Author: Rhys Gregory

£7m a year has been allocated to support Wales’ voluntary sector over the current Welsh Government’s term, a commitment of over £21m across the next three years. The announcement follows the publication of the draft Budget by Finance Minister Rebecca Evans last week [Monday 20 December]. This is in addition to around £7m provided every year by the Welsh Government’s Community Facilities Programme, a grant scheme of up to £250,000 for the improvement of local community projects and facilities. The £7m of annual funding, beginning in 2022, will be provided to the Third Sector Support Wales. This partnership comprises of…

Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet will meet on 5th January 2022 to consider its budget strategy for 2022/23. More than ten years of government imposed austerity has seen all councils having to take difficult decisions to cut services to balance the books whilst also trying to keep council tax increases as low as possible. Now, the 8.8% increase in the Revenue Support Grant and financial support for the pandemic response given by Welsh Government will enable the council to adopt a different approach. The financial position will also enable the council to respond to what residents and local businesses have…

Caerphilly County Borough Council is reminding eligible residents that help is available through the Winter Fuel Support Scheme. If residents are in receipt of working-age benefits such as Income support, Income Related Employment and Support allowance, Universal Credit, Income Based Job Seeker’s Allowance or Working Tax Credits then they may be eligible to receive £100 to help with the cost of energy bills. Residents can apply by visiting the council’s website. All applications must be submitted by 18 February 2022 and payments will be made from January 2022 until 31 March 2022.

A partnership between NatWest and the University of South Wales has helped support women entrepreneurs to start businesses and join a community of female founders. The Developing Entrepreneurial Women Programme is a fully-funded series of masterclasses and events, delivered by the USW in partnership with NatWest Cymru. From gaining financial and legal know-how, to developing a marketing strategy, the women on the programme have received technical knowledge to help to launch their start-up, as well as benefiting from a supportive community of business leaders. The programme has helped 29 businesses to start, with 38 inspirational female founders delivering expert-led masterclasses…

National Grid has taken action to preserve and rehabilitate an ancient peat bog located near to one if it’s sub-stations in South Wales. Working with local authorities and restoration experts, the 15-hectare peat bog stores the equivalent of 32,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – equal to the average annual emissions of 22,000 petrol cars. Whilst acquiring land to build a new substation for the connection of green energy production from the upland windfarms of the South Wales Valleys, National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), owner of the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales also inherited and invested £120K in…

A project to review Monmouthshire’s extensive museum collections, started in April 2020, has been moving forward apace. It comes as similar projects looking ensure collections are relevant to local communities takes place at museums across the UK. The Collection Review Project 2020-2022 has given MonLife museums the opportunity to discover more about the objects and their connection to Monmouthshire’s story. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project has enabled staff to develop a more sustainable way of caring for collections. One of the aims of the project is look into the costs of long-term storage and conservation, and…

Welsh consumers are being urged to focus more on their broadband upload speeds after a survey indicates they could be wasting millions of pounds every month as well as trying to work and stream on unsuitable connections. Market research undertaken by Voneus, one of the UK’s largest rural broadband specialists, revealed 41 per cent consider working from home to be the main usage of their internet connection, the largest such proportion across the UK. The pandemic has seen a significant increase in people working from home along with other online activities which demand fast upload speeds. For Welsh homes, the…

A Haverfordwest man has been sentenced to a 12 month Community Order after pleading guilty to fraud offences following a case brought by Ceredigion County Council’s Trading Standards (Public Protection). The court heard how between February 2020 and July 2020, Benjamin Michael Davies, trading as BMD Agricultural Shed Services had dishonestly told a retired couple in rural Ceredigion that he would build a barn extension for them and had instilled a sense of trust in his victims by assuring them that he was experienced in barn construction, that he would employ a structural engineer, and that he could purchase materials…

Are you in need of building security in Wales? You’ll need to choose the right security system installer. Read on to determine what you need to consider when selecting an installer. 67% of burglaries can be prevented by installing security cameras on the premises. Your building needs to be equipped with security features to deter thieves and provide evidence should there be a security breach. So, how should you go about choosing a security system installer in Wales? Read on for information on choosing the right security installer and the security features that modern buildings need. How To Assess Your…

The BBC iPlayer in Australia and other countries is a great resource for movie fans. But you have to use a geo-restriction circumventing tool like VPN to access it outside the UK.  Once known as the iPlayer, the service has been around since 2007 and is used by millions worldwide. Also, there are thousands of titles available on BBC iPlayer, which means you’ll never run out of options to watch. With this list of the 9 best movies to watch on BBC iPlayer, you have no excuse not to sit down on the couch and tune in! The Night of…