PLAID LEADER'S TOUR IN ABERGAVENNY

Leanne Wood AM / AC, Leader of Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales, at the Melville Theatre, Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny / Y Fenni - Thursday 24th September 2015.

Steffan Lewis, Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales Regional List Candidate, Leanne Wood AM / AC, Leader of Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales, and Jonathan T Clark, Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales, Monmouth Constituency Candidate and some of the audience. 

THE NAME OF THE GAME...

Regeneration, if it is done right can bring real and potentially long lasting benefits to many of our hard-pressed communities. It is important that regeneration is a process rather than an event and that is done for people rather than to people and does not end up simply enriching the regeneration professionals instead of our communities.  The unwritten rule should be if you are going to spend public money then you need to work the money exceptionally hard to ensure that every possible benefit is extracted. There is a real need to ensure that any bodies set up to spend public money are democratically accountable and are established after a wide ranging accessible consultation process. To most people this should all sound pretty reasonable and sensible stuff, but it has often been to easily overlooked. The danger is that many of our local authorities simply perceive ‘regeneration’ as a means to accessing additional public monies rather than bringing meaningful beneficial change too many of our communities. Hand in hand with this concerning trend, in recent years there has been a disturbing tendency to effectively marginalise any real community real involvement in the regeneration process, something that undermines the very objective of community based regeneration.

SIZE MATTERS

It is an inescapable fact that Wales is a small relatively rugged country, now this is not a problem it is a virtue, a positive and should work to our advantage in so many ways. Our local government structure should also reflect this ensuring that services are delivered as locally as possible – it clearly does not do this. As a small country what might work better, judging by the experience of other small countries e.g. Norway Slovenia, etc) would be to focus primarily on having efficient small district level councils rather than the creation (or recreation) of ever larger artificial local government structures.

If we accept that the highly politicised 1992 reorganisation has not worked, then making the local government units bigger (again) won’t help things much. A real opportunity to take out an entire tier of local government has been missed. On a very basic level we need to actually work out exactly what we want local government to actually do and what services we want or don’t want it to provide. Once that has been done then we can move on to address the fundamental problem of local democracy and local accountability for decisions made.

Simply tweaking a local government structure, that is nineteenth century at heart, just won't do. Our existing local government structure is badly funded and barely democratic combing a dreadfully low turnout with the local peculiarities of the first past the post electoral system and a real remoteness from local people. If when the dust settles we end up with 5, 8, 10 or 12 new local authorities the only certainty is that a real opportunity will have been missed to reshape local government in a meaningful way and to make it democratically accountable to local people.

Take Housing, or more specifically Housing development, this has always and probably will remain for the foreseeable future at least a contentious issue. At heart of the problem lies the fundamentally flawed local government LDP (Local Development Plan) many of whom focus on maximizing the amount of housing that can be constructed, regardless of actual local demand for housing.   In the South East and the North East, planning for housing is influenced by cross border pressures (and demands) from the Merseyside conurbation and greater Bristol.

House prices in the southeast and the north east of Wales are also affected by higher house prices across the border, which in close conjunction with perceived lower house prices this side of the border increase pressure for development. Over-development is now a key issue (in south east this is very true along the Gwent levels and in and around the Wrecsam in the north east). Local authorities seek to cash in by maximizing the amount of housing constructed, well beyond the ability of local infrastructure to cope with increased demands and devouring our green spaces.

The LDP and the UDP (Unitary Development Plan) have reached the point where, much like the structure of our local government, they are no longer fit for purpose. The National  Assembly has pretty much been reasonably comfortable with the current local government and planning set up and has failed to exercise any meaningful overview or to be honest (save for between 2007 and 2011) actually realistically plan the development of our country. The proposed reform of local government is on a fundamental level little more of a tweak rather than much needed root and branch reform.

On a local, regional and a national level we have serious issues with planning and the provision of services, something which fundamentally affects almost every aspect of public service provision. Whether we are talking about our NHS, our education system, our emergency services, our public transport or infrastructure projects we need to develop a detailed and comprehensive planning system that takes into account local needs, local demands, our national interests and on a basic level our geography. Simply trying to make the flawed Anglo-Saxon model, whether in education, the NHS or in other areas apply to a fundamentally small country is clearly not working.

