News on swimming pool opening times

Chirk Leisure Centre, which has the nearest swimming pool for use by Llangollen swimmers, closes over Christmas from December 22 until January 2.
 

Over the Christmas period, Waterworld in Wrexham will be open during its normal hours on December 23 and from 7am-12noon on Christmas Eve. It will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and open from 10am-4pm on December 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31.

Gwyn Evans will close for Christmas on December 23 at 10pm and re-open on January 2 as normal.

Pictures from church's Christmas Tree Festival

Here is a selection of the trees now on display in the Christmas Tree Festival currently being staged at Llangollen Methodist Church, the church with a spire by the river.

Come and see the decorated trees by local schools, businesses and clubs and vote for your favourite.

 

The festival is open this Saturday 13th and next Saturday 20th between 10am –3pm, and this Sunday 14th and next Sunday 21st between 12.30pm –3.30pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Festive recycling and waste collection details

Denbighshire County Council has announced its arrangements for recycling and waste collections in the county over the Christmas and New Year period.

USUAL COLLECTION DAY		ACTUAL COLLECTION DAY
Monday 22 December	stays the same	Monday 22 December
Tuesday 23 December	stays the same	Tuesday 23 December
Wednesday 24 December	stays the same	Wednesday 24 December
Thursday 25 December	changes to	Friday 26 December
Friday 26 December	changes to	Saturday 27 December
Monday 29 December	stays the same	Monday 29 December
Tuesday 30 December	stays the same	Tuesday 30 December
Wednesday 31 December	stays the same	Wednesday 31 December
Thursday 1 January	changes to	Friday 2 January
Friday 2 January	changes to	Saturday 3 January

There will be no collections of garden waste made during the week starting Monday 22 December. Collections due during the week commencing Monday 29 December may be affected (please refer to table, above).

The Recycling Park facilities at Denbigh, Rhyl and Ruthin, will be open to the public as normal every day except 25 December, 26 December and 1 January.

Winter opening hours are:

DENBIGH and RUTHIN: Mon – Fri 10am - 4pm. Weekend 9am - 4pm.
RHYL: Everyday 10am - 6pm.

The Saturday recycling services the Llangollen Pavilion car-park and at the Highways Depot, Corwen will take place as normal on Saturday 27 December and Saturday 3 January 2015 respectively. 

Methodist church stages Christmas tree festival

A Christmas Tree Festival is being staged at Llangollen Methodist Church, the church with a spire by the river.

Come and see the decorated trees by local schools, businesses and clubs and vote for your favourite.

 

The festival is open this Saturday 13th and next Saturday 20th between 10am –3pm, and this Sunday 14th and next Sunday 21st between 12.30pm –3.30pm.

Stuart Davies hits back at budget debate critics

Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies has sent out the following open letter on the subject of council cuts:

"I find it reprehensible that as a responsible Denbighshire county councillor I am having to vote for the council cuts so that we can set a legal budget!

"It is reprehensible that the Labour party members in DCC are refusing to vote for anything knowing full well that us responsible ones will set a legal budget.

"Having made the difficult and responsible choice I then find an anonymous Labour spokesperson sniping at me in the Press!

"Let me tell you how it is, the Welsh Government is the one who has foisted these cuts on us!

"The WG is the one who is in charge of the NHS which in North Wales alone is projected to overspend by £78 million! (This overspend to be addressed by chopping our budgets).

"The WG is the one who has spent £63 million on a failing airport in Cardiff with heavens knows how much more subsidy.

"The red herring about it being Central Government's fault is put forward, however they conveniently forget that it was their Liam Byrne who said, "we have spent all the money."

"I remind them that it is their people in WG who are forcing us to do this (Ann Jones is on the Finance Committee that did this).

"It was Chris Ruane who was in the previous administration which said, "we have spent all the money."

"The Labour councillors on DCC need to man up, they have been given every opportunity to engage in the budget setting process, it is time for them to take their responsibilities seriously and vote for the inevitable cuts."

County says it's ready for an icy winter

* True Grit: The county council says it's ready for the winter.

With forecasters are predicting an icy winter ahead, Denbighshire County Council says it is fully prepared to deal with freezing conditions.

The authority has given a rundown of how it prioritises its gritting schedule, mainly through carrying out precautionary salting on certain roads so that peak traffic times are avoided. 

Priorities are:
 
■ Main classified routes (A & B roads)  
■ Principal bus routes  
■ Access routes to hospitals, schools and cemeteries  
■ Access to police, fire, ambulance and rescue services  
■ Primary routes serving substantial villages/communities  
■ Main industrial routes that are important to the local economy  
■ Main access routes to shopping areas  
■ Areas where known problems exist, such as exposed areas, steep gradients and other roads liable to icing.

The salt has to be crushed by traffic to make it effective.

There are some occasions where the council cannot salt before the onset of icy conditions, such as:

■ When rain is followed by rapidly clearing skies, salting is normally deferred until the rain stops to prevent it being washed off.  
■ Dawn frost on dry roads. When early morning dew falls on a cold road and freezes on impact. It is impossible to forecast with any accuracy when this will occur.  
■ Rush hour snowfall. When rain turns to snow coinciding with rush hour traffic, early salting cannot take place as it would wash off, and gritters cannot make progress because of traffic congestion.

Salt bins

You can get gritting salt from the yellow grit bins located around the county. You can spread grit on pavements and other public footways, but not on driveways. Use a spade or shovel to spread the grit thinly and evenly across the pavement.
All of the council's salt has now been delivered and it is in the process of sheeting it to protect it.

A spokesperson said: "We are storing about 1000 tonnes less this year (down from the 10,000 last year) down to the fact that we don't want to be holding salt for too long so we'll use the older stock first. We can call up any additional supplies at very short notice."

Councillor discusses speeding problems

Llangollen county councillor Stuart Davies recently met with officers and residents to discuss concerns about speeding on Abbey Road and around Pentrefelin.

He said that the residents would like to see the speed limit reduced to 30mph up to the end of the existing 40mph limit by the turn-off to the Chain Bridge.

Cllr Davies said: "I explained that it had been hard enough to get the existing 40mph limit put in a few years ago, with officers and police at the time arguing that the area was very close to the margins of the criteria which apply when speed limits are put in.

"The officers explained that the criteria wouldn't be met for a 30mph limit in this area and that grant funding to pay for such a scheme would not given by the Welsh Government because of this.

"However, traffic calming measures such as signs and road markings could be applied relatively quickly."

Cllr Davies said he had also spoken to some residents who were not in agreement with a 30mph limit along the whole length of Abbey Road and Pentrefelin.

It was agreed at the meeting to carry out a traffic survey to get a true picture of the speeds in the area and to apply traffic calming measures.

On a separate but related issue it was agreed to have the dry stone wall and pavement at the end of Abbey Road brought up to scratch.

A county speed gun was used to do a rough check and speeds were generally found to be around the mid-20s on the brow of the hill by Pentrefelin, with one vehicle being clocked at 34mph.