REGENERATION

Yesterday I was in Tenby at a conference on 'Town Centres' which looked at regeneration and the regeneration process and how it works - it was interesting and touched on a number of different themes and gave much food for thought. There was an interesting mix of participants, not just Plaid members, but representatives from a whole variety of different organisations and interest groups. A number of different ideas and concepts were discussed, some of which I have blogged on previously.  

Certainly if you live in various parts of Gwent or are intimately familiar with your home community, then Over the years you will have noticed that redevelopment / regeneration comes and goes in phases, in any particular community or town regeneration schemes will have cleaned areas up, built in cycle routes, created transport plans, pedestrianised streets, reopened them to traffic, re-pedestrianised them and (as is the case in Newport) make certain streets shared space with both cars and pedestrians (this is not as crazy an idea as it sounds, and actually works) and so on.

We have restricted parking, created parking and removed parking, made it free and charged for it, created bus lanes, removed bus lanes and changed the hours when bus lanes operate, etc - now this is all well and good and may reflect the latest trend in regeneration and development, but at the end of the day has it made the places where we live, work and shop better? Has the regeneration process or scheme increased or generated wealth in our communities or provided people with the opportunities to get jobs, to go into business for themselves or generate wealth? 

One of the (many of us would like to hope) unintended features of redevelopment is that quite often it is (or is perceived as being) driven from the top down i.e. by elected bodies whether they be Town or County Councils or the National Assembly - a process that merely consults after the plans have been drawn up rather than before, during and after - any process run this way runs the risk of becoming deeply flawed. The communities and towns and cities of South Wales have over the years has been the recipient of much grant aid, development and redevelopment schemes and initiatives - how can we measure success?  

Measuring a regeneration schemes success should be integral to the regeneration process. This is the question that needs to be asked - after the cement and the paint has dried, after the development / redevelopment / regeneration professionals have moved on - have the various schemes made a difference, I mean beyond any immediate physical improvements to the environment, have they made a real difference when it comes to wealth generation in the area affected by the regeneration scheme? If the end result is in reality a makeover, and the targeted community is no better off, save for being bereft of the 'regeneration funds' that have been effectively syphoned off by professional regeneration companies - is this success?

How do you make regeneration projects work beyond the tick box list of the regeneration schemes managers? One key component that is often ignored or marginalised during the regeneration process is the communities greatest resource - its people. If we truly want to build and develop strong sustainable communities then any regeneration scheme should from the start and at every stage of the process.

Rather than regeneration and redevelopment professionals coming into an area and engaging in a largely token consultation process it is vitally important that they should directly talk to and engage with not just local elected representatives but local people (who are a major asset to the process) and actually find out what they would like to be done, what they actually want for their community and their town.

Regeneration schemes and projects should be directed from the bottom up rather than the top down model with a built in token consultation element that we often seem implemented in the past. One other key thing to remember as was said yesterday, if you are spending public money, then you need to work it very hard and squeeze out every possible benefit.

We also need to maximise the impact locally of the regeneration process and build in local benefits into the tendering process - whether by employing local people, using local resources and / or local skills and local input. If regeneration schemes are reusing or renovating old buildings then any regeneration scheme needs to ensure that old buildings can make a living after the regeneration scheme is finished.

If we do this rather than merely making a token gesture towards public consultation then any regeneration schemes will with hard work really begin to deliver tangible benefits for our communities. After all regeneration should be a process not merely an event.

SMALL SCHOOLS IN WALES

Over the years there have been a number of campaigns to save local village and community schools within Monmouth and Torfaen County Boroughs - some have been successful, some have not and some of the campaigns continue to this day. Now, while very few people, least of all the children and parents, would want to see a village or community school close, the closures across most of Wales continue from Gwent to Gwynedd and in between.

Much is made of cost savings, but, a closed or closing village or community school is more than just bricks and mortar and additions or subtractions to a balance sheet. One immediate effect is that aside from the damage done by the loss of the school to the local community, and immediate result is that parents or the county council end up in the businesses or providing transport to and from more distant schools. Not to mention the fact that the communities affected end up losing yet another focus (often along with their Post Offices and their Pubs) as well as losing potential community facilities and no one ends up with smaller classes.

Now while, I cannot comment on what's going on outside of Monmouthshire, in the eyes of many people Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) is pursuing a policy of short term thinking when it comes to the closure of Primary Schools across the county. Certainly MCC need a fair and proper financial settlement from the National Assembly, it's needs should be properly assessed, accounted and catered for. Many local people have concerns about the small schools closure policy which is suspected of being driven by potentially questionable motives whether immediate short term financial gain from school closures and a more medium term motive of cashing in when it comes to disposing of the former school sites for commercial gain.

Over the last few years there have been a number of campaigns to save community and village schools, some have been successful in their fight like in Ponthir, at Llanfair Kilgeddin and in and around Abergavenny as well as elsewhere within the county of Monmouthshire, and elsewhere across Wales. Other campaigns across the county and across Wales, from north to south will continue despite some pretty tepid assurances from local County Councils.

