Author: Rhys Gregory

Fforestfach youngster Steffan Roberts and his mum Eleanor are helping lead the charge for a greener Swansea and saving cash with swish reusable nappies rather than disposables. They’ve taken advantage of a long-standing Swansea Council scheme which is offering a £100 cashback to families who live in Swansea and want to switch from disposable nappies to something better for baby and the environment. The popular scheme has recently passed a landmark 1,000th application which will have resulted in hundreds of tonnes of disposable nappy waste being saved from landfill. An average child will get through around 5,000 disposable nappies before…

Thousands of city residents have been making the most of the #FreeRideSwansea bus trip offer. The bus journey offer has just finished another Friday-Monday long weekend and it’s been really popular among locals and visitors alike. Families are using #FreeRideSwansea to do some shopping, eat out or just enjoy time with friends because it’s easier than using the car and saves time, fuel and hassle. Leighton and his sons Ezra, Charlie and Joshua (pictured below) came into the city for a spot of food at Taco Bell with a visit after to the LC. He said: “Having free travel is…

Neath Port Talbot Council will open the window for applications to its Third Sector Grant Fund for the 2022-23 financial year on August 23rd, 2021. The ‘third sector’ is an umbrella term covering a range of different organisations belonging neither to the public sector nor the private sector (profit-making private enterprises) and are often referred to as being voluntary sector, non-governmental or non-profit organisations. This year the council is specifically focusing the Third Sector Grant Fund on activities that will help further develop community capacity and collaboration building on the community action which developed in the response to the Covid-19…

Work is due to start this week on a £700,000 drainage project in Ystalyfera which will reduce the flood risk to residents of the Varteg Estate and also benefit the surrounding community. With funding from the Welsh Government, the project will involve work to the Glan Yr Afon Culvert in Ystalyfera to stop surface water backing up in Varteg Road during periods of high rainfall. The scheme, scheduled to start on Monday, August 23rd, will take around ten weeks to complete with approximately 140 metres of new pipework being installed. It will involve tree and shrub removal to accommodate a…

The drop-in event is to be held between 11am and 2pm on Tuesday 24th August at the Neath Town Hall Community Centre (situated next to the Gwyn Hall). Members of the public, local businesses and anyone else with an interest in Neath town centre are welcome to attend the event. The event will be an opportunity for people to meet representatives from the Partnership and to find out more about some of the key initiatives ongoing in the town centre such as: South Wales Police’s Operation Lileum, the Business Crime Reduction Partnership, CCTV, homelessness services, and the support for vulnerable…

New Tredegar’s Winding House was taken over by children recently during a day of events held as part of Play Wales and Welsh Government’s Summer of Play. Over one hundred visitors took part in activities on Wednesday 4th August that ranged from window painting, pavement chalking, crafting, story times, yarn bombing the historic Victorian winding engine and most importantly…..playing! Cllr Philippa Marsden, Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, said “The pandemic has had a significant impact on our children, so events like these are now more important than ever. I’d like to thank the team at the Winding House for…

As part of Caerphilly Council;’s ongoing asset maintenance programme, Court Road Footbridge, near Caerphilly will be undergoing refurbishment works later this month. The footbridge over the A469 will be closed to allow us to undertake these essential refurbishment works in a manner that mitigates risk to members of the public and road users. The footbridge will be removed during a night closure to mitigate the impact on traffic flows in the immediate vicinity. The current scheme programme indicates pre-enabling works starting the week commencing 23rd August 2021 with the bridge lift and removal from site being undertaken on the night…

Residents now have a further opportunity to provide feedback on walking and cycling provision in Rhondda Cynon Taf as part of a consultation exercise. This latest engagement opportunity allows residents to view an updated version of the local Active Travel Network Map, which all Councils in Wales must submit to Welsh Government by the end of 2021. The Map outlines the existing walking and cycling routes, and also shows new routes which the Council is committed to creating within its local communities in the future. This statutory exercise follows a consultation held by the Council from December 2020 to February…

RCT Council has commenced work to replace the footbridge between Dyfodwg Street and River Terrace in Treorchy – using Welsh Government funding to provide an upgraded Active Travel bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. The scheme got underway from Thursday, August 19, to remove the current 1.5-metre wide footbridge and provide a 3.5-metre wide replacement, which conforms to Welsh Government’s Active Travel guidance. The Council has appointed Walters Ltd as the contractor responsible for delivering the scheme. The work is scheduled to last for 12 weeks, and the footpath over the river will remain closed throughout. A local diversion route for…

An exciting new facility, offering essential training and on-site construction experience to job seekers and construction diploma students across South East Wales, has opened. The Onsite Construction Academy South East Wales has been established with industry funding from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Onsite Experience Commission. The project is a collaboration between local authorities, education and training providers and construction partners in the region. Located on the site of the former Eastern high school off Newport Road, Rumney – the largest development site in Cardiff Council’s Cardiff Living house building partnership with Wates Residential, the new Construction Academy will…