Labour politicians taunt Health Secretary

Ahead of his speech at the Welsh Conservative Party Conference being held today in Llangollen, in which he's expected to criticise Labour's running of the NHS in Wales, two local Labour politicians have written an open letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

In the letter, Clwyd South's MP and AM, Susan Elan Jones and Ken Skates poke fun at Mr Hunt but also mount a strong defence of Labour's record.

See the full story on the ITV Wales website at: http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/2014-04-11/labour-politicians-letter-to-jeremy-hunt/

AM ‘delighted’ with health centre progress

* Ken Skates AM on the site of the derelict River Lodge. 

CLWYD South AM Ken Skates has welcomed ‘exciting’ news about the  building of Llangollen’s new health centre.

Labour Assembly Member Mr Skates, who is based in the town, wrote to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board asking for an update on the long-awaited development after being contacted by constituents – and says ‘the wheels are very much in motion’.

The health board’s plans were approved by Denbighshire County Council in February and include new GP services, midwifery and social care at the site of the former River Lodge hotel on the A539, which was bought by the Welsh Government in 2007 before plans to lease it as martial arts centre fell through.

He said: “Work on clearing parts of the River Lodge site has already begun and surveys are being carried out, and work is expected start proper in early June. This is fantastic news for Llangollen and coincides with a number of other projects which mark the start of an exciting new chapter for the town.

“I am delighted that after a critical report from the Welsh Assembly into the proposed use of the building as a kung fu centre, the health board, local practice and Welsh Labour Government are working together to create a modern, state-of-the-art healthcare facility fit for the 21st century for the whole town. The wheels are now very much in motion.”

It is estimated that the main construction programme will take about 12 months, with the demolition of the former hotel expected to be complete by mid-August this year.

Mr Skates added: “I have repeatedly highlighted the importance of dialogue and engagement with the community with this kind of development, so I pleased that the main contractor has arranged for a letter drop to nearby residents to keep them up-to-date. The company has also promised to provide further updates of their progress over the coming weeks and months.”

Money-spinning ideas sought to save Plas Madoc

Supporters of plans to save Plas Madoc Leisure Centre are being asked for ideas to help raise the money needed to realise a community takeover.

A second well-attended public meeting at Air Products Social Club in Acrefair earlier this week heard that a new legal entity, Splash Community Trust, had been formed as the campaign to retain the popular facility progresses at pace.

Now chairman Darrell Wright, from Trevor, is keen to hear the public’s fundraising ideas.

He said: “A lot of hard work has gone into getting things this far, and the creation of a charitable company to take things forward is a huge step. We have achieved so much in a relatively short space of time, but now we need people’s support more than ever.

“We need to raise a serious amount of money to give our business case for the takeover as much clout as possible when it goes in front of the council, and to do that we need members of the public to come up with ideas.

“Generating this money will be our biggest obstacle to date, but if everyone who says they want Plas Madoc to stay open is able to help us then we should have no problem. The level of support so far has been brilliant, so I see no reason why we can’t rise to the challenge.”

Darrell, 67, said another public meeting is likely to be held next month.

He also reiterated the need for users of the centre to fill in a short online survey which will help keep the public up to date with developments and could help with future funding applications.

Darrell added: “Centre users’ details are unfortunately not available to us at the moment because of data protection laws, so it’s imperative we get as many responses at possible.”

* To complete the survey visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PMFUTURE and to suggest fundraising ideas email jennymiller08@hotmail.co.uk or call Jenny on 07921 6590990.

Food campaign launched at Llangollen seminar

 

 

* Alun Davies, second right, Welsh Government Minister for Natural Resources and Food, at the Food Festivals Seminar held by Hamper Llangollen with, from left, Andrew Knight, Welsh Government; Lowri Owain, of Cadwyn Clwyd; and Colin Loughlin, Chairman of Hamper Llangollen.

 

A campaign has been launched to form a new association to promote the food and tourism sector in Wales.

 

The driving force behind the new grouping is the Hamper Llangollen.food festival that's been named as one of the top ten food festivals in the UK.

 

They hosted a well-attended seminar of food festival organisers from across Wales and the success of the event has prompted them to lead the drive to set up a new association.

 

The event, at the Royal International Pavilion and supported by rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd, brought together organisers of festivals from Narberth to Newtown and from Merthyr to Menai as well as Welsh Government representatives, tourism chiefs, food producers and retailers.

 

It saw Welsh Food Minister Alun Davies give the keynote address but it was the response from the delegates that encouraged the Llangollen festival to propose the creation of the new organisation.

 

Hamper Llangollen Chairman Colin Loughlin said: “This was the first time a seminar like this had actually been organised and hosted by one of the festivals rather than by the Welsh Government.

 

“It was so successful and well received and provided such a god forum for ideas and discussion that we thought why not form an organisation that could represent us all.

 

“Welsh food festivals are great drivers of tourism and also showcase the wonderful range of food and drink that is produced here so we are important for the visitor economy and for the agricultural and food sectors.

 

“An association of food festivals would give us greater influence but it would also lead to a better exchange of ideas as well as the opportunity to save money by sharing resources and central purchasing of services like insurance.”

 

The seminar at Llangollen was attended by food festivals from throughout Wales as well as by Welsh Government officers and experts on marketing and food production and a further meeting is planned for later this month in Aberystwyth.

 

The Llangollen event was praised by Heather Myers, Chief Executive of one of Wales’s largest food festival, at Abergavenny, who said: “I thought the seminar was brilliant. It’s a long way north but I’m really pleased to have come and have found the networking very useful.

