Author: Rhys Gregory

If you have a home office then you will know how important it is to keep it feeling spacious. After all, a cramped office won’t help you with productivity and it certainly won’t help you to stay focused on the task at hand either. If you want to ensure that your home office stays looking nice and open, even when you fill it with equipment then this is the guide for you. LVT Flooring One of the best ways for you to keep your office looking spacious is choosing from the range Wood Floor Warehouse click vinyl range. You may…

Wales’ leading doctor has urged everyone to take steps to protect themselves from Covid-19 as case rates are surging to their highest levels in the pandemic. Dr Chris Jones, Wales’ deputy chief medical officer, encouraged people across Wales to get their booster vaccine and follow measures to curb the spread of the virus. The latest figures show case rates have risen sharply to more than 910 cases per 100,000 people – the highest levels since the start of the pandemic. Some 6,000 new infections are being confirmed daily, the majority of which will be caused by the new omicron variant.…

Foster and adult placement carers are to be offered a one-off £500 payment in recognition of their resilience and commitment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The payment comes after carers were called upon to support care experience children and adults with learning disabilities when lockdown was introduced across the UK. Foster carers were, for example, asked to step in to facilitate contact of children with families via the phone or using Facetime. Often, this was the first-time carers had taken on the role and had little time to prepare, get training or access support. In recognition of their resilience and determination…

Work to transform a former derelict building in Bridgend town centre has brought the premises back into use as a successful local business and new affordable accommodation. Located at 11 Nolton Street, the privately-owned building was most recently used as a McDonalds restaurant until it closed in 2006. The building then stood vacant for almost 10 years before it was purchased by Swansea-based housing association, Coastal Housing. Coastal Housing carried out extensive renovations on the building by accessing Welsh Government social housing grant support in partnership with Bridgend County Borough Council, and the site now houses affordable apartments on the…

£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…