Tide of new betting shops should be stemmed, says Skates

Clwyd South Assembly Member Ken Skates has called for councils to be given stronger powers to stem the numbers of betting shops popping up on high streets in North Wales.

The AM (pictured below) said the recent closure of major retail stores such as Peacocks, Game and JJB Sports as well as scores of small independent shops on the High Street risked more Betting shops opening up in their place. 

 

He believes local councils needed to have stronger planning powers to restrict their numbers in disadvantaged areas.

A report last year for the High Streets First campaign said more than a third of betting shops in Wales are in the most deprived communities.

 

Mr Skates said: "In the last year alone we have seen major retail players such as Clinton Cards, Blacks, Peacocks, Game and JJB Sports all disappear form the High Street, in addition to the recent problems HMV and Blockbuster have suffered. Added to this, scores of small independent shops have also closed their doors.

“The risk is that in the next few months and years these vacant properties will be taken up by betting shops, which prey on vulnerable communities and disadvantaged areas hit hard by unemployment and joblessness.

“In areas like Wrexham, as it is across North Wales, High Streets are more than just a collection of shopping outlets, they form part of the soul of the town. We can’t let the high street become clustered with these addictive betting shops.

“A recent report I did as part of the Assembly’s Enterprise and Business Committee highlighted that vacant sites in our Town Centres now account for 11.5% of all High Street premises, a figure indeed higher than the overall UK average.

“Planning rules need to be changed to allow local authorities in North Wales to stop the excessive spread of betting shops and the clustering of outlets in run down high streets.

“All too often in North Wales you find a row of bookmakers, empty shops and loan companies on a high street, with very little diversity in between. It represents a very unappealing offer to potential investors and seriously affects the way people see their own high street.

“Often this happens because planning rules allow stores with the same ‘use’ license to replace a similar store. So when a café, shop or bank closes in my constituency a new one can open up regardless of the numbers of similar such outlets nearby.

“At the moment bookmakers fall into the same category as banks, which are financial services so it means these facilities can be changed into betting shops without our democratically elected local authorities having a say. This must change.”

Campaign begins over axed hospitals

According to the Daily Post this morning (Friday) Health Minister Lesley Griffiths must intervene in a health board’s decision to transfer intensive care services for the most at-risk newborns to England and controversial plan to axe hospitals and services.

See the full story at:

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2013/01/25/call-for-health-minister-to-step-in-over-north-wales-hospital-cut-and-baby-care-move-55578-32676849/

Chamber feels "cheated" over Sainsbury's plan

MEMBERS of Llangollen Chamber of Trade and Tourism believe they have been “cheated” over the controversial plan to build a new Sainsbury’s supermarket in the town.

And they say that if they had known the outcome of  Denbighshire County Council’s planning process they would not have supported the scheme in the first place. 

They also accuse Sainsbury’s of “riding roughshod” over local opinion. 

When the details of the scheme to build a 20,000 square foot food store on land currently occupied by the Dobson & Crowther print works off Berwyn Street was first revealed the chamber decided that rather than object to the application it would support it. 

This was on the strict understanding conditions would be imposed preventing a café being operated on the premises, there would be no delicatessen or butchers counters and that pedestrian access to the town from the supermarket car park would be changed. 

Chamber chair John Palmer stressed these stipulations when he made a short presentation to the planning committee as it considered the application last October. 

The committee approved the plan subject to certain conditions but the formal certificate of decisions later indicated there would be no café permitted. 

Some of the other conditions were rather vague, according to the chamber.  

Soon afterwards the developers submitted an appeal against some of the conditions, including the one covering the café ban, and it became clear they were in fact seeking an extension of the original café area.  

When it was considered last December, the planning committee decided to uphold the appeal despite another presentation from Mr Palmer objecting to the proposal on the basis the town stood to lose a considerable amount of passing trade.   

Mr Palmer said this week: “In the discussions with the developers before the application was submitted it was made very clear to them the chamber would object to a café as part of the development and we were led to believe that it would not be included in the application.  

“The reason for objection to a cafe was to protect existing café businesses in the town centre.

 “The fact that it was included but rejected as part of the committee’s original decision suggested that the outcome was satisfactory.  

“However, the results of the appeal now mean that some of those businesses are vulnerable.” 

Mr Palmer added: “There would appear to be no legal redress for  the chamber and members feel the planning committee succumbed to the power of large organisations and were afraid of any legal challenge if they failed to uphold the appeal.  

“Our members now feel cheated and had they known the outcome of the café issue, would not have supported the original application.  

“The power of the supermarket over local opinion has succeeded again.”

Responding to this story when it was carried in the Leader yesterday (Thursday) Andrew Sanderson, development manager for Sainsbury’s, said: “While Sainsbury’s has not been leading on this supermarket application, we met several local people including John Palmer during public consultation.

