Author: Rhys Gregory

Newport residents, community groups and projects are being encouraged to take part in the latest round of Newport’s participatory budgeting scheme, Our Voice, Our Choice, Our Port. The scheme launched earlier this year and saw 24 community groups and projects receive a share of the £103,000 available in the initial round. Applications for the second round of the scheme are now open. The council has allocated £250,000 from our Covid-19 recovery fund for this round of the scheme. This allocation is for community groups to develop community-based Covid recovery projects. A further £165,000 has been made available by Aneurin Bevan…

To mark the Urdd’s centenary celebrations, the Welsh Government will provide funding so entry into next year’s Urdd Eisteddfod is free, with the aim of making the eisteddfod accessible to all. Education and Welsh Language Minister Jeremy Miles has announced that Urdd Gobaith Cymru will receive £527k of government funding to continue with plans for next year’s festival, which celebrates its centenary year in 2022.  The announcement supports the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government commitment to provide free access to the 2022 Urdd Eisteddfod. The Urdd Eisteddfod is due to take place in Denbigh between 30 May – 4 June…

Welsh Government Finance and Local Government Minister Rebecca Evans has announced plans for a consultation next year on an ambitious package of council tax reforms. The move is the first step in progressing the Programme for Government and Plaid Cymru Co-operation Agreement commitments to make Council Tax fairer. Options being considered this term include revaluation, a review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, and an evaluation of discounts, disregards, exemptions and premiums – with options for more fundamental reform in the longer term. Reforms to council tax would be designed to ensure contributions from households are made as fairly as…

The Health Minister will today (7 December) confirm all eligible adults will be offered the booster Covid-19 vaccination by the end of January. NHS Wales has already started to ramp up the booster programme and is currently administering more than 19,000 vaccinations a day. Over the coming weeks, we aim to give more than 200,000 vaccines a week. Health boards will do this by providing more vaccination centres in easy-to-access locations, including walk-in and drive-through clinics with longer opening hours. GPs and community pharmacies will continue to deliver the vaccine and local government, fire services and students will provide other…

A Bridgnorth woman has been sent to jail for 20 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life, after failing to investigate her horse’s poor bodily condition and weight loss before the animal’s death from suspected hypothermia. Victoria Young, 42, of Oak Bank, Alveley, pleaded guilty to an Animal Welfare Act offence and was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on 25 November. The RSPCA was contacted in late December last year after the dead body of a chestnut mare, named Diamond, was found at a site on an unnamed lane in the Alveley area of Bridgnorth. Diamond had been kept…

Co-op has served-up its newest food store in North Wales in Penmaenmawr, following a £650,000 investment which has created 13 local jobs. Penmaenmawr’s new 2,500 sq ft Co-op store is powered by 100% renewable electricity, and has also incorporated a ‘living wall’ into its exterior design as part of its commitment to the environment. The Co-op also includes a recycle unit for ‘soft plastics’ which ensures all of Co-op’s own food packing is easy-to-recycle either via kerbside collection at home, or through this accessible disposal route for materials which are unlikely to be collected by UK councils – including: crisp packets,…

TWO new ‘Breather Bubbles’ have launched in Cardiff – for those people needing a moment of calm amidst the Christmas chaos. A new UK-wide survey conducted by FOR Cardiff revealed that 41 per cent of people feel anxious at the thought of crowds of Christmas shoppers, while 52 per cent said they would benefit from having somewhere to relax and reflect while visiting a city centre over the festive period. To help provide a safe haven for those who need it, two unique ‘Breather Bubbles’ will open on weekends in John Lewis and the Morgan Quarter between the 4th and…

SmallSpark Space Systems, the award-winning rocket propulsion innovation company, is set to reach new heights as they announce a £500,000 scale-up investment from Deepbridge Capital, in a deal advised on by the GS Verde Group. With their new generation of safer engines and propulsion systems, SmallSpark are redefining the UK space sector by making cost-effective and environmentally friendly access to space more readily available and lowering the barriers to space entry for UK groups seeking space access. This latest capital raise from Deepbridge Capital’s Technology Growth EIS fund will enable SmallSpark to continue their commercialisation journey and take advantage of…

A globe-trotting executive who has managed olive oil shipments across the Mediterranean, tuna canning in the Indian Ocean and food purchasing in the Netherlands, is taking on a new challenge to help an ambitious Welsh food wholesaler expand. Matt Flynn has taken charge of Criccieth-based Harlech Foodservice’s growth into the North West and Midlands from a new base in Chester. The 41-year-old is Harlech’s new Head of Purchasing and Marketing and leads a ten-strong team spearheading the company’s ambitious growth plans. Matt, originally from Barrow, in Cumbria, comes with an impressive CV having worked for global mining colossus Anglo America…

The first third of the on-shore high voltage cables that will connect the world’s largest offshore wind farm to the UK’s National Grid have now been installed. Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK is delivering the land-based infrastructure for the first two phases of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will connect to the National Grid near Beverley, East Riding. The North Wales-headquartered company is installing an approximate total of 80 miles of underground cabling in ducts on the site across two routes, using a combination of trenching and horizontal directional drilling, where trenches are not suitable such as through water…