At the heart of the proposed local government reform, is a fundamental failure to bring in Single transferable Vote (STV) as is used in Northern Ireland and Scotland, to make every vote count and our local authorities democratically accountable. People don’t vote for a variety of reason, a lack of political choice, a lack of any real alternatives and perceived enshrined one party dominance (a problem that affects significant portions of local government in our country).

Now while history tends not to repeat itself, simular circumstances often arise and the same mistakes can be made. This times around despite devolution things may not be that different,  the reform of local government in 1992 was highly politicised, pushed through by a Westminster based Conservative government, for its own reasons. This  time around the failure to reform our local government may have more to do with efforts to enshrine or preserve Labour dominance in the new structures than anything else – oh how things change... 

A MOMENT OF CLARITY...

I have been a regular visitor to the Royal Gwent to visit a close relative at various times pretty much every day over the last three weeks. This means that I have seen the hospital (and its surround) both exceptionally busy and reasonably quiet (trust me reasonably quiet is a relative term). Whilst visiting I have seen the ambulances stacked up to drop off patients and parked all over the place either waiting for calls or simply waiting for the next busy day.  

Stacked up ambulances at a hospital near you!

Now we used to have a network ambulance stations (and small hospitals) scattered across much of our country, but, most of them appear as far as I can see to have been sold off to cash in on housing boom prior to the turn of the millennium. This is no doubt a contributory factor to the problem of poor ambulance response times. Some three weeks ago it took the best part of three hours for an ambulance to arrive for a close relative and that was in the middle of our country's third largest city - heaven help if you life in a rural area or the valleys.

What might make sense would be for ambulances to be based out at our (surviving) network of fire stations, in a perfect world along with some of the our Police to be based with them. One result of the Con Dem inspired public sector cuts will be a sell off of police stations across our country so as sure as day follows night, they will need somewhere to go. Ideally a network of dispersed emergency service stations would help to ensure that response times and perhaps lead to better emergency service co-ordination  - just a thought!

BETTER GOVERNANCE FOR WALES?

Last week Citizen Cameron failed to reduce the number of MP’s from 650 to 600, with the proposed reform of the parliamentary boundaries Wales would have seen a reduction of 25% of its MP’s  (10 out of 40). Incidentally the figure of 40 MP’s was merely historically plucked out of the air. A number of Labour’s in Wales’s elected representatives would have been culled, hence the loud and persistent bleating from some of those usual suspects. Aside from Citizen Cameron’s patience being tried what has been lost was a much needed opportunity to reform the way our National Assembly members are elected.

Lord Elis-Thomas, interviewed on BBC Wales' The Wales Report (last Sunday) advocated reducing the number of Wales' local authorities as part of a wider package of reform, which included reducing the number of Welsh MPs and increasing the number of assembly members. He was absolutely right to link reform of governance at all levels with the introduction of Single Transferable Vote system of voting.  If we are going to reform governance (at all levels in Wales) then it must suit Welsh needs and aspirations rather than blindly following a British model which may not necessarily suit our needs.

If we approach the subject of Wales’s governance rationally then our country is at some levels actually somewhat overburdened with elected representatives. Wales with a population of 3.06 million has 60 AMs, 40 MP’s (at the moment), 4 MEPS; we have 1264 councilors (one for every 1830 electors). Wales also has around 8000 community councillors; out of some 875 'communities' in Wales, 735 of them have a council. Let’s not forget our unelected tier of government with its Assembly Government Sponsored Bodies, Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies (formerly known as quangos) and the seven Health Boards.

So how does Wales compare with other countries when it comes to governance? Scotland with a population of 5.2 million people has 59 MPs, 129 MSP’s and 6 MEP’s. Scotland has 1,222 councilors (one for every 3180 electors) and 32 unitary authorities. There are also 1,200 community council’s in Scotland, incidentally a country where the law states that candidates cannot stand on a party-political ticket. Scotland also has 14 Health Boards, 7 regional transport partnerships, while the Police and  Emergency services are currently undergoing reorganisation.

Slovenia with a population of 2.05 million with 90 elected representatives in its Assembly (88 directly elected and 2 representatives for the Hungarian and Italian minorities) and 7 MEP’s. Slovenia has 211 municipalities (eleven are urban municipalities), all the municipalities have local autonomy. Each municipality has an elected Mayor (elected every 4 years), and a Municipal Council. In the most of the municipalities, the municipal council is elected via PR with some smaller municipalities using a plurality voting system. Slovenia’s urban municipalities have elected Town or City Councils. The country also has 62 administrative districts which are merely territorial sub-units of government administration, each of which has a Head of the Unit who is appointed by the Minister of Public Administration.

