Latest weather update:

Update at 1.46pm

 

* A diesel day event planned for Llangollen Railway tomorrow (Saturday) has been cancelled due to the snow, according to railway spokesman George Jones. 

 

He said: "For once the snow has beaten even the heritage railway, but we have to be aware of the difficulties our staff and would-be passengers might face in getting to Llangollen and other stations on the Dee Valley line."

  

 

 

* 12.40pm: Bread van stuck on Co-op car park.

 

LeaderLive.co.uk ‏@leaderlive 17m        

Patients traveling to Wrexham Maelor Hospital: all outpatient appointments have been cancelled due to difficulties with transport.

 

Latest situation report from Denbighshire County Council ...

At 10.30am the press office said:

Arriva is operating normally from Rhyl west along the coast and south to Denbigh. The service 11 group from Rhyl and Prestatyn towards Holywell, Flint and Chester is currently terminating at Greenfield only.

GHA is operating normally between Ruthin, Denbigh and Rhyl only.

Other GHA services from Ruthin and Denbigh are NOT operating. This includes buses between Ruthin and Mold, Ruthin and Denbigh and Ruthin and Corwen. Buses are not operating between Denbigh and Mold.

I have no up-to-date information on the services along the A5 (X94, 5). My understanding is that neither of these services are operating. If they are running, expect considerable delays on the A5.




As expected the snow moved in last night with strong winds and severe
drifting. There are reports of up to 25 cms of level snow in some parts of
the county with deep drifts in many places.

Crews have been out all night and will continue throughout the day. One of the main problems is fallen
trees and the Council arranged for contractors  to be out since 4 am trying to clear these.
Additional contractors have now also been deployed.

In terms of road closures the list is as follows:-

A5 is still blocked by fallen trees between Llangollen and Corwen
A5104 between Llandegla and Corwen
A542 Horseshoe Pass.
Gwaenysgor Hill, Prestatyn
Fforddlas, Prestatyn - due to a fallen electricity pole.

Many minor roads are impassable but the Council has deployed the agricultural
contractors to clear these.

At the moment the crews in the south are concentrating on keeping the A
roads open as conditions are particularly difficult on the A494 at the
Clwyd Gate and along the A525 between Ruthin and Wrexham. Crews in the
north are working on Rhuallt hill on the A55 and in the Tremeirchion area
where conditions are again relatively bad.

Public Realm operatives are working to clear snow in Ruthin and Llangollen
town centres.

The public should take every care this morning as the drifting nature of the snow.  It is also very wet snow so it is bringing down a lot
of trees with it which are an added hazard.

Llangollen Library is closed due to the weather.

A number of Denbighshire schools are closed due to heavy snow affecting the region.
 
The schools closed are: 
Ysgol Dyffryn Ial, Bryneglwys and Llandegla sites
Ysgol Bro Fammau, Llanarmon yn Ial site
Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen
Ysgol Caer Drewyn, Corwen
Ysgol Clocaenog
Ysgol Cyffylliog
Ysgol Gymraeg y Gwernant, Llangollen
Ysgol Pant Pastynog, Prion
Ysgol Pendref, Denbigh
Ysgol Pentrecelyn
Ysgol Rhewl
Ysgol Tremeirchion
St Brigid's School, Denbigh
Plas Cefndy, Rhyl
Project 10 and 11
Ysgol Dinas Bran, Llangollen
Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn- secondary site.
Ysgol Carrog
Ysgol y Llys
Ysgol Bro Elwern
Ysgol Betws GG
Ysgol Bro Cinmeirch, Llanrhaeadr
Ysgol Llanfair DC
 
 
The Council is urging people to be extremely cautious on the county's roads and to continue monitoring weather and news bulletins for the latest information on the weather situation. Further heavy snow is forecast during the day.

 

 

Leaderlive are tweeting like mad on the weather.

Follow them at LeaderLive.co.uk ‏@leaderlive 7m 
              

A lorry has gone over on the Wrexham by pass,huge traffic jams. cars abandoned on B&Q roundabout due to snow

 

 

Arriva Buses Wales ‏@arrivabuswales 25m

WEATHER UPDATE 8.50am- WREXHAM #snow NO WREXHAM SERVICES WILL OPERATE FOR THE REST OF THE DAY AS THE DEPOT HAS BEEN CLOSED.

