Author: Rhys Gregory

Councillors have given the go ahead for public consultation on plans for a new Welsh-medium primary school in Neath. If approved, the proposed school, which would also feature a 45-place nursery and a 12-place childcare setting, would be located on the St Johns Terrace, Neath Abbey Primary site soon to be vacated by the English medium Abbey Primary School. At their meeting on January 19th, 2022, members of Neath Port Talbot Council’s Education, Skills and Culture Cabinet Board agreed the Welsh Medium school plan should go out to public consultation. The backround to the proposal is that in recent years,…

A new piece of equipment vital for the £100m expansion of the WEPA UK Bridgend Paper Mill at Llangynwyd is due to be delivered overnight between Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 February 2022 as part of an abnormal load convoy. While the delivery will take place between 11pm and 5am to minimise inconvenience and disruption, drivers and residents who live along the route of the delivery are being urged to plan ahead. Known as an MG cylinder or ‘Yankee Dryer’ and designed to remove excess moisture from pulp that is about to be converted into tissue paper, the equipment has…

Bridgend County Borough Council has confirmed that free parking will remain available at two council-maintained town centre car parks to support traders until the end of the current financial year. Drivers will be able to continue to park for free for the first three hours at the Rhiw multi-storey car park in Bridgend, and between noon and 3pm at John Street in Porthcawl. Throughout the pandemic, Bridgend County Borough Council has been doing all that it can to support local businesses and shoppers. That support has ranged from processing millions of pounds in financial funding, making free equipment, signage and…

A Monmouthshire woman has described how an exercise referral scheme operated by MonLife has helped change her life following a serious health condition that put her into a three-week induced coma. 65-year-old Sheila Viner was referred to the National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) at Chepstow Leisure after being admitted into intensive care and spending over 11 weeks in hospital in 2020. The NERS, which operates across all 22 local authorities, is an evidenced based health intervention programme that incorporates physical activity and behavioural change to support people improve their health and wellbeing. Sheila joined the MonLife scheme at Chepstow Leisure Centre…

Merthyr Council has been informed by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water that a section of the Taff Trail at Abercanaid will be closed next week for tree felling work. The section running from Quay Row to Pond Row (see map) will close for two days on Monday 31 January to the end of the day on Tuesday 1 February.

A planning application to build a new replacement special school in north Powys will be considered next month (February), Powys county council has said. Powys County Council is planning to build a new £20m school for Ysgol Cedewain in Newtown. The planning application for the build will be considered by the council’s Planning, Taxi Licensing & Rights of Way Committee on Thursday, February 3. As part of the proposed development, the new Ysgol Cedewain school will have purpose-built and state-of-the-art facilities including a hydrotherapy pool, sensory and physiotherapy rooms and garden as well as a community café. The new school…

Caerphilly County Borough and Blaenau Gwent Councils joined forces with Coed Cymru in 2018 to encourage and promote the use of locally sourced timber. The Wood LAB Pren project falls under the wider rural development project, Cwm a Mynydd, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. Based in Aberbargoed the project aims to improve the county’s timber supply chain network through information and knowledge sharing, research and development. The project will come to an end in December 2021. The project to date has focused on timber used in furniture, to highlight how…

The development of a sustainable mixed-use scheme including new housing, retail and bus interchange on Waun Gron Road, has taken another step forward by the removal of the “call in request” by Welsh Government. The scheme, which was approved by Cardiff Council’s Planning Committee last month, was subject to a call-in request to Welsh Government, but a decision has been made this week by the Welsh Government’s Climate Change Energy and Planning Group, that the call in application did not meet any requirements which would be worthy of determination by Welsh Ministers. The call-in related to three distinct issues: Concerns…

he Welsh Government is investing a further £4.5m of capital funding this year in new sport facilities across Wales, Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn Bowden has announced. The additional capital funding will support projects to enhance facilities, which will help drive increased participation across a wide range of sports. The funding will be delivered through Sport Wales. This brings the total capital investment in sport by the Welsh Government this year to more than £13.2m with projects supported in every part of Wales and across a wide range of sports from football, gymnastics to swimming. Deputy Minister, Dawn…

Wales will move fully into alert level zero tomorrow as coronavirus cases begin to stabilise, First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced. The move completes the Welsh Government’s phased lifting of the alert level two protections, which were put in place on Boxing Day to keep Wales safe as the omicron wave swept across the country. Some important protections will remain in place at alert level zero, including mandatory face coverings in most indoor public places, including on public transport. First Minister Mark Drakeford said the relaxation of protections was possible thanks to the hard work of everyone in Wales and…