Welsh Government invests £20.8m in north Wales public transport

* Ken Skates MS.

The Welsh Government is investing £20.8 million in north Wales to improve public transport and encourage economic growth, the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates has said.

Local authorities were invited to submit proposals to the Welsh Government for local transport improvements in their areas that will help to deliver the priorities and ambitions of Wales’ Transport Strategy - Llwybr Newydd. These include:   

• Addressing disruptions to the highway network caused by severe weather.   
• Improving road safety   
• Delivering walking and cycling routes   
• Improving bus journey times and waiting facilities  
• Delivering publicly available EV charging infrastructure 

The substantial support, which is designed to help local councils to improve transport in their area, includes funding for Active Travel and Safe Routes, Road Safety, EV charging facilities, road resilience, local transport and unadopted roads.   

In north Wales £20.8m will be invested in projects such as improving walking and cycling connections to Llandudno Station, a safer route to walk, scoot and cycle to Ysgol Treffynnon and Ysgol Maes Y Felin in Holywell and an active travel route connecting Holyhead Rail Station and Ferry Terminal with Penrhos employment and retail sites, the leisure centre, Parc Cybi and Trearddur Bay. Funding will also support Sherpa’r Wyddfa bus service around Eryri.   

Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates said: “These grants are a substantial investment to support sustainable local economic growth, enhance public transport facilities and create and improve routes that will enable and encourage more people in Wales to walk, wheel and cycle.  

“The projects are prime examples of the practical solutions we have asked local authorities to design in order to make it easier for residents to connect with their places of employment and businesses, and to do so more sustainably.”  

This funding also builds on allocations which have been made to different phases of some projects in previous years.   

Denbighshire programme: 

Active travel fund

Core allocation of £500,000, plus:

• £130,000 for Corwen to Cynwyd active travel route

Safe routes in communities

• £63,000 for School Street study, year 2

Road safety

• £94,000 for implementation of 20mph speed limit
• £53,350 for National Standards Cycle Training
• £13,740 for Bike Safe motorcyclist training (regional bid)
• £1,672 for Pass Plus driver training
• £1,020 for Mature Driver training for ages 65 and over

Local transport fund

• £275,000 for North Wales Metro T8 service: Corwen, Ruthin, Mold, Chester  

Resilient roads fund

• £750,000 for Pont Llannerch replacement bridge

Honda's new hybrid with sharp sporting edge

Honda ZR-V drive by Steve Rogers

Another month, another new SUV.

Our appetite for these high riders is insatiable and car companies are hell bent on filling every little gap in their SUV portfolios.

Honda saw such a slot between HR-V and CR-V so enter ZR-V, a hybrid for the family but with a sharp sporting edge.

The modern day SUV is a solid drive but can't match the handling of a hatchback. Or can it? Honda has built ZR-V on the same platform as the outstanding Civic, so this is more fun to drive than its illustrious rivals? Can it be as good as a Civic?

Of course not, yet Honda has made a pretty good fist of it and this SUV is a genuine fun drive gliding confidently through twists and turns. The suspension is on the firm side but is still pretty comfortable.

To back up the sporty handling ZR-V has sporty performance with plenty of punch from the 2-litre hybrid engine. The hybrid set up is quite interesting and deserves a couple of paragraphs of explanation.

This is not an electric car but drives off electric power most of the time. Confused? Don't be. The 2-litre petrol engine generates power to the charge the batteries which power two electric motors that drive the front wheels.

The upshot is that driving in town or poodling around the lanes will be on electric power with the engine seemlessly taking over at motorway speeds. That translates into sprightly acceleration and a good lump of torque for strong mid range pick up.

Economy will play a big part in tempting buyers as ZR-V should easily top 50mpg.

Honda has gone for continusouly variable transmission, or CVT as we know it. This provides an infinite number of gear ratios rather than the hard shifts in a conventional gearbox. Not the most popular of systems because changes can be random, and often holds on to a gear for too long.

But I was pleasantly surprised and liked the way Honda has introduced fake changes. You don't feel a change but somehow sense it when the rev counter pointer alters just like a conventional gear change. Weird, I know, and best experienced by driving the car.

Enough of performance and gearboxes, ZR-V is first and foremost a family SUV so is it up to the challenge? Two important areas to consider: passenger space and luggage capacity. It passes with flying colours on one and falls short on the other.

As a C segment car you expect it to be capable of carrying five people and ZR-V does it well. Back seat legroom is generous so there should be no complaints from six footers, and the seat base is set higher than the front which will please toddlers who get a decent view of what is going on outside.

With no transmission tunnel the flat floor makes it a comfortable fit for three across the back, and headroom is fine as well.

