A5 re-opens following serious collision

Emergency services were called to a crash just outside of Llangollen earlier this evening, according to Wrexham.com

The incident took place on the A5 at Glyndyfrdwy – with police asking people to avoid the area as the road was closed.

The air ambulance was also called to the area just before 4pm, and took off around 30 minutes later heading to Stoke hospital.

The incident involved two vehicles.

Traffic Wales said on Twitter around 7.40pm that the road had been re-opened in both directions.

County approves reduction of single use plastics

Plans for Denbighshire County Council to significantly reduce its use of single-use plastics have been approved.

The full council agreed proposals drawn up by a cross-party task and finish group of councillors to reduce the use of plastics within council offices, following a Notice of Motion last year.

Plans include the following within the council’s office buildings - no longer providing plastic water cups and single use paper/plastic cups for hot drinks and the removal of water coolers, automated hot drink machines and vending machines.

A campaign will also be launched to encourage everyone who comes to the three main council offices to bring their own cup.

The cross-party group will now undertake further work with a view to draw up proposals to reduce the council’s use of plastic in school catering and procurement and the work will be linked to the Council’s wider work within the Climate Change and Ecological Emergency response.

Cllr Brian Jones, Lead Member for Waste, Transport and the Environment, said: “I’d like to thank the members of the cross-party group for their hard work in coming up with these proposals.

“Protecting the environment is a priority for the council under its Corporate Plan and this project focuses on reducing the amount of single-use plastic within Council offices as well as showing leadership within the wider community.

“These actions will benefit the environment by reducing and avoiding the use of plastics in Council offices, as an example by just ending the provision of plastic cups at water coolers will see 140,000 fewer cups being used over the next ten years.”

Denbighshire supports day for young carers

Denbighshire County Council is backing an initiative to support young carers.

Young Carers Awareness Day, led by the Carers Trust charity, is taking place tomorrow (Thursday) to raise awareness of young people looking after someone in their family, or a friend, who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs or alcohol.

As part of its Corporate Plan, the council has committed to support carers by improving the services that exist and ensuring carers of all ages are aware of the services and support available.

Cllr Huw Hilditch-Roberts, lead member for Education, Children’s Services and Public Engagement, said: “Young carers play an important role in our society when they themselves are having to cope with growing up.

“They are to be congratulated for the support they provide and I want to let them know we are working hard to support them.  Young Carers Awareness Day aims to make carers aware of their rights, to inform them of where to get help and support and to raise awareness of the needs of carers.  I would encourage any young carers to get in touch so we can let them know about the help that is available.”

The Young Carers Service in Denbighshire is provided by WCD Young Carers through Credu Connecting Carers and is currently working with 462 known young carers in the county.

Denbighshire schools will be holding a number of events to mark Young Carers Awareness Day.

* For information and support for young carers contact Denbighshire’s Children and Families Gateway on 01824 712200 or cfsgateway@denbighshire.gov.uk.  Alternatively contact WCD Young Carers for access to information, training, groups, activities, days out, and support on 01597 823800, info@wcdyc.org.uk, or https://credu.cymru/for-you/meet-wcd/ycnw/about-wcd/

Welsh towns to get £90m boost from government

Wales’s towns are to receive £90m of additional investment as part of a new Welsh Government approach to transforming town centres across the country, Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, Hannah Blythyn has announced.

The Transforming Towns package includes measures to increase footfall by making sure the public sector locate services in town centre locations, tackle empty buildings and land to help bring them back into use, and greening our town centres.

Towns are vital to environmental, economic, social and cultural well-being in Wales – around 40% of our population live in small towns of less than 20,000 people but nearly everyone identifies emotionally with a town – or city – in some way.

Many towns are struggling in the wake of declining retail sales and the way we use town centres has changed.

To help breathe new life into town centres, the Welsh Government has unveiled a new ‘Town Centre First’ approach, which means locating services and buildings in town centres wherever possible. 

As part of this approach, all Welsh Government departments will put the health and vibrancy of town centres as the starting point for their location decision-making processes.

Utilising this approach, the public sector is also being encouraged to support towns by locating offices, facilities and services within them in order to drive footfall and create or sustain vibrancy.

To support this new approach, the Welsh Government is announcing a £90m investment to transform Wales’ town centres. Investments include:

• £36m for town centre regeneration projects, extending our current capital programme for a further year and bringing in an anticipated total investment of almost £58m;
• £13.6m to tackle empty and dilapidated buildings and land. This will enable local authorities to take enforcement action to bring empty buildings and land back into use;
• £2m for coastal towns to support projects to an anticipated value of £3m which will contribute to town centre / high street regeneration;
• £10m of additional funding for the Town Centre Loans scheme, taking the total to £41.6m, to bring vacant and underutilised buildings back into use in our town centres;
• £5m funding for Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity within town centres. This will support greening projects which will deliver environmental benefits and make town centres more attractive places to visit.

The £90m Transforming Towns package builds on the £800m investment in our towns as a result of significant Welsh Government investment since 2014.

The Deputy Minister made the announcement at the Queen’s Market building in Rhyl, which has received £5m of Welsh Government funding. This forms part of a total investment of £16.5m in the town centre as a result of regeneration schemes.

St Collen's bells toll for Holocaust remembrance

* The bell-ringing team get ready in the bell tower for the quarter peal.