“We do not feel a small coffee bar in the supermarket would compete with the range of cafés in the town. Customers use our cafés while doing their food shopping, not as a destination.

“An independent retail consultant commenting on the planning application agreed a café is unlikely to be as attractive to most tourists as existing facilities, which we accept are primarily serving a tourist market.

“Sainsbury’s wants to work with the town and has already offered free marketing space in the store for use by local independent businesses.

“We want to encourage shoppers using the store to also make trips into the town to enjoy the hospitality Llangollen has to offer.”

A spokesman for Denbighshire Council said: “All of the planning applications relating to the food store development in Llangollen have followed a due process of consultation, assessment and determination by the elected members of the planning committee.

“Decisions have been made having regard to all representations received and in accordance with adopted planning policies and guidance.”

Historic US church backs eisteddfod choral contest

 

* The Welsh Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles.

One of America’s most historic churches - where Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins attended a memorial service for his mother - has backed a major choral competition back home in Wales.

The Welsh Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles held its final service last month after 124 years but its legacy will support the Male Voice Choir competition at the world famous Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod for the next three years.

The church was founded in Los Angeles in 1888 when the West was still wild and when the city had a population of fewer than 50,000 – these days it is the second biggest in the USA with nearly four million inhabitants.

It had a proud history too - its choir sang at the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in 1938 and at the San Diego World’s Fair in 1935.

They also played a part in another piece of Hollywood history, singing and taking walk-on roles in How Green Was My Valley, which won the 1941 Best Picture Oscar and Best Director award for John Ford.

So it was a sad day when the last service was held on Sunday, December 16, according to Gwyn Phillips, (pictured below with wife Mair dressed for a St David's Day event) a retired insurance broker, now 81, originally from Cwmfelinfach, near Newport, and who emigrated to Canada in 1956.

He met his wife, Mair, a Welsh-speaking nurse from Llysfaen, Colwyn Bay, there and they moved to LA in 1960 and have been there ever since, bringing up three children, David Wyn, Bryn Morgan and Glenda Elen.

Gwyn was an elder of the church and Mair a deacon and he said: “The church has been around for a long time but for the last five or ten years numbers have been declining and we weren’t really able to carry on.

“It was a synagogue and we bought it from the Jews in 1929 and now we’re selling it back to them as a heritage centre – it must be the only Welsh church with five or six Stars of David in the windows.

“We used to hold a regular Cymanfa Ganu and that was very popular and so was the three-day weekend eisteddfod we had and whenever there was a Welsh choir in southern California we’d try and invite them and we’ve had the Llanelli and Rhos Choirs here and the Three Welsh Tenors, Rhys Meirion, Aled Hall and Alun Rhys Jenkins.

“We even made the church earthquake-resistant in the 1980s and raised £250,000 ourselves to do it.

“We are at least glad that we have been able to support events like the Llangollen Eisteddfod – it was a must as far as we were concerned and we were delighted to be able to sponsor the make voice choir competition.

“Music and singing is all part of our heritage and even last year when Wales played England at rugby we went down to this bar and I counted 62 Welsh people there and we all stood to attention to sing Mae Hen Flad Fy Nhadau – even the English loved it.”

Eisteddfod Musical Director Eilir Owen Griffiths said:“While we’re obviously saddened to hear that this historic church has had to close we’re very grateful for their kind sponsorship and support.

“It’s a wonderful and very appropriate gesture that this church which has been attended by immigrants from Wales for well over a hundred years should support an international event back home in Wales – I’m sure the generations of Welsh Americans would approve.”

Gwyn and his wife, who was brought up at Plas Farm, Llysfaen, have visited Wales many times and Mrs Phillips still has three brothers and a sister living in Wales.

They say that the church, founded by the Rev David Hughes, from Llanwchllyn, near Bala, in 1888 when its 22 members met in the back room of a shop in Los Angeles, has been a big part of their lives and will be missed.

One of its members was Mary Griffiths, whose brother, Griffith J Griffiths, donated the 3,000 acres of Griffith Park to the city of Los Angeles – a journalist who made his money in gold mining, Griffith served two years in gaol after shooting his wife.

She survived but unsurprisingly divorced him and Griffiths, who had professed to be a teetotaler but turned out to be a secret drunk, died of liver failure but not before making further bequests to the city.

The church, in Valencia Street, has been a hub of Welsh life in southern California since then and Gwyn added: “We have been able to support a number of Welsh institutions, including the Llangollen Eisteddfod, the National Eisteddfod, the National Library and St David’s Cathedral, and they’ve been thrilled by the money we’ve sent them.

“As far as we’re concerned here, while that money is being used it’s working and doing something for Wales. That’s the important thing because it is Welsh money.”

A video of the Welsh Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles is on Youtube on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmJ5Pt1FVeo

For more details on this year’s Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/llangollen

AM calls for probe of high suicide rates

Clwyd South Assembly Member Ken Skates has called for the Welsh Government to commission specialist research into the suicide rate in Wales.