Which brings us on to point number two, boot space. For a car this size you could reasonable expect a capacity of at least 450 litres, and that is way off class leading, but ZR-V can only muster 390 which is actually less than the Civic!

It is an obvious area to criticise and then I ask myself how often is a boot filled to capacity? Even when my two children were young I cannot remember packing a boot until it was bursting, so is it really that big a deal? It would not put me off.

Honda is keen to emphasise quality and to be fair the ZR-V has a quality look all around the cabin. The full width mesh covering for the air vents is eye catching and there is plenty of soft touch trim. Chunky switches for the heating controls is pleasing with a nine inch touch screen dealing with radio, navigation etc.

There are three trim levels with the entry Elegance good for heated front seats, keyless go, rear camera, LED headlights and adaptive cruise control. Move up to this Sport model for electric seat adjustment, wireless charger, privacy glass and power tailgate. All three get an excellent suite of safety features including hill descent which will be reassuring on an icy slope.

Apart from excessive wind noise at motorway speeds there is nothing much not to like about ZR-V although compromises might have to be made when it comes to matching bootspace against the best of the rivals.

But as hybrid SUVs go ZR-V is definitely challenging for medals on the winners podium.

Fast facts

ZR-V Sport eHEV

£41,095 (starts £39,505)

2-litre petrol hybrid; 181bhp

0-62mph 7.9secs; 108mph

48.7mpg combined

131g/km. 1st year tax £270

Boot: 390-1322litres

Insurance group 35

West End queen Kerry packs her running shoes for Eisteddfod return

                

* Kerry Ellis is heading for Llangollen on July 4.

A performer known for her dazzling runs in the West End and on Broadway hopes to try a run through the beautiful Dee Valley when she stars at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod this summer.

Kerry Ellis – known as the Queen of the West End after playing a leading role in shows from My Fair Lady to We Will Rock You and from Les Miserables to Wicked – will take to centre stage during one of the Eisteddfod’s big Core Week concerts on Thursday July 4.

She will be performing alongside another musical theatre great, John Owen-Jones, in Direct from the West End and says she just can’t wait to get to Llangollen and, as a keen runner, maybe find time to take a dash through the local countryside.

“I did my first half-marathon last year and I’ll be arriving in the area the day before the concert so hopefully I’ll get the chance to fit in a bit of a run in the hills close to the town,” she said.

Hailed as the First Lady of West End musicals, Kerry was catapulted to fame in 2002 when she landed the role of Meat in the original London cast of We Will Rock You, a role for which she was especially scouted by Sir Brian May himself.

Taking some of musical theatre’s biggest roles, she has earned numerous awards along the way.

She has also recorded four studio albums, and toured the world both as a solo artist and with her good friend Sir Brian.

She said: “I have been to the Llangollen Eisteddfod before in 2016 when I appeared in a musical theatre evening concert with the singing group Calabro, which I really enjoyed.

“I’m very excited about coming back again and performing with John Owen-Jones, who is an old friend of mine, and a hand-picked orchestra of first-class West End performers. It should be a great evening.

“We’ll be performing a combination of songs from the shows we’ve both been in, like Les Miserables and Wicked, and no doubt John will do something from Phantom of the Opera and some other well-known favourites.”

At the Eisteddfod, Kerry will be gracing the same stage as another of her old duet partners and Llangollen favourite Alfie Boe. She worked with him on his very first studio album and fondly remembers him as a “brilliant guy”.

She has also previously worked with the Eisteddfod’s Artistic Director, Dave Danford, and says she is delighted he will be musical supervisor on Direct from the West End.

Soon after her Llangollen appearance Kerry will be heading off on a 40-date UK tour. Meanwhile, she says she’s looking forward very much to coming to Llangollen which, after all she says, is at the heart of the Land of Song.

Direct from the West End, under musical director Iestyn Griffiths, also features the final of the Voice of Musical Theatre competition, which will have been running through Eisteddfod week.

* Tickets for Direct from the West End on Thursday July 4 are available online from: Thursday 4 July 2024 Direct from the West End: Kerry Ellis & John Owen-Jones - Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (international-eisteddfod.co.uk)

Call to move historic Llangollen monument sparks opposition

A controversial call has been made to relocate the Eliseg Pillar - ranked as one of the most important monuments in North Wales - according to a story on North Wales Live. 

A Senedd petition has demanded the pillar, sited close to Llangollen, be housed in a museum so it can be saved from further decay out in the open.

People in the area have angrily dismissed what many see as a culture grab by South Wales. The idea has been labelled “ridiculous” and likened to “moving Hadrian's Wall to the British Museum”.

