Author: Rhys Gregory

In July, following the death of George Floyd and a month of action by the Black Lives Matter movement, First Minister Mark Drakeford ordered an urgent audit of statues, street and building names to address Wales’ connections with slavery and the slave trade. The audit published today (Thursday 26 November 2020) shows the slave trade was embedded in the Welsh economy and society and reflected in many of our statues, street and building names today. The audit identified 209 monuments, buildings or street names, located in all parts of Wales, which commemorate people who were directly involved with the slavery…

Welsh Government is pushing forward in its ambition to make active travel a realistic alternative by making it easier for people to tell their local councils where existing routes need to be improved and new routes built. An interactive map to gather opinions from communities about local walking and cycling paths is being launched today in several areas across Wales. Hosted by Commonplace, the website invites people to let their local councils know where they’d like to see improvements to walking and cycling paths. This could be because routes are interrupted, feel unsafe or even don’t exist where they are…

RCT Council and Awen Cultural Trust will begin the next stages of consultation for the planned £4.5m investment in Pontypridd’s Muni Arts Centre – including engaging the public and stakeholders virtually starting in December. In late 2019, Awen Cultural Trust became the Council’s preferred tenant and operator of the Muni, announcing an ambitious long-term plan to refurbish the building with architects Purcell. The aim is to secure the Muni’s heritage and celebrate its stunning gothic architecture – while establishing the much-loved building as a unique regional arts and music venue with a sustainable future. An important public consultation progress is…

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Cabinet met yesterday (Wednesday 25th November) to set out its vision for a green Caerphilly. Cabinet members agreed a Green Infrastructure Strategy which aims to build on the significant work already carried out by the Council to develop Caerphilly into a green and healthy place to live with an established, multi-functional green infrastructure of high quality spaces; interlinked by a network of corridors that benefit both people and nature. In 2019 the Council became only the second in Gwent to declare a climate emergency and commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.  As part of these…

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has branded the UK Government’s decision to slash Wales’ agricultural budget as a ‘Brexit betrayal’, after chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed in Wednesday’s (November 25) spending review that the budget would be cut by at least £95 million for the coming financial year. Following a 2019 Conservative Manifesto promise, the Wales’ agricultural and rural development budget was expected to have been £337 million, but the 2021-2022 budget will now be £242 million – a cut of around 28% – while the full loss when projected RDP spend and the 15% pillar transfer is taken into account…

Cashless parking charges are being introduced in Ceredigion to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission associated with cash transactions. Charging was suspended at Ceredigion County Council pay and display car parks at the beginning of the national COVID-19 lockdown in late March 2020. Cashless charging will be introduced at most council pay and display car parks from 01 December 2020. This way of charging will reduce the travelling required to service and regularly empty cash machines whilst also reducing the risks of COVID-19 transmission associated with cash transactions. Members of the public will still be able to pay for their…

Two positive cases of COVID-19 at Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig has resulted in pupils from more than one contact group and pupils travelling on one bus needing to self-isolate for 14 days. All confirmed contacts of the positive case must remain at home for 14 days to reduce the possible spread of the virus to family, friends and the wider community. The pupils will be taught remotely for this period. Due to the strong procedures that have been put in place in the school, only a small number of pupils are being asked to self-isolate. The parents of all these pupils…

Age Cymru and Carers Trust Wales have today on Carers Rights Day (26 November) launched a Wales-wide survey as part of their partnership project funded by Welsh Government. The survey will help provide a better understanding of the needs of people aged 50 or over who provide unpaid support to family or friends but aren’t accessing any services, information or advice. Wales has the highest proportion of older carers in the UK, with more than 210,000 aged 50 or over, and large numbers of these are so called ‘hidden carers’ who don’t access services or support for their role, or…

A new window of opportunity has opened for Christmas shoppers across Wales with the launch of an innovative high street experience with a digital-twist. Ffenestr Siop Cywain (Cywain Shop Window) is a new retail initiative to provide Welsh food and drink producers with a wider shop window, and customers with easy access to a fantastic range of products, ahead of the festive season. With commercial premises in five high profile shopping locations, the Ffenestr Siop Cywain project features windows filled with local food and drink products – each displaying a QR code. Instead of entering the shop to buy, the…

Cardiff Council will be re-opening Castle Street to buses, taxis and emergency vehicles as a temporary measure on Sunday November 29th, while a public consultation is held on the future of the thoroughfare. The re-opening will help buses and taxis cross east to west and west to east more effectively during the on-going road works in the city centre. This temporary design will ensure that the pop-up cycleway – which will run from Leckwith Road up Newport Road to the junction with Broadway – will be retained as part of the temporary scheme. This will also include extending the pavement…