Rise in cost of policing is unveiled

* North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

A police boss has unveiled plans for a 38p-a-week increase in the cost of policing in North Wales – less than the price of a packet of chewing gum.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones says the 7.74 per cent rise is needed to recruit 34 extra officers and six more staff to focus on tackling emerging threats like serious and organised crime, child sexual exploitation, cyber-crime, modern day slavery, domestic abuse and drugs gangs who prey on children and young adults.

Mr Jones is seeking the backing of the North Wales Police and Crime Panel for the proposed increase at their meeting next Monday (January 28).

The 40 new recruits will over and above the 90 officers and staff taken on since 2016 when Mr Jones, a former police inspector, was elected.

At the same time, the force has just started redeploying officers and staff as part of a major reorganisation.

As a result of the Operational Improvement Plan, there will be 30 additional front line investigators.

An online survey carried out the commissioner showed that 51 per cent of the 1,877 council tax payers who took part were in favour of an increase of 37p or more – with a third of them supporting a much higher increase of 50p and above a week.

The survey also showed “overwhelming support” for the priorities in Mr Jones’s Police and Crime Plan which sets out the strategy for policing North Wales.

It all comes against the backdrop of £31 million in savings forced on North Wales Police since 2011 and a real-terms cut of £2.8 million in the annual grant from the Home Office for the coming year.

This year the UK Government has given special dispensation to forces to charge an extra £24-a-year for Band D properties to combat the double whammy of austerity and the need for forces to pump more cash into police pensions because of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

The planned hike in police precept element of the council tax in North Wales amounts to  a total £19.98 for the year and would be among the lowest of all the 43 constabularies in England and Wales. It is understood that most commissioners are planning to opt for the full £24 increase.

According to Mr Jones, the overall £154 million budget for 2019/20 was designed to deliver the priorities in his Police and Crime Plan.

He said: “In putting together my blueprint, I was encouraged that my vision for improving the way the region is policed has the overwhelming support of the people of North Wales.

“The online survey showed that 92 per cent of council tax payers want tackling organised crime to remain a priority and 91 per cent agree that keeping neighbourhoods safe is important, while 67 per cent want me to continue focusing on combating the blight of modern day slavery.

“As well as consulting the public, I have had detailed discussions with the Chief Constable and his senior team who confirmed that a council tax increase of 7.74 per cent provides sufficient budget for the operational delivery of the policing service in North Wales.

“I am confident that the proposed increase strikes a proper and prudent balance between affordability for council tax payers and ensuring North Wales Police has enough money to continue to be an efficient and effective force.

“Four and a half per cent of the increase is needed just for a standstill budget and would mean that the force was unable to cope with the growing demand generated by new and emerging crime.

“The nature of policing has changed hugely and we are facing new and increasing challenges so the force must evolve and adapt accordingly.

“In spite of having to absorb the swingeing cuts we have faced over recent years, we are investing in our frontline, professionalising our frontline and making us fit for the future.”

Chief Constable Carl Foulkes said: “We have an ambition to be the safest place in the UK and the proposed budget will ensure we are able to meet the many challenges that lie ahead, not least because of the new and emerging crimes that we need to focus on.

“Our communities still want to see visible and proactive police officers, and want the reassurance that we will be there for them when they ask for help.

“But there are hidden crimes, such as cyber-crime and online exploitation, as well as major threats from so called County Lines – drugs gangs who operate across borders, with children and young people being coerced, groomed and threatened with violence to take part in illegal activity across the region.

“These issues, coupled with ongoing budgetary challenges, which have seen us making cuts of around £30 million since 2011, mean we are having to look at every aspect of our service, and be even smarter in the way we operate.”

Council seeks information on dumped caravan

The county council wants to track down the person responsible for dumping a caravan in the countryside just outside Llangollen.

It's on the Green Lane /Three Trees track and has been there since last Friday night.

A spokesman for Denbighshire County Council said: "We have been made aware of the incident and are in the process of removing the caravan.

"Anyone with any information as to who is responsible for dumping the caravan can contact the council's customer services on 01824 706000."

Businesses served up top tips on customer service

* Representatives of Dee Valley businesses during the training session. 

Leading businesses from in and around Llangollen have been given some top tips on meeting international customer service standards.

