Work planned this week on the town's 2020 project is:
* Digging out the existing footpath on Castle Street east from Oak Street to the A5
* Digging out the existing footpath on Market Street south
* Paving on Castle Street east from Oak Street to the A5
* Paving on Market Street south
Llangollen’s world-famous Chainbridge Hotel (pictured) is up for sale with a price tag of £1.8m.
According to the property website Rightmove, it is on the market with
Manchester-based specialist agents Fleurets.
The hotel was built
in 1827 and became a popular venue due to its location adjacent to the iconic
chain bridge over the River Dee.
The sales description
says the detached two and three storey property includes 33 en-suite bedrooms,
bar, function room and restaurant.
It also said to
have an unsurfaced car park for about 40/50 vehicles with a metal bridge
leading down to the hotel plus a surfaced car park at the same level of the
hotel for approximately 16 vehicles.
There is also an outdoor
seating area providing riverside views along the front elevation.
In October 2012
llanblogger reported how the hotel had recently been bought for £500,000 by
Seamus O’Keeffe, then in his early twenties.
He had rescued it
from administration where it had been placed following the collapse of Stephanie Booth’s
Llangollen Hotels group of which it had been part.
Surrey-born Mr
O’Keeffe told llanblogger it would be more of a family business than an
investment opportunity as running hotels had been a family affair for him.
After reading
history at Leeds University he went initially into public relations with
a London agency before taking off in a completely different career
direction to help run the George III hotel near Dolgellau with his wife
Elizabeth for his parents-in-law.
When The
Chainbridge came on the market he said he saw it as an opportunity too good to
miss and the family moved up to Llangollen.
Mr O'Keeffe told the Daily Post: "We’re under no pressure to move on, and whenever we do it will be with a heavy heart.
"It’s a magical place but we think it’s the right time to give somebody else a crack of the whip!
"It’s an absolutely fantastic business, obviously an incredible, unique location, and we’ve had a lot of fun and success building up the hotel over the 10 years we’ve been here.
"We have some other interests we want to try and pursue so it seems the right time for a change.
* Details of the sale of the Chainbridge Hotel can be seen on Rightmove at: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118589033
A police boss has made an impassioned plea for a law to prevent miscarriages of justice like those suffered after the Hillsborough disaster.
North Wales Police and Crime
Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin (pictured) spoke out after the recent screening of the powerful TV
drama, Anne, based on the tragedy and its aftermath.
The campaign for a
Hillsborough Law has widespread support from the families of the victims,
politicians and celebrities.
Mr Dunbobbin says that
public authorities like the police should be legally obliged to be proactively
honest if anything goes wrong.
At the same time, ordinary
people should be provided with a legal body, funded by the taxpayer, to fight their cause in court.
The crusade stems from the
tragedy that happened at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham
Forest in Sheffield on April 15, 1989, when 97 men, women and children died as
a result of the crush at the ground.
The four-part ITV docu-drama starred Maxine Peake as Anne
Williams, whose 15-year-old son, Kevin, died in the disaster.
Mrs Williams dedicated her life to uncovering what happened to the
teenager but died in 2013, before the start of the new inquests.
The hearings, which concluded in 2016, found the victims were
unlawfully killed.
But match commander David Duckenfield was cleared of gross
negligence manslaughter in 2019.
Meanwhile, the trial of two retired police officers and a former
South Yorkshire Police solicitor, who were accused of perverting the course of
justice, collapsed last year after a judge ruled there was no case to answer.
Mr Dunbobbin said: “The TV drama, Anne, was incredibly moving and
powerful and served to underline the iniquitous injustice the grieving families
have been subjected to for too many years.
“It was also helpful in bringing back to the fore the campaign to
secure a new Hillsborough Law so that these injustices are not repeated in the
future.
“As things stand, the scales of justice are heavily weighted
against ordinary people like the late Anne Williams and the other campaigners
who have fought so determinedly for so long.
“It is a national disgrace that they were on the wrong end of lies
from senior police officers and an alleged cover up.
“I have written to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, urging her to
set the wheels in motion for a Public Authority Accountability Bill that’s
being proposed by long time campaigner Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater
Manchester.
“Such a law would mean that no more grieving families would
have to suffer the same cruel fate again.
“Securing this long-overdue legislation would be a good way of
honouring the memory of all those innocent victims and would go some way
towards righting the terrible wrongs we have seen in subsequent decades.”
Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes has presented Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a collection of climate change poems written by the students of Ysgol Dinas Brân in Llangollen.
Mr Baynes was given the poems following a visit to the school during Great Big Green Week which ran from September 18 - 26, when he met students and teachers to learn more about their week of activities to encourage awareness and to listen to students’ climate change concerns.
The poems highlight a range of climate issues such as global warming, single-use plastics and deforestation, and were written as a call for action ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP26 – last October and November.
Since Mr Baynes’ visit the school has been recognised with presentation of the highest Eco-Schools Award – the Platinum.