 

 

Roads affected

• A470: Blocked - snow, Mallwyd, Gwynedd.
• A5: Closed - snow and fallen tree, Corwen, Denbighshire; partially blocked - fallen tree, Froncysyllte, Wrexham
• A525: Closed - snow, Nant-y-Garth Pass, Llandegla, Denbighshire
• A542: Closed - snow, Horseshoe Pass, Denbighshire
• A4061: Hazardous driving - snow Rhigos mountain road, Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf
• A55: Strong winds, Gwynedd; hazardous driving - snow, Conwy.

Source: police and Trunk Road Agency

GHA coaches said it was unable to operate its services in Wrexham and Denbighshire due to the weather.

There are currently 59 school(s) closed or partially closed within Wrexham County Borough.

These include Acrefair CP School

Oh snow, not again!!

* A deserted and snow-bound Regent Street (A5) in Llangollen just before 8am today.

At least seven inches of snow has fallen overnight in Llangollen and continues to come down steadily.

According to the Denbighshire County Council website, both Dinas Bran and Bryn Collen schools are closed for the day (Friday) due to the overnight snow.

The county county website at http://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/LL/LifeLong.nsf/WebSIEmergencyall?OpenView is being updated by the minute with closure information.

Wrexham.com tweeted just after 7am that Arriva routes 1,3,4,7,8,10,11,12,13,14,21,26,27 were not operating until further notice.

Latest information is that 28 schools in Wrexham are closed by snow.

A/Sgt Mark Jones of North Wales Police traffic unit tweeted around an hour ago that the A5 closed was in both directions between the B4401 junction, Corwen and the B5103 junction in Llangollen, because of snow.

In the centre of Llangollen very little traffic apart from 4x4s and HGVs is travelling along the usually-busy A5.

Certain homes in Llangollen were reporting loss of satellite TV signal.

Earlier Twitter messages reported that Froncysyllte CP was closed, not just due to the snow but power issues. Garth CP was also said to be closed.

Although conditions were reported to be difficult on the A483 through Wrexham, a tweet around 7.30am said “a lot less severe towards Chester; can still see the tips of grass and mud on the fields.”

Llan health services row rages on ...

Campaigners' serious claims in wake of hospital closure ... and health board's official response 

An Assembly Member claims he has been told by care home professionals that closing a community hospital could lead to earlier deaths.

Now Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Llyr Gruffydd has urged new Health Minister Mark Drakeford to call in controversial NHS plans across north Wales, accusing Betsi Cadwaladr health board of making "empty promises” to justify closing community hospitals.

Llangollen Hospital closed on Friday  March 8.  The picture below shows the padlocked door.

The call comes after Mr Gruffydd questioned the First Minister in the Senedd this week about the closure.

He revealed new research that the health board has closed Llangollen Hospital’s 18 beds without securing promised replacement services and without even forming a business plan to support their decision.
 

Mr Gruffydd said: “We were told that the hospital would be replaced by a new community health centre, enhanced home care and beds would be available in both Chirk Hospital and local private nursing homes.
 

“Now that the closure has happened and how much of those alternatives are in place? Here are the facts:

 

"The new community health centre – there is no business plan in place, there is no building secured and it will take at least three years to get the consultation, planning and building done, assuming the promised £5.5m is still available then.

 

"Home Enhanced Care Service involves more nursing and clinical staff working in the community. This is uncosted and there is no additional budget for this. An insider has told me that there are no staff in place currently and that the y are having trouble recruiting staff for the HECS.”
 

Research carried out by Mr Gruffydd shows that during most of 2011 and 2012 Chirk hospital was at 98% capacity with no room to take the patients that would usually have gone to Llangollen Hospital.

Information obtained through Freedom of Information also shows that Llangollen Hospital was serving at an average of 95% capacity during the same period.
 

He added that his office had spoken to three local nursing homes and all had explained that nobody from the health board had contacted them at all about this proposal.

