We won't give up on paddling pool fight.

The Council are still determined to get rid of the paddling pool in Ynysangharad Park as part of their plans for the so called renovation of the lido, although quite how it can be called a renovation when the hew build is so vastly different is beyond me.

RCT Welsh Lib Dems and the members of the public who make up the SOS Ponty Paddling Pool group are equally determined that the paddling pool must not go.

A new petition has now been set up to have paddling pool classed as listed building

Despite originally saying that the Council would need listed building consent to remove the paddling pool in Ynysangharad Park, CADW have now changed their minds and said that is not the case.

A new Assembly petition has been set up asking the Welsh Government to classify the paddling pool as a listed building. It can be signed at the official Assembly petition site here, or via www.pontylibdems.org.uk

Antoniw takes the biscuit on employees rights.

Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw really does have some brass neck.  He has currently been banning the drum on several projects associtaed with employees rights. 

The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board has been troubling him greatly - despite the fact that this organisation no longer serves any useful purpose as workers are protected by the minimum wage.

Then just last week he reported that he

"Asked Minister and leader of the House about corporate governance in Wales. 111 Welsh workers blacklisted for being members of a trades union or raising health and safety issues. some of these companies have received contracts from Welsh Gov worth millions over the years."

Now I would not suggest for one minute that the practice of blacklisting anyone for being part of a union should be condoned - nor indeed for not being part of a union!  But for Mr Antoniw of all people to be taking this holier than thou attitude is a bit rich.

He is of course a former partner in Thompsons solicitors - reprimanded by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and made to pay costs amounting to £88,000 for irregularities involving miners' compensation claims.

Last week Wales Online carried an article  in which it was claimed he refused to give his own employee - an RCT Councillor - time off to attend Council meetings, even though he is legally entitled to such time.

The double standards shown are quite breathtaking, but then we have come to expect little else from him.  He did after all rent a house on Llantrisant for a couple of months prior to the Assembly election merely to have a Pontypridd constituency address to put on his ballot paper.  He actually lives in Newport.

Those he purports to represent really do deserve better. 

Glad to see Slick Mick taking notice

Mick Antoniw’s Facebook page

 o    Karen Roberts Talking of Health and Safety any comment on the appalling ambulance response figures in your constituency?

31 January at 00:24 ·

   From my twitter feed
 
Karen Roberts‏@KarenClydach

Stats show RCT ambulance dire. Where are our Labour AMs? @MickAntoniwAM@LeightonAndrews@adrianmasters84 @walespolitics @pontyobserver

Having failed to mention anything about ambulance response times over the last year ambulance chaser turned AM Mick Antoniw (Pontypridd) seems to have had his conscience pricked. Well conscience is maybe the wrong word, but nonetheless he has at last woken up to the fact that ambulance response times in RCT have fallen short of the Wales target every month for the past year.

In December they were the worst in Wales with only 43.5% of category A emergency calls being responded to within 8 minutes.  Maybe it was this shocking statistic that finally made him think he had better say something - or maybe it was indeed a result of us bringing it to people's attention that he had said nothing.

Either way he mentioned it in his column in the Ponty Oberver today, and asked a question in theAssembly Chamber apparently. 

Well done that man.  Go for it Michael.  Now, about that paddling pool.........

Self praise is no recommendation Cllr Powderhill.

I have just come across the following post by Treforest Councillor Steve Powderhill on a local facebook group.  The initial post was about car parking charges in Pontypridd,but then he couldn’t resist flexing his over inflated ego.

“Cardiff charge a lot more, so that argument doesn't really hold water out of town shopping is killing our towns, supermarkets, outlets etc wish it was different but it's not perhaps the landlords could do more to help the shopkeepers anyway i've got an early council meeting tomorrow out on site in Treforest it's not easy being a councillor despite what some people might think commitment is a heavy burden and I am committed i've taken one weeks holiday intwo years and lost a stone in weight and I know not every Councillor is the same but remember it's quite easy for people to say things it's a lot more difficult to actually do so on that note i'll say goodnight.”