They took advantage of an opportunity offered by the Llangollen & Dee Valley Good Grub Club to participate in Welcome Host Gold Customer Service training.

The course was made possible by Cadwyn Clwyd who receive funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

Businesses who sent their staff on the course included Tyn Dwr Hall, Gales of Llangollen, ManorHaus, One Planet Adventure, Riverbanc, the Sun Trevor and ProAdventure.

The course was a full day leading to a City & Guilds qualification in customer service and covered how to resolve challenging situations to turn complaints into a positive experience and how to building lasting relationships that encourage repeat business and recommendations.

Showing the importance of customer service, it covered how a £10 transaction can lead to over £50,000 of follow-up business if handled well.

Pip Gale, owner and manager at Gales Wine Bar in Llangollen, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity that gave a vocabulary to things we just 'do'.

"I took a lot away from the course, including a new way to talk with my team about putting our values into action.

"I look forward to seeing what my staff members take away from it too."

Mathew Povey from Tyn Dwr Hall in Llangollen said: "The day provided a very good programme which has enthused me with some new ideas and methods which I will be able to put into action immediately. 

"I’m looking forward to sharing these ideas with the rest of the team at Tyn Dwr Hall.”

Robyn Lovelock, co-ordinator for Llangollen & Dee Valley Good Grub Club, said: “I’m delighted the training has been received so well.

"With all the participating businesses bringing decades of frontline customer service experience to the training, there was a lot of pressure to make sure it offered new information and new ways of engaging customers. T

"The strapline for our town is ‘Where Wales Welcomes the World’, so this was a great opportunity for businesses to check they are meeting world class standards. It will also be great groundwork for businesses planning to take part in the Denbighshire Ambassador programme later this year.”

Llangollen & Dee Valley Good Grub Club is a co-operative of independent businesses from the retail, hospitality, farming and food sectors in and around the Dee Valley.

It offers networking, training and events that aim to increase the availability of food from the region, to provide training and mentoring for local young people keen to work in the food and drink sector and to improve the quality of the visitor experience to the Dee Valley.

Information about the Denbighshire County Council Ambassador programme will be available online, with online certification launching later in 2019.

* For further information see www.GoodGrubClub.wales, or contact Robyn Lovelock, Good Grub Club co-ordinator, on 07799896108 or deevalley.goodgrubclub@gmail.com

Sleak Seat ST closes hatch on boxy old estates

* The Seat Leon ST ... FR.

* The Seat Leon ST's load area.

Seat Leon ST road test by Steve Rogers

ESTATE cars aren't meant to be fun...or are they?

The days of rattley old boxes bought by people who needed to haul tea chests and sideboards - think they were mainly antique dealers - have been confined to history, in fact I can pinpoint the very year the estate car market was turned on its head.

It was 2000 and Alfa Romeo showed us the 156 Sportwagon, a car that was drop dead gorgeous with its rising waistline, shallow windows and sloping roof, just like a coupe. This was the start of a new breed and got rival car designers thinking outside the box.

Mercedes-Benz CLS, Honda Civic, Hyundai i40, are good recent examples, and even Volvo, the 'box' king, has joined the sporty estate club, although now most are called Sport Tourer, Sport Wagon or Sport Back. The emphasis on Sport tells the story.

Spanish car maker Seat is relatively new to the club and although the Leon ST is not as eye catching as the hatchback the sloping roofline gives it a bit of a racy look.

As part of the Volkswagen-Audi group the ST is cut from the same cloth as VW Golf and Skoda Octavia both of which have slightly more carrying capacity, as does a Peugeot 308 and Honda Civic, but we are talking small margins and Leon is a convincing story with the tailgate open.

So what do we need to look for in a good estate car? First up is a full width opening, no light clusters poking in from the sides, low loading sill, minimal intrusion from the wheel arches, and fold flat rear seats, not every car maker achieves that.

Here the back seats can be dropped by pulling levers in the side walls which is a thoughtful touch and saves a walk to the rear door.

Leon ST ticks all those boxes and the good sized boot does not cut into rear seat legroom which is plentiful, even for taller folk. In fact this is a generous five seat family car.

Where does the fun come in? The clue is in the title - FR. We had a bit of fun with Leon's full title - STTSIEVOFR - which looks like the jumble of letters from the TV game show Countdown.