A strong case can and should be made for our 22 local authorities to be reorganised into between five and seven counties (with Cardiff as a municipal region in its own right). Such a reorganisation would match the already completed reorganisation of our local health boards which have been reduced in number to seven.  The Conservatives ideologically driven reorganisation of local government in the 1990’s aside from being flawed, replaced several large authorities with 22 smaller authorities. This had more to do with breaking up perceived centres of monolithic Labour power and trying to create local authorities that he conservatives might win control of, than making local government more efficient.

Locally the former county of Gwent was abolished being replaced by five councils which covered; Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Newport and Monmouth. Almost overnight, one chief executive was replaced by five seperate chief executives, five heads of education, five heads of social services and deputies, etc, etc. Any relative economies of scale vanished being replaced by five seperate purchasing organisations, etc. Many of the local authorities, well before the age of austerity in which we no languish were struggling to make ends meet and most of them had to operate with poor financial settlements.

Our institutions at all levels need to be fully democratic being elected with Single Transferable Vote and multiple member constituencies so that they cease to dominated by single political parties and are fit for the twenty first century, rather than the nineteenth. Along the way we can cull the number of highly paid council cabinet members, reduce the number of councilors, and reintroduce some joined up thinking along with sensible economies of scale, and cut out that local government middle management tier without cutting front line services.

TIME TO BRING BACK GWENT

I can think of no better argument for local government reform than the ongoing row over the pay increase awarded by the Labour controlled council cabinet (Plaid voted against) in Caerphilly. On Monday many council staff in Caerphilly will walk out on Monday lunchtime in protest at the disgraceful pay rises set to be awarded to the council's top twenty executives. The former county of Gwent was abolished by the Conservative Government in the early 1990's, being replaced by five councils covering; Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Newport and Monmouth. One chief executive was replaced by five seperate chief executives, five heads of education, five heads of social services and deputies, etc. relative economies of scale were replaced by five seperate purchasing organisations, etc. It's time to bring back Gwent, but, with Single Transferable Vote to ensure that it is fully democratic rather than a Labour in Wales political monolith. Along the way we can cull the number of higly paid council cabinet members, and reintroduce some joined up thinking and sensible economies of scale cut out that local government middle management tier without cutting front line services.

I AGREE WITH DAVID…

David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth Constituency

As a former Plaid Cymru Westminster and National Assembly candidate (for Monmouth constituency), it is not every day that I find myself in partial agreement with the mutterings and musings of David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth (South Wales Argus 10th May 2012, the BBC and the Western Mail 11.05.2012). Now like many people I share his frustration with the incompetence of the highest levels of the current Conservative driven Coalition Government. As for David's motivation for the latest outburst, perhaps the recent hammering that the Conservatives received in the county council elections in Monmouthshire is playing on his mind, that and perhaps the possibility that with boundary changes his seat may come into ‘play’ in the next Westminster Parliamentary elections. While David and I agree on the incompetence of the current government, I, however, note the almost malicious (if not gleeful) nature of the coalition attacks on the public sector. I (and plenty of other people) have also noted the failure to introduce proper regulation for the banks (who got us into this mess – with the able assistance of the last New Labour Government). Not to mention the failure to introduce a windfall tax to prevent excessive profiteering on the part of the Energy and Power companies and the near complete failure to deal with tax evasion and tax avoidance.

GROWING GREEN JOBS

News that Chepstow based manufacturer Mabey Bridge has won a multi-million pound order to build 35 wind turbine towers for UK sites is good news. The firm has taken on 45 people and transferred 50 more to its factory in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, after the deal with German company Nordex. Some of the towers will go to the Pant-y-Wal wind farm in Rhondda and the rest will go to Scotland. Mabey Bridge created 240 jobs when it opened its £38m factory in Chepstow in May 2011. The firm can produce up to 300 towers a year. The         production of the 120-tonne towers, will begin in mid-February with the factory working around the clock. The turbine towers, for Gilfach Goch in the Rhondda valleys, will be the first made by a Welsh company to be installed in Wales.

REGENERATION: A PROCESSES NOT AN EVENT?

