Leaderlive is reporting this morning that firefighters have been called out to a Llangollen home following reports of a blaze.
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed just before 8am on Monday that crews were on their way to a property opposite the Chainbridge Hotel in Berwyn following reports of a house fire.
* For the story, see: https://www.facebook.com/477565668939623/posts/4751345214894959/
Llangollen's lack of a permanent local waste recycling facility is to be taken up again with the Welsh Government, according to a local campaigner.
Phil Jones has been promoting the idea of Denbighshire striking a deal with neighbouring Wrexham for Dee Valley residents to be able to use its household waste recycling centre at Plas Madoc.
This, he says, would overcome the problem of local people having to use a pop-up facility at the Pavilion or travel over to Ruthin to use the tip there.
Mr Jones organised a petition in favour of striking a deal with Wrexham which has attracted around 900 signatures.
He has provided regular updates on his campaign to llanblogger and in the latest of these he says: "I started a campaign to establish access to the Plas Madoc recycling site for residents of the Dee Valley when I was told by County Councillor Mel Mile that there was ‘no appetite’ to do a deal with Wrexham CBC for a service level agreement between the two authorities.
"Hearing this I wrote to Hannah Blythyn, the Welsh Minister responsible for waste. She in turn contacted the Chief Executive of Denbighshire CC and was assured that cross border co-operation in the efficient use of property assets (like modern recycling facilities) in line with Welsh Government policy on asset management, was underway.
"Of course we are in a pandemic, so negotiations take more time. Well, roughly one year later I have now received an email from Tony Ward, the DCC officer responsible for the waste service.
"He tells me that the cost of paying for a service at Plas Madoc is not affordable. You might find this somewhat surprising, in that the quantity of waste is the same for both authorities and therefore one might assume that the savings made by a reduction in volumes for Denbighshire would roughly correspond to the costs incurred in asking our neighbouring authority to process the waste.
"Apparently not; Mr. Ward tells me that the costs of processing waste deposited at the Pavilion pop-up is £7.26 per booking whereas, the equivalent charge per booking required by Wrexham CBC equates to £41.67. Why such a difference I wonder?
"I will now be seeking clarification on how these costings have been calculated. Local authorities are expected to collaborate in the utilisation of expertise and resources so that efficiency savings can be made in the delivery of services. So, over-charging for services or under accounting for costs is not compatible with this ethos."
He added: "The Welsh Government wants us to be a world leader in recycling and we are bombarded with press releases telling us how well we are doing. Yet, if you live in the Dee Valley be ready to drive 30 miles if you can’t make it to the pavilion pop-up.
"Instead of solving a problem Denbighshire CC has created another layer of bureaucratic costs discouraging recycling with a booking system and limiting access to a few days a month.
"We know that DCC spends far more per head of population on waste services in the north of the county but 13 years after closing our recycling site without consultation we still have a second class service.
"Mr Ward tells me “there is therefore no plan to continue discussions about this with WCBC”. Well, for the 900 people who signed our petition, yet another fob-off is not acceptable.
"Thank-you for your continued support. We now know that our elected county councillors have never supported our campaign for access to Plas Madoc despite over 900 people signing our petition.
"If you feel unhappy about this you could write to them to say so, at: melvyn.mile@denbighshire.gov.
"We will now take up this issue again with the Welsh Government and be asking if their policies regarding recycling and asset management are being applied effectively in North Wales.
"Are our public servants just ‘talking the talk’ and not really ‘walking the walk’ when it comes to recycling?"
Member of the Senedd Ken Skates wants women in his constituency who have been affected by state pension age increases to be awarded compensation by the UK Government.
The Clwyd South MS said the
Women Against State Pension Injustice (Waspi) campaign have been vindicated
after a watchdog’s investigation found there were failings in the UK
Government’s communication of the changes.
The Parliamentary and Health
Service Ombudsman found that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should
have told the women – who maintain they did not know the retirement age was
rising until it was too late to prepare – more than two years earlier than it
did.
Mr Skates said: “This has been
a long-running campaign which my colleague Susan Elan Jones worked extremely
hard on during her time as MP, and this is a big finding. Nearly four million
women have been affected by the state pension age changes, including many in
Clwyd South and across North Wales.”
Women born in the 1950s have
long said the lack of information around the decision to increase their
retirement age from 60 to 65 resulted in financial and emotional distress, with
research in 2005 finding that only 43% knew their pension age was changing. The
state pension age for both men and women has now increased to 66.
Mr Skates added: “The Ombudsman
has now said what the campaigners have said all along. Maladministration has
been established and these women should be compensated. I would expect all MPs
across North Wales to make the same case to the UK Government so they can
finally get justice for what they’ve been put through.”
Former Clwyd South MP Susan
Elan Jones presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of Waspi campaigners in
her consistency. Although no longer a Member of Parliament, she remains a
strong supporter of the campaign.
She said: “This is a major
breakthrough. There is still a long road ahead for these women to get the
justice they deserve, but this backs up everything the campaigners have said
and finally acknowledges that the DWP were in the wrong.
“This has had a huge impact on
so many women who were given no time to make proper plans for their retirement.
I hope this is the beginning of the end of their tireless campaign.”
The next stage of the
Ombudsman’s investigation will consider the impact of the DWP’s failings, and
could recommend affected women receive compensation from the Government.
One.network has sent out the following local roadworks alert:
|
25 July — 25 July Delays likely - Traffic
control (two-way signals) Works description: DESILT
OF SEWER LINE FOLLOWING REPORTS OF CUSTOMER FACILITIES AFFECTED BY BLOCKAGES.