He added: “The care homes made it clear they have no spare capacity and, because they are regulated by a different body than the NHS, would feel very uncomfortable about taking NHS patients needing in-patient care.

 

“It appears the health board has sold its vision of improved healthcare on a series of empty promises. It is a shameful betrayal of the entire Dee Valley, which has been well served by this cottage hospital for 137 years.  

"More and more patients from this area will face having to go to Wrexham Maelor, where there are already problems with ambulances backed up outside A&E due to bed blocking. This will only make things worse.”

 

Mr Gruffydd said professionals at some of the care homes had expressed concern to  him about the proposals.

He claimed one care home professional, who wants to remain anonymous, said that he believed closing cottage hospitals would lead to earlier deaths.
 

According to Mr Gruffydd, the insider said: “Cottage hospitals are great. Many elderly residents resist going to a General Hospital because they are afraid of hospital related illnesses.

"I’m afraid that closing the cottage hospital will contribute to people’s deaths earlier. If there isn’t a cottage hospital then elderly patients will have to be moved around more which is also a very traumatic experience.”
 

Another said: “We have only received one phone call to see if we might be available for a meeting. We have got serious concerns. We’re all in the dark. Our registration is governed by the CSSIW (Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales), and we might need to change that to accommodate NHS patients.

"Our training is geared around elderly care not palliative care. We had a phone call asking if we could take a medical patient not so long ago and we had to refuse because we didn’t have the expertise. This should have all been sorted out 3 or 4 months ago.”
 

Llyr Gruffydd said: “During the consultation period the Health Board received numerous representations from various professional bodies including the BMA and Local Authorities saying that there wasn’t enough detail, effectively that they hadn’t provided a business plan. Indeed this was also the complaint of the Community Health Council. I

"It is now painfully obvious that they in fact didn’t even have the basics of a business plan. What they had was a vague idea of what they hoped would be an alternative, but didn’t do any homework to see if it was achievable.

"The hospital at Llangollen has been closed for a week, and they are still in the process of gathering basic information, and haven’t even held talks with those that they expect will deliver their services. It’s scandalous.”

 

CASE STUDY
 

Councillor Rhys Hughes, of Llangollen, has confirmed that an elderly man had to go to Mold community hospital from Llangollen last week because of the sudden closure of the local hospital.

He said: “Normally he would have been an in-patient in Llangollen but, because the hospital was closed without warning, he was sent to Mold. There were no spare beds at the time in Chirk.
 

“Is this going to be a regular occurrence?
 

“This is adding to the trauma facing patients, who naturally want to be as close to family and friends as possible, and the closure without any adequate replacement is going to cause long-term problems for our community.”

Health board's official response

1. The new community health centre.

Plans for establishing a new primary care resource centre are progressing well.  An option on the site has been secured and a design team led by an architect have been appointed by the Health Board who have held an initial meeting with the Denbighshire County Council Planning Department and are liaising with Highways with a view to submitting a full planning application in June.  The business case will be submitted to the Welsh Government after planning consent is received and construction costs are established.

 

2. Enhanced home care.

 

Funding for the roll out of the enhanced care at home service in the Llangollen area was identified by the Health Board prior to the recent public consultation and discussions with the GP practices and out of hours services regarding the provision of medical support are progressing.  The intent is that these discussions will be concluded i n time by the end of May for the service to commence in early June.  Four of the nursing staff who were previously based at Llangollen Community Hospital who wished to transfer to the enhanced care at home service are now training in interim posts in readiness to join the already established wider community nursing and therapy teams. 

 

3. Beds at private nursing homes.

 

In relation to the proposal to establish links with a local nursing home to which patients who require palliative care could be admitted, we are currently writing an operational  policy and admission criteria for discussion with the nursing home concerned who have indicated their willingness to hold these discussions.

 

4. Beds at Chirk Hospital.

 

Since Llangollen Community Hospital was closed on the 8th March we have encountered no issues with patients from Llangollen requiring admission to Chirk Hospital and there are currently no patients from Llangollen waiting for a bed at Chirk Hospital.  Prior to this we were unable to offer an inpatient bed at either Chirk or Llangollen Hospitals to a patient who was then admitted to Mold but this patient has now been transferred to Chirk Hospital and is continuing their recovery there.