To mark National Holocaust Memorial Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp bell ringers at St Collen's Church rang a quarter peal this afternoon  (Monday) starting from 4.30pm.

This meant about 45 minutes of continuous ringing with the bells half-muffled as they traditionally are for Remembrance Sunday.

Six ringers took part and the quarter peal was made up of 1,260 changes.

The bells at St Collen's, high up in the tower, were installed in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Police issue doorstep callers warning

* An example of one the invalid ID cards which have been seized by police. 

Police have issued a warning about doorstep callers who target areas offering small household products for sale.

These callers may claim to be ex-convicts attempting to mend their ways, however, they are not part of any recognised rehabilitation scheme, say officers.

The police statement says: "Please warn your neighbours, particularly elderly or vulnerable neighbours, not to open the door to strangers or buy or sell on the doorstep.

"Some doorstep callers may offer poor quality goods at inflated prices and if a caller is not genuine, they may be gathering information for future crime.

"Please keep in mind that if cold callers don’t get any sales in your area, they are less likely to return.

" The sellers may say that they are on a 'rehabilitation course' arranged by probation services or other organisations trying to find people work.

"This is not the case and often they are known criminals. Probation services do not run such schemes. 

"They may show a card which claims to be a pedlars licence or work permit."

The statement adds: "The bag of household products is supplied by someone who employs them. The males / females are supplied with a full bag of household products (including the typical tea-towels) and charged a minimal sum for the contents. They can keep whatever they make, above this amount.

"Usually they are deposited in an area from a car or van and given a list of streets to work. An hour or so later they are picked up and dropped off in another location. They often work from 9am to 9pm.

"They will knock on a door, offering cleaning items which they know are cheap and of very poor quality; the householder may also recognise that they are poor quality, but that is part of the scam. Many people will purchase items and pay them out of their good nature as they have fallen for their story or, just to get rid of them. 

"There have been cases of elderly residents handing over large sums as these people can be very persistent and confrontational."

Niro isn't just fiddling with hybrid power

Kia Niro road test by Steve Rogers

Come the end of the year more people will be driving hybrid or electric cars than ever before.

That is what the number crunchers at the car companies predict and there is no reason to doubt them. 

Hybrid and electric sales have more than doubled over the last five years but the trickle of new models will become a flood in 2020 driven by the need for all manufacturers to lower average CO2 emissions to 95g/km or less by next year.

Kia got in relatively early with Niro, launching its first hybrid in 2017, and it hit the bullseye because the crossover/SUV styling was the car nearly everyone was starting to buy and so it continues with SUV sales like a runaway train.

So is Niro the must 'go to' model for punters switching to hybrid power? Must is stretching it; rather give it serious consideration because Niro has a lot going for it.

Kia has opted for a relatively small 1.6 litre direct injection petrol engine paired with a 32kW electric motor which together muster 139bhp. It's no flyer, a sprint to sixty takes just over 11 seconds, but with the help of the electric motor it is quick off the line and with 265Nm of torque overtakes can be made without breaking into a sweat.

Rather than a continually variable transmission often used in hybrid cars, Kia has opted for a conventional automatic six-speed box and on balance this would be my preference.

The Niro's hybrid system is self charging, extending electric only mode by using the electric motor to harvest wasted energy when braking and decelerating. Drivers can do their bit by using the steering wheel paddles for braking. This not only replenishes the battery but makes passengers think you are a really smooth driver.

What we really crave is good clean economy and Niro was definitely on the money spending most of its time in the high fifties and even topping 60mpg. But drivers must play to the hybrid strengths which is gentle driving. Hard acceleration and long stretches at high speed will ruin economy to a far greater degree than hammering a similar diesel.

Kia built its reputation on value for money and once it won over customers it set about raising the quality and refinement bar. Sales heading towards the 100,000 a year show they have got it right. 

There aren't many companies that can match them for giving us all we desire in creature comforts.

Most sales are in the middle of the range but stretch one level more and the list is mouthwatering. 

Setting aside a full suite of safety features how do you fancy heated steering wheel, heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear outer seats, auto dipping LED headlights, and that is a just a snapshot.

An upgrade in the middle of last year brought Niro into line with the most up to date technology Kia can offer and that included an electric parking brake instead of the antiquated foot pedal. Thank heavens for that.

More importantly the cabin has been give a decent makeover, with an upgrade in trim quality along with the signature SUV dashboard with an impressive 10.25in touchscreen display for all the major functions, but you can still use switches for heating selections. Thank heavens for that as well.

This is a roomy family car with plenty of space for leggy children in the back. The batteries are positioned under the rear seat rather than the boot floor but even though it has a wide opening and a flat loading floor it still loses out a bit on overall space compared to a non-hybrid crossover.

The choice of hybrid motoring is growing by the month and it is always best to cast the net as wide as possible before making the final choice. 

What Niro tells me is that we have nothing to fear from going hybrid and Niro is a good starting point. My guess is a lot of people will come back to that starting point for the final sale.

Key facts

Niro HEV '4'

£29,270 (starts £24,855)

1.6 GDI; 139bhp

0-60mph 11.1secs; 101mph

54.3mpg combined

99g/km. 1st year tax £120

Insurance group 29

Boot: 373 lires