This issue of retaining village and community schools is of particular importance; both MCC, other County Council’s across Wales and the National Assembly need to seriously think again and take a more mature longer term view, and should have the courage to take a fresh look at the way small community schools fit into our education system - the English model of education does not necessarily fit in Wales.

While school rolls may fall in the short-term, over the longer term population and school rolls will rise in the villages of Monmouthshire because people will want to live in these communities. The cost of building a brand new school will be significant larger than improving an older school that may has been retained for educational and community use.

Elsewhere people do things differently, they take a longer more community minded view of education, while travelling in Asturias, in Spain, a few years ago I came across rural schools that were open with school rolls as low as 10 pupils. We need to rethink the way we run our community and village schools, there is now reason why a head teacher could not be responsible for 4 or 5 smaller schools across relatively wide rural area, modern technology can be used for shared administrative services and we could even end up with smaller class sizes.

IT'S ALL GONE QUIET OVER THERE?

During the last Westminster campaign - prior to polling day - especially in a rural constituency, every candidate who was out chasing votes tried to appear to be the farmer's best mate. The same was probably true across rural constituencies the length and breadth of Wales and the rest of the UK - yet, our farming communities, despite this welcome warmth have been pretty isolated and marginalized by the politicians, the contempt with which the farmers used to be treated by the old New Labour Government (and previous Conservative governments) in Westminster - this was something that was mirrored until relatively recently in Cardiff Bay certainly until the arrival of Plaid in government and Elin Jones, the Plaid driven One Wales Government Rural Affairs Minister.

Now that the dust has settled and the deals have been done, we have a Conservative / Liberal Government and the question should be what are they going to do for the farming sector? The Conservatives have spent years appearing (with less and less effort on their part admittedly) to be the party of the farmers, certainly some farmers continue to believe it. Yet, it is worth remembering that not that long ago in the 1980's it was a Tory Secretary of State who literally sat by and quietly did nothing when many of our Dairy farmers got hammered into the ground by cuts in the milk quota.

Never again must any Welsh Minister fail to stand up and be counted and to fail to argue their corner on behalf of Welsh farmers - now at least that has changed for the better - with Elin Jones (AM), the Plaid One Wales Government Minister for Rural Affairs we have a minster who is not afraid to actually meet with and to stand up for our farmers and their interests - this is a refreshing change from what has gone before. During the NFU farmers hustings in the final weeks of the election campaign, when I mentioned the things that Elin Jones and the One Wales Government have (and are) doing to make things easier for our farmers, the comments, the nods and the smiles confirmed that the farmers are more than aware of what's being done on their behalf.

Any catastrophic economic failure across the farming sector will have a significant knock on effects for dependent small businesses and local suppliers across the whole rural economy, in the small towns and across the Welsh countryside itself. The Plaid driven one Wales Government has unlike relatively recent governments in Westminster and Cardiff Bay, stopped treating the agricultural sector with indifference. Most people agree that much more effort has to be made to market first class Welsh produce within Wales, within the UK and in Europe and beyond.

Now, our farmers, despite some mutterings to the contrary by some local Labour MPs who should know better, are not just in the businesses of merely waiting for that one annual brown envelope and cheque from Brussels but for a real opportunity to make a decent living within the agricultural sector - to do this they need a fair deal. We need to take practical steps to give Welsh farmers a fighting chance of making a real living; securing 80% of publicly procured food locally by 2015 is a realistic and practical aim.

This is something that could provide the first practical step towards helping Welsh farmers and other producers make the most of the new opportunities that will arise from higher public purchasing of local products. Yet we need more, a much more co-ordinated effort to create that elusive level playing field for our farmers and a real effort from National and Local government to secure 80% of publicly procured food locally by 2015 – this could provide the first practical step towards helping Welsh farmers and other producers make the most of the new opportunities that will arise from higher public purchasing of local products.

The question remains, as yet, unanswered though, what is the new Conservative / Liberal Government actually going to do for our farmers?

THE WAVEOF THE FUTURE

In Scotland, the SNP Government is overseeing the development of a new generation of prototype wave power machines. This as Alex Salmond has pointed out is "another significant step" in Scotland's journey to become the green energy powerhouse of Europe.

The wave power machine, which was built in Leith, is some 180m long, weighs 1,500 tonnes and can produce 750kW of electricity. The Vagr Atferd generator is being transported to Orkney, where it will be tested in situ for three years to prepare it for commercial use. 

I mention this for a variety of reasons, one being that if you have proper powers in relation to energy development and the political will it is amazing what you can achieve. Also, energy (and energy cost) is a key issue in Scotland, there was a debate in the Scottish Parliament (on the 21st April 2010) which looked at the charges that Scotland pays to connect to the National Grid.

