Wider choice of test providers for those returning from abroad

 

A wider choice of test providers will be available for people returning to Wales from overseas to book PCR tests from 21 September, Health Minister Eluned Morgan confirmed today.

The change comes as new standards and spot checks are being introduced, which will help to address long-standing concerns and issues about the market for PCR tests for all travellers returning to the UK. The Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) has also made a series of recommendations to the UK Government to further improve the travel testing market. All travellers returning to the UK from overseas must take PCR tests on their return home to help identify any new cases of coronavirus and prevent its onward spread. Until now, these must be NHS tests for Welsh residents – people living in other parts of the UK have had a wider choice of test provider. But concerns have been raised about issues with some of the private test providers, including inaccurate and misleading advertised prices, slow delivery and processing of tests and results not flowing into Welsh systems. New legislative standards for private test providers will come into force from 21 September. They will include ensuring that test results and genomic sequencing – which is used to identify any new variants – are processed and reported quickly and within a comparable time period to NHS tests.  Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “Given the new regulations and the impact on standards for private tests, we will make changes to the rules to enable people travelling to Wales to book tests with private sector providers, if they wish. NHS tests will also continue to be available to book. “These changes will come into effect from 21 September to coincide with the new standards coming into force in England. “I welcome the progress that has been made in addressing the significant concerns we have raised with UK Government, especially with the introduction of new regulatory standards on 21 September. I also expect further improvements following the publication of the CMA report and acceptance of the recommendations to further improve outcomes. “It’s important to remember that coronavirus is still with us, and our advice continues to be that people should avoid all non-essential international travel.” If you do need to travel overseas, you can check the current guidance on the requirements for arriving in Wales here. The current list of eligible private test providers can be found on the gov.uk website.

Tip campaigner takes matters to a higher level

* The household waste site at Plas Madoc. 

A local tip campaigner says he is taking things to a higher level after the county council rejected his argument in favour of providing access to Wrexham's Plas Madoc household recycling centre for residents of the Dee Valley.

Earlier this year Phil Jones organised a 900-signature petition calling for an agreement between Denbighshire and Wrexham councils which would mean local people would no longer have to drive over to Ruthin use the to tip there. 

In his latest update on the campaign he says: 

"Have you ever marked your own homework? Well Denbighshire County Council has and it gave itself an A*. 

"You may recall that the new Chief Executive, Mr Graham Boase, decided that my letter to him, asking him to take a fresh look at the whole issue of recycling in the Dee Valley, should be processed as a ‘complaint’. 

"I was then informed that the person appointed to deal with my complaint would be Mr Tony Ward, head of service for waste. 

"I asked for a different head of service to be appointed to review the case because Mr Ward is the ‘responsible officer’ for the service which is the subject of the complaint.

"How could Mr Ward be relied on to review the facts objectively, you may wonder. Well, my request was rejected without any attempt to justify or explain why it was appropriate for a head of service to be judge and jury in the review of a complaint made against his own service. 

"You will not be surprised to hear that Mr Ward tells me 'the decision not to pursue the option of paying WCBC to enable residents from the Dee Valley to access the Plas Madoc recycling centre was a properly made decision'.

He also tells me: 'You are correct that this (the pop-up service at the Pavilion) is not the same level of service as you would have if you lived closer to one of our HWRC sites, but it generally seems to be well received by residents in the Dee Valley'. 

"‘Well received’ by whom you might ask? 

"Mr Ward makes no mention of the 900+ people who signed the petition, who are very dissatisfied with the service.

"The outcome is very clear. DCC will not listen to the express wishes of its rate-payers and will continue to spin the facts to claim it is a paragon of recycling. 

"Our only recourse now is to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. It seems the fight is not yet over, and if you feel angry about this get your friends and neighbours to sign the petition if they have not already done so. 

"When elections come around its worth remembering that of the town and county councillors who are currently elected to represent the rate-payers of Llangollen, only two, Cllr John Palmer and Cllr Stuart Davies, have spoken in support of our campaign. Cllr Mile confirmed publicly that he has ‘never supported’ the campaign, why you might ask? Is anybody listening to YOUR views?"

Kamiq is a plain Jane but with tardis-like space

Skoda Kamiq drive by Steve Rogers

Remember the Yeti, Skoda's ground breaking family SUV with the Tonka toy looks?

This is its replacement, the Kamiq, and instead of chunky toy think Dr Who's tardis.

Kamiq is the smallest in Skoda's trio of SUVs coming under Karoq and the big seven seat Kodiaq, and shares much of what you will find in a Seat Arona and Volkswagen T-Cross which are all part of the VW family.

It might be classed as small but is anything but once inside hence the tardis reference. This is a spacious package all round with a healthy amount of legroom for back seat passengers. Plenty of space for adult legs here and it has not been achieved by slicing into boot capacity, which is a handy 400 litres and not far off best in the class.

It is family practical too with a wide opening tailgate and a few hooks and tethering points to stop things rolling around. The double sided boot mat is really useful but is a 75 quid extra. Come on Skoda that should be buckshee.

