Council tax bills set to rise by 3.09%

Denbighshire County Council has confirmed its budget for the 2015/16 financial year, meaning that council tax bills will increase by 3.09% in total.

This means that the average council tax bill for a Band D property will be £1,422.40, compared with £1,379.73 in 2014/5.

The Council Tax bill comprises three elements; the county council; the city, town and community councils and the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales. The increase set for the County Council was 2.75%.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance, said: "We have tried to keep council tax increases as low as possible, as Denbighshire residents tell us regularly that is what they would like to see happen.

"We have set and agreed this budget at a time of severe financial constraints, with protection for education, substantially protecting funding levels to social services and putting additional funding in to the corporate plan.

"This budget is set at a time of unprecedented change for the organisation. However, we are pleased that we have been able to agree a budget that sets clearly how we are going to manage our finances over the next 12 months.

"We can also reassure residents that despite the cuts being implemented, we are fully committed to providing the best possible service for the people of Denbighshire."

Bumper half-term bodes well for Splash Magic

‘Fantastic’ half-term figures have been reported at a former council leisure centre taken over by the community.

Last week saw thousands go through the doors at Splash Magic in Acrefair, providing precious income which will be key to the venture’s long-term viability.

It was recently reported that the popular facility, formerly known as Plas Madoc Leisure Centre, was operating at a £400,000-a-year loss under the council’s ownership, but the future looks brighter under the social enterprise model.

And with uncertainty over the future of council-run Waterworld centre in Wrexham, Splash Magic could soon be the only not-for-profit facility of its kind in the county borough.

Splash Community Trust chairman Darrell Wright said the team of volunteers still ‘can’t get carried away’ despite a successful first three months since the centre reopened on December 6.

He said: “We’re thrilled to have had some really busy weekends and to have had such fantastic numbers during half-term, and it makes all the hard work worthwhile.

“But we can’t get carried away, because we will need many more bumper weeks and months if we’re going to make sure Splash stays open.

“We’re still short of the 600 monthly memberships we need to tick over, but we’re certainly in a much better position than we were a year ago and than many thought we would be in.”

Darrell, who lives in Trevor, said the Trust owes ‘another huge thank you’ to Coleg Cambria students, who have agreed to undertake a variety of maintenance jobs at Splash including tiling, welding and joinery.

“The college’s support has been brilliant, invaluable really. Any work the students have done has been completed to a very high standard and they have saved us a lot of money, which is vital when every penny counts.”

Volunteers are still needed to help out at Splash. If you are interested, call Darrell on 07882 947804 or the centre on 01978 821600.

Calls for safe standing at the Racecourse ground

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for North Wales, Aled Roberts, has today called on the First Minister to support calls for safe standing areas in football grounds and to engage in talks with Wrexham FC and Glyndwr University to secure safe standing areas at The Racecourse ground.

 

Commenting after raising the issue in the Siambr today, he said: “Current UK legislation means that all football grounds in England and Wales are on a seating only basis. Additionally, UEFA and FIFA require any club holding an international match to have an all-seating stadium.

 

“However, safe standing areas are becoming a hugely popular idea for fans at domestic matches and would be welcomed in many town and cities should this legislation change.

 

“Fans have been calling for safe standing areas in grounds for some time now. Should UK legislation change, there is no reason why the new, adaptable seating and standing arra ngements already in place in Germany can’t be put in place at grounds like The Racecourse.

 

“The First Minister agrees with me that having international matches in north Wales again would be a fantastic boost, and appropriate investment coupled with representation from the Welsh Government could see the changes being made.

 

“It is now crucial that the First Minister works with the relevant bodies to ensure that Welsh calls for safe standing areas are heard, and that any future investment at The Racecourse ground should accommodate scope for safe standing areas."

New Wrexham prison will be operated by HMPS

* An artist's impression of the new Wrexham Prison.

Prisons Minister Andrew Selous has today (Tuesday) announced that the new prison in Wrexham will be operated by Her Majesty’s Prison Service (HMPS).

The prison, which is due to open in 2017, will be run by an innovative new approach that will see the best of the public, voluntary and private sectors working together.

HMPS will take overall ownership of the prison but with 34% of service provision outsourced – including a large industrial workshop complex.

Prisons Minister Andrew Selous said: "I am pleased to announce that the new prison in North Wales will be operated by Her Majesty’s Prison Service as part of an innovative new approach to running prisons.