Basically it works like this; electricity produced not far from me here can cost me far more per kilowatt than it can someone who lives in the south-east of England. In Scotland, electricity industry leaders have been demanding an end to the 'unfair' practice, saying that these costs may have an impact on the development of some renewable electricity generation projects causing some to be delayed or abandoned.

Now transmission charges, which electricity generators pay for the cost of the national electricity grid, are a touchy subject not just for energy producers but also for energy users. The charges vary according to how far a power source is located from the main centre of demand, which is London.

So what this means is that in the north of Scotland for example, generators are charged £20.08p per kilowatt but in Central London a power source receives a subsidy of £6.41p per kilowatt. Subsidies are payable across most of southern England.

The National Grid naturally argues that the differentials encourage companies to locate power plants close to demand centres, cutting the costs of the national transmission network and reducing consumers' bills. National Grid are also on record arguing that stronger winds in northern Scotland meant that wind farms situated there generated more power than their southern counterparts and logically could afford to pay the higher transmission changes.

National Grid, a private company regulated by Ofgem, has been looking at how the costs of providing this infrastructure can be recovered from electricity producers and consumers. It has been using its existing pricing, which is already controversial in Scotland because it imposes higher charges on Scottish electricity producers to compensate for the cost of sending power to the main areas of demand in southern England.

The bottom line is that because Scotland generates more power than it consumes and decide to send it south to England they get penalised. While this may be a fact of life, it is decidedly unfair. This is all relevant because, according Jane Davidson AM, the Environment Minister to Wales (July 31, 2009) in Wales we use around 24 TWhr of electricity per year. WAG back in July 2009 then believed that with sufficient innovation and investment, the right Government framework and public support, Wales could produce over 33TWhr per year of electricity from renewable sources. 

For the record, in Scotland, which has a far stronger devolution settlement, has full powers for energy projects over 50mw. These powers for Wales now lie with New Labour’s lasting legacy - the unelected Infrastructure Planning Commission. The IPC is based outside of Wales and contains no representative or commissioner from Wales, yet is involved (as of 31st March 2010) in 9 projects either or the Welsh coast or in Wales. 

Interestingly enough successive Scottish administrations regardless of their political hue have pursued energy agendas which have ruled out nuclear power. One thing is certain we need a real debate about developing an energy strategy for Wales, one that encourages and empowers small energy producers.

To do this properly we need to make sure that the issue of the devolution of power consents for power stations over 50 Megawatts takes place sooner rather than later. In the meantime, National Grid must be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospects of more revenue. Potential alternative and sustainable energy generators in Wales beware…

DRAGONS EYE

Ended up getting involved in Dragons Eye speed dating exercise (between the big 4 political parties in Wales) filmed in the (highly recommended and very welcoming) WHAT Café by the Hand Post (in Newport) yesterday - it will be broadcast at 7pm (on BBC 2 Wales) and well after the news at 11.35pm (on BBC 1 Wales) tonight. Oddly enough it's not a programme I watch - being involved in politics I tend to avoid 'political' programmes like the plague. A similar thing happened to me previously as when I was working for the Metropolitan Police Press Office I stopped watching the Bill.

Anyway despite the somewhat artificial cobbled together nature of the exercise it was an interesting non partisan way to spend an hour and a quarter (which may end up as 5 mins tops after editing) seeing what we had in common. The Labour and Lib Dem representatives agreed that Wales needed fair funding and that Wales had been underfunded, that Barnet had to go and that replacing it with Holtham (in full) was the way to go (the Tory didn't) - he never even recognised that Wales had been short-changed, despite years and years of contributions to the central pot.

There, were however, refreshingly some areas of common ground, for example we agreed (all of us) that front line NHS services needed to be protected from any future cuts. There was even some common ground on exiting Afghanistan and growing the green economy and green jobs (Plaid, Lab and Lib Dems).

The Lib Dems also agreed that we needed a referendum on more powers and that the National Assembly needed the tools to do the job - never got the chance to discuss that with the Tory representative though. Touched on Trident with the Lib Dems, just touched on better care for our service personnel their families and veterans with the Tory and the need for an independent venture capital fund to grow small to medium sized businesses and that small businesses are the life blood of our communities, and the need to scrap business rates, when proceedings got called to a halt.

We were summing up in a non partisan way and commenting on the things that we all had in common, when the Lib Dem went a tad off message to try and score a cheap political point (well that is what they do best!) talking about the elephant in the room i.e. the fact that shock horror - Plaid wants independence for Wales! Now this is no secret, it's not like we have hidden it, we are proud of it - it's a long term aim - what's yours is a serious question that needs to be asked!

Now the last election and the next one won't be fought on it, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the opposition parties will bring it up to try and cloud the issue, perhaps to distract from the lack of Wales focused polices and the fact that they are merely paying lip-service to improving Wales as they are branch offices of their London based Parties. 

