* NEWSAR's tweeted pictures of flooding in Corwen.
NEWSAR - North East Wales Search and Rescue - tweeted about the floods earlier this afternoon:
asked us to attend a vehicle in flood water near Corwen with a person reported stuck inside.The A542, Llandegla, is closed today, 20/01/2021, between the Horseshoe Pass, and the Dafarn Dywyrch roundabout.
The road needs to be closed to allow urgent drainage works by Denbighshire County Council. The work should be completed later today.
A grant available to businesses impacted by coronavirus restrictions has been extended.
The Welsh
Government Restrictions Discretionary Grant of £2,000 is available to assist
any business without a business premises and registered with business rates
that has been forced to close or has experienced a drop in turnover of 40% or
more as a result of the restrictions introduced in Wales on December 4.
The scheme was
initially opened in Denbighshire on December 15 for businesses in the
hospitality sector and supply chain businesses linked to the hospitality
sector.
The scheme,
which is being administered by Denbighshire County Council on behalf of the
Welsh Government, has now been extended to any business that meets the
eligibility criteria set out in the guidance.
Examples of
eligible businesses are:
A limited
company with a turnover of between £10,000 and £50,000
Sole traders /
partnerships with a turnover less than £85,000
The business
must be your main source of income (more than 50%)
Businesses
eligible for, or who have received, the Restrictions Business Fund Non Domestic
Rate Grant and / or the Economic Resilience Fund Sector Specific Support Grant
are not eligible for this discretionary grant.
Only one
application per business is applicable and will be dealt with on a first come
first served basis.
Applications
may take up to 30 working days to process.
There is no
automatic payment for the grant; businesses are required to complete an on-line
form.
You can apply
for this grant, and find information about other financial schemes, at www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/coronavirus/emergency-support-for-businesses.aspx
As one set of roadworks on Castle Street comes to an end the water company which has been carrying them out has warned of more to come.
Since last Friday there have been temporary traffic lights on the bridge to allow Hafren Dyfrdwy to repair a burst pipe under the roadway.
A spokesperson for the company said: "The work in question is in relation to a 3-inch cast iron main which has suffered a burst.
"We have actually already repaired the main and the excavation was back-filled yesterday (Monday).
"Full reinstatement and removal of traffic management should be completed tomorrow (Wednesday)."
She added: "It seems sensible that I should take the opportunity to inform you of some additional work that we will soon be doing in Castle St to replace a defective fire hydrant.
"We’re in conversation with the council about this work and had hoped that we might be able to do it at the same time as repairing the water main but this has not been possible due to the traffic management requirements.
"It not the easiest place to set up traffic management and we know it can be an inconvenience so we’re very appreciative of the patience and understanding of our customers as we complete our essential works ensuring continuity of supply as well as ensuring the fire service have a reliable network for use in emergencies."
Denbighshire County Council’s Cabinet has approved its budget for the 2021/2022 financial year, with an increase of 3.8% in council tax for the county’s residents.
The draft settlement announced by Welsh Government in December showed an increase of 3.6% in the budget for Denbighshire and in cash terms this means an increase of £5.4 million.
The budget still has to go to Full Council for approval on January 26.
In setting the budget, councillors considered the fact that there are £10.6 million budget pressures facing the authority, including continued pressure on social services, education, schools and waste service.
In light of the better settlement, the Council says it has been able to keep the increase in council tax as low as possible, with this year’s increase of 3.8% lower than last year’s increase of 4.3%.
The budget for the 2021/22 financial year is £216.8 million. This includes a £750,000 increase for education and children’s services; £3.3 million for schools; £2.4 million for adult social care; £250,000 for waste services; £276,000 for flood defences and £389,000 for the Council’s Carbon Zero target.
Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance, said: “The Council has a legal duty to set a balanced budget for the forthcoming financial year and I must commend councillors and staff who have worked tirelessly to get us to this position today where we can officially set the budget.
