out into the disaster by  the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is the police watchdog body, and the Director of Public prosecutions.

They will both be looking at whether crimes were committed by the police.

The IPCC said both serving and former officers would be investigated over the deaths of the fans and they will consider if individuals or corporate bodies should be charged.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel last month revealed 164 police statements were altered - 116 of them to remove or change negative comments about the policing of the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Sheffield stadium.

It said police and emergency services had made "strenuous attempts" to deflect the blame for the disaster on to fans.

The panel also found that 41 of the 96 who died had the "potential to survive" and calls have been made for fresh inquests.

Kelly Davies, who lives in Rhosymedre, said: “I welcome both these investigations.

“The report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel last month opened up a can of worms and these new inquiries which have been announced are unprecedented in British legal history.

“Now I want to see this taken one step further and the inquests into the disaster re-opened.

“This time there should be verdicts of corporate manslaughter rather than accidental death.”

Mr Davies, who stills sees images of the boy who died beside him in the crush of the terraces, added: “It is wrong that it has taken 23 years to get where we are today with this.

“For those of us who were there that day this has been hanging over our heads all that time.

“At the time The Sun newspaper said awful things about how Liverpool fans behaved and mud sticks.

“For years and years it has been as though we were to blame for the deaths of our 96 fans.”

Deputy chair of the IPCC Deborah Glass said "without a shadow of a doubt" it would be the biggest ever investigation carried out into police behaviour in the UK.

Both South Yorkshire Police, who dealt with the tragedy, and West Midlands Police, who investigated how South Yorkshire handled the disaster, will come under scrutiny.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC,  said in a statement: “Having read and considered the report published by the Hillsborough Independent Panel on 12 September 2012 and liaised with the Home Office and Independent Police Complaints Commission, I have concluded that the Crown Prosecution Service should consider all the material now available in relation to the tragic events on 15 April 1989, including the material made available by the Independent Panel.

“The purpose of this exercise is to identify what the focus of any further criminal investigation should be in order for the CPS to determine whether there is now sufficient evidence to charge any individual or corporate body with any criminal offence. All potential offences that may have been committed and all potential defendants will be considered.

“In carrying out this exercise, the CPS will work closely with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

“Through the Right Reverend James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool, I have today communicated my decision to the bereaved families and their representatives and indicated that, in conjunction the IPCC, the CPS intends to keep them fully informed of developments and to take such views as they express into account.”