"Our combination of benchmarking and outsourcing services is saving taxpayers around £300 million a year and now it will allow us to deliver a truly efficient prison in Wrexham that is based on best practice from the opening of previous prisons.

"This prison reflects the true success of our reforms in helping to create a modern low-cost prison estate, and is proving a real boost to the North Wales economy with £1.1 million already committed to local companies – well ahead of the £250,000 target for 2014.

"The £212 million investment will provide good quality prison accommodation that delivers value for the taxpayer by reducing the cost per prisoner place. Recent reforms have already saved significant sums for taxpayers, and continuing to create a modern low cost prison estate is essential to further reduce the overall cost of the prison system.

"Once operational the North Wales prison will also bring a huge benefit to the area, boosting the regional economy by around £23 million a year and create up to 1,000 jobs."

Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Crabb said: "The new prison in Wrexham will provide a massive boost to North Wales by generating opportunities for local businesses and creating hundreds of jobs in the area.

"This is all part of our long term plan to help rebalance the economy and invest in world class infrastructure across the whole country."

The prison will provide around 2,100 Category C places for male offenders from North Wales and North West England, including a small remand function serving the courts in North Wales.

It will include places for education, 12 large workshop spaces, and resettlement functions, helping offenders who will be held closer to home reintegrate into their communities on release.

The Ministry of Justice has also been working closely with Welsh devolved health and education services to develop suitable models for the prison and will continue to work with the Welsh government and other partners to agree the necessary resourcing as delivery requirements are finalised.

Construction is currently underway in Wrexham and the first houseblock is due to start taking prisoners from early 2017.

Welcoming the news, North Wales Assembly Member Aled Roberts said: "A prison run by the public sector with support from the voluntary and private sectors offers the best solution to the questions some critics have raised” commented Aled Roberts AM.

 

“I think this solution has the potential to offer a new way forward by bringing together the voluntary and private sectors under the leadership of the Westminster Government’s Prison Service.

 

“This will make the running of the prison directly accountable to Government.  But at the same time it will offer the innovation of the private sector and the enthusiasm of the voluntary sector to the running of specialist services such as the large industrial workshop complex that is being planned.

 

“When I was Wrexham Council leader I actively supported the development of a new prison in Wrexham for the jobs that it would bring and for the improved support local prisoners could  receive from their families nearer home. 

 

“Over the years councillors from all parties and none have worked together in Wrexham to make the building of a new prison in Wrexham a reality. My only concern now is that politicians in Cardiff and London work together to make sure that transport, police, health and other public services are allocated extra investment so they can cope with the extra demands the prison will make.”

Social care chief welcomes new legislation

* Mario Kreft.

 

A social care leader has welcomed new legislation to beef up regulation of the sector but warns it will not work unless there is a "fundamental change of culture".

 

Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, it was vital to "change the DNA in Wales to ensure everybody involved in worked together in collaboration.

 

Care Forum Wales are also calling for the people from local authorities and health boards who commission social care services to be regulated so that their decisions are based on quality not price.

 

The new law to strengthen the regulation and inspection of the social care sector was announced by Health Minister Professor Mark Drakeford.

 

According to the Welsh Government, care home owners will become more accountable for the services they provide to protect children and adults.

 

Prof Drakeford said the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Bill, would put delivering success at the heart of a "revised and streamlined legal framework".

 

Mr Kreft said: "“Care Forum Wales would want to support the overall thrust of the legislation.

 

"It is some time since the current regulations and legal system were put in place and, as the minister said, we’ve got many more people with complex needs receiving services at home.

 

"The people living in care homes have very complex needs, much more so than 20 years ago.

 

"It is therefore absolutely the right time on the back of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, which has created this new framework, that we now match that with a new regulatory framework, and there are certain aspects that we would certainly welcome.

 

"But there are also areas of concern. The reality is that in Wales today we have a struggling health and social care system.

 

"It's struggling because of demand and because we are not harnessing the resources that we already have at our disposal.

 

"People in Wales are not working in partnership in the way that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown in other parts of the UK makes a real difference in terms of efficiency of resources, quality of service delivery through what we call relationship centred care.

 

"Unfortunately, this new legislation will change little unless we really harness all the resources at our disposal and particularly recognise that social care is a fundamental cornerstone of the NHS in Wales.

 

"Independent social care in Wales is being decimated by flawed commissioning practices which put price before quality.

 

"As a result, morale in the sector among providers and the workforce is very low.