What a load of bullshit, but how perfectly it sums up the Labour attitude. Pure, unadulterated arrogance and hypocrisy. He obviously has no answers, and as usual is not interested in debating any issue that is of importance to local residents and traders.  “Perhaps the landlords could do more to help” – because Cllr Powderhill and his Labour colleagues are not interested,

Then the change of tack to talk about “me, me, me.” 

“Commitment is a heavy burden” oh come on.  Only one week’s holiday and lost a stone – my heart bleeds.  It is however ludicrous to blame that on Council work. Yes it takes up a not inconsiderable amount of time – if done properly, but it is certainly not time at backbench level. 

 As for the stomach churning line about how “it's quite easy for people to say things it's a lot more difficult to actually do so” that is hypocrisy at its best.

This is the man who on his election leaflets made much about being the only candidate living in Treforest, and then a few months later had his planningapplication for a house in Ynysybwl passed by his Labour colleagues, despite Officers recommending it be turned down.

He spent a great deal of time slamming the previous Welsh Lib Dem Councillor who stood down at the last election.  He told anyone who would listen that he did nothing, that he had no influence, and that the only way to get things done was to elect a Labour Councillor. 

Steve Powderhill was the man to get a crossing for the school – still waiting.  He would champion the community against planning applications that were objected to by residents.  Yet failed to get planning permission rejected on at least two sets of flats.

He has failed to stick up for the people of the area over all manner of things.  He, along with his Labour mates voted for the removal of the paddling pool in Ynysangharad Park.  He attended the meeting at the Muni to decide on a referendum and didn’t have the guts to speak up and defend his position.  When asked about it on the facebook site referred to here he said it was not the place to discuss politics, but refuses to do it elsewhere.

Self praise really is no recommendation – certainly not in this case.

Welfare reform half truths and propaganda not helping

It never ceases to amaze me how many people fall hook, line and sinker for political propaganda based on headlines and hype and not fact.  Many of then allegedly intelligent, thinking, rational individuals.  Some masquerading as ‘independent’ happily spreading blatant Labour propaganda thus saving them the trouble of doing it.

They happily gulp down the half-truths put out by people such as 38 Degrees without really examining the so called facts presented.  Take this campaign for example – to “Stop the Welfare Reform Death Scandal”  which refers to something called Callum’s list

It is headed ‘the welfare reform scandal has to stop’ but most of the links between the stories and welfare reform are tenuous to say the least.

The first report, tragic though it was for the family, was of a man who had already tried to commit suicide once a year before. The letter re benefits may not have helped his state of mind but it was not solely responsible for his death. That is sensationalism.

5 and 6 happened in 2008 and 14 in 2009 – hardly the coalition’s fault then, or the fault of welfare reform.

13 - Jobseeker committed suicide after being rejected for 200 jobs – dated April 2010.

15 - had worked as a supervisor at the Brierley Community Centre in Little Hulton for 16 years before it fell victim to spending cuts. The news tipped her into depression and she had already taken an overdose of pills eight days before she was found dead at her home in Walkden, just before 5pm on May 13. Mrs K, had been offered another post with the council but took voluntary redundancy

16 – this sad tale is of a man who committed suicide immediately after being told he was being made redundant, hardly the fault of benefit cuts then.

All of these tales are tragic to those involved, and I wouldn’t argue there are concerns over ATOS and some of their methods and decisions. Many are tales of people with obvious mental health problems and they should have received appropriate help for that mental health care needs drastic improvement across the UK, but to say they committed suicide because of government cuts is plunging politicking to new depths.   

There are tales of genuine hardship coming forward and they need to be looked at and the system changed if and where necessary, but this nonsense makes a mockery of those who are genuinely struggling.

Message to Labour – not all poor people are on benefits.

I really am getting sick and tired of hearing about how many families are losing out as a result of Welfare reforms.  Now let me make it clear, I firmly believe that the welfare system should provide adequately for all those in need be it the unemployed, the sick, the disabled, anyone who through no fault of their own is unable to earn a living wage and needs help.  That is what it is there for.

I also think that some of the welfare reforms are a step too far – the so called bedroom tax for example.  The whole mess surrounding Council Tax benefits leaves a bad taste, and there are some horror stories coming out about people on disability that give rise to concern.

