Author: Rhys Gregory

A Bridgend town centre restaurant, Morgan’s Bistro and Cocktail Bar, has been crowned the ‘Best Restaurant in Wales 2023’ at the Best of Welsh Business Awards 2023, which were held last week at the Holland House Hotel in Cardiff. The French restaurant first opened in August 2020 and is located at a building in Caroline Street which was brought back into use as part of the Bridgend Townscape Heritage scheme. Morgan’s Bistro and Cocktail Bar was one of several town centre businesses who were nominated for awards, alongside Beth Daniels Hair Design, who scooped a ‘Highly Commended’ accolade in the…

Two brothers have been fined £1000 each for failing to comply with an enforcement notice issued by Pembrokeshire County Council’s Planning Department. Ryan and Declan Cole of Clifton Villa, Clynderwen, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on March 9th. The applicants had sought retrospective planning permission for a large agricultural building, hardstanding and access track which was refused by the Council’s Planning Committee on 6th September 2022. The application referred to land at Cwm Farm, Llawhaden. The applicants had previously made two unsuccessful planning applications relating to the same developments in 2019 and 2020. On 12th February 2021, the Council’s Planning…

Pembrokeshire County Council staff who helped save the lives of customers who suffered heart attacks in two separate incidents have been thanked for their vital actions. Pembroke Leisure Centre staff Courtney Picton, Emily Baker, Chris Hughes and Katherine Mackie, alongside Melissa Wright and Darren Bowen from Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, were invited to a reception at County Hall to acknowledge their life-saving efforts. The team were thanked by Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett, CEO Will Bramble and Leisure Services Manager, Gary Nicholas. Courtney, Emily and Chris were on-duty on Friday February 3rd at Pembroke Leisure Centre when a…

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council have recently secured funding through the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund to implement a grant to support RCT residents in purchasing Solar Panels for their homes. One of the Council’s priorities is to make existing homes more energy efficient through technologies such as solar panels. The Solar Panel Grant will help residents with the cost of purchasing and installing Solar PV Panels on their homes. Residents are able to receive 25% towards the total cost of purchase and installation, up to a maximum of £1,000 contribution to the overall cost. If you are a home-owner in…

Changes to the way a broadband subsidy programme is rolled out could see Powys residents and businesses disadvantaged even further, a senior county councillor has warned. The Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy Programme, part of the UK Government’s £5billion Project Gigabit programme, aims to deliver high-speed broadband to the hardest to reach areas of the UK that might otherwise not be reached by commercial rollouts. However, concerns have been raised that hard-to-reach households and businesses in the county will be negatively impacted if potential changes to the deployment of this broadband programme are given the go-ahead. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media…

The owners of Cwmni Caws Caerffili, Huw Rowlands and Deian Thomas, are bringing back the production of Caerphilly Cheese to Caerphilly Town Centre. Huw and Deian have worked hard over the last 3 years sourcing local ingredients, perfecting their recipes and processes to get to a stage where they can start producing and selling Caerphilly Cheese. They are keen to start supplying local businesses with their authentic product and want to ensure all cheese has the history of Caerphilly running through it. Caerphilly Cheese hasn’t been produced in Caerphilly for over 30 years. This business will most definitely increase local…

Multiply is a new UK Government programme to help transform the lives of adults across the UK, by improving their functional numeracy skills through free personal tutoring, digital training, and flexible courses. The aim of Multiply is for local areas invest in meaningful participation that boosts people’s ability to use maths in their daily life, at home and work – and enable adults to achieve formal qualifications that can open doors for them (such as career progression, or progression to further study). Adults who need to improve their numeracy (up to and including Level 2/SCQF Level 5) will be able…

A significant update has been issued on a series of actions the Welsh Government is taking to tackle building safety issues. The update is part of Welsh Government’s cooperation agreement with Plaid Cymru that promises to ‘significantly reform the current system of building safety’ in Wales. Climate Change Minister Julie James described it as an ‘ambitious programme’ that would make residents feel ‘safe and secure in their homes’. The Minister gave the update in the Senedd this afternoon and confirmed that major developers had agreed to sign a legally binding Pact that commits them to carry out fire safety works…

A new chair has been appointed to Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Minister for Health and Social Services Eluned Morgan has announced. Former Assembly Member Jonathan Morgan has been selected by the Minister for Health and Social Services Eluned Morgan as the preferred candidate following an open and fair competition. He will take up the role from 1 April 2023 for four years, subject to the relevant pre-appointment checks. Mr Morgan has extensive experience working in the housing and social care sector. He has been an independent member on the Board of Health Education and Improvement Wales, since January 2022.…

Climate Change Minister Julie James has said new powers to tackle air and noise pollution will lead to a cleaner, healthier and greener Wales. The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill was introduced to the Senedd on Monday 20 March, giving the Welsh Government greater ability to tackle air and noise pollution. The new Bill is part of a package of measures to improve the quality of the air environment in Wales. It will give powers to Welsh Government to introduce new long-term targets for air quality under a national framework taking account of the latest scientific knowledge including…