 

Financial expert hails "Budget for business"

A leading financial expert has hailed yesterday's Budget as a “massive boost” for small businesses across the region.

 

That's the verdict of Anthony Lewis, (pictured left) from Chartered Accountants Coxeys, which represents a wide range of clients from sole traders right through to international market leaders.

 

He said key measures such as a hefty cut in employer National Insurance contributions, billions of pounds to stimulate the stagnant new housing market, more cash for child care and the continuing freeze on fuel duty all helped make it a “Budget for small business.”

 

Mr Lewis, a director of Coxeys which has offices in Wrexham and Saltney, said the main headline was the Chancellor’s decision to slash £2,000 off the National Insurance bill for employers.

 

He explained: “This alone is going to provide a massive incentive for smaller companies to take on more people and create badly-needed new jobs for North Wales.

 

“Estimates are that if a firm has less than 10 employees their National Insurance costs will be reduced by as much as 80 per cent on average, which is a staggering amount.

 

“Our clients are telling me they can’t wait for it to be introduced in April 2014, when it will mean a huge boost to them.”

 

Mr Lewis also gave an enthusiastic reception to another move announced by Mr Osborne to give working families up to £1,200 per child in child care.

 

He said: “This is another big one as far as our small business clients are concerned.

 

“At the moment families with children receive child care vouchers up to the value of £55 a week per adult, which equates to £2,860 a year.

 

“Under the new measures announced by the Chancellor this figure will increase to £6,000 a year. In turn, that is also worth £1,200 in tax relief.

 

“Child care can be extremely costly and is a major household spending item and what Mr Osborne has done will certainly be a major encouragement for people to return to work after they have had their children."

 

Third piece of good news for smaller firms in the Budget, according to Mr Lewis, is what the Chancellor has dubbed the Help to Buy Scheme.

 

This comes in two vital parts, with the first earmarking £3.5 billion for interest-free shared equity loans up to 20 per cent of the value of a new home, and the second introducing a mortgage guarantee scheme – worth £130 billion over three years starting from 2014 – pledging government cover to lenders for home-buyers unable to afford big deposits.

 

Mr Lewis said: “This will help literally hundreds of construction firms across North Wales – certainly the larger ones and but also the smaller contractors, such as plumbers and electricians, who work for them.

 

“New home building has been stagnant for the past few years but these home ownership incentives are sure to get things moving again. They are very much to be welcomed.”

 

If the construction sector will benefit from the stimulation for the housing market, Mr Lewis believes virtually every business operating in the region will be helped by the cancellation of September’s planned increase in fuel duty following two years of it being frozen.

 

“Fuel is a major cost to many of our clients are this is going to help keep those costs down,” he added.   

Ken Skates gets top government job

Ken Skates AM has been appointed as the new chair of a committee which oversees the monitoring of European Structural Funds in Wales.

 

The All Wales Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) is responsible for monitoring the effective delivery of the £1.9bn Convergence and Regional Competitiveness and Employment (ERDF and ESF) programmes 2007–2013, as well as any future EU programmes during 2014-2020 in Wales.

 

Mr Skates (pictured right) replaces former chair, Mark Drakeford AM, who was recently appointed the Welsh Government's Health Minister.

He will now lead the PMC which comprises 16 members drawn on a representative basis from partners and statutory bodies, and five members selected on merit via the public appointments process.

The composition represents a balance of interests across Wales, as well as relevant expertise, to ensure effective delivery of the programmes for the benefit of businesses, people and communities across Wales.

Mr Skates will also chair the European Programmes Partnership Forum (EPPF) - a key stakeholder group that provides strategic direction on the development of 2014-2020 EU programmes in Wales.
The EPPF is made up of members from across the private, public and third sectors.

The Forum advises on how best to harness European funds to deliver on Welsh Government and EU priorities for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Appointing Mr Skates, First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, said: "I attach great importance to the role of the All Wales Programme Monitoring Committee and the work of the Chair and Members.  In partnership with the Welsh Government, they all play an important role in building upon the success of the current and previous programmes, paving the way for the future programmes during 2014-2020 and continuing to support our policies for sustainable growth and jobs."