However, the system had to be reformed, and Labour should have bitten the bullet a long time ago and put the brakes on a benefits system that was rocketing out of control.  But then as was claimed while ago by Kevin Brennan, Labour MP for Cardiff West, poor people vote Labour, so they will keep up their pretence of standing up for them. (Whilst putting up Council Tax in RCT by 4%)

The basic premise is that nobody should be better off on benefits than if they were working.  This is not to say they should not get enough to live on, but surely there should be a base line and above that then the State is right to say ‘no more.’

I have said before, there is a whole layer of society who is seemingly forgotten about – those hard working families who earn just about the limit where they can claim a state benefit.  They have to struggle on regardless and pay full price for everything.

They don’t get Council Tax relief, or housing benefit, or free school meals for their children, or discount at gyms and leisure centres, or even to get their dog neutered!  

So what of those people?  Does Labour, the party of the working class, care about those?  Or would they rather continue to play politics and hope that their voters do not scratch beyond the surface of the spin they are putting out.  Listening to Owen Smith it seems the latter is going to be the case.

 

 

 

Labour Councillor takes bovine excrement to new levels

There is a group on facebook called 'you know you are from Pontypridd when...'   mostly full of harmless chatter and people reminiscing about Ponty.  Amongst them is the Treforest Labour Councillor Steve Powderhill.

Now things rarely get too political on there, but now and again someone will pipe up with a comment about the Council or something it is or isn't doing, to which Cllr Powderhill's inevitable answer is that political debate should be taken elsewhere.  The subject of a few such comments has been the paddling pool fiasco which has stirred anger amongst a large number of Pontypridd residents in all wards - including Powderhill's.

When said Councillor started bragging about what a good job he is doing for Treforest and what dreams he has for its future (pass the sick bucket please) paddling pool campaigner (and non party political resident) Amanda Jones decided to question him on why he didn't support keeping it.

His response gave me almost as good a laugh as tonight's Mrs Brown's Boys and was certainly more inventive than Coronation Street

“Amanda, anyone who knows me knows I am my own man and will stand my ground when I believe in something, My area is Treforest and I intend to do my best to clean it up and turn it around and it is probably the most difficult ward in RCT. Ok because you don't read about me and see me in the newspapers every week other than irresponsible journalism and cheap political swipes at me doesn't mean I don't care, i'll do my talking when it is the right time and that's not now, when the time comes maybe you'll understand why I seem quiet I can assure you it's not because i'm afraid of anything, more I don't want to jeopardise anything like the grant funding etc now I respectfully ask you to put your comments about the pool on the page set up for it and when the time comes I will fight for what the people of Treforest tell me to fight for regarding the pool and everything else even if I sometimes don't agree with things I will vote in the way my electorate tell me to and actually the only thing we have voted on to date is outline planning to secure the grant funding. As i've said a few times I love this group, the chat, the memories old photos etc I don't want to spoil it with politics and neither will the majority on here so please keep politics for the right time and place not here. Thank you.”

Now the people of Pontypridd, including Treforest, have made their opinions clear.  A 2077 vote to 151 in the referendum on keeping the pool seems pretty clear to me.  So at what point exactly does Powderhill intend starting to listen?

He says the only thing they have voted on to date is planning permission.  Yet he voted in favour of that, knowing it would mean the removal of the paddling pool. There won't be another opportunity for him and his fellow backbenchers to vote and keep the paddling pool.  His chance has passed.

He attended the meeting in the Muni in October,but didn't say a word for or against holding a referendum.  So when is his self  enforced silence going to end?

As for posting "on the page set up for it"  there is one slight problem there for anyone wanting to question him or any of his Labour colleagues - they are too cowardly to go online even and face the public never mind doing it in person.

We don't need more Councils but more creative ones

Earlier this week it was reported in the media that the Mayor of Llanelli Town Council was leading an attempt to break the town away from Carmarthen County Council and establish Llanelli as an Authority in its own right.

The proposal fell at the first hurdle when he failed to get the support of fellow Town Councillors, but it was not likely to have got much further anyway.