To be honest, with a few honourable exceptions and certainly not as people, I do heartily dislike the Lib Dems, at least with the Tories and New and Old Labour, you get what is says on the tin. The Lib Dems are different, hungry for power (and all the trimmings that go with it) at every level of government they are prepared to say and do anything for power, at a local level they have talked up a scare about the threatened closure of a local post office (which was not under threat) and have campaigned vociferously for speed humps (for 6 months) only when they prove ineffective and exceptionally noisy to residents, then spend the next 6 months campaigning to get rid of them!

What will happen in the next few weeks and months is that pretty rapidly the Voters both locally and nationally will come to regret voting Lib Dem - especially when the cuts start to bite. The Tories both locally and nationally may also yet come to regret bringing the Lib Dems on board. From the Lib Dem perspective trading the prospect of a referendum on STV for a more limited form of PR for a few ministerial limousines may prove in the medium to long term their undoing. Additionally I suspect that many voters will never trust or vote for them again.

THE ELOQUENT SILENCE OF DAVID DAVIES

Monmouth constituency, depending on your point of view is blessed (for want of a better word) with David Davies as its MP, someone who is well known for being opinionated on many matters - some controversial, some not so controversial. Yet there are topics upon which Mr Davies is entirely silent, not a single comment - one to these is the ongoing controversy that surrounds the questionable role of Conservative run (badly run in many peoples eyes) Monmouthshire County Council in the fate of Abergavenny Livestock Market.

The fate of the livestock market in Abergavenny is something that has animated for the right reasons a great many people in and around Abergavenny - townspeople, small farmers, small business people and visitors to the town, who are concerned about the long term economic consequences of losing the Livestock Market and replacing it with (as has been proposed once more) a supermarket.

The ongoing campaign to Keep Abergavenny Livestock Market (KALM) and to preserve the unique character of Abergavenny as a traditional market town has shown that both local residents and many local small farmers wish to retain the Cattle Market in Abergavenny. Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) has been trying to close this issue and make its decisions behind closed doors out of sight and out of mind.

What should have been a real opportunity to get things right and to work closely with local people to preserve the livestock market and sympathetically redevelop the unused portion of the livestock market has become a key issue for many people and a serious bone of contention with the County Council. The campaign to Keep Abergavenny Livestock Market (KALM) has effectively presented MCC with a real opportunity to begin the whole process afresh, this time working hand in hand with concerned local residents, farmers and small businesses to ensure that Abergavenny retains its Cattle Market and its fundamentally unique character as a market town.

Oddly enough, this has not happened! MCC is still hell-bent on removing the Livestock Market from Abergavenny and refuse point blank to talk to those people campaigning for an alternative solution. The Conservative Party in Monmouthshire has effectively closed ranks, the sitting Conservative AM, Nick Ramsay amazingly made himself scarce to avoid having to receive some 5,000+ signed letters of objection at the National Assembly last year and has been conspicuous by his silence (just like David Davies MP) ever since. 

There is a bigger issue at stake here than the fate of Abegavenny Livestock Market - across Monmouthshire (and many other small and larger towns across England and Wales) many people have taken note of the fact that we have to often in the past seen ill-thought out unsympathetic redevelopments that have had a detrimental effect on the local economies in both Chepstow and Monmouth and elsewhere.

The ongoing campaign retention of the cattle market (and the concerns expressed to me on the doorstep over the years in various election campaigns in Monmouth constituency, when in and around Abergavenny) should be acted upon for they are a real opportunity to do something fundamentally different, something that should be able to address both environmental and economic concerns and contribute to the retention of the unique character of the market town that is Abergavenny.

At some point the National Assembly will have to take note and action for National Assembly Ministers, under Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 have the power to call in any applications for planning permission for their own determination, something that clearly needs to be done in this specific case. While there is a tendency to consider that development proposals are best dealt with by planning authorities that know their area, its needs and sensitivities, it is pretty obvious that with regard to MCC, and the redevelopment of Abergavenny and its cattle market this is clearly not the case, hence the need to call in this proposed development.

Planning applications can be called in when they raise issues of more than local importance, issues which are in conflict with national planning policies; could have wide effects beyond their immediate locality; may give rise to substantial controversy beyond the immediate locality and are likely significantly to affect sites of scientific, nature conservation or historic interest or areas of landscape importance which covers almost every aspect of the proposed redevelopment of Abergavenny cattle market.

Most people can see that Abergavenny needs to retain its unique, attractive features and not join the sterile trend towards large retail and supermarket-dominated clone town centre deserts – save for MCC. In the not so recent past a whole range of suppliers, traders and small businesses who sell to consumers and too each other have along with whole communities suffered from this increasingly well recognised but misguided model of retailing and economic development. Elsewhere in Monmouthshire, the damage done to Monmouth and Chepstow by ill-thought out retail chain dominated economic redevelopment - no one in their right mind would want to damage Abergavenny’s economy and unique character as a market town.

In the meantime the decisions made by Conservative run Monmouthshire County Council in relation to the disposal of the Livestock Market site in Abergavenny need serious scrutiny. On one level alone (and there are more areas of concern) it is clear that the County Council (which will gain financially from the disposal of the asset that is the Livestock Market) is not and has never acted as an impartial participant in the planning process.