LINE SURVEY CON... Works location:
REGENT STREET OUTSIDE NO 28... Public facing description:
one.network has automatically assigned a category of Unclassified works to
this Works based on the information available. Please note: Works
Descriptions are not published by Welsh Water. Responsibility for works:
Welsh Water Current status:
Planned work about to start Works reference: PE12595625434/02 |
The conscientious Facebook user who called for something to be done about the “huge” amount of litter in Llangollen had her first successful outing yesterday afternoon.
llanblogger revealed how Dwysan had asked earlier in the day
if anyone was interested in doing something constructive about the litter
explaining: “Tourism is really important to Llangollen and I don't want to
bring negative attention to it. However, there is a huge litter problem here and
in all other tourist spots.”
The post then went on to suggest
people should write to the county council asking them to provide more litter
bins for the town, particularly by the riverside and put some signage up asking
people to use the bins and/or take their rubbish home.
Dwysan also suggested people could go
to the river area yesterday afternoon armed with waste bags to collect litter
from tourists after handing out notes asking for co-operation.
“I am looking to do this in a gentle and proactive way - simply handing out bin bags with a smile - no blaming, no arguing just asking,” Dwysan said.
Later yesterday Dwysan told llanblogger: “I've been out. I was donated some bags from Keep Wales Tidy. A volunteer up the road dropped them off. I was very polite.
“Most said they had their own bags but the ones that took them said they were really grateful and what a good idea it is.
“I was by the river opposite the park - the rocks. It was mostly families and they seemed a bit more set up. Also lots were swimming so it was hard to talk to them. Maybe it's best to go later on in the day. I will have to think of some initiatives.
“Someone has commented that paddlers clean the river twice a week so there's a few things going on. Just need to add to it.”
Denbighshire County Council has announced the appointment of its new Chief Executive.
Graham Boase (pictured),
currently Corporate Director of Economy & Public Realm, has
been appointed to the role.
Leader of
Denbighshire, Councillor Hugh Evans OBE, said: “This is a fantastic appointment
for Denbighshire and, on behalf of our staff and residents in the county, the
elected members and I would like to congratulate Graham and welcome him to the
new role.
“There was an
extremely a rigorous selection process with a number of strong contenders in
the running who all performed to an extremely high standard.
“Denbighshire
County Council is one of the best performing councils in Wales and we are now
looking forward to working with our new chief executive to continue that
success into the future.”
Mr Boase said:
“I am very excited about becoming Chief Executive of this fantastic council,
having started working for Denbighshire as far back as 1996.
I’m so
grateful to the elected members for showing their trust and faith in me, it
gives me a lot of confidence to know that they have backed my progress from
Head of Service, to Corporate Director and now to Chief Executive.
“I think I
know the council well and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into the
job, talking to our excellent leadership team, dedicated elected members and
our residents about our future Vision for the Council.”
Mr Boase
starting working for Denbighshire at its inception in 1996, initially as a
Senior Planning Officer, in 2003 he became Head of Planning & Public
Protection and in 2017 was promoted to Corporate Director: Economy and Public
Realm. He will begin as Chief Executive on 1st August.
A conscientious Facebook user is calling for something to be done about the “huge” amount of litter in Llangollen.
In a post this morning which is picking up support from other social media users, Dwysan says: “I wondered if anyone is interested in doing something constructive about all the litter.
“Tourism is really important to Llangollen and I don't want to bring negative attention to it. However, there is a huge litter problem here (and in all other tourist spots).
“I thanked the guy working for Denbighshire CC who was picking up litter
this morning and he told me he spent two hours on the rocks alone picking up
litter and filled up bags of rubbish.
“Yesterday I met a woman who was picking it up herself, all the bins were full and this morning I met Jim who was kindly picking up litter in his own time.
“I really value people spending their free time picking up litter but personally I'm already working 40 hours a week in very busy NHS practice and I feel it's more important that we need to help people take responsibility for themselves.”
Dwysan goes on to suggest: “There's a couple of things we could do. Firstly, can you write to Denbighshire County Council, their email is customerservices@denbighshire.gov.uk
“Please can you ask them to provide Llangollen with more bins (particularly by the riverside) and put some signage up asking people to use the bins and/or take their rubbish home.
“Secondly, I wondered if anyone would volunteer to go to the river (starting point we could perhaps go to other areas depending on volunteers) at midday (ish) and take some bin bags with a note and hand them out.
“I'm going to write some notes that say, ‘Thank you for visiting Llangollen, we like to see our town busy and that everyone has such a lovely time here. Please could we ask you to use this bin bag and put any rubbish in it before you leave. You can take the bin bag home or you can leave the bin bag next to the bins in the park. We really appreciate you helping to keep our beautiful town of Llangollen tidy! Thank you/Diolch.’
“We'd only need, initially, two volunteers daily to go down for twenty minutes or so about midday at the busiest time.
“I am looking to do this in a gentle and proactive way - simply handing out bin bags with a smile - no blaming, no arguing just asking!
“It might make a difference, it might not but if you are interested in helping and trying to make a difference, I'm happy to provide the bin bags and the note attached to them, just need some help in distributing them!”
In the Facebook post, Dwysan says the campaign would be hopefully be starting this Saturday but told llanblogger later: “I'm not arranging litter picking, I'm simply going to hand out some bin bags but thinking about it I'm not sure it'll be sunny on Saturday so might go down there this afternoon at 1pm outside Home Bargains. Strike while the iron is hot!
“I'm trying to create something that will
generate some positive action rather than bashing people or name calling. It
feels like something simple that we could try that doesn't cost too much and
shouldn't cause offence to anyone.”
