Travel back in time on Llan Railway

Llangollen Railway's Winter Warmer gala weekend will be held over two days January 2^nd and 3^rd and will see a mixture of steam and diesel hauled passenger and goods trains.

During the weekend, a journey along the 10 mile heritage railway between Llangollen and Corwen will also be a journey back through the decades.

Stations along the line will be transformed to resemble different decades:

 

1930s at Berwyn: Visit the station in the gorge and experience the golden age of the Great Western Railway. Why not break your journey and walk over the oldest chain link bridge in the world?

1940s at Glyndyfrdwy: Learn about the role of railways during wartime. Don't forget to pick up your ration book!

 

1950s at Carrog (pictured left) : The railway has been nationalised! See how the railway's appearance changed under public ownership and take a ride on the station's miniature railway (weather permitting).


1960s at Corwen East: Modernisation is in the air and Dr Beeching is planning to close the line. See some historic publicity and learn about how we are building our own new railway station. Children will be able to stamp their 'Travel through the Decades' passport at each station.

 

An intensive timetable will be in operation over the weekend, allowing plenty of time to explore the stations along the line.

 

Visitors can experience how rural branch line journeys would have been on-board our steam-powered Great Western Railway 'auto train', or see how post-war commuter travel would have been like in our Suburban carriages. 

 

They can also travel on the demonstration parcels train and look out for newspapers and parcels being loaded and unloaded along the line.

 

* Full details and a downloadable events guide will be made available over the coming weeks from our website: http://www.llangollen-railway.co.uk/event/winter-warmer-2nd-january-2016/

No more police cuts a victory for common sense says crime chief

 

* Julian Sandham, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales.

 

The Chancellor’s decision to rule out further cuts to the police budget in his Autumn Statement has been welcomed as a victory for common sense by Julian Sandham, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales.

 

George Osbourne defied expectations when he told the House of Commons that there would be no further cutbacks in the police budget and promised real terms protection for police funding.

 

A relieved Julian Sandham said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s decision to rule out further cuts to the police budget, especially in the light of recent events in Paris.

 

“This is a victory for common sense because the Chancellor has done the right thing and without this our approach to security wouldn’t have been coherent.

 

“We now need to look at the fine detail of what the Chancellor has said before we receive the grant settlement in December.

 

North Wales is a special case for a number of reasons. We have a major port in Holyhead which handles over two million passengers a year and over 300,000 lorries and the prospect of a new nuclear power station.

 

“Clearly, we still need to consider aspects of the terror attacks in Paris – specifically the need to consider carefully the implications in respect of neighbourhood policing.

 

“The flow of intelligence is important and neighbourhood policing teams gather this intelligence and are best able to do so because they are closer to their communities.”

 

The Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales is about to embark on a series of consultation meetings across the region and Julian Sandham added: “North Wales Police have coped with £24 million in cuts over the past four years and is now a leaner machine in consequence but it isn’t a less effective or less efficient machine.

 

"The force has an excellent track record in fighting crime and is the only force in Wales where crime has been reduced.”

 

"Our focus now moves to a series of meetings where the Commissioner and I will seek the views of local people in communities across north Wales  to inform the priorities to be included in the Police and Crime Plan which will be the blueprint for policing the region.

 

"Their views will also be important and I would encourage people to take part in this process.

 

"For those who are unable to attend any of the meetings, we have an online survey so they can make sure their opinions are heard. People can also request a hard copy survey from the office or phone the office and give us their views."

Welsh Ambulance Service exceeds eight-minute target

Almost 70% of people with life-threatening illnesses and injuries received an emergency response within eight minutes during the first month of a year-long pilot to test changes to the Welsh Ambulance Service, new figures published today show.

 

Mid Wales North Wales South East Wales South West WalesA third of people (34.7%) received a response within just four minutes, the figures reveal.

 

The figures for October – the first month of the new clinical response model – show the Welsh Ambulance Service has met and exceeded the target that 65% of responses to the most life-threatening emergencies should arrive within eight minutes.

A total of 68.7% red calls were responded to within eight minutes. The average response time to this type of call was five minutes and 44 seconds.