The continued silence of Monmouth Constituency's Conservative representatives David Davies MP in Westminster and Nick Ramsay AM in Cardiff should also be noted as they are clearly following the party line at the expense of the their constituents interests and at the expense of the future sustainable prosperity of the town of Abergavenny and the north west of their constituency and beyond. It's pretty clear that any invitation to join them (the Conservatives) in government does not run to Monmouth Constituency - I wonder what David ("Call me Dave") Cameron would think of that? 

THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE...

Well there we are then, the morning after the night before and I am awake (just) after some three and bit hours of sleep - it was a long night! Firstly a massive thank you to my agent and my campaign team and the punters of Monmouth / Mynwy - it has been as always an interesting (if particularly long) campaign which gave me the opportunity to talk to and meet with many (and varied) constituents during the course of my 33 month prolonged tour of (in my opinion) one of the most interesting and varied constituencies in Wales. 

Secondly, there are real bread and butter issues that still need to be fought for, including:

• the ongoing fight to Keep Abergavenny Livestock Market,
• the retention of small village and community schools,
• the need for more Police officers and fully staffed Police stations,
• better rail and bus services (with at least a gesture towards integrating the two!),
• real decent and affordable housing for younger people,
• a fair deal for our farmers,
• better public procurement of local foodstuffs by our hospitals, schools and other public bodies,      
• a fair deal for our service personnel and their families,
• a fair deal for our pensioners,
• a level playing field for our small businesses (which are the literal economic lifeblood of many of our smaller towns),
• abolition of the business rate, 
• the refurbishment of many of Monmouthshire's existing schools,
• a real need for a fair assessment of Monmouthshire County Council's financial settlement (it has the worst in Wales),
• and many more...

I think that there is a while yet before the final results come in and this Westminster election may take us all into wholly new political territory.  In Monmouth constituency, we now have to bed in the new members, and prepare the ground for the National Assembly elections (in 2011) and local Government elections (in 2012). Having fought Monmouth three times (twice for Westminster and once for the National Assembly) I have reached the stage when I can recognise when the adrenaline is running out, the coffee is no longer having any effect and the sleep of a seriously tired former prospective parliamentary candidate is beckoning... 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE LAST DAY...

All in all, it has been an interesting campaign, if rather a long one thanks to Gordon the Ditherer, having been selected back in the autumn of 2007, in anticipation of an autumn Westminster General election. Oh boy! Gordo I will bet that blunder has kept you awake night after night, not to mention the self induced economic disaster that happened on your watch! In truth I have never liked the word in this particular context as - 'watch' would imply some degree of activity, well any degree of activity!

I would say that on the whole it has been a clean well fought campaign, despite an increasingly desperate attempt by the New Labour candidate to inject some life into his failing campaign by having a pop at the Tory candidate in the last few weeks. Think if we (the other candidates) hear from New Labour lips the oily smoothly delivered phrase 'progressive consensus' one more time then we may not be responsible for our actions. The irony is that the current New Labour Party would not know a progressive consensus if it fell over one in the street!

Roll on close of poll, a bumper crop of new Plaid MPs - who will champion their constituents interests, fight for fair funding for Wales a fair deal for our pensions, our service men and women and our military veterans! Roll on a hung parliament! Roll on electoral oblivion to those MP's who were caught with their fingers in the till and electoral reform! Think Different, Think Plaid!

MORE HUSTINGS...

A busy final few days of this campaign, after a long Monday the day closed with a well organised hustings at the Drill Hall, in Chepstow, which was packed out, with some punters standing for the duration. The usual suspects were all present save for UKIP who was absent.   The main issues came up as one would expect, the economy, the banks, education, health,small towns, etc - once again many of these are devolved issues, so an MP would not have that much influence over them.

An interesting evening, which got a bit fire when the new Labour and Conservative candidates who clearly don't like each other and by this stage in the campaign, can not longer be bothered to hide it had a few increasingly ill-tempered pops at each other. This was not something that went down particularly well with the audience, still it had been a long day and it was well past their respective bed times. Don't think that anyone was prepared the rant form the conservative candidate at the end in his closing statement, not, judging from the looks of surprise that were clearly visible on the face so the audience. 

Tuesday was a long day, what with busy being out talking to prospective voters in Caldciot and Abergavenny High Streets, through the morning and into the mid afternoon. The final hustings of the campaign, took place at the Hogs Head, Llantilio Crosseny, near Abergavenny, which is well worth a visit at any time. It was well organised and very well attended, again with standing room only at the back - whoever said that the electorate are not interested, has clearly not attended the six hustings meetings that have taken place over the last eight days in Monmouth constituency. 

