Author: Rhys Gregory

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has paid tribute to Councillor Anthony Burnell, who sadly passed away on Tuesday, July 19. Councillor Burnell (Plaid Cymru) was a serving elected member of the Council, representing the Ynysybwl ward, having been duly elected during the local elections held in May 2022. He was also a member of the Council’s Democratic Services Committee, Governance and Audit Committee and the Corporate Parenting Board. Councillor Wendy Treeby, Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf, said: “On behalf of the Council, I would like to express our deepest sympathies to Councillor Burnell’s family on their loss; our thoughts are with them…

Newport councillors approved a new public space protection order regarding the control of dogs in public spaces at the July council meeting. The new order covers all public spaces within the city, replacing several site-specific measures that were already in place. The order sets out that dogs in public spaces must be kept under control at all times. This does not necessarily mean dogs must be kept on a lead, as long as they are under their owner or walker’s control. However, owners and walkers must put their dog on a lead if asked to do so by an authorised…

Collaboration between Derwendeg Primary school and Gwent Police has seen a new approach to teaching and promoting community safety – by using Minecraft. As part of the educational pilot, pupils at the school have been building a new digital world that reflects their own community, one including local landmarks like their primary school and playground. The result will be a fully interactive and safe online world in which players/learners can interact with non-playable characters (NPCs) – created by Gwent Police community support officers (CSOs) – to learn more about things like staying safe online, how to report crime and knowing…

Students at Pen Y Dre comprehensive school in Merthyr Tydfil have taken part in a film called ‘Look at Us’ a short film highlighting the issue of bullying, based on sexual orientation. Ffilm Cymru in collaboration with Cymoedd Creadigol decided that Pen Y Dre should be the school to bring the script to life which was written by pupils from Porth County Community School RCT, who have faced this type of bullying themselves Pupils from the school, with the support of their drama department went on to produce and direct a short film taking on a variety of roles such as…

Work on a strategy that will guide the scale and location of new development in the county has begun, Powys County Council has announced. Cllr Jake Berriman, Cabinet Member for a Connected Powys, made the announcement at a reception held at Tŵr Brycheiniog on the last day of the Royal Welsh Show (Thursday, 21 July). The council has started a three-and-a-half-year process to prepare a new development plan which will cover all of Powys, excluding the Brecon Beacons National Park. The current Local Development Plan (2011-2026) is used by the council to guide and manage development, providing a basis by…

A task force that will tackle child poverty in Powys has been launched, the county council has announced. The Child Poverty Task Force was launched at the Royal Welsh Show this week (19 July) by Powys County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Fairer Powys, Cllr Matthew Dorrance. The task force will map the support that is currently provided by partners across Powys to support families and address any gaps that are found. “One of commitments in our progressive partnership agreement was to form a child poverty task force to work across all the public services to alleviate…

A consortium including industry and academia, led by Caerphilly-based advanced research and development firm Deregallera, is set to begin work on an alternative motor for electric vehicles that’s less harmful to the global environment, thanks to support from the £1.8m Ford Low Carbon Vehicle Transformation Fund, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has confirmed. Administered by the Welsh Government as part of Ford’s legacy in Wales, the Low Carbon Vehicle Transformation Fund was established to help address strategic technical challenges associated with low-carbon vehicles. Electric motors have been in use for decades. Of the many different motor types, permanent magnet motors offer the…

Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn Bowden has visited Chepstow Racecourse to see how Horse Racing in Wales is recovering following the Covid pandemic, and to hear about aspirations for future growth. Wales’ three racecourses received more than £1.6 million in emergency funding from the Welsh Government’s Spectator Sports Fund, which was introduced to support venues when sport had to be played behind closed doors to stop the spread of Coronavirus. Overall, the Welsh Government invested over £20m in racecourses, sports clubs and national organisations across 7 sports to help them through periods of the pandemic, when the necessary…

Construction work on a new active travel route for the strategic employment site at Brocastle in Bridgend has started, thanks to a £2m investment by the Welsh Government. The route, which is about 3km south-east of Bridgend town centre and runs parallel with the A48, will link the 116-acre site at Brocastle with the Waterton roundabout, 2km to the north-west. A 2km cycleway, kerbing and surfacing works, new signalised road crossings, replacement traffic signals and street lighting will be built. The £2m funding for the route, which is being provided by the Welsh Government, is the final package of the…

A further £3m is to be invested by the Welsh Government to recruit more emergency ambulance staff to improve response times for the most seriously ill or injured. This additional funding will enable the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) to recruit around 100 additional frontline staff and introduce a new ‘Cymru High Acuity Response Unit’ (CHARU) service. The CHARU service will seek to improve outcomes for people who have suffered cardiac arrest. The additional staff will help to manage increased demand for emergency care and partially mitigate some of the complex wider system challenges which continue to place intense…