Author: Rhys Gregory

An ambitious strategy, outlining Cardiff Council’s plans to continue addressing housing need in the city,  to upgrade existing homes and regenerate communities, maintain momentum in tackling homelessness and support tenants and residents impacted by the pandemic, will be considered by Cabinet next week. The Council’s annual Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan also sets out how the authority will focus on rolling out innovative decarbonisation projects across the city, deliver a zero carbon housing development in Rumney and create an onsite construction training hub to train up to 750 people a year and offer employment or apprenticeships to over 200…

Bridgend County Borough Council has confirmed that it intends to oppose plans from the Ministry of Justice for siting an all-new Wales Residential Women’s Centre within the local area. A number of potential sites across South Wales are currently being considered as locations for the centre, including the Atlantic Hotel in Porthcawl and Sunnyside House in Bridgend town. The centre, which is intended to keep Welsh female offenders closer to home while providing intensive rehabilitative support as part of a community sentence, would include residential accommodation and an integrated support hub. The Ministry of Justice has asked to meet with…

If you’ve been following the news headlines these last few years, you may have noticed that Wales has started to become more and more attractive to people wishing to move here. Reports have shown that Wales is finding special favour with Londoners, who have started to move from the city in the last few years, drawn by the possibility of a quieter life. There has also been talk of lockdown encouraging businesses to relocate from England to Wales, tempted by considerably lower commercial rents than in London. Even more impressively, however, Wales has caught more the eye of European royals…

It goes without saying that social media has become an important part of our daily lives. It keeps everyone in the world connected to each other, shrinking thousands of miles worth of distance into one click away. Looking at it from a business owner’s perspective, this has been the greatest invention to marketing since the advent of newsletters. Social media platforms are such potent mediums for marketing that most brands, from conglomerates to small business enterprises, are in on the game. However, out of all the social media platforms online, there is one that seems to attract business and generate…

Swansea Council is working flat-out to help residents at a block of flats in Matthew Street return to their homes as soon as possible after they had to be evacuated when the sprinkler system was deliberately set off. A huge operation involving council officers from many different departments swung into action following the incident on Thursday. Significant water damage was caused to electrical systems in the building that has left 60 of the 65 flats without power. Council staff were on site immediately Thursday’s incident was reported. They continued working throughout the day and into the night making sure residents…

A new, segregated, ‘pop-up’ cycleway which will run from Cathedral Road to Dumfries Place, will open to the public on Monday, March 15. The new route is part of the cross-city cycleway. Ongoing works will soon see it extended to the end of Wellington Street, to the west of the city, and to the junction with Broadway on Newport Road, to the east. Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, Cllr Caro Wild said: “We want to make Cardiff the best cycling city in the UK and we plan to build an integrated cycleway network from the city centre which…

RCT Council has appointed a contractor to deliver a major Welsh Government-funded scheme on the A4059 between Asda and Tinney’s roundabouts in Aberdare – to ensure the road is more resilient during heavy rainfall. The £500,000 scheme is wholly funded by Welsh Government’s Resilient Roads Grant, and is targeted across a 400m section of the road adjacent to the River Cynon which is historically susceptible to flooding over the last thirty years. The works area will be from north of the informal pedestrian crossing between Glancynon Terrace and the Ynys fields, to the footbridge nearest Asda roundabout. The scheme will…

The Welsh Government will fund pilot schemes to accelerate the uptake of electric bikes (e-bikes) and electric cargo bikes (e-cargo bikes) in Wales. Lee Waters said the move is part of efforts to deliver a culture change in how people get around in Wales, creating a greener and more convenient transport network. International examples have shown that e-bikes are a practical alternative to the car for some people. The schemes therefore adds to a range of Welsh Government policies that look to tackle congestion and get people more active. The pilots will see four e-bike ‘hubs’ established in Rhyl, Swansea,…

Are you trying to sell your home and are seemingly having no luck at all? Have you looked at the specifics of what buyers look for when they are looking to purchase a new property or home? Selling your house can be an exciting prospect because it hopefully means that you will be moving to an even better home that is more suited to your wants and needs. Although it can be a fun an exciting adventure to move away from a home that you have lived in for a long time, it means that you will have to actually…

Losing a loved one is difficult, and particularly more so during the challenges of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Here Helen French, Interim Head of Counselling at City Hospice, explains why it is important to be open about death. If we can’t talk about death and dying now, then when can we? As we approach the anniversary of the first lockdown restrictions coming into effect in the UK, many families will be reflecting on how their lives have changed completely in the space of a year and sadly, in many cases, remembering those they have lost. Everybody will experience the loss…