Author: Rhys Gregory

The Swansea Bay City Deal’s Digital Infrastructure Programme has finished building a full fibre broadband network at Margam Park, Neath Port Talbot. This major upgrade represents an investment of about £150,000 in the local attraction. Thanks to this fast and reliable broadband, the park can now host large events without internet problems. Services like payment systems, cloud software, and online visitor tools will work smoothly. Local people living near the park will also benefit. They will have the opportunity to access full fibre broadband, helping to close the digital divide. This project is part of the Digital Infrastructure Programme’s “Connected…

Council Leader Cllr Andrew Morgan OBE has revised his Cabinet. These changes will be cost-neutral, with no additional costs, and will for the first time utilise the job sharing arrangements provided by Welsh Government, through the Local Government & Elections Act (Wales) 2021. The new Cabinet is as follows: Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Infrastructure & Investment – Cllr Andrew Morgan OBE Deputy Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Council Business – Cllr Maureen Webber BEM Cabinet Member for Education & the Welsh Language – Cllr Rhys Lewis Cabinet Member for Social Care – Cllr Gareth Caple & Cllr Sharon Rees (job…

Cardiff Council has issued an urgent warning after fraudulent QR code stickers were discovered on parking machines across the city. The council is urging drivers not to scan any QR codes they may come across, as these could lead to fraudulent websites designed to steal personal or financial information. A spokesperson for Cardiff Council stressed that QR codes are never used as a method of payment for parking in the city. Instead, drivers should continue to use the official MiPermit app or the MiPermit website when paying digitally. “Cardiff Council does not use QR codes on its parking machines,” the…

Work has officially started on the construction of a new state-of-the-art primary school in Caerphilly. The new and enlarged replacement school for Plasyfelin Primary School is being built within the current grounds of the existing school site. The flagship £23million development will have capacity for up to 420 pupils, enhanced nursery provision, integrated childcare provision and additional sporting facilities available for use by the school and the wider community. The new school, which is being built by BAM Construction Ltd, will also boast a range of ‘green’ features and will become the council’s first net zero school. This project is…

A Blackwood based food and drink manufacturer has upskilled a new recruit to their technical team thanks to funded mentoring support from a Welsh Government project. ANR-Probake, a leading manufacturer of nutritionally enriched baked goods, received the support from ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University through the Welsh Government’s HELIX Programme. The company contacted ZERO2FIVE to explore a collaboration when they were looking for support with mentoring Courtney Scott, a technical assistant who had been newly promoted from a quality assurance role. Despite not having a formal background in food technology, Courtney had been identified as a high-potential…

Caerphilly-based van conversion specialists Vantastec have revealed a bold new brand identity as the company looks ahead to the future. The refreshed look has been developed in partnership with Cardiff creative agency Limegreentangerine and features a modernised dragon logo that nods to Vantastec’s Welsh heritage. The design also incorporates a fan-like form, symbolising the business’s position as one of the UK’s leading converters of refrigerated vans. Founded in 2006 by Gareth Edwards and Colin Smith from a spare bedroom, Vantastec has grown into one of the UK’s largest van converters, now operating from a 30,000 sq ft headquarters in Ystrad…

A North Wales bakery is pledging to pay 16 year old school leavers £5 an hour more than they would get for flipping burgers at a fast food restaurant. The Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham says it’s going to give them the full adult rate of the Real Living Wage even though it’s not legally obliged to. That means the teenagers will be earning £12.60 an hour instead of  £7.55 which is the National Minimum Wage rate for their age. Over the course of a year that’s an extra £10,000 a year for 16 year olds working at the Village…

A POWERFUL new photography project is painting a picture of change in Rhyl, with residents’ voices at the heart of a vision for the town’s future. Rhyl-born photographer David Baker has launched an ambitious community project designed to capture the true spirit of his hometown. The initiative aims to shine a light on local lives, challenges, and hopes as the town embarks on a £20 million, 10-year regeneration programme. David suffered life-changing injuries in a 2016 cycling collision, which left him with brain damage, memory loss and balance problems. During rehabilitation he trained in photography at Arts University Bournemouth, specialising…

UKHospitality is projecting that 111,000 jobs will have been lost in hospitality by the Budget on November 26, which will be almost 13 months on from the previous Budget that hit hospitality with £3.4 billion of additional annual cost. The projection, based on the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, is illustrative of the impact these costs have had on jobs. The lowering of the employer NICs threshold has been the most damaging, bringing 774,000 people working part-time and flexible jobs into the tax threshold for the first time. The figures from the ONS reveal that 10,963 hospitality…

A 31-year-old man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for a series of drug offences. James O’Connor, of East Parade, Rhyl, was sentenced at Caernarfon Crown Court earlier yesterday (Tuesday, 16 September). At a previous hearing, O’Connor had entered guilty pleas to four charges of supplying Class A drugs and one charge of supplying Class B drugs. The charges related to the supply of cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, ketamine and cannabis between May and August of this year following a joint investigation with the Merseyside Police County Lines Task Force. Following his arrest on 11 August, investigating officers established that…