Mr Skates said: “I am delighted to be appointed as Chair of the All-Wales PMC and I’m committed to ensuring the effective implementation of the current Structural Funds programmes in Wales. I also look forward to chairing the European Programmes Partnership Forum as we prepare for the successful launch of the next programme period during 2014-2020.”

Statement from health campaigners

Campaigners in Keep Llangollen Health Services issued the following statement today:

Llangollen treated with contempt by Health Board Llangollen Hospital has now been closed against the wishes of the people of Llangollen.   Does that mean that we give up the fight? NO!   A public meeting will be held at the Hand Hotel, Llangollen, on Tuesday evening, 26 March, at 7pm. Please join us.   The Health Board will hold a meeting in Llangollen sometime in April with 'stakeholders'. Who are the most important stakeholders? Us, the residents of Llan and the Dee Valley. How come we haven't heard about the meeting let alone been invited to it?!   The Health Board made several promises.   1) To build a new health centre by 2015. Having spoken to key figures in authority within the County Council and the Health Board we have found that they haven't even got a business plan. Remember, they consulted on these plans back in August - without even a business plan! 2) To provide a Home Enhanced Care Service Again this was in the consultation document back in August 2012, yet those charged with planning this service had their FIRST meeting only a fortnight ago! It isn't due to be in place until the end of May - that's 3 months without any hospital service in Llan. They don't have the staff to provide this service and are struggling to fill rotas. 3) That patients needing hospital beds will go to Chirk Hospital or a private care home. According to freedom f information data we've received during 2011-12 Chirk hospital was working flat-out at 98% capacity. They do a fantastic job in difficult circumstances, but there's no room there for more! We've spoken to the care homes in the Dee Valley and NONE of them have been contacted by the health Board to see if they could accommodate NHS patients! They are also concerned that they might have to re-register, as they are governed by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales, and have different standards from the health needs of patients - they provide elderly care not paliative care. The care home option is therefore NOT an option. 4) Close the hospital. They've kept this promise. The health board have broken their promise! They have treated us the people of Llangollen and the Dee Valley with complete contempt and have let us down.   Please attend the meeting at the Hand on Tuesday to help us plan our next steps. We need to unite to insist that the new Health centre will include at least 10 hospital beds as well as improved health services.   Thank you.   Mabon ap Gwynfor Keep Llangollen Health Services

PUBLIC MEETING... Hand Hotel, Llangollen Tuesday 26 March 7pm WHAT'S COMING? Lobby new Health Minister Venue Cymru, Llandudno Saturday 23 March 2pm Forward this email to a friend

http://llangollenhospitalcampaign.wordpress.com/

"Disappointing budget for Wales" says Minister

Wales' Finance Minister Jane Hutt has responded to the UK Government's Budget.

 

She said: "This is a disappointing Budget for Wales. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to boost infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy.

"In response they have reduced our revenue budget  - these revenue cuts are on top of those in last year's Autumn Statement.  In total we will now have to find savings of £32 m in 2013/14 and £81 m in 2014/15.

"The price for additional capital investment is high and will be paid for by cuts to our revenue for the next two years. This is a real blow and will place our crucial public services under further pressure.

"The UK Government has given  us  back  some capital  allocations,  which we welcome.  However there are many strings attached  - the capital can only be used for loans or equity investment and a proportion will have to be repaid.  Although we are committed to boosting the housing sector in Wales,  this falls far short of what we called for and urgently require.

"At a time when we are trying to support the Welsh economy and boost growth, this level of cuts is unacceptable.

"Despite the recent loss of triple A status, borrowing costs remain very low and we would like to see the UK Government take advantage of this to support capital projects.  Analysis by the IM F  concludes that the right time to reduce debt is when the economy has recovered.  The time now is right to boost the economy - especially with the disappointing jobs figures today.

"We welcome the acknowledgement in the Budget of the need for funding improvements to the M4 in South Wales , the intergovernmental talks on this need to be concluded quickly - I look forward to reaching agreement on this major infrastructure project.

"We want to see the Welsh economy returned to full strength, today’s Budget will not make that task  easier."