There was a time when most Government’s would at least pander to the idea of taking a longer more thought out view when it comes to economic development. They would at least try to provide the best conditions and framework to enable the private sector to grow and flourish. Sadly while that concept appears to have quietly died sometime in the 1980’s as politicians concentrated on short term popularity and tax breaks and getting their noses back into the trough after each election.

Much has rightly been made of the state of our High Streets, the economic consequences of their imminent demise and the pressing need to do something about it. No doubt all the politicians will roll out the usual cliches about redevelopment and regeneration and then after having paid some lip service to the idea of reviving our high streets carry with business as usual.

This is not cynicism on my part merely a result of some twenty five years of observation on what has happened to my home town (Newport) and to the small towns of Monmouthshire and much of the Gwent valleys. We have all seen far too much talk over the years and scant action on the part of local politicians and the inhabitants of the Westminster village.

There are two key elements (amongst others) when it comes to creating economic circumstances which will favour the growth and development of small to medium sized local businesses and enterprises. Firstly there is a need to give local high street based businesses a fair and level playing field upon which to operate and secondly there is a need to give the public relatively easy and cheap (If not free) access to the high street.

More locally when it comes to development (or redevelopment for that matter) our Local Authorities need to develop a realistic and sensible long term economic view when it comes to planning policies and regeneration. Planning polices need to favour local businesses and small to medium sized enterprises – there needs to be a more thought out and more consistent approach to dealing with planning applications for in, out and edge of town retail developments.

Our Local Authorities are still far too often tempted by planning gain as developers offer includes, sweeteners and inducements to ease the passage of proposed developments. Council's fear the costs of planning applications (particularly those from larger retailers) being taken to appeal if original outline planning permission is refused. They may even be advised by Council officers of these potential costs if a development proposal involving a larger (potentially more aggressive) retail company goes to appeal - so much for local democracy!

Local Authorities also often fail to have properly researched retailing policies within their development plans. If retailing needs have not been assessed properly then it is very difficult for Local Authority planners to refuse any potentially damaging planning applications from developers, which results in local small businesses, consumers and our communities paying the price.

Since the 1980’s every Westminster Government has talked about promoting the vitality and viability of our small market towns, or at least paid a form of lip service to it. Over the last twenty five years many retail developments have consistently undermined this aim, as local authorities have 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. The economic reality has fallen well short of the verbal aspiration, a quick look at the damage that has been done to Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth within Monmouth constituency and elsewhere in Wales.

Let’s at least be honest, how can we local regeneration schemes to work, when the once thriving commercial heart of our high streets has already been seriously damaged by an inability to compete with the aggressive tactics of supermarkets and larger retail chains chasing an ever larger market share. More than ever, our planners need to think about the long term economic consequences of planning decisions, to take the longer term view, rather than get fixated on short term financial gains and questionable inducements from developers.

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 and no doubt elsewhere) made 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.

Parking has been restricted, created and removed, made it free and charged for it, bus lanes have been created, removed and the hours when bus lanes operate varied. 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 any 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 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. Regeneration is 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. Local 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 a key factor in any regeneration scheme. This is the key question that needs to be asked - after the cement and the paint has dried, after the development / redevelopment / regeneration professionals have banked the cheque and 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. We don’t need regeneration professionals coming into an area and engaging in a largely token consultation process. They should directly talk to local people (who are an 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 to pursue. If you are spending public money, then you need to work it hard and squeeze out every possible benefit for the length of the project and afterwards.

We 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 you are reusing or renovating old buildings (and this idea has worked very well in Poland and other places) 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 deliver tangible benefits for our communities. After all regeneration should be a process not merely an event.

PROSIECT GWYRDD

News that the National Assembly for Wales’ petitions committee have agreed to examine Prosiect Gwyrdd on the request of objectors from all over south east Wales is good news. The committee has decided to examine the scheme which was set up by five councils, including Newport, Monmouthshire, Caerphilly, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Local campaigners against the plan have pointed out that the project directly contradicts the Welsh Government’s policy of having localised facilities, and councils’ ability to choose their own waste technology and management.

The National Assembly petitions committee also needs to examine the Wales waste survey, which as campaigners have pointed out is flawed because it only gave people a stark set of choices for waste disposal bury it or burn it. We, in Wales and elsewhere can do better than that. If we are serious about recycling and sustainability then we need to look at legally preventing the burning of waste that's recyclable, this is something that would encourage actively councils and waste producers to better promote recycling.