Once again a number of devolved issues came up along with the usual subjects which ranged from education, local services, Monmouthshire County Council, Abergavenny Cattle Market, farming and the economy and the banks, not to mention fixing broken Britain and the political system. This hustings (which was UKIP free again!) was largely rant free save for the occasional ill-natured asides between the New Labour candidate and the Conservative candidate. A good night, after a long day... 

One more day to go... 

CHEPSTOW HUSTINGS AND THE BBC

Another day, another Hustings, this time in Chepstow Comprehensive for the Sixth form at lunchtime today. Before the main event all the candidates present got a quick TV interview from the BBC - who having smelt blood in the water were were hanging about shark-like because of the 'alleged controversy' surrounding the spat between the Tory and the New Labour candidates. 

I use the phrase alleged because the whole thing has a faint whiff of manufacture about it. This is an attempt to inject some media interest into a pretty lack lustre New Labour and pretty dire Tory campaign. All in all it's pretty typical for the London based Parties, who would rather squabble amongst themselves rather than engage about the issues that really matter to most people within (and without) the constituency.

Rather than bickering, they should concentrate on the real issues at this election, the economic recovery, fair funding for Wales, decent and fair treatment for our pensioners, our serving soldiers and their families and decent treatment for our service veterans. The London based parties are threatening dire cuts after the election without giving our economy the chance to recover and not coming clean on the cuts that they are promising. 

On the doorstep - when you catch people a) in and b) with the time to talk, in Monmouth constituency people do raise the issue of immigration, but, they also raise many other issues, including the bankers, the sorry saga of MPs corruption and expenses, recycling, the poor state of public transport (especially buses to and from Monmouth town), the need for better school transport, saving the smaller village and community schools, saving the Cattle Market in Abergavenny and better treatment for our solders, their families and our service veterans, along with other issues.

Today was a well organised and well chaired hustings, which lasted just over a speedy hour - despite its shortness we covered a number of topics including immigration, the banking crisis, the Tobin tax, student loans, further and higher education funding, electoral tactics, electoral reform and how you get people (young or old) interested in politics - it was an interesting focused hour. All in all quite an interesting hour of questions and answers, even with the BBC floating around filming.

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And speaking of the BBC - they just called me (c17.10pm) pulling the usual old standard trick of saying that there was a problem with the original interview - so could they take a quick quote down the line...  Oh please pull the other one... 

IF IT'S THURSDAY EVENING IT MUST BE MONMOUTH

Thursday night, so it must be Monmouth... Another Hustings, done and dusted, this was the Green Hustings, held in the Savoy Theatre, in Monmouth. A well organised, well chaired and reasonably well attended despite the attractions (or not) of the televised Leadership debate.

UK wise, with less than 7 days until Polling Day it is beginning to appear that the three London based Parties are too busy with their petty squabbling rather than concentrating on the key issues, especially Climate Change. Not so in Monmouth, where last night the Green Question was front and centre. 

In Wales, regardless of the bickering and squabbling in London, Plaid has made the case for more powers over energy production and conservation to be devolved to the National Assembly, so that we can tap into the potential for creating sustainable green jobs and helping the economic recovery through investment and tackling climate change.

This is the real agenda for the 21st century, rather than more of the same that's being offered by the 3 London based Parties. Plaid is absolutely clear about the threat posed by climate change, and the pressing need for long term measures to tackle it. What's more, Plaid can see the substantial economic potential in developing the green economy. 

A National Assembly with powers over energy would be an important step forward, enabling Wales to developing an Environmental Action Plan. With the right tools for the job, then Plaid could ensure that Wales leads the way in tackling climate change and creating thousands of sustainable green jobs. 

Our Environmental Action Plan would develop high-speed electrified railways in Wales and more green transport, investing in community based farming to produce more locally grown food as well as investing in energy saving projects such as home insulation. Plaid is also ambitious about creating more green energy through renewable energy projects and changing the national grid to support more local energy production. 

Plaid is serious about tackling climate change and realising the potential of green jobs and investment. The other parties may have chosen to put climate change on the back burner, while they indulge in petty squabbling (clearly a case of ego triumphing over substance) but its pretty clear that Plaid has stuck to hammering away at the key issues.

Last night we covered a wide range of topics from recycling, alternative energy, through to integrated public transport and reviving our railways, not to mention cutting down on the sheer volume of packaging that comes with every purchase. On to Chepstow later this morning, with a school hustings at lunchtime today and then one at the Drill Hall, Chepstow on Monday evening, followed by a final one in the north on Tuesday evening.

LAST EVENING'S HUSTINGS

The NFU Monmouthshire Hustings took place last night (at Alice Springs Golf Club, near Usk) and was well attended (which seems to be the pattern of Hustings of late). The questions covered a wide range of topics, some of which related to farming (and agriculture) including the economy, the banking crisis, supermarkets, party funding, fuel prices and micro- generation. 

Not surprisingly there was a focus on the future of farming (especially focusing on how the next generation of young farmers will get into the business. This is something that Elin Jones AM, Plaid Minister of Rural Affairs has began to address with the Young Entrants scheme. The farmers present were well aware of the Minister's ongoing activities on their behalf.

The slow but steady increase in fuel costs will have a harder impact in rural areas (where there is a lack of public transport) and also on food prices, where rising costs will hit both consumers and producers, with increased prices, falling profit margins and higher fuel bills - something that will hit both production and transportation costs. None of this is good news for either our farmers or us their customers.

One thing, we in Wales, cannot afford to neglect of the important agricultural sector, which still makes a significant contribution to our rural economy. And speaking of the farmers old traditional friends, it's worth remembering that not that long ago in the 1980's it was a Tory Secretary of State who literally sat by and quietly did nothing when many of our Dairy farmers got hammered into the ground by cuts in the milk quota.

Oddly enough when I mentioned this last night it was not picked up by the incumbent Tory MP who chose not to say a word on the subject. Whoever emerges from this Westminster election, in pole position (or on top of the pile) never again must any Welsh Minister fail to stand up and be counted and to fail to argue their corner on behalf of Welsh farmers.

We need to take practical steps to give Welsh farmers a fighting chance of making a real living; securing 80% of publicly procured food locally by 2015 is a realistic and practical aim. This is something that could provide the first practical step towards helping Welsh farmers and other producers make the most of the new opportunities that will arise from higher public purchasing of local products.

VSO HUSTINGS

The Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Hustings in Abergavenny last night was packed out, with literally standing room only, with the candidates from the 4 main parties being present. Naturally everyone present agreed that the UK Government should honour the commitment to delivering 0.7% of GDP as international aid - but in truth recession not withstanding this is not enough.

Plaid has long supported the campaign to cancel developing countries unaffordable debts and has called for more resources to be made available for the UN Adaption Fund which has been set up to help developing countries adapt to the effects of climate change. Plaid has demanded equal representation for developing countries in the decision making process on climate change action and has long supported the international Fair Trade movement.  

As you would expect Fair Trade, Fairness, Equality, Climate Change and Peak oil came up amongst other topics for discussion. VSO, OXFAM and other development agencies have specific programmes that aim to help poor men and women in the developing countries when it comes to health care, growing crops, access to literacy and to affordable credit. As poor education, poor health and lack of access to credit and markets has hit vulnerable groups in developing countries particularly hard. 

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, came in for some criticism - Plaid has long called for essential governance reform such international organisations so that they take into account human rights, the environment and workers rights.  The role of multi-nationals was also discussed along with their impact on the developing world along with how better use of procurement policies here in the UK could benefit both us and food producers, here and in developing countries.  

NICE ONE!

IS IT TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY?

As the campaign progresses towards its final days, the days become pretty similar, what with leafleting, canvassing, talking and listening to constituents, a risk of dehydration and a stronger and stronger campaign tan. It's becoming an increasingly busy week, off shortly to Caldicot for the market and then more door to door canvassing (which is truth the only thing that really matters).

Hustings wise, this is the really busy peak period (in Monmouth constituency at least):

• On Tuesday evening it will be the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Community Debate: International Development; Trade Justice which kicks off at 7.30pm at St Michael's Centre, 10A Pen Y Pound, Abergavenny, Gwent, NP7 5UD.
  
• On Wednesday evening, it will be the NFU Cymru (Monmouthshire Parliamentary Hustings) which takes place at 7.30pm at Alice Springs Golf Club, near Usk.
  
• And on Thursday evening, it will be the Green Hustings, which kick-off at 7.45pm at the Savoy Theatre, in Monmouth.

A BUSY SATURDAY MORNING...IN RED SQUARE

An interesting and educational morning in a warm and sunny 'Red Square' in Abergavenny, with a street stall, with Plaid activists, a steady stream of potential voters and at a slight distance some of New Labour's finest (some more on that later). Street stalls can be good fun (in Abergavenny and elsewhere) giving you a good opportunity (as a candidate) to get face time (which in truth is the only thing that matters) with potential voters.

So there we were doing the business with potential voters and up walks Carwyn Jones obviously looking for New Labour activists. there was the briefest of pauses, a slight wry smile and a minute moment of bewilderment as he clocked that the busy activists were actually Plaid, rather than New Labour, who were clustered up the hill, looking daggers, and then off he went.

Anyway, back to the main business, Abergaveny is a lovely old market town, for those who don't know it and people come from miles to visit it, so you bump into voters from all over Wales and from across the border - so you keep meeting people from different constituencies - a number of whom were pretty pleased to see us on the street - and a number of whom made a particular point of taking on of our leaflets and / or confirmed that they would be voting Plaid (either in their home constituency or within Monmouth constituency).

Five minutes later up walks Huw Edwards, the New Labour former MP for Monmouth, a rapid 'hail fellows and well met' followed and off up the hill he trundled to join the New Labour candidate, Carwyn and a cluster of New Labour activists. A pleasant, interesting and busy morning followed, made more pleasant by the staggered departure of New Labour, leaving us with the street to ourselves and the voters.

A FOREIGN POLICY FARCE

Last week we saw the three London parties on television squabbling and bickering with each other in an increasingly desperate attempt to create some sort of impression that they actually offered the electorate something different. The convenient tactical exclusion of the Plaid (and the SNP) enabled them to not so cunningly conceal their planned cuts for the Welsh budget.


Tonight it will be the same old, same old, except that this time they will be discussing the field of foreign affairs. Plaid's solid record of opposition to New Labour's Wars and its stand in support of the welfare of our troops, their families and service veterans is well documented.

So it should come as little surprise to the impartial observer that the metropolitan media chiefs have once again managed to conveniently exclude Plaid (and the SNP), not doubt they will also manage to gag tonight’s audience (just like last week).

Democratic debate, the phrase stage managed farce comes to mind...

SUPPORT FOR OUR SMALL TOWNS

The first step towards fixing a problem is recognising that it exists, one such problem that has been recognised is the impact of out of town and edge of town shopping developments upon the commercial heart of our small towns, this being something that continues to have an impact across the length and breadth of all of Wales.

We need much better thought out and more consistent planning policies for in, out and edge of town retail developments in Wales – and has called for Local Government and the Plaid driven One Wales Government to develop a long term economic view when it comes to planning policies and to be prepared to call in controversial local planning applications for thorough review.

The small towns of Monmouth constituency and elsewhere have suffered in the past from ill-thought out developments and questionable short term economic thinking; local small to medium retailers and businesses and local consumers have suffered accordingly and ultimately we the consumers have paid the price with a loss of local services and choice. The continuing campaign to retain the livestock market in Abergavenny shows that many people do care about the economic future and the character of their communities.

It’s not too late; the decline of our town centres can be reversed and things can improve, so that local businesses and customers can gain economically and have a real choice about how and where they shop and do business? This why I fully support Plaid’s timely campaign to make the “Town Centre heart of our community".

Plaid has outlined a number of proposals to put town centres back at the heart of our communities including:

• the extension of credit union principles to support small and medium sized businesses
• a change in planning regulations to promote sustainable communities
• a mandatory retail impact assessment with each major planning development
• a level playing field for smaller, local businesses

This is a step in the right direction, far too often in the recent past our Local Authorities are often tempted by planning gain as developers offer includes, sweeteners and inducements to ease the passage of proposed developments, which have often brought little benefit to local residents and the local economy over the longer term.

When County Council’s fear the implied costs of supermarket development applications being taken to appeal if an initial request for planning permission is refused, has led to a marked reluctance to turn down ill-thought out developments.

To make matters worse Local Authorities often fail to have properly researched retailing policies within their development plans. If retailing needs have not been assessed then it is very difficult for Local Authority planners to refuse any potentially damaging planning applications from developers, and local small businesses, local suppliers and consumers end up playing the price.

Every Government since the 1980’s has talked the talk about promoting the vitality and viability of our small market towns, when in even the Conservatives under Mrs. Thatcher recognised the problem, but, did next to nothing to prevent the damage being done to our towns.

If one was cynical then one might wonder if the London based parties close financial relationship with some of the developers might have had an impact? Over the last twenty five years retail developments have consistently undermined our small towns economic cohesion and vitality, local authorities have either effectively turned a blind eye to the consequences of out of town or edge of town retail developments on the edge of market towns in England and Wales, or even colluded with the developers.

Despite the mistakes of the recent past, it’s not too late, with the abolition of the business rate for small businesses, better thought out more long term economic redevelopment plans and a change in attitude towards our small businesses, local suppliers it is possible to support our small town centres which should be making a significant contribution to our economy. The first step towards fixing this problem is to stop repeating the ill-thought out mistakes of the past, especially when it comes to planning and economic redevelopment.

WELSH LEADERSHIP DEBATE

A Sky News poll, records that Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister won the first Welsh leaders’ debate, being rated best by 55% of viewers, with 23% saying Welsh Secretary Peter Hain won and 19% backing Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams. Only 3% said the debate was won by the Conservatives’ Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan. Makes you wonder how the polls would be looking if there had been no London based Party stitch up to exclude Plaid (and the SNP) from the three leadership debates.

BLAND AND METRO CENTRIC

All in all, it was a pretty bland, metropolitan (London) centric debate - largely focused on winning English votes. There was next to nothing in it for Welsh, Scottish or Irish voters (or viewers). The really scary bit was actually the utter lack of choice being offered across the bridge / border to voters in England, that and how depressingly similar the polices of the big two actually are!

There were times when Brown and Cameron might as well have swapped scripts. Much of what they said was irrelevant to our communities. In Wales, there is a real choice, Plaid offers a sensible different choice and we have different priorities - looking after pensioners, protecting our schools and hospitals and making sure our economy comes out of recession. The people of Wales (and Scotland) were ignored last night - they won't be ignored by Plaid Cymru (and the SNP).