The story of course planted a seed in the minds of others, or in some cases reawakened an idea they had earlier tossed into the air – what about doing this in Ponty?  Pontypridd is similar in a number of respects to Llanelli, and there are residents in both towns who will argue that they get the short end of the stick from the County Council.

Yet there are people in the Rhondda who will argue that all investment goes to Taff Ely, Cynon residents who says it is all spent in the Rhondda, and no doubt people in Carmarthen town who claim all the money goes to Llanelli – you get the picture

Of course even if Llanelli Town Council had voted in favour then the proposal was a non-starter, mainly because of the reasons given by the Council Chief Executive to the media.  You cannot just declare independence for one town without having knock-on effects and you are then talking about complete reorganisation of local government boundaries.  That is going to happen at some point but when it does it is going to result in bigger authorities not smaller ones. The Minister would simply refuse permission.

There is merit in the idea of delegating more responsibility (and the budget that goes with it) for some aspects to Town and Community Councils – many of which at the moment are little more than talking shops.  Devolution of power closer to the people is an idea that could work in certain instances if done properly, but random declarations of independence will not help.

It is not a breakaway Council and a battle with nearby towns that either Llanelli or Pontypridd need.  It is a Unitary Authority – wherever that may be based – that has both officers and elected members with vision and ambition for the whole area, and maybe Town councils that are more pro-active. 

We're still standing

It's been  tough year to be a Lib Dem - but then that is nothing new.  We appear to be getting battered from all sides, but stubborn beasts that we are we keep bouncing back.

It must be absolutely infuriating for the Labour party here in Rhondda Cynon Taff.  We gave them a hell of a fright in 2010 when we slashed the parliamentary majority in Pontypridd from more than 13000 to less than 3000.  Then of course it all started to go downhill as the perils of being in Government became apparent.  They did plenty of crowing after the Assembly election when through no fault of our own locally we saw a lot of our hard work go down the drain - although we still retained our second place in Pontypridd.

The Council election this May was a low point.  We saw the Labour majority shoot up so they held 60 out of the 75 seats on the Council.  Meanwhile we slipped from three Councillors to just one - a situation not helped by two of our former Councillors standing down and new candidates taking their place.

The joy of the Labour lot was all too evident - they thought we were down and out and they could carry on doing what they wanted undisturbed. 

It must then be really galling for them to realise that they were wrong.  We haven't given up and gone away, but instead have remained the biggest thorn in Labour's side.  Despite battling on times with a local media that finds itself indebted to the Council for a significant amount of advertising revenue (Over £90k last year to GTFM radio, a similar amount to the local paper) we punch above our weight publicity wise.  Our online presence is growing, and attracting more attention - not least from the Labour party!

And the really bad news for them is that we intend it to continue. 

Why do so many Welsh people reject their own language?

I cannot understand why there are so many Welsh people who appear to have such animosity towards their own language.  The 2011 census for the first time provided a tick box for people to describe themselves as Welsh if they so wished. Results showed that the sense of national identity is strong, with two thirds of people describing themselves as Welsh on average across Wales and 73% in Rhondda Cynon Taff.

The demand for Welsh medium education continues to rise – in RCT the Local Authority have struggled to keep up, so the demand is obviously there.

 Yet the census figures also showed that there is a decrease in the number of Welshspeakers which has led to calls on the Welsh Government from opposition parties to get their act together and look again at strategies which are obviously not working.

The political attacks are predictable, but what I find more surprising is the level of attack from some members of the public who claim that money spent on the Welsh language is wasted.  Take for instance this thread on the Pontypridd Town Forum. Just look at some of the comments on there:

 

·         This pointless Welsh language is quite simply the most underhand, calculating,and divisive stunt imaginable. A classic example being the appalling spreading of rumours that unless your child can speak Welsh, they will find it much more difficult to find employment.

·         There is no need for Welsh as an everyday language, Wales won't die because everyone doesn't speak Welsh. If the money and time spent on Welsh language promotion, was put into attracting business and industry to Wales we would be a damn site better off

·         Welsh is dead - admit it.

Admittedly much of what is said on this particular forum is designed to needle and cause argument, but the basic messages show a disturbing amount of animosity. I know a significant number of people who think that bilingualism is a waste of money, many see it as inextricably linked to a nationalist agenda.  They don’t speak the language and so do not see why any else needs to. Yet these same people would class themselves as ‘Welsh’ and fly the flag with pride.