 

"It means we cannot attract enough of the right quality of people, because the economic model that most local authorities are using does not make it possible to make this a career to be proud of with all the things that you would expect for those skills.

 

"While the big stick will always be what you require when things go terribly wrong, we’ve really got to have a new approach.

 

"We are calling for the commissioners from local authorities and health boards to be regulated in their commissioning strategies and procedures.

 

"At the moment, the way social care is commissioned does not support quality services and this is backed up by the findings of the recent report by the Commissioner for Older People.

 

"We’re really talking about what the Commissioner for Older People also wants - that’s a better quality of life. It has to be about support, it has to be about, building for the future, and particularly respecting and valuing social care workers who provide those services.

 

“The most important thing that we can do in Wales is to change within our DNA so that we work collaboratively and see social care as a great positive, as a part of our community in the way that it underpins the economy and the NHS - and underpins indeed our society.

 

"We’ve had now nearly 20 years whereby social care funding for independent sector organisations has been held within local authorities.

 

"The progress that we’ve made is lamentable. Yes there are pockets of good practice, but that’s not good enough for a small nation of three million people. We should have got this right by now.

 

"This new law will go some way, but if we don’t fundamentally change the way we do business, if we don’t fundamentally change the way we work collaboratively, if we don’t fundamentally value providers and their workforce and just hit them when it goes wrong, then quite frankly this will not make the progress and provide the framework that the minister wants it to do."    

County launches new online service

Denbighshire County Council's Revenues and Benefits Department have launched a new on-line service offering customers secure online access to their benefit claims, Council Tax accounts and Business Rates accounts via the internet.

Among the many features available, customers will be able to log in and:

• view their own benefit claim details
• view their own account balances and payments
• report changes in their circumstances
• make payment arrangements and apply for discounts
• view notification letters and bills that we have issued to them
• choose to receive email notifications instead of paper bills and letters

A council spokesman said: "This is a huge step forward in our continuing efforts to keep improving services for our customers, who can now access their details at their own convenience and make use of the new online services listed above, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

To register for any of these services, click register here|.

Brave Rowan aims to sing at eisteddfod

 

 

* Rowan Gillard with one of his singing trophies.

 

A TEENAGER who suffers from a life-threatening form of asthma may be one of the first children in the UK to try a new drug, to make sure he is well enough to perform at this year's Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

 

Chorister Rowan Gillard's family say singing is helping to keep him alive, as the deep breathing involved alleviates the symptoms of the 'brittle asthma' which has landed him in hospital many times, including a spell on a life support machine as a small child.

 

Last year Rowan had to be hospitalised after a severe attack, and his family agreed for him to be injected daily with high doses of steroids, to make sure he was strong enough to perform at the 2014 International Eisteddfod in Llangollen.

 

Now doctors are investigating whether he can be approved to try high doses of a drug called Ciclesonide, which has just been licensed for children with asthma in the UK, to ensure he is strong enough to make the journey to North Wales again this July for the Eisteddfod which takes place from Tuesday, July 7, to Sunday, July 12. 

 

Schoolboy Rowan, aged 15, sings with the Highcliffe Junior Choir in Dorset, and says he looks forward to his week in Llangollen each year.

 

He said: “It would be really disappointing if I couldn't go to the Eisteddfod, because it's a really fun week. It's such a great opportunity.

 

“I've been singing for years but Llangollen is about the only time that I get nervous. The scale of it, you never realise how big it is until you get there The audience is about 5,000 people and it's a significant part of my life to be able to do it.”

 

In a piece for his school newsletter after the 2014 event, Rowan's fourth International Eisteddfod, he wrote: “Eistedfodd day, is (for me) the highlight of the week, I love the feeling of being on stage, especially in Llangollen, the sheer size of it is a daunting prospect but the adrenalin rush that you get from it is second only to being on a roller coaster!”

 

Rowan, who has two brothers, Callum, 20, and Aiman, 13, has been singing with the choir since he was eleven. He said: “Singing has been part of my life for a very long time. And I can only compare not doing it to when I don't have a lot of medication, my breathing gets worse. 

 

“I don't know how it helps because I'm not a scientist. All I know is that singing does alleviate the symptoms.”

 

Mum Alison, a nurse, said the deep breathing that comes with singing helps Rowan to expel carbon dioxide-filled air from his lungs.

 

She said: “Singing is so good for his lungs.