“They have come up with proposals to balance the books and have scrutinised and deliberated over the figures before coming up with the budget.
“The past year has seen a number of increased pressures due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Council will continue to work with Welsh Government to ensure that the Council plays its full part in the response and recovery to the pandemic.
“A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to identify more efficient and effective ways of working within the Council and the savings we have identified, together with the better settlement than expected, means that we have been able to keep the council tax levels low.
“The public has told us that they did not want to see large increases and we have listened to their concerns and worked to find alternative ways of finding savings.
“The other good news is that we have been able to protect essential frontline services that people want and expect from the Council.
"The savings we are taking forward this year will have little impact on the level of services that the public receive and that has been a crucial part of our thinking from the beginning.
"The Council has a strong track record of doing this and we have tried to lead by example by being as efficient and effective as possible, reducing our budgets and making savings through not replacing some posts and identifying better ways of working or stopping some things altogether.”
Llangollen Railway has received a sizeable cash grant from the Welsh
Government to help it keep ticking over during lockdown.
Like many other local businesses the heritage attraction had to close
its doors to paying customers at the start of the latest national lockdown.
This meant the cancellation of many of its key money-spinning events such as the Santa Special trains while its overheads still have to be covered.
But now its public limited company chair Pete Edwards says: “Llangollen Railway has been successful in securing a £147,000 grant from the Welsh Government Cultural Fund.
“The purpose of the grant is to support ongoing running costs, including
staff wages, between December 2020 and April 2021.”
He added: “Despite being closed to visitors we cannot shut down
completely, and there are still significant monthly costs we have to meet.
“Essential maintenance and planning work need to continue during
lockdown, and this assistance allows our volunteers to keep these key
activities running while we look forward to welcoming passengers later in
2021."
The area’s Senedd Member Ken Skates said: “It’s very pleasing to see another vital community organisation in Clwyd South being awarded vital Welsh Government funding.
“Many businesses in Llangollen have been given grants
to help them through what has been an incredibly difficult period for them, and
with the vaccine roll-out increasing every day local businesses can now begin
to be cautiously optimistic about 2021.
“Obviously we do not know what the next crucial couple of months will hold, but the Welsh Government has provided the most comprehensive support package for businesses in the UK - with £1.67bn reaching our businesses since April - and we will continue to do everything within our power to help them through this crisis.”
The county council says it will repair any "urgent" safety defects found in the roadway of Castle Street.
The promise comes after llanlogger highlighted the crop of potholes which have appeared in Llangollen's main street.
Last week llanblogger described how the holes - at least one of which on the bridge is very deep - have become worse as the winter has progressed.
We sent pictures of a collection of the holes to Denbighshire County Council asking when they are likely to be dealt with.
A council spokesperson replied that an officer would be sent out to look at the road to see if any safety defects required immediate action.
Today, a county council spokesperson said: “An inspection of Castle Street has taken place, and any necessary work to repair any urgent safety defects will be undertaken by the council.”
When asked by llanblogger last week when general remedial work on the potholes was likely to be undertaken, the county said in a statement: "Regarding a longer-term solution we have set aside money in our capital budget for resurfacing works on Castle Street.
“However, we have been holding off from delivering this work because as a council we are currently developing proposals for Castle Street as part of the Llangollen 2020 project, which we are working on in conjunction with Llangollen Town Council and the local county councillors.
"Should this scheme get the necessary approvals, it would enable us to deliver a much wider improvement scheme in that area which will incorporate the resurfacing work. If those approvals are not forthcoming, we will proceed with the resurfacing work alone.”
* Meanwhile, last Friday morning contractors for what is believed to be the water company Hafren Dyfrdwy began an excavation on the bridge thought to be unrelated to the pothole problem.
llanblogger has tried to confirm with Hafren Dyfrdwy whether these are their works and, if so, what is being done but has so far been unable to obtain any answer from its press office.
