High tech revolution to keep bobbies on the beat

* Police Crime commissioner North Wales Arfon Jones (Right) with superintendent Paul Jones of North Wales Police.                                          

A police boss has revealed a high tech revolution will help to keep bobbies out on the beat.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has described the project to equip every frontline police officer with a sophisticated mobile communications app that cuts form-filling and even checks fingerprints as a “game-changer”.

The app will be loaded on mobile phones and laptops as part of the four-year digital communications strategy which also aims to keep communities across the region and their local policing teams in close contact.

It will mean that officers will be able to spend more time out on the streets catching crooks and helping the public and cut lengthy bureaucracy back at the police station.

The project is one of the last flagship programmes of Commissioner Jones, who has announced will be standing down at the next election which is due to be held on May 6.

His final precept-setting proposal for a 29p weekly increase, a 5.5 per cent rise costing Band D Council Taxpayers just £14.94 extra a year, has just been approved unanimously by the North Wales Police and Crime Panel.

Superintendent Paul Jones is said: “The development of this frontline app for mobile phones and laptops will revolutionise the way we work.

“It will bring North Wales Police to the forefront of the Forces in the UK when it comes to digital frontline capability.

“We aim to have an all-encompassing app that enables us to do everything we need to do out there - it will even check someone’s fingerprints.

“It will be very user-friendly and as easy to operate as any commercial app– one function on it will search all the different computer systems that we need to access simultaneously, including the Police National Computer. It will all be quicker, more intuitive and more accurate.

“If an officer can do all their paperwork at the scene electronically, without duplication and without having to go back to the station, it’s a big saving of time which can then be spent on the front line.

“At the same time if the control room contacts an officer, a lot of  the information needed will already be on the mobile phone or laptop, even including satnav directions. This means that the officer won’t have to waste time taking notes, speaking to control or conducting lengthy computer searches.

“It is a significant investment but the time we will save and can reinvest in the community makes it money well spent.

“We have worked with app providers to ensure we will have the same connectivity as other forces who have similar apps.

“We have also worked with our officers to prioritise their needs and we hope to have the system finalised for rollout towards the end of the year.

“We do need to undertake a competitive tendering process, conduct functionality tests and make a final assessment, but the plan is to have the app rolled out as soon as we can.

“We want everyone on the frontline whose job will be made more efficient, more accurate and more effective, to have this.

“That includes Community Support Officers and Crime Scene Investigators for example, in addition to response officers and detectives.

Mr Jones, a former Police Inspector himself, said: “As someone who knows what it’s like to be on the frontline of policing, I welcome this and the part played in its introduction by the Chief Constable, Carl Foulkes, who is the National Police Lead on innovation and technology.

“It’s really exciting to be making this announcement because it’s something we’re really proud of and it something that our frontline officers really want and will find of huge benefit to them. It’s going to be a gamechanger.

“This is part of the connected officer’s project which is about giving our officers more time out on the streets by equipping them with devices like laptops, notebooks and mobile phones that can do everything they would once have had to go back to the station to do.

“Instead, they can now do this while they’re out, in the street or even in the local café which means more time with the public.

“It’s a much more efficient use of their time and means they only have to do things once rather than two or three times.”

The project is one of a series of measures set out in the Commissioner’s policing plan.

It’s being launched against a backdrop of £2.9 million of savings identified by Force despite the £33 million a year cuts inflicted on North Wales Police as a result of Conservative austerity cuts since 2010.

The Force’s digital communications project also aims to keep communities and their local policing teams in closer contact and Superintendent Helen Corcoran said: “It will enable members of the local community to get online to reach their local policing teams with any concerns they have.

“At the same time, we can warn the public of specific local threats and keep them up to date with what we are doing, where and when.”

North Wales Police will also be bolstered by 62 new officers with 20 of joining a new task force to spearhead a crime prevention drive helping and another ten bolstering the fight against Serious and Organised Crime in the region.

* For more information on the work of the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner go to https://www.northwales-pcc.gov.uk/en/home.aspx

Young 'Uns to livestream musical memories show

* Members of the Young 'Uns in a recent performance of Wizard of Oz.

An all-star cast from the junior section of Llangollen Operatic Society are taking a musical trip down memory lane on Saturday evening of next week. 