Figures released by the ONS have shown that the suicide rate in Wales has risen 30% in two years, the highest level since 2004.

The rates are now higher than in England. The rate in Wales is up from 10.7 per 100,000 people in 2009 to 13.9 in 2011. The England rate is 10.4 per 100,000.

The Chair of the Assembly’s All Party Group on Mental Health said the new figures had to be treated with caution as the factors that lead to suicide were complex and multi-layered.

However he called on the Welsh Government to examine the new figures closely and commission specialist research to shape policies that could help excluded and marginalised groups at particular risk of suicide.

Mr Skates said: “We do have to treat statistics relating to suicide very carefully indeed. The factors that cause someone to take their own life are complex and reading any concrete patterns into the figures is very difficult.

“However, it is concerning that the suicide rate in Wales has risen 30% in two years and is now higher than the rate we are seeing in England. It had been feared that the economic downturn would have a big impact on mental well-being in Wales and we need more research to examine this further.

“That is why I believe the Welsh Government and the NHS should take a leading role in helping to commission specialist research into the suicide rate in Wales. We need to look at the factors that are underpinning this increase and how policy in mental health can be shaped to help and support groups that are most likely to take their own life.

“One of the at risk groups appears to be middle aged men. A report released last year by the Samaritans - ‘Men and Suicide: Why it’s a social issue’ highlighted that males from disadvantaged backgrounds in their 30s, 40s and 50s are at higher risk of suicide than other groups.

“It said that on average, men from low socio-economic backgrounds living in deprived areas are ten times more likely to die by suicide than men from high socio-economic backgrounds living in the most affluent areas.

“These are the sorts of issues that need now to be researched further. With a legacy of heavy industrial manufacturing that has gone into sharp decline over the last thirty years, maybe there are longer term factors, particular to Wales, that need to be explored.”

Some of the increase may be down to a change in the way deaths were recorded by coroners following new guidance.

Wales had a greater number of deaths than any E nglish region. North-east England is the next highest at 12.9 per 100,000.

* The Freephone Community Advice and Listening Line (CALL) numbers are 0800 132737 or 81066.

T* The Samaritans on available on 08457 90 90 90.

Llan team are quiz champions

A team from Llangiollen were winners of a county quiz staged by Clwyd Young Farmers Club at Denbigh Rugby Club recently. 

Fifteen teams from across the region took part and the quiz master once again was Erfyl Jones who had a variety of questions to suit everyone. 

Runners-up to Llangollen were Betws yn Rhos, Cilcain and Llansannan. 

 

 

* The winning Llangollen team of Aled Jones, Iolo Francis, Dan Griffiths, quizmaster Erfyl Jones, Jess Binks and Bronwen Edwards.

AM Isherwood slams Llan hospital closure

Last week’s decision to close four community hospitals, downgrade services at others and transfer intensive care for newborn babies to the Wirral has been criticised in the Welsh Assembly Chamber.

 

During  the Welsh Conservative Debate on NHS Reconfiguration, North Wales Assembly Member, Mark Isherwood, spoke of the many concerns regarding both the changes in North Wales and the preceding consultation, described by campaigners as "a sham".

* Mark Sisherwood AM.

He said: “Twenty-six community beds are to be cut across North Wales, despite bed occupancy levels of 95% and above in the community hospitals now being closed or expected to fill the gap.

“The GP who set up the pilot Enhanced Care at Home scheme with the Health Board, has stated that: 'This will bring a service that is currently frequently gridlocked, further to its knees' and that 'a central part of the proposed shake-up of health services – providing more care in people’s homes – won’t fill the gap left by shutting community hospitals'.

 

“The Director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, stated: 'There is insufficient capacity within the community to discharge patients out of hospital.'”

Mr Isherwood said that fears have also been expressed by local authorities that the health board’s plans will shift costs to councils and criticised the fact the consultation document lacked reference to what the health board could learn from the third sector about the integration of care services in the home, community, hospital and hospices.

He added: “They (Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board)tell us the changes will lead to better patient care, but reducing community hospital beds and moving services further away from often vulnerable patients will damage, rather than enhance, community based health services.

 

“A Llangollen campaigner emailed 'The fight against the closure of our hospital has taken on a deeply personal aspect. My condition is incurable and I’m now under palliative care. I’d rather receive end-of-life care in my own local hospital.'"

Mr Isherwood stressed that it is Labour Welsh Government policy and its "record breaking cuts that have driven theses closures and downgrading of services".

He added: “Health spending was cut following the budget devolved to Wales by the last Labour UK Government. Today, the Welsh NHS is facing the deepest cuts of any UK Nation.

“Let us hope that in acting as judge and jury to plans resuing from her own policies,this Minister is not now also the executioner of services.”