The figures show:

• * The Welsh Ambulance service received 38,155 emergency calls in October 2015, an average of 1,231 a day;
• * Of these, 1,877 (5%) were immediately life-threatening – red –  emergency calls. 68.7% (1,267) responses arrived within eight minutes, above the target of 65%;
• 74% of red calls were responded to in nine minutes; 78.9% within 10 minutes.

Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “The figures published today show the new system is working, with nearly 70% of the most immediately life-threatening calls to the Welsh Ambulance Service receiving a response within eight minutes.

“I want to pay tribute to the ambulance service’s hard-working frontline clinicians, volunteer first responders and clinical contact centre staff for their dedication and commitment. Their work embracing the new clinical response model is crucial to delivering better outcomes for patients.

“We know that change can be difficult in the health service – for staff and the public. However, the initial figures from this pilot suggest that the new clinical response model is ensuring that patients are getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

“I expect the service to build on these early results; learn lessons and continue to improve to ensure people who need the life-saving skills of ambulance clinicians do so in the quickest time possible and get the best possible outcomes.”

Tracey Myhill, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service said: “We’ve made a really solid start on this ground-breaking new pilot, and today’s figures are testament of that.

“We owe thanks not just to the new model – which means patients are now receiving the right care, at the right time, by the right clinician – but to the staff who have been working harder than ever to deliver timely and high quality care.

“We’re grateful to staff for embracing this new way of working, and to the people of Wales for their patience and understanding while we continue to improve.

“We’re committed to building on these early results and providing an ambulance service that our patients can be proud of.”

Isherwood hits out over housing target

Shadow Housing Minister Mark Isherwood AM has criticised the Welsh Government's affordable housing target for having no connection to the number in housing need.

 

Speaking in this yesterday’s Assembly debate on Affordable Housing, Mr Isherwood (pictured) called on Ministers to end Wales' housing crisis and described the Welsh Government’s affordable housing target as arbitrary.

 

He said: “The October 2014 Homes for All Cymru manifesto starts ‘there is a housing crisis with more than 90,000 households on waiting lists’. This is the same figure that applied five years ago. Figures in England fell by 300,000 during that period.

“In June this year Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru stated ‘Wales needs to build 15,000 homes per year if we’re to stand a chance of ending the housing crisis within a generation. We’re calling on Welsh Government to continue to demonstrate their understanding that housing is critical infrastructure.’

 

“Although this Labour Government has a habit of missing its targets, normally at least they have the merit of being based on real populations, such as numbers of patients or pupils.

 

“However, this affordable homes target is arbitrary and cynical, bearing no relation to the actual numbers in housing need.

 

“We also lack clarity over what Labour includes in its affordable homes target - where previous figures largely comprised social housing units, but the current Welsh Government figures appear to be inflated with other housing types.”

 

He added: “Two 2015 reports completed by NLP Planning for the house-building industry in Wales state that their updated household projections for new dwellings up to 2031 indicate that the current level of housing delivery is only just over half of the identified housing need across Wales.  And September’s Bevan Foundation report, The Shape of Wales to Come, states `that in order to meet anticipated housing need there needs to be 14,200 new homes created each year, including 5,100 non-market homes'.

 

"They add that `less than half the requirement is being met, with the biggest shortfall in social housing'.

 

“We need a whole market solution to the Welsh housing supply crisis in social rent, low cost home ownership and open market purchase and we need to be asking Housing Associations how we can better link housing supply to sustainable community regeneration.”

Railway officials meet MP in Parliament

Yesterday in Parliament, Clwyd South MP Susan Elan Jones met with Elizabeth Harland and Gordon Heddon of Llangollen Railway during a meeting of the Heritage Rail Association. 

 Ms Harland said: "It has been wonderful to have been invited today and we are so grateful to Susan to come along and support us. As the biggest employer in the Valley now and with a flying apprentice scheme, support for what we do is more important now than ever.”

Susan Elan Jones MP said: "Llangollen Railway is a very important enterprise in our area. It is always excellent to meet with representatives of Llangollen Railway and I was delighted that both they and a representative of the New Glyn Valley Tramway Trust of Glyn Ceiriog were able to come along to today's meeting of the Heritage Rail Association in Parliament."


* Susan Elan Jones MP (right) with Elizabeth Harland and Gordon Heddon of Llangollen Railway
 

Police boss urges rethink over cuts

A police boss has made a final plea to the Government to abandon further cuts to policing in North Wales in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris.

 

Julian Sandham, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, was speaking ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review that's being announced tomorrow (Wednesday, December 25) by Chancellor George Osborne.

 

Over the past four years North Wales Police has had to make £24 million in savings to meet Government spending targets.

 

At the same time crime in the area, excluding fraud, has been cut by three per cent.

North Wales Police is the only force in Wales where crime has been reduced - all the rest have experienced increases.

 

But, according to Mr Sandham, (pictured) the terrorist atrocities in Paris changed everything.

 

He said: "The terror attacks in Paris have certainly changed things and I would urge the Government to pause and reflect before imposing any more policing cuts.

 

"It is important to consider the implications for neighbourhood policing which is the first step in any intelligence gathering operation.

 

"The new level of terrorist threat can affect forces similar to North Wales as well.

For example, if you had a major incident in London which required lots and lots of extra policing, as it inevitably would, then the Metropolitan Police could not supply all those police.  The other police forces would have to assist.

 

"So no matter where the major incidents of the Paris kind were to occur, the neighbourhood policing of all the forces of England and Wales would be affected in the sense that the number available within their own forces would be reduced on account of deployment to London.

 

"Also, so far as North Wales is concerned, the Holyhead port is a gateway in and out of Britain and the ease with which you can get flights in and out of Dublin, makes Holyhead a very attractive port from that point of view and coupled with that is the A55 for easy access from North Wales the to the densely populated areas of the north west of England or a train to London of course.

 

"So the need for vigilance around the port and effective scrutiny of the legitimacy of those who are coming in through Holyhead is very much a matter for North Wales Police, very much so.

 

"Anglesey is a very special case in my opinion because it’s about to experience considerable change in its socio-economic pattern from the building of the second Wylfa nuclear power station, from the large scale residential development that’s just been granted.

 

"The influx of the labour force to build Wylfa Newydd will of itself create a policing demand. 

 

"The fact that you’ve got a nuclear power station on your patch also influences the risk factors and will have to be taken into account in the kind of policing pattern you employ within that area.

 

"There is an opportunity now not to implement further significant cuts and I am hoping this is recognised and acted upon."

Council reforms would save £650m says government

Reforms to local government in Wales will deliver net savings of up to £650m over ten years, the Welsh Government has announced.

 

North Wales South East Wales South West WalesThe Draft Local Government (Wales) Bill, published today, sets out how "significant savings" can be made in order to protect frontline services at a time of unprecedented demand.

 

Under the Bill, the current 22 councils will be merged into 8 or 9, cutting overheads, and acting as a catalyst for reforming the way services are delivered to citizens.

 

Under the eight-council option Denbighshire would be merged with Flintshire and Wrexham, while under the option for nine councils the county would be merged with Conwy.

It’s anticipated by the government that the mergers would pay for themselves within two to three years, and the £650m savings figure takes into account all these initial costs. Additional savings could also be achieved by the sale of surplus assets, it is claimed.

Today’s Draft Bill is the start of a formal consultation process on the proposals for local authority mergers announced in June.

Views are sought on the proposed structure, including whether there should be two or three councils serving North Wales. The consultation closes on 15th February 2016.

Public Services Minister, Leighton Andrews said: “Our vision for Local Government is for activist Councils, engaged in delivering modern, accessible, high quality public services with their local communities.

“This Draft Bill sets out a programme of reform to secure the future of Local Government in Wales. We want to see Councils which are vibrant, strong, flexible, open and transparent - Councils with vision, great leadership and passion, working effectively with the public service workforce and their communities to improve services, improve lives and improve places.

“There is a real opportunity here for Local Government to make significant savings for taxpayers and if Councils work together, plan well and involve their staff there is the opportunity for savings even greater than the £650 million we have identified. This means more money for front line public services, more money to invest in communities and more money to support local economic prosperity.”

The Bill is scheduled to be introduced to the Assembly in autumn 2016, and is being published in draft form in order to seek a wide range of views on the proposals between now and February next year.