Prevented from performing in front of a live audience because of the Covid-19 lockdown, a talented team from the Young ‘Uns are going online to livestream a show packed with highlights of their productions going back over the past decade. 

Favourite numbers will come from Annie, The Vackies, Beauty and the Beast, Oliver!, Half a Sixpence, Honk, Bugsy Malone, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grease and Wizard of Oz. 

The show which will go live from 7.15pm next Saturday, February 20 on the Young ‘Uns own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Llangollen-Operatic-Young-Uns-428765077289488 

Taking part will be Shea Ferron, Celyn Orton-Jones, Aled Morris, Katie Clark, Kamil Grzelak, Ethan Le-Cheminant, Ethan Roberts, Grace Roberts, Heledd Edwards plus Cassius Hackforth who is joining for one show. 

According to Shea Ferron, who has played a key role in putting the show together, there is also a possibility of an appearance by Young ‘Uns past members Louise Cielecki and Nathan Lloyd.  

Shea said: “For obvious reasons this year our cast cannot perform a show at the town hall, but a few of our members have teamed up together to create a virtual performance for you all. 

“We will be taken down memory lane with the past 10 years of shows looking at our favourite memories of them and hearing some memorable songs performed by our cast. 

“The livestream starts at 7.15pm with the show beginning at 7.30pm and we look forward to seeing you all there.” 

Father Lee tells Mail how hard pandemic has hit weddings

* Father Lee Taylor conducts a pre-pandemic wedding at St Collen's.

The thoughts of Llangollen’s vicar on the damage being caused to the £14 billion UK wedding industry by the Covid pandemic has been aired in a national newspaper’s website

The Mail online spoke to a group of wedding specialists affected by the lockdown including a hair and make-up artist, a florist, a photographer, a caterer and a cake maker.

Father Lee Taylor, who looks after St Collen’s and three other local churches, gave the priest’s perspective.

While venues are normally fully booked year-round with couples from all over the UK, he said the pandemic has left pews empty, with no help from the Government to cover the £8,000 a year the church makes from both weddings and collection plates.  

He told Mail Online: “Needless to say, it’s been pretty stressful for me recently. There should have been 21 weddings here last year and around the same number planned for this year.

“Most of these couples are now considering postponing their wedding until 2022 because they want a big wedding with all their friends and family in attendance.   

“The cancellation of weddings has not only impacted couples, their families and friends. It has also affected our local congregation to. Many of us are feeling dispirited and a sense of loss. Our local congregations look forward enormously to weddings because they like to feel part of all the preparations and the ceremony. 

“They enjoy connecting with the couple and hearing thier story of how they met and why they think a church wedding is important. It also brings back memories for them too as they think back to their own wedding day.”

Father Lee added: “The cancellation and postponement of weddings has also affected our church financially. The churches income - to pay for bills, maintenance, repairs and mission work etc - relies on the collection plate and the fees we receive from weddings.

“This is our only source of income. Contrary to what many believe, we do not receive financially assistance from the government.  

“There are a few weddings still going ahead this year but on a small scale. I have to follow strict guidelines and am having to consider altering certain components of the marriage service as well as work out a COVID-choreography: how the bride, groom, best man, father-of-the-bride, myself and witnesses will move around during the ceremony. 

“The father-of-the-bride and the best man are unlikely to be from the same household and so this is one example of how it fundamentally alters the format of the marriage ceremony.

“Looking more positively, Zoom has been a great facility. I’ve offered pre-nuptial blessings to couples over Zoom on what would have been their wedding day. Families from all over UK and, more recently, Australia, have joined in on virtual ceremonies.”  

* To see the full story, go to: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9249309/Wedding-industry-reeling-without-post-Covid-roadmap.html?ito=native_share_article-masthead 

* Father Lee has his next Mission Halls to Music Halls online singalong this Sunday at 6pm. Go to: https://www.facebook.com/LlanGroupChurches/

Drakeford praises "phenomenal effort" of vaccination programme

First Minister Mark Drakeford (pictured) today praised the thousands of NHS staff and volunteers vaccinating people for their "phenomenal effort" as the first milestone in Wales’ vaccination programme was reached.

As the final appointments are arranged for the weekend, Wales will achieve the milestone of offering everyone in the first four priority groups vaccination, he said.