The school’s liaison officer Catrin, from Keep Wales Tidy, said: "Maintaining the Eco-Schools Platinum status is a fantastic achievement. The school, staff and pupils, should feel proud of their hard work and commitment."
Andy Wallis, PSE coordinator at Ysgol Dinas Brân, said: “I would like to thank all the staff and students involved in the Eco Schools programme, and in particular the Great Big Green Week, for the work they have done which has enabled us to win this award.
"Equally, I would like to thank both the headteacher Mark Hatch and our business manager Jamie Roberts for the investment they have made into making the school more sustainable and decreasing our carbon footprint with the instillation of the solar panels project.”
Simon Baynes said: “I was very pleased to present the Prime Minister with poems from the students at Ysgol Dinas Brân, by which he was very impressed.
"He remembers the school very well from his time as the Parliamentary Candidate for Clwyd South 25 years ago and is always very interested in hearing about activities locally, particularly in relation to the environment.
“The students and teachers have put in a huge amount of effort recently to raise awareness of environmental issue and reduce the school’s carbon footprint. And it was a pleasure to highlight their exceptional work to the Prime Minister.”
First Minister Mark Drakeford (pictured) has set out a plan to return Wales to alert level zero.
The move comes as the latest public health data suggests cases of coronavirus have started to fall back from their very high levels.
More than two-thirds of people aged 12 and over have received a booster or third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The full move to alert level 0 will be dependent on the public health situation continuing to improve.
Mr Drakeford said: "I want to thank everyone for following the rules we have had in place since Boxing Day to help keep Wales safe while the fast-moving omicron variant has surged through our communities.
"I also want to thank everyone involved in our vaccination programme for the enormous efforts to give almost a third of the population a booster since the start of December – this has been vital in increasing our protection against omicron.
"The actions we have taken together have helped us to weather the omicron storm. The latest data suggests some positive signs that the peak may have passed.
"We can now look more confidently to the future and plan to start gradually removing the alert level 2 restrictions, starting with the outdoors measures.
"But the pandemic is not over. We will closely monitor the public health situation – this is a fast-moving and volatile variant, which could change suddenly. I urge everyone to continue to follow the rules and have your vaccines to keep Wales safe."
If conditions allow, the alert level 2 restrictions will be removed in a phased approach.
From tomorrow (Saturday), the number of people who can be present at outdoor events will rise from 50 to 500.
From Friday 21 January Wales would move to alert level 0 for all outdoor activities. This means there will be no limits on the number of people who can take part in outdoor activities.
If the downward trend continues, from Friday 28 January Wales would move to alert level 0 for all indoor activities.
The self-isolation rules for all those who test positive for Covid and the face covering rules for most public indoor places will remain in force after 28 January.
The 3-weekly cycle would be re-introduced from 10 February, when the Welsh Government will review all remaining measures at alert level 0.
The thoughts of students and staff at Ysgol Dinas Bran about coping with the Covid-19 situation as they return to face-to-face learning have been shared with the BBC.
In an article on the news website there are interviews with headteacher Mark Hatch and a number of pupils about the situation they find themselves in.
Mr Hatch tells says in the story: "It's hugely upsetting how much impact it's having on the students."
And an 18-year-old pupil says: "It feels weird to be back with more restrictions. It's frustrating in a way to come back to more [restrictions] than there were before."
* For the full story, see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59945062
Further funding is available for businesses impacted by the latest restrictions arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
Denbighshire
County Council is helping to administer the Welsh Government’s Emergency
Business Fund - January 2022.
Under the
latest package of support, retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses
who pay Non Domestic Rates will be entitled to a payment of £2,000, £4,000 or
£6,000 depending on their rateable value.
Applications
for this element of the fund open from January 13.
A
discretionary portion of the fund is also available to sole traders,
freelancers and taxi drivers who are able to apply for £500 and businesses that
employ people, but do not pay business rates, will be able to apply for £2,000.
Applications
for this element of the fund open from January 17.
Businesses
will need to re-register their details through an online process with
Denbighshire County Council to receive their payments.
An eligibility
checker from Business Wales is available to help businesses gauge how much they
can expect to receive under the new support package.
Cllr Julian
Thompson-Hill, the Council’s Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic
Assets, said: “We are alerting businesses to the fund and encouraging those
eligible to apply.
“We understand
it has been a difficult period for businesses who have worked hard to support
the local economy and local employment.
“We are
working closely with the Welsh Government on administering this fund and have
made the application process as simple as possible.
“Businesses
should also be aware the Welsh Government is reopening the Economic Resilience
Fund from January 17 to support businesses that have sustained a 60% or greater
loss in trade, within the hospitality, leisure and supporting supply chain
sectors and applications for this fund must be made directly to Business Wales.
“Businesses
can qualify for both the Emergency Business Fund and the Economic Resilience
Fund.”
To find out
more or apply you can visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/coronavirus/emergency-business-fund-january-2022.aspx