I am not a fluent Welsh speaker, although I have a reasonable degree of understanding of the language.  I don’t read information other than in English, I can’t fill in forms in Welsh.  I wish I could, and yes it is my fault for not making the effort learn more and upgrade my level of understanding and ability to speak the language.  But this is and should be a bilingual country. 

The argument that by having Welsh taught as a compulsory subject in schools we are affecting the quality of education in other subjects is nonsense.  The question is whether what we are teaching is adequate.   Are we merely paying lip service by insisting on throwing the odd Welsh phrase into conversation in our schools?  Does it actually instil any love of the language?  Forcing students to take exams in it is not going to endear them to the subject. Forcing teachers some of whom may themselves have no love of the language to teach it isn’t going to build enthusiasm.

Encouraging growth in the language needs more than Government policies and strategies and forcing businesses to put up bilingual signs. It needs a change in people’s attitudes – and no, I don’t know how we achieve that!

 

Taxpayers money funds Plaid research by MEP's husband

Well this article on Wales Online explains one thing – where hissing Syd as he is not so affectionately known by many - has been lately.

Syd Morgan is the husband of Jill Evans, Plaid MEP. The article states that he “was until September last year a member of the controlling “bureau” of the Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC), a Brussels-based organisation that researches European issues from a nationalist perspective” and continues

“During his time as a CMC bureau member, the organisation funded a project undertaken by the Welsh Nationalism Foundation, a body founded by Mr Morgan and his friend Alan Sandry, the author of a book on Plaid Cymru. Mr Sandry is currently a bureau member.

The Welsh Nationalism Foundation is an unincorporated body and does not publish accounts. Potential donors are invited on the body’s website to send cheques to Mr Morgan at the home he shares with Ms Evans in Tonypandy.”
A look at the Welsh Nationalism Foundation website reveals the following statement:

“Objectives- The Welsh Nationalism Foundation is an autonomous association engaged in the research and dissemination of all aspects of civic nationalism in Wales and the rest of Europe. It is affiliated to the Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC), a European political foundation associated with the European Free Alliance, of which Plaid Cymru is a founder member. The Foundation supports the objective of Wales becoming a member state of European Union at the earliest opportunity.”

There are links to Plaid, and to Jill Evans’ website.

It is not the first time that this subject has been raised. Martin Shipton wrote back in June 2010 about the two day conference the Foundation was holding at which a Plaid line up addressed an audience of Plaid members. The suggestion then, as now, was that public money should not be funding such openly party political ‘research’

Of course it is a bit rich of Labour of Labour to be criticising pubic money being spent for political purposes, they are certainly not whiter than white there, but in this instance they appear to have a point.

Wales Online says that Mr Morgan when asked how much European money the Fundation had received from Centre Maurits Coppieters he said he did not have the information readily at hand, and they should ask the CMC. Yet he is the Treasurer, surely he knows a ball park figure?

Something just does not gel here.

Tories true colours showing on subject of same sex marriage

The subject of same sex marriage is one which is causing a bit of upset within the Tory party.  David Cameron has said he wants churches in England and Wales to be allowed to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies, but this is not finding favour with some of his party’s more hard line traditionalists.

 The BBC reports today that Monmouth MP David Davies says the plans are ‘barking mad.’

Tory MPs are to be allowed a free vote on the issue, but up to 130 of them are thought to be unhappy with the plans which obviously don’t fit in with their ideas of just how society should conduct itself old chap.

Former Assembly member Mr Davies is apparently afraid that the party will lose support over the issue – which suggests that a lot of his supporters have the same somewhat bigoted attitude that he displays.  It also raises the question of whether doing what is right comes before appeasing the party’s supporters in the minds of some.

Mr Davies' homophobic tendencies show through as he tells the BBC that

"I think most people are very tolerant and have no problem at all if people are gay but, and I hate to say this in a way because I expect it's going to cause controversy, but I think most parents would prefer their children not to be gay, knowing most parents want grandchildren if nothing else.”