* For the full story, see: Tug-of-war over iconic monument dedicated to North Wales hero and coveted by others - North Wales Live (dailypost.co.uk)

Latest local roadworks bulletin

Latest local traffic bulletin from causeway one.network is: 

Bache Mill Road, Llangollen, Denbighshire,North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency 23 April - 25 April   Delays likely - Diversion route   Name: Diversion 1   Location: Bache Mill Road   Description: Streetworks / License - Streetworks   Responsibility for event: Denbighshire County Council   Current status: Planned       Grange Road, Llangollen, Denbighshire,North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency 23 April - 25 April   Delays likely - Diversion route   Name: Diversion   Location: Grange Road   Description: Streetworks / License - Streetworks   Responsibility for event: Denbighshire County Council   Current status: Planned

 

Roadworks

Bache Mill Road, Llangollen, Denbighshire 23 April - 25 April   Roadworks, Delays likely   Traffic management: Road closure   Description: REPLACE APPROX 5M X 100MM DI WITH 90MM PE   Works location: JUNCTION OF GRANGE ROAD   Public facing description: Wales & West Utilities Ltd has not assigned a specific description to this Works. Please note: Works Descriptions are not published by Wales & West Utilities Ltd.   Responsibility for works: Wales & West Utilities   Current status: Advanced planning   Works reference: XY254003001625596/01       Regent Street, Llangollen, Denbighshire 23 April - 24 April   Roadworks, Delays likely   Traffic management: Traffic control (two-way signals)   Description: Gwynedd CC lining to both sides of carriageway   Works location: A5 Regent Street, Llangollen.   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 NMWTRA/SWTRA.   Responsibility for works: NMWTRA/SWTRA   Current status: Planned work about to start   Works reference: PD5012411013951889

Skates hints at 'major U-turn' on Wales's 20mph regime, says story

Wales’ new transport secretary has hinted at a major U-turn on the country’s 20mph regime, according to North Wales Live. 

Ken Skates, Senedd Member for Clwyd South, said the lower speed limit should be targeted at schools, nurseries, hospitals and other "appropriate" areas, the story adds.

* For the full story, go to: Major U-turn on 20mph speed limits signalled for Wales - North Wales Live (dailypost.co.uk)

28th Llangollen Fringe unveils its diverse programme

* Craig Charles.

The 28th edition of the Llangollen Fringe Festival takes place from July 5-13 and will feature a diverse range of shows, with comedy, music, dance, workshops and more.

Kicking off the festival's festivities is the highly anticipated finale to its comedy season, featuring headliner Robin Ince. 

Renowned for his ability to educate through comedy, his performance promises "laughter and enlightenment." 

* The Undertones.

Supported by the dynamic duo, The Raymond and Mr Timkins Revue - with the possibility of a surprise guest appearance - the event is hosted by the charismatic Silky.

In the realm of music, the Fringe welcomes back three iconic acts - The Selecter, Craig Charles, and Band Pres Llareggub. 

Prepare to rock out with The Undertones as they bring their iconic sound to Llangollen. Catching them on their European Tour guarantees a night filled with timeless hits like "Teenage Kicks" that will have the Town Hall pulsating with nostalgia. 

Hailing from the Highlands of Scotland, Elephant Sessions will present their unique blend of traditional, funk, and electronica music. 

* The Selector.

Welsh talent takes centre stage with Adwaith and Melin Melyn, two bands that transcend borders with their captivating performances. 

Folk sensation Seth Lakeman returns to cast his spell over the audience, while the collaboration of Catrin Finch and Aoife Ní Bhriain promises to stir emotions with their fusion of Celtic and classical music. 

Complementing the musical line-up are a variety of theatrical performances, workshops, and artistic endeavours, ensuring there is something for everyone to enjoy. 

Commenting on the programme Paul Keddie, Chairperson of the Llangollen Fringe, said: "We are incredibly proud of the diverse and dynamic program we have put together for this year's Fringe, with a line-up featuring both established icons and emerging talents, we look forward to welcoming audiences to what promises to be an unforgettable celebration of culture and creativity." 

* Catrin Finch and Aoife Ní Bhriain.

* Tickets for these headline shows are on sale now, as well as Festival passes. Priced at just £120 the festival pass allows access to all of the main events across the nine days.

Festival tickets and dates and times for all concerts and events are available from www.llangollenfringe.co.uk. 

Llangollen Fringe Festival is supported by The Arts Council of Wales

At a glance

Friday, 5th July: Robin Ince

Saturday, 6th July: Band Pres Llareggub 

Sunday, 7th July: The Undertones 

Monday, 8th July: Seth Lakeman

Tuesday, 9th July: Catrin Finch & Aoife Ní Bhriain 

Wednesday, 10th July: The Selecter  

Thursday, 11th July: Elephant Sessions 

Friday, 12th July: Melin Melyn and ADWAITH - double headline show 

Saturday, 13th July: Craig Charles