THE ABERGAVENNY FOOD FESTIVAL

I have been looking forward to this years Abergavenny Food Festival (being held over this weekend) for a while once again (happily) it has once again not clashed with Plaid's annual conference, good for me, bad for my bank balance and (potentially) bad for my cholesterol.  Now well established, the food festival enriches the market town of Abergavenny (and the surrounding area) and adds to Abergavenny's well deserved reputation as the ‘Gateway to Wales’.

The Food Festival, is one of those well organised events that has put the town on the map, it manages successfully to attract visitors from far and wide and showcases exceptional local Welsh produce, local businesses and services and local talent (which we have plenty) within the former county of Gwent. This year's festival, will build on previous successes promises  and make a real difference to Abergavenny and add to the festivals well deserved and growing reputation which has given the traditional market town an international reputation and profile.

http://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com

THE STATUS OF MONMOUTHSHIRE

Monmouth MP David Davies told BBC Wales the whole argument was "nonsense."


He said Monmouthshire has always been a part of Wales and was only separated legally to make life easier for Henry VIII.


Mr Davies said just because people in the county voted No to further Assembly powers did not mean they wanted to be a part of England.

(Source BBC News Website)

Enough said...

MONMOUTHSHIRE SAYS YES

The official launch of the "Monmouthshire says Yes" campaign will be held tomorrow (Thursday) night, 27 January, at 7.30 pm in Trinity Church, Baker Street, Abergavenny. The key speakers will be Nick Ramsay, Conservative AM for Monmouth, and Huw Edwards, former Labour MP for Monmouth. Sadly I won't be there to support the launch as I will be at another meeting (Friends of the Earth) in Newport, we live in very interesting if very changed (for the better) times here in the South East.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

Plaid's Rural affairs minister Elin Jones has announced that projects in Monmouthshire, Torfaen and Caerphilly will receive a total of £6,338,000 from a joint Assembly and European Union fund. This is part of the Rural Development Plan for Wales which supports a variety of projects involving agriculture, forestry, the environment and countryside, as well as projects that are aimed at improving life in rural areas and local development programmes.

Monmouthshire received the largest amount of money, with £2.97 million split between eight different projects, including £565,064 for Origins Monmouthshire, which works to repair and renovate key heritage buildings and sites across the county. Some £311,642 has gone to to Welcome Monmouthshire, which is trying to improve Monmouthshire's competitiveness as a year round tourist destination. A visit Britain Report has revealed that some £8 million pound was spent by foreign tourists in Monmouthshire in 2009.

Two projects in Torfaen will share £718,000, including £429,064 for the redevelopment of Llanyrafon Manor, the Grade II* listed manor house will undergo a £536,000 restoration and adaptation into a rural heritage centre. Once this work is finished, the centre will work in partnership with local schools to teach children about Torfaen's natural heritage, as well as providing costumed tours of the house, re-enactment events and outdoor theatre performances. Taste of Torfaen was awarded £289,155 to support local food producers and artists, as well as encouraging alternative energy sources and recycling. One million pound was spent in Torfaen by foreign tourists in 2009, according to Visit Britain.

In Caerphilly, £2.65 million will be split between five projects, including £756, 000 for a Vibrant Villages, Healthy Harvests initiative, which will encourage local farms and other rural businesses to venture into sustainable energy production, support local food producers to get their goods into local markets, and encourage residents to attend more community events. According to Visit Britain some £2 million pound was spent in Caerphilly by foreign tourists in 2009.

One of the key themes behind funding the projects is that project ideas are run with the help of local people, who are well placed to decide what their communities actually need to improve their local environment, boost their economy and help to develop tourism. More of the same please...

SOME GOOD NEWS

I welcome the good news that Plaid in Government has exceeded its target of delivering 6,500 new affordable homes during the term of this government, one year ahead of schedule. A total of 6,707 affordable homes have been delivered in Wales since Plaid went into Government in 2007. This means that the Welsh Assembly Government has already exceeded its target of delivering 6,500 new affordable homes during the term of this government, one year ahead of schedule, according to official statistics released today. Some 2,472 additional affordable homes were provided between April 2009 and March 2010, meaning that the total of 6,707 in the first three years of the term of this government, exceeds the target of 6,500 new homes by March 2011 set out in the One Wales document.