Arrangements were in place to make sure no one is left behind – if someone missed an appointment because they were ill or maybe they changed their mind about having the vaccine, a new appointment would be made for them.

Mark Drakeford said: "Vaccination is the number one priority for the Welsh Government and for the NHS in Wales.

"To have achieved this first milestone and offered vaccination to everyone in the first four priority groups – those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus – is a truly phenomenal effort. I want to thank everyone who has been working around the clock to reach this point.

"Of course, the hard work has only just begun – there are many, many more people to vaccinate yet and a lot of second doses still to give.

"The NHS has confirmed everyone in the first four priority groups has been contacted to be offered a vaccination appointment.

"If health boards have been unable to contact someone on the list, or if an appointment has been missed, systems are in place to go back and check and re-arrange a new appointment for anyone who wants to be vaccinated."

The latest available figures show 684,097 people have received their first dose of the vaccine.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething added: "Every vaccine given to someone in Wales is a small victory against the virus and we are already looking ahead to meeting our next milestone.

"The first milestone in our Vaccination Strategy set out that everyone in first four priority groups will have been offered their first dose appointment by mid-February.

"Not everyone in these groups will have attended their appointment yet, some will not have responded and some will have chosen not to have the vaccine.

"We would ask individuals to keep their appointments as allocated where possible.

"If people cannot attend their appointment for a genuine reason we ask them to let the health board know via the contact details provided in their invitation. The appointment can then be rearranged for a more convenient time or location.

"Once you have been vaccinated, you should continue to follow the guidance of staying at home, staying two metres apart, washing your hands and wearing a face covering to protect those around you."

The Wales vaccination programme in numbers:

• 13,988 care home residents have been reported to have had their first dose of the vaccine, as well as 33,832 care home staff
• 160,106 over-80s have been reported to have had their first dose
• 117,181 healthcare workers have been reported to have had their first dose
• 248,827 aged 70-79 have been reported to have had their first dose

Stuart Davies on why he is campaigning against social distancing measures

Former mayor Stuart Davies, who is standing for the vacancy on the town council next month, has issued a statement about why he is campaigning to have the temporary Covid-19 safety measures removed from Castle Street.

This follows a statement yesterday from Llangollen's two county councillors on llanblogger outlining why they think the measures should stay in place.

Stuart Davies says: "Many local people have expressed concerns from the outset about some aspects of the Traffic Restriction Order (TRO) that was introduced in Llangollen and the councillors' responses to them.

Since the introduction of the barriers, whilst they have been established for COVID measures, we have seen instances of public safety being out at risk by them with people falling over them and in one instance a member of the public breaking an arm.

The traffic lane created is so narrow that when two wide vehicles meet, we have witnessed vehicles mounting the pavement and vehicles' structure overhanging the pavement on the west side of Castle Street so endangering pedestrians on that side of the road.

The measures provide no additional queuing or social distancing for the west side of Castle Street, Oak Street, Bridge Street or Market Streets where shoppers and tourists will also congregate.

The barriers have transformed the “Jewel in the Crown” of Denbighshire into a barren and ugly streetscape and moved the hazards from one pavement across the road to the other.

The business interests and concerns of Castle Street shopkeepers have been largely ignored; 28 business representing 80% of Castle Street wrote to DCC registering their objections to this scheme. Some have shared the online petition via their social media feeds whilst 4 now have copies of the petition available for people to sign in their shops.

My decision to champion this and start a petition is in response to those democratic concerns being raised by members of the public, a fact highlighted by the response to the petition; 300 online signatures plus additional paper signatures have been gathered within 3 days and numbers are continuing to rise.

Denbigh and Ruthin, towns which both attract visitors, will not have these measures in place by the time a tourist season starts. Denbigh chose not to have them from the outset and Ruthin chose to remove them last week.

The councillors as elected representatives of the people of Llangollen appear to be unwilling to take note of the messages they are receiving from the public and there is a lot of disquiet being voiced by a sizeable sector of our residents.

The lack of ability to meet and discuss or consult has resulted in a lot of discussion on social media across all sectors of Llangollen’s population. Sharing information obtained by Freedom of Information requests and allowing the public to see how the process worked in Llangollen and who was involved is part of living in a free and democratic society. People need to be responsible and accountable for their actions and decisions to the public they serve. We should applaud and embrace that.

