Author: Rhys Gregory

A review of other ‘unadopted’ streets in Bridgend County Borough is ongoing in order to determine the costs involved in bringing the streets up to an adoptable standard. The scheme has already been used in Ynyslas, Porthcawl and the street involved will now be maintainable by Bridgend County Borough Council after securing Welsh Government funding. Ynyslas was previously one of thousands of streets across England and Wales not adopted by any authority and, as such, responsibility for its upkeep rested entirely with residents and property owners. But, in a new Welsh Government pilot, the street has been adopted by the…

Newport will be taking part in a specially designed augmented reality trail to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The trail is an experience where players visit seven characters that have come to life from Buckingham Palace and are visiting locations around Newport on a day out. Players, guided by Sir Barnaby Beacon, visit each character including Charlie Crown and Theadora Throne, learning about a different decade in Her Majesty’s 70-year reign and ‘choose their own adventure’ as they progress around the trail. This innovative experience is completely contactless and free – all you need is a smartphone. It’s so easy…

Planned structural work is about to begin on the £8.6m refurbishment of the former YMCA building as a high quality multiple commercial unit economic hub for local businesses. The Grade II Listed building, which has been derelict for more than a decade, will be brought back into use following investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Enterprise Programme, Welsh Government’s Building for the Future and Transforming Towns programmes and the County Borough Council. As part of the refurbishment, from Tuesday 19 April, John Weaver Contractors will begin to carry out essential work to the rear of the building, from…

The Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Lynne Neagle MS, is encouraging eligible families to sign up for Healthy Start to get healthy food and vitamins for free. Families can get a pre-paid card that is topped up every 4 weeks with credit to buy healthy food – fruit, vegetables, pulses and milk and infant formula. They can also get free Healthy Start vitamins. Currently, nearly 40% of people within Wales who are eligible for the scheme are not claiming it. Healthy Start is available to those who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under…

Health policies can cover many conditions under their plans, particularly pre-existing conditions. One of the primary reasons people opt to get health insurance is to avoid substantial out-of-pocket medical costs. Also, with the rise of health problems and unhealthy lifestyles in the current decade, more and more people find themselves at high risk for the diseases mentioned below. This is not a surprise, mainly since, according to the World Health Organization, the causes of health vulnerabilities include physical inactivity, harmful alcohol consumption, and unhealthy diets, more seen in the 21st century. This is undoubtedly a cause for worry that makes…

Web portals are referred to as a website that is particularly devised and curated as the single point of access for all the information. Through these web-based platforms, you can easily collect all the information from multiple sources into just a single user interface. Web portals have quite a bundle of advantages supporting initiatives for the digital customer experience. Various organizations can design their web portals to access the controls and procedures through their electronic devices. Whether it is about data access, transactions, the content of personal relevance, or published content, retrieving any such service is straightforward via the web…

12-year-old Welsh junior Niall Pickerd-Barua picked up two international titles last week on home soil, winning the 12U singles and 12U doubles titles at the Tennis Europe Wrexham International event in North Wales. The Tennis Europe Junior Tour has been running since 1990 and has heralded the arrival of such top players as Justine Henin, Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki, Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Maria Sharapova. The Tour features competitions for 16U, 14U and 12U players, with 400+ tournaments taking place in over 50 countries. At the Wrexham-based event, Niall won all three of his round robin matches…

Spring has reportedly sprung in Welsh housing market with the latest RICS Residential Market Survey showing the number of new homes listed for sale was at its highest in 15 months, this despite ongoing caution over the rising cost of living and higher interest rates. In March, +26% of respondents in Wales reported a rise in the volume of fresh listings coming onto the sales market. New buyer enquiries also rose this month too with +14% of respondents reporting a rise. The number of agreed sales was flat in March haven risen in February. Although the increase in the number…

Melin Tregwynt, the iconic woollen mill and shop, has officially transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust after its current owners Eifion and Amanda Griffiths handed over the reins to 42 employees of the company. Melin Tregwynt was supported in its transition by Social Business Wales, which is delivered by the Wales Cooperative Centre. The mill was founded by Eifion’s grandfather in 1912 who bought a small Pembrokeshire textile mill, which has since developed into a thriving company weaving woollen blankets, bedspreads, fabrics and much more. Alongside its own stock ranges the company specialise in short runs and exclusive designs for…

Businesses in Wales backed by Welsh and UK government funding are seeing sustained recovery two years after the start of lockdown. These trends and others are detailed in a new report from Economic Intelligence Wales (EIW). The report assesses the impact of the Welsh Government’s financial interventions through its Economic Resilience Fund (ERF), which supported businesses across Wales during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jointly commissioned by EIW, the Development Bank of Wales and the Welsh Government, the report published today (Wednesday, April 13) is the second in a series of five stages of ongoing research into the effectiveness of the ERF.…