Author: Rhys Gregory

Bridgend County Borough Council is advising residents to follow some simple rules to help prevent the spread of fires this summer, and to make sure that any suspicious activities are reported to the authorities. The advice has been issued following a hillside fire above Pontycymmer in the Garw Valley which has been burning for several days – one of six blazes that crews from South Wales Fire and Rescue are currently dealing with. Figures released by South Wales Fire and Rescue have revealed that since 1 April, they have already responded to more than 400 grassfires and wildfires which have…

Roads in Swansea, damaged by winter weather, are getting more investment to help repair them. Swansea Council’s Highways Maintenance Teams have been working hard to repair thousands of potholes since the beginning of the 2023, as well as completing larger resurfacing schemes. The city’s roads suffered widespread damage as a result of a wet and cold winter period in the early part of the year. In March, the Council approved £3.468 million to help fund highways and infrastructure improvements. This week, plans have been approved to invest a further £2million in 2023/24 to help with the repairs. £1million is being…

More safe walking and cycling routes are on the way to Swansea after the city received a multi-million pound boost. Swansea Council has been awarded £5,367,000 of funding from the Welsh Government to develop a number of new routes across the city, helping to connect more communities with sustainable transport routes. New routes set to be created, include a route across Clyne Common, a new route in the north of the Morriston community – creating a safe walking and cycling route to and from the Riverside Holiday Park, improvements to the existing route between Kingsbridge and Grovesend, as well as…

THREE Neath Port Talbot Council building projects have been shortlisted in the prestigious Construction Excellence in Wales Awards being held at the Celtic Manor Hotel on Friday, June 16th, 2023. The three projects include the building of the replacement Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School in Cimla, Neath – this project is up for two awards. The other two are the successful conversion of Port Talbot’s Grade II listed Plaza Cinema into a community hub, business centre and gym and the development of the Harbourside Strategic Employment site in Port Talbot’s docklands. Work on the Harbourside site has included remediation of former…

The Summer season is stepping up, as the latest round of tickets for The National Lido of Wales, Lido Ponty are released at 8am on Monday, June 19. Lido-lovers  will be able to purchase tickets for all sessions happening from July 1 – 31, including the new additional daytime swims. The summer timetable is now in place, which will see on weekdays: Two early morning lane/casual swims in the main pool and the activities pool. Four daytime sessions where the main pool is open for lane/casual swimming and the splash pool is open for those with pre-schoolers. Two after-school sessions…

Work to realign the river channel and repair the embankment between Park Lane and Tynybryn Road in Tonyrefail will get underway soon – while the scheme also includes replacing the Tynybryn footbridge nearby. Preliminary work ahead of the main scheme started in early April 2023 and is shortly coming to an end. It has included creating a temporary access off the A4119 at Tonyrefail towards the main works site – a location along the River Ely between Park Lane and Tynybryn Road. The traffic management that has been in place on the A4119 in recent weeks will shortly be removed.…

A new state of the art, shared primary school campus could be built in Rhymney as part of exciting plans unveiled by Caerphilly county borough council this week. Proposals have been announced to create a modern, sustainable new school building boasting shared facilities to accommodate Ysgol Y Lawnt, Upper Rhymney Primary School and for wider community use. The two schools will continue to provide both Welsh and English Medium Primary education and remain as separate entities, situated within a new dual-purpose building. The council’s Education Committee will consider progressing the plans at a meeting next week (Tuesday 20th June). Cllr…

As part of the Welsh Government’s Active Travel Fund 2023/24, Monmouthshire County Council has received £6.99million for this financial year, the highest allocation in Wales. This comes after successive years of increased funding for strategic projects across the county, echoing the commitment Monmouthshire has made towards enabling people to walk, wheel and cycle instead of using their car. Monmouthshire County Council has also received £500k in core funding, which is to be used for the design and development of the Wye Bridge and Wyesham Links projects, and for smaller projects around the county, focussing on minor improvements to Active Travel…

Community groups, voluntary organisations, charities, schools and other organisations are invited to apply for grant funding to create places for nature in their local area. The Powys Nature Partnership has once again been allocated Welsh Government funding through the Local Places for Nature (LPfN) scheme. This scheme aims to create Nature on Your Doorstep, where people live, work and access public services. With the help of our communities, Powys Nature Partnership seeks to restore and improve nature across the county. The Local Places for Nature scheme focuses on engaging communities to actively create and enhance places for nature and concentrates…

The Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales has been praised as an ‘example of good practice in human rights policymaking’ by a UN report. Two of the key aims of the Action Plan are to strengthen understanding of LGBTQ+ people’s human rights and improve their understanding of how to assert their human rights. Following a visit to the UK, the UN’s Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity praised the work of Welsh Government in addressing LGBTQ+ human rights. Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, Hannah Blythyn, who will be attending Pride Cymru this weekend, said: “We want to see…