Skoda always tries to throw in some 'simply clever' touches so here are four things to make you smile: a mini sized umbrella slotted into the driver's door frame, just like a Rolls Royce; an ice scraper tucked into the fuel filler cap; a seat belt slot to stop them disappearing when the split back seats are lifted back into place; and a funnel on the windscreen washer bottle. Now isn't that thoughtful but I put on my glum face at the sight of a hand brake rather than an electronic parking brake. That is so 20th century, just like an ignition key. Thankfully this Kamiq has a starter button.

Does Kamiq catch the eye of onlookers? Hardly, it is a plain Jane up against Renault Captur, Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 or Ford Puma and it is the same inside, not much character and lots of black although there should be no complaints with trim and build quality, and isn't space the key here anyway.

What I do like about the dashboard is the simplicity whether it is the driver's binnacle where you can toggle between the various menus, or the centre console which retains physical switches for heating and that is a bonus these days.

The standard central touchscreen is eight inches but you can spec up to the 9.2in version that includes navigation and voice control. It will set you back £930 and is tempting because it is a super clear, fast reacting system and so easy to use.

I was in it all the time switching off lane assist which is annoying on anything other than motorways. Trouble is the default setting is 'on' when the engine is fired up, so it is tap this, tap that, five annoying times to turn it off. Why can't we have a simple switch?

On the petrol engine front the choice is three-cylinder one litre with 94 or 114bhp and a 148bhp 1.5 four cylinder. I was glad to have the 114bhp version because it is a cracking engine with lively pick up and fuss free cruising thanks to the six speed gearbox. The lower output makes do with a five speed.

The delivery driver set the economy bar high with 51mpg for his 160 mile mainly motorway journey, too high for me as I ended the week on 45.2 some way off Skoda's 52.3mpg average, but I could live with that as Kamiq is a no nonsense fun car to drive on any road and is pretty comfortable into the bargain.

Kamiq's spec sheet is reasonable from the start but the next along the line SE is the favoured model and has just about all that is needed including wireless smartlink, two USB-C ports, one touch front and rear electric windows, LED headlights, a range of safety features and rear parking sensors. No reversing camera on SE is a disappointment and the low slung front passenger seat needs a height adjuster.

A fair question is why bother with a traditional family hatchback when you can pay less for a small SUV with just as much space? Kamiq is good value with only the Dacia Duster beating it on price.

Kamiq will never enjoy the cult following of the Yeti but when wading through the long list of small SUVs it has to be a contender.

Fast facts

Kamiq SE 6sp manual

£20,985 (starts £19,095)

1-litre TSI 108bhp

0-62mph 10.2secs; 120mph

52.3mpg combined

124g/km. 1st VED £175

Insurance group 13

Boot 400-1395 litres

 

Tidy Town Team remakes part of Centenary Square

Members of Llangollen Tidy Town Team, pictured, have undertaken a remake of the corner garden area of Centenary Square. 

The area had deteriorated with people walking over the plants, dogs being allowed to foul the area, the growth of persistent weeds and cigarette ends being dropped.

On behalf of Llangollen Town Council and with the expert guidance of Chris Morris, some plants were repositioned, the area dug out, levelled, lined and filled with some 2.5 tonnes of local slate by members of the team who are all volunteers.

Two local roadworks alerts

 

The following local roadworks alerts have come from one.network:

Hill Street 13 September — 31 March   Delays unlikely - Some carriageway incursion   Works description: 13/09/21-31/03/21/Jayne Valentine/Junction Realignment Scheme 18412...   Works location: Hill Street   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 Denbighshire County Council.   Responsibility for works: Denbighshire County Council   Current status: Advanced planning   Works reference: QR015S000000001774   Market Street 13 September — 17 September   Delays unlikely - No carriageway incursion   Works description: The excavation and reinstatement of the footway for the connection of electrical supply to Street Fu...   Works location: Column 2, In Car Park By Public Toilets...   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 Denbighshire County Council.   Responsibility for works: Denbighshire County Council   Current status: Advanced planning   Works reference: QR30100039998

llanblogger takes a short break

llanblogger is now taking a short break and will be back in a few days

Viaduct checks mean overnight traffic diversions through Llan

Essential works to investigate the structural security of the viaducts in the Dee and Ceiriog Valleys will result in overnight diversions through Llangollen, according to Wrexham.com

* For the full story, see: https://www.wrexham.com/news/full-closure-for-part-of-a483-planned-for-viaducts-inspections-division-through-llangollen-due-to-newbridge-landslip-208538.html

Another local roadworks notified by one.network is: 

Brook Street 06 September — 08 September   Delays possible - Traffic control (multi-way signals)   Works description: TM Purposes Only   Works location: brooke street junction of queens street...   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 Openreach.   Responsibility for works: Openreach   Current status: Advanced planning   Works reference: BC006MQONSAWNWC4WC5MWN1P