Plaid’s Housing Minister Jocelyn Davies AM

Plaid’s Housing Minister Jocelyn Davies AM said:

“I am delighted to announce that we have not only met, but exceeded our target of creating 6,500 additional affordable homes in this Assembly term. This is a particularly impressive achievement given the current economic conditions. However we know that demand for affordable housing continues to grow and we need to deliver even more homes in future. With tightening budgets, this will prove quite a challenge but we are developing new ways in which we can attract other investment and I look forward to working with local authorities, housing associations and others in the housing sector to keep up the good work we have carried out to date and deliver more homes to help families in Wales."

Plaid Cymru has long campaigned against the severe housing pressure faced by many Welsh communities where house prices far outstrip local wages. When they went into government they committed to tackling this problem and set the target of delivering 6,500 new affordable homes during the term of government. A total of 6,707 affordable homes have been delivered in Wales since Plaid went into Government in 2007.

Locally that means that in Monmouthshire, between 2007-10 244 affordable homes were built, with another 81 to be potentially affordable homes to be built between 2010-12. In Newport, that means that 583 affordable homes were built between 2007-10, with another 410 potential affordable homes to be built between 2010-12. In Torfaen, this means that 262 affordable homes were built between 2007-10 and another 182 potential affordable homes to be built between 201-12. This is good news, and it not just a One Wales promise fulfilled but one surpassed.

Additional affordable housing provision in Wales, 2007-08 to 20011-12. (a)

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST...

As the ConDem cuts begin to hit home, all of our public funded bodies are going to be under pressure to make savings and under threat of reduced budgets. In Wales, the Arts Council of Wales is already planning to withdraw funding worth £3.6m from 32 arts groups in 2011.

Locally, in the former county of Gwent, the cuts are going to hit home hard. One of the casualties of funding cuts could be Gwent Theatre which was has worked hard over the last three decades taking amongst other things live theatre in many of our schools. Gwent Theatre which has previously received £250,000 a year from the Arts
Council of Wales, may be wound up as a result of the loss of funding.

The Theatre's small company of six people: actors, stage manager, educational and administrative staff who will all lose their jobs as the impact of the loss of funding begins to hit home. It's worth remembering that Theatre Gwent's staff have worked with the Theatre company for over twenty years and have consistently delivered work of the highest quality throughout the former county of Gwent.

There will also be a knock on effect with a further reduction in employment opportunities for actors, script writers, musicians, poets and storytellers all of whom will now lose out when the cuts begin to bite. Gwent Theatre provides employment opportunities for up to 40 people in any given year.

The jobs loses and loss of opportunity are bad enough, but, they are only part of the story. Probably the most significant impact of the loss of Gwent Theatre is going to be the loss of its role in educating countless pupils and young people in Gwent's schools. In 2009 – 2010 alone, Gwent Theatre was able to deliver 220
performances to some 14,000 + young people in some 219 schools.

Gwent Theatre held 81 theatre workshops with over 2500 participants. The highly acclaimed Gwent Young Peoples Theatre put on seven productions, with 5183 youth theatre attendances and audience figures of 1,794. This is a pretty good if not an outstanding delivery of work in a single year from a small theatre company.

Gwent Theatre has worked hard over the years to establish itself as a highly successful company which regularly takes its excellent work into our schools and our communities across Gwent – something that more than than fulfils the aims and objectives of the Arts Council of Wales to put the experience of live theatre into
individuals and communities lives.

This may on the surface appear to be an easy hit, but, it is a cut that is far too deep - Gwent Theatre has successfully and faithfully served individuals, schools and communities across Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen, and has worked solidly for years to build up good working relations across the greater Gwent area.

It's time to think again funding wise, Gwent Theatre does not deserve this fate and neither should our communities be culturally deprived of the important future contributions to could and should made by Gwent Theatre in future years.

Follow this web link to sign the petition to Save Gwent Theatre.

HARD WORK REWARDED

Yet another good local example of local people making an effort to keep village and community life going is the group of residents who took over the running of their local village pub. The hard work of residents who took over the 17th century Angel Inn, Grosmont have been recognised as the pub has been included in the Good Beer Guide. The Angel, which was literally the last pub in the village, was threatened with closure, until six local residents raised £250,000 to buy it and prevent its closure. The good news is that the 2011 Good Beer Guide, which has been published by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said the pub was of historic importance. It was one of seven community-run pubs singled out for special mention by CAMRA, which expressed concern that 39 pubs were closing every week in the UK.Well done!