 

“Rowan has brittle asthma. It means that his condition is very unstable and it's very difficult to control. For the first seven years of his life he was in and out of hospital, and he did have to be taken into intensive care at one point and that was really scary because we thought he might not survive.

 

“Then he had a seven year gap where it eased up, but when he was 14 it flared up again and he was very ill indeed last year.

 

“He had to be taken into hospital to have massive doses of steroids through a drip, for three days, every 28 days, for four months. We timed it with the doctors to make sure he could go to the Eisteddfod.

 

“When it's bad it's very serious. He becomes totally debilitated because he can't breathe, he has disturbed sleep, he can't do exercise. It’s awful to see him struggling like that because he literally can't get enough air.”

 

Eilir Owen Griffiths, Musical Director of the Eisteddfod, said: “This is a really uplifting story about the tremendous bravery of this young man and what singing does for him.

 

“It is a joyful thing and it is good for you and we so hope to welcome Rowan and his family here again this year – and for many years to come.”

 

Alison was concerned Rowan would have to have the same course of hospital treatment this year, to ensure his condition was stable enough and he was strong enough to spend a week away from home. One of the side effects of taking the steroids is that it makes Rowan appear “puffed up”.

 

But doctors have now said they want to see if they can instead try him on a strong inhaler using a steroid called Ciclesonide, which has only recently been licensed for children with asthma in the UK, as it can cause stunted growth. He would have to take four puffs of a high dose, twice a day and monitor his condition.

 

Both Alison and Rowan are keen to let other children with asthma know about the benefits of singing – and that even if they are very ill it can actually help rather than be another thing they can’t do.

 

Alison said: “Most people don't appreciate its not getting the air in that's the problem, it's getting the tainted air out, which is full of carbon dioxide. When you are singing you have to control your breathing and it helps push that contaminated air out.”

 

“He generally just gets on with life because he's never known any different, but he does get fed up when he's not well.

 

“Last week he couldn't go to practise because he was so ill. He texted me to say he felt awful and he couldn't make the walk from school to choir and I had to go and pick him up.

 

“He hates missing it, because aside from enjoying it, he knows it does him good.

 

“Singing is his passion, and the Eisteddfod is the thing he looks forward to all year.”

 

Despite his asthma Rowan had a very successful 2014, picking up the Vocal Cup for Most Promising Boy Singer at the Southampton Festival of Music and Dance and his own choir awarded him the Amada Ditt trophy for the Most Expressive Singer in the Christchurch area.

 

Mary Denniss (corr) who runs the Highcliffe Junior Choir, which has 30 members, aged between 12 and 18, is also a vice-president of the Eisteddfod and has been bringing the choir to Llangollen since 1978.

 

She said: “Rowan is one of the keenest choir members, he always turns up full of beans and works really hard to make sure he's included in everything. It's incredible the effort he puts in and it's a pleasure to work with him.”

 

If Rowan is one of the stars of this year’s Eisteddfod then there are many others including American song-writing legend Burt Bacharach who will open the concert programme on Monday night, July 6.

 

There is also top UK tenor Alfie Boe, who will sing songs from the Musicals at the Thursday evening concert, one of the highlights of another packed week which will begin on Tuesday with Children’s Day and the Parade of Nations, led by Eisteddfod President Terry Waite before the evening Heart of Llangollen concert featuring a galaxy of international talent.

 

Wednesday’s programme will include a new competition for the International Young Musician of the Year as well as the Children’s Choir of the World while Thursday’s competitions will see another first, the International Voice of Musical Theatre Trophy.

 

Friday’s Open Category for choirs will showcase styles like gospel, barbershop, jazz, pop and glee styles and will also see the International Voice of the Future decided with the prize including the chance to sing at one of the evening concerts the following year.

 

The Blue Riband event, the Choir of the World for the Pavarotti Trophy, is decided on Saturday night as well as the Open Dance competition and Sunday sees the Eisteddfod let its hair down for Llanfest before the climactic final concert.

 

The feelgood atmosphere spreads out to the Eisteddfod field through the week as hundreds of competitors and thousands of visitors mingle with spontaneous performances breaking out.

 

Visitors can enjoy live music at the 200-seat S4C Stage, join in with dance workshops or just soak up the heady atmosphere throughout the week world-class competitors perform in a spectacular celebration of cultures with stunning choral music and lively traditional dance, especially on Folk Friday when the outdoor stages will feature world-class music and dance.

 

To book tickets and for more details on the 2015 festival go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk