Picture shows Hill Street traffic blues

* Vehicles inch past one another in Hill Street.

Campaigner Mike Edwards has sent in this picture he took on Saturday showing how difficult it is for vehicles to pass on the “pinchpoint” in Hill Street.   

This, he says, is even before extra traffic is generated by a development of 99 homes in Vicarage Road for which planning permission is currently being sought by developers Castlemead and a group of residents, including Mr Edwards, are opposing.

He said: “I took this photograph this morning and this illustrates the existing problem for road users - pedestrians, wheelchair users, mums and dads with pushchairs and drivers

“I have written a letter to Graham Boase, head of planning and public protection at the county council, with a copy of this photo pointing out that this road is already hazardous and will not accommodate additional traffic.

“The planning application, 03/2016/0300, proposes that construction traffic will use Hill Street and Willow Street until the 31st dwelling is occupied and Willow Street is widened and reconstructed.”

A5 closed by road accident

The A5 just outside Llangollen has been closed in both directions following an traffic accident.

A tweet from North Wales Police just before 7.30pm says:

North Wales Police ‏@NWPolice 9m9 minutes ago

RTC A5 Llangollen. Road blocked near Ty'n y Wern Hotel. Officers on scene diversions in place. Please avoid if possible. Thank you.

A fire engine was seen just a little earlier speeding in that direction along Regent Street, followed by two police cars.

A further tweet from the road agency says:

North & Mid Wales ‏@TrafficWalesN 5m5 minutes ago

#A5 : Both directions : Llangollen : Incident : Road closed : Due to Accident

Sources said a vehicle had overturned and the driver has been taken to hospital.

Churches come together for open-air service

* Worshippers at the open-air service gather around the bandstand. 

Churches in Llangollen came together earlier today for a joint open-air service for Pentecost Sunday which also marked Christian Aid Week, from May 15-21.

Over 80 members of the various congregations gathered around the bandstand in Riverside Park for the worship, led by the Rev Andrew Sully of St Collen’s Church and the Rev Phil Poole of Llangollen Methodist Church.

Hymns were accompanied by Llangollen Silver Band and a collection was taken in aid of Christian Aid.

* The Rev Andrew Sully leads the service.

Operatic land am dram "Oscars" for Sister Act

* Tracey Rawlinson holds up the Best Production award.

Llangollen Operatic Society has landed two amateur stage “Oscars” for its production of Sister Act last year.

The society received three nominations for the NODA Wales and Ireland regional awards for 2015, which aim to honour the cream of amateur shows.

And at the presentation evening in Hereford last night (Saturday) it was awarded Best Production  and Best Performance 2015 for Sister Act which it staged at the Town Hall a year ago.     

The society’s version of the musical, the stage version of the hit Whoopi Goldberg film, attracted large audiences throughout its week-long run and much critical acclaim.

The Best Performance award went to Elen-Haf Taylor for her portrayal in the lead role of Deloris Van Cartier. 

The show was co-produced by Michael Jones and Tracey Rawlinson who was also artistic director, with musical direction by Elen Mair Roberts.

AM attacks county over halting Right to Buy

Shadow Housing Minister and North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has criticised Denbighshire County Council’s decision to stop people buying their own council houses for five years.

Denbighshire has voted to stop ‘Right to Buy’, following in the footsteps of Anglesey, Flintshire, Carmarthenshire and Swansea councils.

The council has said there were 10 applicants for every vacant council home in the county and right to buy "threatened investment in new homes".

But Mr Isherwood (left) claims the take-up of ‘Right to Buy’ is no longer significant enough for its suspension to reduce housing pressure.

He said: “I believe this is the wrong way forward. Abolishing ‘Right to Buy’ in Denbighshire will deny the prospect of home ownership to tenants and will not in itself increase the supply of affordable housing.

“Further, current legislation only allows Councils to suspend the Right to Buy’ for a limited time in a specified area, which would make a negligible contribution to improving the availability of affordable housing, given findings by leading expert Professor Wilcox that tenants remain in occupation for 15 years on average.

“As the Welsh Affairs Committee found, the suspension of the Right to Buy would not in itself result in an increase in the supply of affordable housing.

“The proposed scrapping of Right to Buy is a smokescreen and would not do anything to create more homes or increase the numbers of households with their own front door.”

Mr Isherwod says Welsh Labour has mounted a sustained attack on ‘Right to Buy’ and  in 2015  halved the ‘Right to Buy’ discounts from £16,000 to £8,000 and signalled its intention to scrap the ‘Right to Buy’ altogether.

He added: “Welsh Conservatives would instead protect the ‘Right to Buy’ for tenants wanting to buy their council home and reinvest ‘Right to Buy’ proceeds into new social housing, providing more homes for more people languishing on Labour’s waiting lists, increasing the number of people who are able to find a home to meet their needs.

“‘Right to Buy’ has already dwindled under Welsh Labour. During 1999-2000, 3590 ‘Right to Buy’ Council Home sales were completed in Wales, rising to 6,865 during 2003-04, but since falling to just 176 in 2014-15.  

“The social housing crisis is the result of Welsh Labour policies, not right to buy. During its first 3 terms in Welsh Government,  Labour cut the supply of new affordable homes by nearly three quarters and slashed the total number of social homes in Wales by nearly 30,000.

"As the 2012 UK Housing Review stated "it was the Welsh Government itself that gave housing lower priority in its overall budgets, so that by 2009/10 it had by far the lowest proportional level of housing expenditure of any of the four UK countries".

“National House Building Council’s figures show that Wales was the only nation in the UK to decrease new homes registrations in 2014-15.  Compared with a 7% increase in the UK overall, Wales is lagging behind with a 2% reduction.”

Valley Girls raise £3,000 for hospices from calendar sales

* Valley Girls hand over a cheque for £1,500 to Hope House Hospice.

Members of Valley Girls WI have said a big public thank you to everyone who has helped their Llangollen Vintage Calendar raise a total of £3,000 for two charities.

The money will be split between Nightingale House Hospice and Hope House Hospice.

A group spokeswoman said: "We'd like to thank the Chamber of Trade and Tourism for their support and for encouraging local business to stock and sell the calendar and also the businesses themselves, who were all very supportive, co-operative and even had staff giving us an extra plug at the checkout, which bumped up sales.

"We're so grateful to all of our local supporters who took this project to their hearts and made many sales to friends, relatives, colleagues, members of their dance class or patients in the waiting room.

"No opportunity was missed. Everyone can feel proud, this really was a community project.

"The Valley Girls are taking a break from calendars this year to concentrate on something a bit different.

"It will all come together around the time of the Fringe Festival.

"Members are hoping to show off some of their creative skills but nothing has been confirmed yet as details are a bit woolly!"

* Another £1,500 cheque goes to Nightingale House Hospice.

New police boss pledges to serve all the people

* New North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

A new police boss has pledged to serve all the people of North Wales without fear or favour - and to make tackling domestic violence a top priority.

Former police inspector Arfon Jones, the second ever North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, was speaking on his first official day in office (Thursday, May 12) after succeeding Winston Roddick in the job.

Standing as a Plaid Cymru candidate, he swept to victory with a massive majority of 25,364 votes.

According to Mr Jones, a member of Wrexham County Borough Council, it was one of the proudest days of his life to lead the force he served for 30 years, both in uniform and as a detective.

A native of Harlech in Gwynedd, he is married with two daughters and four grandchildren and lives in Gwersyllt, near Wrexham.

Mr Jones is now in charge of a budget of £147 million and is responsible for making sure the money is spent effectively to keep the people of North Wales safe and secure.

In doing so, he vowed to represent everybody in North Wales, regardless of their political affiliations.

He said: "It's very important.  I agreed 100 per cent with what Sadiq Khan said when he became Mayor of London, that he represented all the people of London.  I think that is perfectly correct.

"I think all politicians should do that, no matter who has voted for you, you represent all your electorate without fear or favour. It’s part of being sworn in.  I have promised to do this and I take my responsibilities seriously.

"I plan to consult widely about the policing priorities for North Wales to make sure we have a good idea of what it is that the people of North Wales want us to deliver over the next 12 months.

"Once I publish the plan I will then scrutinise the force and hold the chief officers to account to make sure that the plan is realised."

One of the commissioner's first priorities will be tackling the issue of domestic violence.

Mr Jones wants to extend the use of body-worn video to all front line police officers in North Wales so that evidence of crimes can be captured as they happen.

A total of 128 video camera kits have already been deployed across North Wales and have proved a big success, particularly in relation to domestic violence.

Mr Jones said:  "Domestic violence is a hideous crime and one I feel passionately about.

"The fact that seven victims of domestic violence are killed every month in England and Wales makes it an obvious priority. 

"There’s an emotional cost, there’s a cost to society and there’s a financial cost and I think it’s a responsibility to us all to prioritise things of this nature.

"I would very much like to provide every front line officer in North Wales with a body-worn video. 

"I think that the evidence that is coming out from the use of body worn video is that the number of offenders who are arrested and charged and brought before the courts has increased.

"I would certainly encourage victims to come forward, either by reporting the matter directly to the police or by getting in touch with a partner agency.

"When people come forward to report such an offence, it's often the case that it will have happened dozens of times previously.

"To be fair to my predecessor, Winston Roddick, he did a lot of work on this issue and I’m looking forward to carrying on this work and developing it further."

Another priority for Mr Jones keeping children out of the criminal justice system to ensure they are not criminalised at a young age, blighting their future prospects.

One of the problems, he said, was the absence of a consistent approach in the way young justice services were delivered in different parts of North Wales.

I’ve been leading Children’s Services for Wrexham County Council with responsibility for Youth Justice which comes under the Ministry of Justice at Westminster.

"It is financed by the Welsh Government, the office of the Commissioner, North Wales Police, the probation service and the health board and it is all dealt with differently across the whole of North Wales.

"Responsibility for youth justice should be devolved to Wales because at the moment the way it works is that it’s like a postcode lottery and I think that children and young people deserve a better service.

"We should intervene earlier when the children are younger and break the cycle of crime before it happens."

Chief Constable Mark Polin wished Mr Jones well in his new role. He said “I would like to congratulate Mr Arfon Jones and welcome him as the new Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales. 

"I look forward to working closely with him to deliver the Police and Crime Plan and ensuring North Wales remains a safe place to live, work and visit where vulnerable members of society are protected from harm.”