 Maybe the Chair of Conservative Future who recently wrote about how proud he is of his party’s position on LGBT issues ought to ask himself whether he is really in the right party.

 

/

Excuse me Mrs Clwyd – have you heard of devolution?

Now I have every sympathy with anyone who suffers or sees their friends or family suffer due to a lack of appropriate care in the health service in any form.  That sympathy extends to Anne Clwyd, MP for the Cynon Valley who is in the news this week complaining about the poor standards of care experienced by her husband who passed away in October.  If the quality of care he received at the University Hospital of Wales was as poor as she described then indeed there is much to be improved.

What I can’t understand, however, is quite why, as reported by Wales Online, she was challenging David Cameron over this in the House of Commons.

The Health Service is of course devolved.  The Minister responsible for it in Wales is Mrs Clwyd’s own Labour colleague Lesley Griffiths.  Maybe she should take her very real and understandably very strongly felt concerns up there.  There are far too many people not getting the care and treatment they deserve in Wales for all manner of reasons, but nobody can lay this at the door of the Westminster Government.

Labour’s hypocritical streak showing again Owen?

The Western Mail today carries a report on the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, Winston Roddick, who apparently intends to carry on practicising as a Barrister whilst carrying out this role.

Pontypridd MP and Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith is quoted as saying he finds it “extraordinary” that he is not treating the post as full time.  Now whilst I don’t necessarily disagree with Mr Smith on the principle, the hypocrisy and political opportunism exhibited is getting tiresome.

Would Mr Smith have been so keen to condemn this if the individual had been a Labour party member?  I don’t seem to remember him knocking former leader of RCT Council Russell three / four / five jobsRoberts for not sticking to being a full time leader of the Council.

Not a single word of criticism was heard from any Labour member as Russell raked inevery penny he could from the public purse. Now admittedly we may be talking slightly higher figures here, but the principle remains the same.  Although, as we are very much aware here in RCT principle and the Labour party are miles apart.

They cannot be serious – Labour badgering S4C

You would think that Welsh Government Ministers have enough to be getting on with – sorting out our education system, addressing the staff shortages in our hospitals, actually doing something to address the issue of ambulance response times.  Instead what has been at the forefront of their agenda today?  Comments by a fictional character in a soap tucked away on S4C about badgers.

Yes, as reported by the BBC, Ministers have got their knickers in an ever increasing twist over a scene on Pobl Y Cwm in which a (fictional) farmer criticises the Government during an interview for a (fictional) radio station for not taking action to cull badgers. 

The Labour lot are apparently perturbed that they had no right of reply, and demanded that the episode not be repeated.  Of course they didn’t - this village doesn’t exist, neither does the farm, or the radio station. Where they supposed to find a fictional Minister to give the view of the Welsh Government? 

And it is not as if the opposing viewpoint isn’t put forward during the same episode.  A (fictional) barmaid later makes a comment that “farmers care about profits not animal welfare. They are responsible for spreading TB because they overstock. Badgers have a right to live".   Careful, you’ll have the NFU demanding that the programme be taken off the air – or maybe not, because they probably understand it is not real.

What is it with Labour and this control freak mentality of theirs?  And they can’t even put a name to their complaint.  The BBC quote a “spokesman.”

Really, they cannot be serious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20547326

Latest Labour leaflet - paid for by the taxpayer

The latest edition of the RCT 'Newspaper' Outlook came through my door today. Full of the same shamelessly political nonsense as usual. Labour propaganda paid for by the taxpayer.

"Tough decisions ahead" the front page headline reads "frontline services to be protected." Well maybe they could protect a few more frontline services if they cut down on the amount of money they spend blowing their own trumpet. Not only on this blatant piece of Labour party marketing but on the whole PR set up.

The front page story goes on to give the usual sob story about how poor RCT have been hard done by because of the nasty Westminster Government. Meanwhile the Labour heroes in Cardiff Bay are riding around on their white horses, armour glistening (probably catching the light that shines from their backsides) protecting the people of Wales from those on the dark side.

Yet again they have forgotten that it was the Welsh Government who set the Council budget and decided RCT should have a rise of only 0.36%, the second lowest in Wales. This is flagrant politics, and the Labour party are more than happy to let the residents of RCT pay for it to be shoved down their throats.