Shining a light on the way the Traffic Restriction Order (TRO) was put in place has shown that they were agreed without informing or consulting with the Town Council and that the Town Clerk wrote to DCC CEO to register concern that an unconstituted group had chosen to consult with Head Teachers and an ‘environmental lobby group’ but not advise the Town Council of the ideas they had put in front of Denbighshire County Council before advising the Town Council.

I have put myself forward for election to the Llangollen Town Council on a mandate that includes a thorough review of the 2020 Groups proposals. As the 2020 Group consulted with DCC and agreed the proposals going in before telling the Town Council I consider they are linked to this scheme.

Should another member of Llangollen’s community eligible to stand for election want to defend the bollards and oppose my position then I would suggest they stand in opposition and let the people of Llangollen decide what they want and the message they wish the winner to convey to the other Town and County Councillors."

Bill ensures safe Senedd elections during pandemic

An emergency bill to ensure the next Senedd election can happen safely, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, has been approved by Members of the Senedd.

The Welsh Elections (Coronavirus) Bill introduces a range of measures to make it easier for those affected by the pandemic to vote.

It will also significantly address the risk of there being an extended period where the Senedd cannot meet that would arise if the Senedd dissolved as normal, on 7 April, and the election could not proceed on 6 May because of the pandemic.

The Welsh Government is clear that the election should go ahead on 6^th May 2021 as intended. Everybody should prepare on that basis.

But the Bill makes it possible to delay polling day should the pandemic present such a serious threat to public health and the conduct of the election, that it is not safe to hold the election at that time.

The Bill will become law following Royal Assent by Her Majesty the Queen, which is anticipated in the coming weeks.

Minister for Housing and Local Government, Julie James said: “I’m pleased Members of the Senedd have given their approval for the Welsh Elections (Coronavirus) Bill to become law.

“Given the unpredictable nature of the virus, there is significant uncertainty about what the public health situation will be like in May. That’s why we’ve acted now to respond to the potential risks to the election arising from the pandemic.

“The Bill Members of the Senedd have approved today, by a large majority, will help ensure people can exercise their democratic right to vote in the election, but to do so in a safe and secure way.

“The Welsh Government appreciates the huge efforts being made by the staff who run our elections to ensure it can be held safely on Thursday 6^th May.”

County councillors' statement on town's Covid-19 safety measures

* County councillors Melvyn Mile, left, and Graham Timms on Castle Street.

Llangollen's two county councillors, Melvyn Mile and Graham Timms, have made a joint statement about the Covid-19 safety measures put in place in the town centre late last year and which this week have sparked a petition by former mayor Stuart Davies calling for the removal of the bollards on Castle Street.

They say: "When the current lockdown is relaxed we can expect a record number of visitors coming to Llangollen. 

"The pandemic will not be over, but the extra freedom means that visitors will come in their thousands and the town will become busy and crowded once again. It will therefore be more important than ever to have extra space on Castle Street, and to ensure that the other Covid -19 changes stay in place until after the summer. 

"We are both fully behind the Llangollen Covid-19 scheme. Its introduction was to enable people to stay safe when they visit the town, providing space for social distancing and safe queueing outside shops. 

"The barriers on Castle Street are not pretty, but these lane protectors are the safest way to achieve this in the short term.  The decision to support the scheme was not taken lightly. We explored every possibility, and suggested changes based on comments received from residents and businesses alike. 

"The petition organised by Stuart Davies as part of his election campaign to join Llangollen Town Council is ill-timed and irresponsible.  

"This is the first World Pandemic of our time, and vitally important decisions made to protect residents and visitors to our town should not be dealt with like this. 

"As elected representatives we cannot ignore our responsibility for public safety based on online petitions or unpleasant and personal attacks on social media. That is why we stand firmly behind Denbighshire's Covid-19 changes. They are essential to protect everyone and in a major tourist town like Llangollen it would be a dereliction of our duty of care to call for the barriers to come down. 

"In these crucial few weeks and months we must all try to stay calm and patient with each other. Let's support each other as we have done over the last year, and come through on the other side together as a much stronger and united community. 

"Graham and Mel Can be contacted at graham.timms@denbighshire.gov.uk and melvyn.mile@denbighshire.gov.uk"