Author: Rhys Gregory

Residents and visitors looking forward to attending Swansea’s annual Christmas parade on November 21 are being urged to plan ahead. Thousands are expected to enjoy the free council event that will feature a vibrant mix of local community groups, spectacular professional entertainers, marching bands, magical floats, colourful film characters and festive inflatables. Santa will be there too – to switch on the improved and expanded city centre Christmas lights. The council is encouraging those planning to attend to check the arrangements, plan ahead, aim to arrive in good time for the start – and spread out along the route to…

Swansea Council’s award-winning pension fund has cut its carbon footprint by almost 60% and aims to go all the way to net carbon zero in the coming years. The £2.7bn fund looks after the retirement funds of 47,000 members has already taken major steps to going net carbon zero by cutting the amount of cash invested in oil companies and other organisations with similarly-high carbon footprints. And its main committee this week agreed that the fund would go net carbon zero by 2037, 13 years ahead of the UK as a whole. Since 2017, the pension fund has managed to…

An exciting new community space has opened in the Riverside Shopping Centre in Haverfordwest. Based in the former Wimpy building, @No5 Riverside offers a community café, ‘Library of Things’ and employment support – all in one town centre location. It follows a 6-month renovation project by Norman Industries as part of its supported employment programme, with funding from Welsh Government. “The café will be a fantastic resource offering dedicated sessions to a wide range of community groups, including people with dementia or a learning disability, carers, and gentlemen’s groups,” said Cllr Tessa Hodgson, Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Social…

The transformation of Neath’s iconic former Metal Box container factory into a job creating business zone has been a big success with much of the work being carried out during the Covid pandemic. Now it will play a major role in helping the area’s recovery from the economic effects of coronavirus with Neath Port Talbot Council’s Leader and Deputy Leader, Cllr Ted Latham and Cllr Leanne Jones, and Chief Executive Karen Jones, visiting the site on Friday (November 12th). They were invited by the latest business to move into the Milland Road business zone, Vortex IoT (Internet of Things) -…

The temporary agreement between Neath Port Talbot Council and art dealer John Brandler to house his Banksy artwork Season’s Greetings in an unoccupied shop unit in Port Talbot’s town centre is coming to an end. The Banksy appeared on the walls of a Taibach garage in December 2018 sparking widespread interest and the Welsh Government paid for around-the-clock security while its future was decided. The piece was purchased by Essex based Mr Brandler with the Welsh Government agreeing to pay for the valuable artwork to be moved at its expense to a new unoccupied retail unit in Pobl’s Ty’r Orsaf,…

Bridgend County Borough Council is applying to become a real Living Wage accredited employer. While not currently an accredited organisation, the local authority has committed to paying the real Living Wage to its own employees for the last two years. The rate is calculated independently taking into account wider factors than those used to set the national living wage. Set by the Living Wage Foundation, the nationwide “real living wage” is being raised by 40p to £9.90. The local authority is now working with Cynnal Cymru, which works in partnership with the Real Living Wage Foundation and other leading organisations…

Over the past five months over 4000 inefficient light fittings have been upgraded to low energy LED lighting and 600 Solar Panels have been installed on MTCBC buildings and schools as part of the council’s commitment to Welsh Government’s ambition for the public sector to be Carbon Neutral by 2030. This has all been possible thanks to WG’s REFIT Cymru, a project which aims to optimise the energy efficiency of properties, improve the condition of our schools, reduce C02 emissions and save money. On top of the savings the buildings will also benefit from electrical and mechanical upgrades, resulting in…

Staff and students at Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School were ‘over the moon’ when astronaut Major Tim Peak popped in on a surprise visit. The former Apache pilot, flight instructor, test pilot and current European Space Agency astronaut had earlier received a letter from the school, telling him all about their exciting new school project. And it was during his visit to Wales this week as part of his UK tour called ‘My Journey To Space,’ that he decided to surprise the young learners at Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School by calling in to see them all. Teacher Sarah Dyer had previously written to…

Cardiff looks set to push ahead with plans to deliver one of the most-advanced, air-quality monitoring system in Wales. A new two-year trial to install 50 air-quality monitors across the city, which measure pollution levels in real time, has been agreed by Cardiff Council’s Cabinet following its meeting to discuss air-quality data results for 2020. The development of a real-time, air-quality monitoring network is a crucial step forward for the city. Public Health Wales has made it clear that poor air quality is the second biggest public health concern after smoking. Cllr Michael Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Environment…

More than £51m is being invested to replace older diagnostic imaging equipment across NHS Wales and to speed up waiting times, Health Minister Eluned Morgan has announced. The upgrading of vital technology and equipment, including MRI and CT scanners, will ensure people waiting for scans are seen faster and help to reduce their levels of anxiety and concern. The funding is being brought forward in the face of worldwide shortages of diagnostic equipment caused by soaring demand. It will help ensure NHS Wales has up-to-date diagnostic facilities using the latest imaging technology. Image quality will be improved, supporting earlier and…