Embarrassingly I could not tell my wife what FR stands for, she offered fast runner, very apt in this case. A call to the press office revealed Formula Racing which is one step away from Seat's ultimate hot shot, the Cupra models.

That said there is plenty of fun and excitement to be had from the FR. The suspension has been lowered a tad to sharpen handling and that works a treat. Mrs Rogers immediately moaned about the hard ride but she doesn't get that there has to be a compromise on comfort, and the ride is not that hard anyway.

So we have a car built for thrills, but can a 1.5 litre engine provide the performance back up? Too right it can.  This is Volkswagen's new high powered small petrol engine and combines performance, low emissions and economy.

As diesel continues to die a slow death VW has come up with a petrol engine that gets close to achieving the same strong response at low revs as well as good mid range pick up. It will never match a diesel on economy but this is clever stuff with two of the four cylinders closing when cruising and that saves fuel.

I averaged about 40mpg, well down on what the official figures predict, but I did enjoy the performance so a little more care should push that to 45-46mpg.

Seat can pick and choose from VW's parts bin so there are similarities with switches and layout, and while it is all very orderly and precise it is a touch bland although the FR benefits from shiny black and chrome dashboard highlights and soft red penlight strips along the door panels.

What do you get for your £24k? A lot of safety features, which are all the rage these days, excellent LED headlights, an eight inch touch screen with navigation, mobile phone integration for Apple CarPlay, Mirror Link and Google Android, DAB radio and more.

Unfortunately Seat's touchscreen does not have the quick function keys either side of the screen, a sensible feature in the VW Golf, so you have to go into the system to select a function. At least the heating controls are clearly displayed switches.

The FR has front and rear parking sensors but for this money I would want a rear camera and even heated front seats.

And they could do with sorting out something that must irritate everyone. The two USB ports are tucked out of site at the back of a cubby in the centre console so trying to plug in a mobile phone charge lead is a real pain.

Apart from that go and buy one, you'll like it.

Leon ST EVO FR Sport

£24,125

1.5 litre TSI; 148bhp

0-62mph 8.2secs; 134mph

55.4mpg combined

117g/km 1st year road tax £165

Insurance group 20

AM challenges First Minister over prison figures

With figures showing that Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in western Europe, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood (pictured) has challenged the First Minister over what action he plans to take to address this.

Raising the matter with Mark Drakeford yesterday he said: “Of course, we already know that the prison and probation service in Wales will be responsible for probation again from 2020 in Wales, with a focus on communities, community sentencing and rehabilitation.

"But, given that the Wales Governance Centre analysis found that under the Westminster criminal justice system, as it was earlier termed, the total number of prison sentences in England between 2010-17 dropped 16 per cent but went up 0.3 per cent in Wales, and that custodial sentences imposed by magistrates in Wales went up 12 per cent, what dialogue will you endeavour to have, perhaps, with the Judiciary and with the Magistracy, to establish their reasons within Wales for this, when I know, many years ago, in taking evidence in Assembly Committee, when similar geographical differences were found, they put a case to us that we were able to consider?” 

The First Minister replied: “Why rates have risen in the way they have in Wales is a complex matter. There is an increasingly punitive climate of opinion that some analysts point to. There are certainly changes to legislation. There were over 3,000 new offences put on the statute book in 10 years from 1997 to 2007. We in this Assembly have put fresh offences on the statute book in the work that we do.

"There are the impacts of sentencing guidelines and guideline judgments that have had the effect of increasing length of sentences, quite certainly, and there is the issue of, as some sentencers put it, a collapse in confidence in the probation service. I said in answer to Leanne Wood that we welcomed strengthening probation, building confidence, in the consultation with the Ministry of Justice last summer. We'll do what we can within that, but want to go further.”

Mr Isherwood added: “Such a difference in delivery between England and Wales within what is a shared criminal justice system provides yet another reason why the calls for devolution of criminal justice by Labour and Plaid Cymru AMs must not be answered."

Official probe to be held into massive mountain fire

* The fire as seen from the town centre.

* County Councillors Melvyn Mile and Graham Timms on the Horseshoe Pass, scene of the fire last summer.

An official probe into the massive mountain fire near Llangollen last summer is to be held in March.