 

“As a festival organiser to come and meet other people who feel your pain and understand your difficulties has been really interesting.

 

“The Minister has a real passion for food but the difficulty for festivals is that they have a foot in both camps, they’re food and tourism and the difficulty we all have is grappling with that structure regarding funding and with different government departments.”

 

The message brought to the Seminar by food Minister Alun Davies was that the Welsh Government is targeting a massive 30 per cent growth in Welsh food production to £6.7 billion by 2020.

 

That’s a huge step up in Wales’s output of high quality beef, lamb and other foodstuffs from its current value of just over £5 billion.

 

Mr Davies, Minister for Natural Resources and Food in the Welsh Government, said: “We can grow the food industry and grow output by 30 per cent by the end of the decade – it’s about business growth and jobs creation.

 

The Minister also spoke about his recently launched draft action plan which aims to increase the profile and reputation of Welsh food and added: “I want to set a clear direction and specific actions so that Government and industry can work together to help the Welsh food and drinks sector reach its full potential.

 

“We have a good story to tell on food and drink, with Wales having experienced six percent growth in food and drinks sales last year and a combined turnover for agriculture, fishing and food manufacture of over £5.2 billion.

 

“I want these plans to help us build on this success.  That is why they include a particular focus on delivering green growth and creating jobs throughout the food chain.”

 

Mr Davies also addressed the issue of funding for festivals and added: “We evaluate the support we give to festivals and through that and understanding what works and what doesn’t we can understand what we need to do in the future.

 

“We seek to invest in festivals that promote Welsh food. Our funds are available to support food from Wales and I have to be very clear about that.”

 

He also paid tribute to the nation’s festivals and food producers and said: “In the USA I was recently asked about how we can guarantee the quality of our produce and I was able to hand on heart give this guarantee because we are aware and we know that what we produce is not just world class but world beating.”

 

Colin Loughlin said they had been delighted to have had such a good turnout and a very positive reaction from Food Festivals across Wales.

 

He added: “We saw the value of staging this seminar ourselves because all of us involved with food and drink in Wales face similar issues and challenges.

 

“We felt that bringing everyone together was a step towards creating an association of food festivals for Wales to give a strong voice to events which support and encourage tourism as well as our agricultural sector.

 

“One of the things we wanted to do was to mix people up so that although three people might have travelled together to get here they weren’t then sitting next to each other and so everyone had the chance to mix and meet people from festivals from different parts of Wales.”

 

The day-long event also saw workshops delivered by Welsh Government representatives from the food and tourism sectors as well as by experts on food marketing and events and producers.

llanblogger takes a short spring break

llanblogger is taking a short break.

We'll be back on Friday, April 11, with all the latest news and views from our town and the surrounding area.

See you soon!

Lottery cash "could help save Plas Madoc"

The campaign to re-open the Plas Madoc Leisure Centre could benefit from a People's Millions grant from the National Lottery.

The People's Millions 2014, a partnership between Big Lottery Fund and ITV, is now open. Up to £50,000 is available for local community-based projects.

Plaid Cymru Clwyd South spokesperson Mabon ap Gwynfor said the new Plas Madoc Community Trust should make an early bid to secure the maximum possible amount.

 

"The People's Millions will make £50,000 available for voluntary or community organisations. The volunteers that are part of the new Trust set-up to re-open Plas Madoc are working extremely hard to make a robust business case.

 

"Everybody who's ever been in business knows that the first three years are very difficult. Therefore a cash injection of £50,000 would be of great assistance to get the new community enterprise on its feet," said Mabon ap Gwynfor.

 

Mr ap Gwynfor, who has previously successfully applied for grants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds for other community enterprises, added: "The deadline for applications is noon on 16 May, which is only six weeks away. That's not much time when you consider that the new trust has to get a legal structure up and running first.

 

“They would also need a lease agreement or written permission from the landowners for five years. that's the very least the community should get from Wrexham Council. I would hope that the council will give priority to help the Trust complete the application form and give 100% support to the application."

 

Should the application be accepted, the shortlisted entries would go head to head on ITV Wales news at the end of November.

A counterblast on possible e-cigs ban

Llangollen resident Martin Crumpton has sent the following message to Assembly Members in the wake of the announcement that Wales may be the first area of Britain to ban the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places:

Day rooms in hospital used to be where patients who smoked would congregate. They were closed because, for among other reason, they needed regular redecoration because they became heavily stained and smelly. As a consequence, they were closed and patients had to go outside to smoke, regardless of the weather. Anyone who’s had to cease immediately and for prolonged periods (Cold Turkey) knows how hard this is, and smoke cessation programmes don’t recommend this. It’s even harder on those with poor or little mobility. Prisoners and train drivers are exempted from the tobacco ban, for obvious reasons.

 

Please be assured the e-cigarette is by far the easiest, most effective way of delivering nicotine. Patches, gum and sprays are nowhere near it in helping smokers avoid the gasses produced by tobacco.

 

I’d ask you to evaluate e-cigarettes’ capacity for staining and leaving bad smells in enclosed spaces such as day rooms. Most of all, consider the needs of patients addicted to nicotine.

 

Whichever way the proposed Bill goes, please don’t lose sight of the human side of its consequences. You can nudge, encourage, educate as much as you like, but remember this: You’re not in loco parentis. Without responsibility for our own actions, our communities will regress.

 

Martin Crumpton