Still, I am sure the people of Pontypridd town will be pleased to hear of the make over at Llantrisant Leisure Centre and the excellent new facilities being built at Aberdare. There is no mention of the Labour administration telling the people of that area to shove their paddling pool vote!

They will be thrilled to know the regeneration works are coming along so well and will have people flocking back to Pontypridd and Aberdare. They are, says the rag, perfect to visit at this time of year “thanks to their history and heritage.” Such as the paddling pool?

The Labour administration really ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing this nonsense to be peddled in their name. They kicked up enough fuss during Plaid’s short tenure in charge when they did much the same with their ‘Rapidly Changing Times’ as it was called then. But then Labour around here know no shame.

Arrogance, pig-headedness, sheer stupidity - Labour at its best

Well I’ve had more than 24 hours now to calm down after the Council meeting and try and suspend my incredulity at the actions of the Labour group in relation to the paddling pool.

I have been at this business for quite a while now and little surprises me with regard to their arrogance and pig headedness in RCT but even I was staggered by the sheer overwhelming stupidity and ignorance theydisplayed.

The 2077 people who voted to save the paddling pool are to be completely ignored.  They are not going to think about it, or reconsider their options, or hold a meeting to explain why they feel keeping it is not an option.  They are not even going to pretend to do so.  No, this bunch of self-satisfied, egotistic idiots are not even going to pretend to listen, or that they care. 

Just how stupid are they?  Or is this just another example of the over confidence that comes from being in an area where traditionally the public vote for a donkey with a red rosette on?  As they keep saying over and over at every meeting, they were returned in May with an overwhelming majority with 60 out of 75 Councillors in RCT.  They can do what they like, and they will.

 Of course the votes for these 60 members are spread out across the whole of RCT, so having done the calculations they probably feel that 2077 across 9 wards is not a huge number of people for them to worry about.  Also of course the next elections are still four and a half years away, they hope people will have forgotten by then.

On the other hand, Owen Smith MP should, you would think, be looking at that number and wondering what on earth his Council colleagues are playing at.  Those 2077 people are almost all in his constituency (not quite all of course as Cilfynydd and Glyncoch are in the Cynon constituency) and they don’t have quite as long to forget before the Westminster elections.

The paddling pool fight is not over by any means, if anything the people who have been in touch with me by phone, email and facebook are now even more determined.    The Labour party keep saying this is all down to us, the ‘Lib Dems’ stirring.  As I have said before we are more than happy to take our fair share of the credit / blame whichever way you want to look at it.  But those 2077 people weren’t all politically motivated not by a long way.  In fact many of them I spoke to were Labour supporters – or used to be.

Democracy may appear to be well and truly dead in Rhondda Cynon Taff at the moment, but have no fear, we will be doing our utmost to restore it.  They don’t get rid of us that easily as they should have learned by now, and they won’t get rid of the members of the public who think they are wrong to remove the paddling pool.

Actions speak louder than words

“LEADING figures in the Tonyrefail community have joined forces to have their say on the future of their beloved town.

More than 100 people from local schools, community groups, churches and businesses took time out to read a new report by Owen Smith MP and Mick Antoniw AM on how the town can increase footfall, be promoted and boost its sense of community.”

This was the beginning of an article which appeared in the local press on 22^nd March 2012 – oddly enough just as the Council election campaign started to get under way properly.

As far as I am aware very little appears to have happened since.  Although there was an apparently chance encounter between Mr Antoniw and Tonyrefail traders in September as reported in the Rhondda Leader.  After that slight run in the Pontypridd AM had to quickly get in touch with the Council and come back with a statement no doubt prepared by our favourite story teller Hans Christian Hanagan.

His colleague and co-author of the report Owen Smith made similar noises at a public meeting in Pontypridd some two years ago when he talked of a new forum for traders and residents in the town there.  Nothing has come of that either.  Yet more cynical politicking by Labour’s not so dynamic duo?

 

 

 

 

New town will only bring new problems

I have written previously of the proposed development forTalbot Green – the creation of a new town there which has caused some consternation amongst local residents and others.