THE ABERGAVENNY FOOD FESTIVAL

I have been looking forward to this years Abergavenny Food Festival (being held over this weekend) for some months - fortunately it seems no longer to clash with Plaid's annual conference, which is good for me and bad for my bank balance and potentially my cholesterol.  

The festival, which is now well established, enriches the market town of Abergavenny and the surrounding area and adds to Abergavenny's reputation as the ‘Gateway to Wales’. The Food Festival, is one of those well organised events that has helped to put the town on the map, and manages successfully to attract visitors from far and wide - both locally and from around the world and showcases exceptional local Welsh produce, local businesses and services and local talent - of which we have plenty of fine examples in the former county of Gwent. 

This year's festival, building on previous successes promises to be even better – the festival organisers and participants have helped make a real difference to Abergavenny and have added to the festivals well deserved and growing reputation as well as giving the traditional market town an international reputation and profile.

http://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com

NOT BY BREAD ALONE

The plan to stop funding for Gwent Theatre, which is one of the more established theatre company's which regularly performs in schools across the former county of Gwent, is very bad news indeed. As the cuts begin to hit home, all of our public funded bodies are going to feel the cuts.

The Arts Council of Wales is now planning to withdraw funding worth £3.6m from 32 arts groups from next year. The Gwent area, especially Monmouthshire, is sadly going to be particularly badly hit. Gwent Theatre which was set up over 30 years ago, and has previously received £250,000 a year from the Arts Council of Wales, may well be wound up as a result of the loss of funding.

The impact of the loss of funding will hit the Theatre's small company of six people: actors, stage manager, educational and administrative staff who will all lose their jobs. A number of whom have worked with the Theatre company for over twenty years and have consistently delivered work of the highest quality throughout the former county of Gwent.

There will also be a further reduction in employment opportunities for actors, script writers, musicians, poets and storytellers all of whom will now lose out when the cuts begin to bite. Gwent Theatre provides employment opportunities for up to 40 people in any given year.

The most significant impact of the loss of Gwent Theatre is going to be the loss of its role in educating countless pupils and young people in Gwent's schools - I can remember them coming to my school when i was a kid. It's worth remembering that 2009 – 2010 alone, Gwent Theatre was able to deliver 220 performances to some 14,000 + young people in some 219 schools.

Gwent Theatre also held 81 theatre workshops with over 2500 participants. The highly acclaimed Gwent Young Peoples Theatre put on seven productions, with 5183 youth theatre attendances and audience figures of 1,794. This is pretty good if not an outstanding delivery of work in a single year from a small theatre company.

Over the years Gwent Theatre has worked hard to establish itself as a highly successful company which regularly takes its excellent work into our schools and our communities across Gwent – something that more than than fulfils the aims and objectives of the Arts Council of Wales to put the experience of live theatre into individuals and communities lives.

It's time to think again funding wise, this may on the surface appear to be an easy hit, but, it is a cut that is far too deep - Gwent Theatre has successfully and faithfully served individuals, schools and communities across Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen, and has worked solidly for years to build up good working relations across the greater Gwent area.

Gwent Theatre does not deserve this fate and neither should our communities be culturally deprived of the important future contributions to could and should made by Gwent Theatre in future years.

THE ABERGAVENNY FOOD FESTIVAL

And speaking of local food and local food producers, we are not that far away from this years Abergavenny Food Festival. For the second year running it does not clash with Plaid's National Conference - so I can look forward to overloading my fridge with locally produced cheese and other interesting produce. The festival is an exceptionally good example of how to showcase local Welsh produce, local services, local businesses and our local talent to a wider world, while helping to enrich Abergavenny and the surrounding area in the process.

Lots of hard work by the organisers over the years has helped to further put Abergavenny on the map as the ‘Gateway to Wales’.  This year's festival looks like it will be even better than previous years – the festival organisers and participants have helped make a real difference to Abergavenny and have added to the towns well deserved reputation as well as giving the town an international reputation and profile,  as well as showcasing exceptionally fine local Welsh produce and local businesses. 

http://www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com