And the area’s two county councillors who called for it have welcomed he day-long evidence gathering meeting which will take place at the International Pavilion on Wednesday March 20.

The fire ripped through acres of moorland around Llantysilio and the Horseshoe Pass burning for six weeks in July and August.  

In September Llangollen councillors Graham Timms and Melvyn Mile called for the county council to hold an inquiry into the fire and its impact on the area.

As a result the council’s Communities Scrutiny Committee will hold the special meeting in March.

A letter to the councillors from committee chair Cllr Huw O Williams says: “We will be examining evidence from last summer’s fire on Llantysilio Mountain, near Llangollen, and its impact on the local area.

“For this purpose an evidence gathering a meeting of the committee will be held at the International Pavilion in Llangollen at 10am on Wednesday March 20. The meeting will have a morning and afternoon session and will be open to the public.

“The inquiry is not intended to apportion blame on any individual, service, organisation or group with respect of the fire or its management.

“Its aim is to understand what happened and learn lessons from the event in a bid to improve the management of similar incidents in future and minimise the disruption caused to nearby communities and businesses.

“At the morning session the committee will be examining evidence relating to the emergency services and other public organisations’ response to the fire along with the management of the incident.

“The afternoon session will be devoted to reviewing evidence relating to land management matters and the fire and incident management’s effect on local businesses, residents and communities.

“Representatives from various services, organisations, communities and businesses either involved or affected by the fire will be invited to give evidence at the meeting.

“In the meantime, the committee would also like to hear from individuals affected by the fire about their experiences during this time and the impact it had had on them, their businesses or community since.”

The letter adds that if anyone has photographic, video or written evidence they would like the committee to consider, they should send it to: Rhian Evans, Scrutiny Co-ordinator, Democratic Services, DCC, County Hall, Wynnstay Road, Ruthin LL15 1YN, or email to: rhian.evans@denbighshire.gov.uk by February 12.

Cllr Mile said: “We are keen that the response to the fire by North Wales emergency services, the Welsh Government and Denbighshire County Council is examined so that lessons can be learned to prevent such an event happening again.

“The fire caused devastation to the environment, flora and fauna as well as a prolonged effect on local farmers, businesses and communities. It is important that those affected by the fire will be given an opportunity to put evidence to the committee.” 

Cllr Timms said: “We asked for the committee to hold its meeting in Llangollen Pavilion to make it easy for those living near the fire site to attend. It is important that a full and detailed investigation is held.

“We have been working hard to get an important piece of evidence released by the Local Resilience Forum which is now expected very soon.

“Its report has been drawn up by the officers and emergency services involved in the response to the fire and we hope that it will help to enlighten us about the actual situation.

“There have been lots of rumours and misinformation about the fire and we need to be able to look at the evidence before jumping to conclusions.” 

Company to run open-top bus tours from Llan

* An open-top London Routemaster bus.

A company is planning to run two new vintage bus sightseeing tours in Llangollen over the Easter weekend.

The first tour by Routemaster 4 Hire based in Llay will be to the summit of The Horseshoe Pass where passengers will see stunning views of the Clwydian Range as the bus climbs 1,368 feet along the A542 to the Ponderosa Cafe - the highest point of the pass.

The drive out of Llangollen will reveal spectacular views towards the Llantysilio Mountain range and Marilyn Cyrn-y-Brain.

There will be a stop at the Ponderosa Cafe giving everyone enough time to take in the views and enjoy some refreshments before the journey back down to Llangollen, says the company.

The Horseshoe Pass tours will depart Parade Street in Llangollen daily at 11.45am and 2.45pm.

The second tour will see a scenic drive from Llangollen to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct which carries the Llangollen Canal 126ft over the River Dee.

The aqueduct tour will depart Parade Street in Llangollen daily at 10.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm.

Ticket prices for each tour are:

Adult £7                                

Children (5-15yrs) £7

Under 5's Free

Seniors (60+)  £5           

Family (2 Adults, 2 Children) £25

All day ticket (per person) £12

You can pre-book tickets by calling the company during office hours on 01978 799909,  or online at viatour.com

A limited number of tickets will also be available on the day, so you can just turn up and hop-on.

Tours will be running every day over the Easter Weekend from April 19-22.

More running dates will be announced soon, says the company.