Wales Online this week reported that Sainsbury’s is confirmed as the anchor store there.  The plans were submitted earlier this year and some consultation already carried out.

Amongst the responses, which can be found on the planning section of RCT website, is one from the Director of Development Services at The Vale of Glamorgan Council, objecting to the proposal on a number of grounds.

He says that no consideration has been made of the impact on retail centres in Barry and Cowbridge, which are as close to the development as “centres which have been examined such as Tonypandy and Ferndale.”

                                                    

The Vale Council also objects on the grounds that there has been no traffic impact assessment in relation to the A4222 to Cowbridge and that there has been no discussions between the two Councils with regard to traffic distribution.  They therefore have concerns about highways traffic and safety.

The question has to be asked, if an adjacent Council is raising such concerns then why aren’t RCT Officers and Members asking the same questions?  Why was this ever put into the Local Development Plan?  As I have said before there are serious questions over whether the infrastructure can cope with this level of development tin this area.  Personally I don’t think it can.  Also what effect will this have on existing town centres?  The Vale of Glamorgan Council are obviously worried about that, why isn’t RCT?

What is their justification for this proposal?  We have enough shops lying empty and enough problems in existing retail areas within the County Borough.  Planning Policy Wales guidance is clear that development should first take place around existing town centres and that developments such as this should only take place in exceptional circumstances of the need is established beyond doubt.  Is that the case here?  I don’t think so.

 

 

The endless hypocrisy of RCT Labour

Anthony Christopher spent many years as deputy leader in the shadow of his former colleague and leader Russell Roberts, but it seems he learned a few tricks from him along the way. The art of hypocrisy for example, and a certain penchant for conveniently forgetting anything that doesn’t fit into the fairy tale they keep peddling to the public.

His column in today’s Pontypridd Observer is again the sort of imaginative tale of which the Brothers Grimm would be proud. A fanciful tale of big bad wolves and knights in white armour riding to the protection of the underdog.

I quote

“In October, we received the provisional local government settlement from the Welsh Government. Thanks to the cuts being imposed on the public sector by the Tories and Liberals in London, it makes for very grim reading.  The Welsh Government has once again done all it can to protect local government and the important public services we provide from these swingeing cuts being imposed on Wales.”

Heart rending stuff isn’t it?  Or vomit inducing, depending on your point of view.

The Labour party everywhere have a habit of either trying to rewrite history or forgetting that it existed in the first place., nowhere moreso than in RCT.  Luckily I keep records aplenty and am always more than willing to jog their memories and those of others.  And one of the great things about the internet and having a web site is that it is easy to refer back to letters to the press such as this one.

Their message was getting tired even then (Sept 2011) - Labour good, Westminster Government bad. They complained about cut backs in Council budgets, blaming it entirely on Westminster, overlooking the fact that their budget came from the Labour Welsh Government as it has for years.

The letter refers to some interesting quotes.  On 3^rd January 2008 Russell Roberts was quoted as saying

"We have approached Rhodri Morgan (Labour First Minister) and Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid Deputy First Minister) to try to get an increase but we haven't heard from them since. We do now face some serious challenges in terms of providing local services"

In a letter to the Local Government Minister Brian Gibbons (Labour) at the time Russell wrote

"Given that the total Assembly pot is increasing by 4.8%, we are disappointed again with the lack of priority given to local government in the draft Assembly budget"

 

A year later again complaining about the budget settlement.

"The totally inadequate level of Assembly support has now forced us into reviewing service provision and fees and charging arrangements. The council's strong financial stability will not be comprised, which will ensure we maintain our core services that are being given short shrift by the politicians in Cardiff Bay."

So when Labour were in power in Westminster then the budget cuts were the fault of the Welsh Government.  But the minute the coalition Government took over in Westminster then cuts were all their fault, and the Welsh Government, who up until then had been the evil ones in all of this suddenly shined up their halos and put a protective shield around the good people of RCT.

Really.

As reported here the situation this year is far from new and there have been several very critical comments appearing in Council reports over recent years.  Yes times are hard, yes cut backs have to be made, but this degree of hypocrisy shows the Labour party for exactly what they are.