Author: Rhys Gregory

Neath Port Talbot Council has launched a £300,000 fund to support community organisations to deliver early intervention and prevention services. The Seed Fund is a one off grant payment to help establish a new service or activity that prevents or delays a person from needing arranged support from the Council’s Social Services Department. The fund can also be used to expand existing services or activities. It could be a service or activity that helps with issues such as a person’s physical or mental disability, substance misuse, child development, or social isolation. The grant is intended to go towards covering the…

Work is due to start next week on a £1.3m programme aimed at helping schools and other public sector buildings in the county borough become energy efficient and more economical to run. Up to 15 schools are included within the Re:fit scheme in addition to three buildings run by Bridgend County Borough Council – Bridgend Bus Station, the Bryn Y Cae care home in Brackla and the Trem Y Mor council offices in Bettws. The energy saving measures are set to include solar PV systems, LED lighting and boiler management systems to improve heating system efficiency. In line with the…

Work has begun on the construction of 31 ‘high quality’ new homes for rent as part of a £4.4million development in a rural part of Merthyr Tydfil. The Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association (MTHA) project at Bryniau Road, Pant is being partly funded by Welsh Government Social Housing Grant awarded through the County Borough Council. Local contractor Holbrook Homes will build 15 one-bedroom flats, 12 two-bedroom houses, two three-bedroom houses and two two-bedroom bungalows on an area of waste ground on the road to Pant. As part of the contract, Holbrook Homes is providing new job and skills training opportunities both…

Residents can now find out more and have their say on proposals to build a brand new 60-bed Extra Care facility for Porth – with all feedback received in the consultation helping to inform Linc Cymru’s future planning application. In December 2020, Cabinet Members agreed for a new Extra Care housing scheme to be built on the Dan y Mynydd Care Home site in Porth. The development is in line with the Council’s strategy to modernise residential care options for older people. No residents currently live in the care home, and public notices for the demolition of the building have…

Leisure for Life customers will notice changes to timetables and increased capacity in the gyms, swimming pools and fitness classes from Monday August 9. As Covid guidance and restrictions are relaxed, staff across the service are preparing to gradually return to pre-Covid attendance numbers over the coming weeks. As well as the increased capacity numbers in activities that returned some time ago, Leisure for Life welcomes the return of team sports such as indoor five-a-side football, netball and gymnastics. Customers are reminded that Llantrisant Leisure Centre and Rhondda Sports Centre remain mass vaccination centres. Both centres will continue to offer…

RCT Council has helped 69 local businesses access Welsh Government funding to develop their outdoor spaces, which has increased their trading capacity and provided flexibility during coronavirus restrictions – via £366,000 funding across two grants. In January 2021, officers in the Council’s Regeneration department wrote to small and medium-sized businesses across Rhondda Cynon Taf, to promote funding opportunities via the Town Centre COVID Recovery Grant in the Transforming Towns initiative, as well as new funding available from the Valleys Taskforce COVID Recovery Grant. Businesses in the County Borough’s larger town centres were eligible for the Transforming Towns scheme – for…

Tails were wagging at Dogs Trust Cardiff last week as the team celebrated finding homes for their very first residents.  Staff waved a fond  farewell to four of their first arrivals, just two weeks after opening the centre, and the lucky dogs are now enjoying life with their new families. 18-month-old ex-racing Greyhound Toby, was the first to find his forever home. Having retired from the track he was very pleased to be trotting off to his new home and a new life with adopter Julie Smith from Cwmbran. Hot on his heels were one-year-old Chihuahua cross, Bertie, Bryn a two-year old Crossbreed and five-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, Buddy.   Toby’s new owner Julie Smith said: “After the sad loss of my previous dog, I was looking to bring another four-legged friend into my life. I started looking on…

The rural community of Glandwr, in Pembrokeshire, will now be able to access some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds in Europe thanks to a partnership between local residents and Openreach. The secluded village of Glandwr, situated 4 miles south of Crymych, will soon be able to access speeds of up to one gigabit bit per second (1Gbps) using Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) technology where fibre is run directly from the exchange all the way to property. In order to build this ‘full fibre’ network Openreach engineers ran 21km of fibre cable overhead and underground from the telephone exchange in Cardigan to…

A new service has launched in Swansea to provide advice, guidance, support and signposting to young people who are uncertain of their next steps in employment, education or training. Launched by Better Jobs, Better Futures, a Swansea city centre-based initiative established by Gower College Swansea, the ‘Futures’ service is available throughout the summer to all young people aged 16+ in Swansea who are undecided on their future path. Based at the College’s Employment Hub on the Kingsway, the Futures team are available to answer any questions regarding next steps after school or college, and to help young people explore all…

National Playday Wales 2021: Tŷ Hafan and Tŷ Gobaith welcome the Children’s Commissioner for Wales – Sally Holland – during a day of fun and play at the hospice in Sully On National Playday (Wednesday 4 August) representatives of Wales’ two children’s hospices welcomed Sally Holland, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, to Tŷ Hafan  to discuss children’s palliative care services in Wales. National Playday is an awareness day that highlights the importance of play in children’s lives and saw the Commissioner also discuss Tŷ Hafan and Tŷ Gobaith’s Lifeline Fund campaign for fair and sustainable funding for Wales’ children’s hospices.…