Author: Rhys Gregory

Today over 280 restaurants in towns and city centres will open their doors for walk-in takeaway service, including Cardiff and Swansea. With restaurant teams adjusting to new procedures to enable safe working and social distancing, McDonal’s has said stores will look a little different and things may take a little longer. Cardiff’s Queen Street restaurant and the one on Swansea’s Oxford Street will reopen for walk-ins, but others in the area remain open for drive-thru only. McDonald’s has said that the safety and wellbeing of their employees, customers and delivery partner couriers is their priority, so they have introduced the…

A Welsh technology entrepreneur has launched an online learning community to help close the growing digital skills gap. Stryve, founded by Dan Lewis, is a space for people of all levels of experience to learn new tech skills from their peers and share learning content that they feel was really useful to them. The platform, which is focused solely on digital and technology, has been designed to help raise awareness of different learning and career opportunities out there. Its ethos is to ‘share, learn and progress’. People can access and share content like courses, podcasts, blogs and events; review, rate…

The Conveyancing Association (CA), the leading trade body for the conveyancing industry, has today urged the Welsh Government to go ‘further’ and ‘faster’ in opening up its housing market, suggesting that it now needs to follow the same approach and protocols which have been in place in the English market since mid-May. Last Friday, the Welsh Government announced a partial reopening of the housing market in Wales from the 22nd June meaning: All house moves can go ahead where the residential property has been unoccupied i.e. vacant for at least 72 hours.   House moves can take place where a sale…

No playdough, sandpits, or water games, but plenty of cuddles and outdoor play in smaller groups, and NO floor markings, face masks or timed toilet breaks. That’s the life after lockdown plan for the UK’s biggest childcare provider, which has already reopened nurseries in countries first affected by Covid-19, including Singapore and Malaysia, and over 300 centres across England Busy Bees, which has three centres in Wales, has confirmed that its health and safety plans for its Welsh nurseries won’t require children to play in hoops and bubbles as some schools have suggested. Instead, it will focus on dividing children…

NORTH Wales Economic Ambition Board is recruiting to help deliver the region’s transformative £1bn Growth Deal. The Ambition Board’s Programme Office is looking to fill seven key positions that will drive forward the programmes that make up the Deal – part of the Growth Vision for North Wales. Led by director Alwen Williams, the team currently consists of Digital Programme Manager Stuart Whitfield, Energy Programme Manager Henry Aron, Land and Property Manager David Matthews and Operations Manager Hedd Vaughan-Evans. Based at Conwy Business Centre in Llandudno Junction – and remotely – they are seeking a Programme Manager to lead on…

The recent impact of COVID-19 on the small food and drink producing businesses has been significant. As a positive, more people have sought to support local businesses, realising the worth of ‘Buy Local’.  As part of the buy local movement Cwm a Mynydd, the rural development programme for Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent are offering food and drink producers an opportunity to become a part of a soon to be launched local food map for Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent providing a visual directory of local food and drink.  The food map and website will give residents an easy way to see…

Vulnerable young people across the Caerphilly county borough will receive care boxes, as part of a new initiative launched to coincide with Youth Work Week 2020; taking place from 22nd – 30th June. The ‘Because We Care’ box initiative has been developed by The Basement and HPAD (Homelessness, Prevention, Awareness, Diversion) teams, who both form part of Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Youth Service. Through the scheme, Youth Workers are delivering boxes to vulnerable young people that they work with to let them know that they care and a reminder that support is still available to them throughout the pandemic. An…

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council will implement new traffic arrangements through the centre of Abercynon from Thursday (June 25), including the new one-way system coming into effect – as part of an effort to improve traffic flow in the area.  During September 2019, the Council started a three-week consultation with residents over proposed significant highway improvements – and received largely positive feedback from 136 people who attended a public exhibition and 61 others who contacted the Council separately. Work started on site in February 2020, towards making the following changes through Abercynon: altering the current one-way systems in the centre of…

Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) in Wales have been awarded £3 million in funding by Welsh Government, to support national resilience capabilities and the response to national emergencies. Split between all three Welsh authorities, the funding will support FRAs in how they respond to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incidents; serious flooding; incidents involving the collapse of buildings or other structures; and terrorist attacks; paying for specialised vehicles and equipment, along with the crews that operate them. To help assist with the recent Covid pandemic, Welsh Fire and Rescue Authorities have deployed some of the assets funded to support national…

The Welsh Government is providing £400,000 to support a growing Hengoed-based business which produces plastic injection moulded products and create 25 new jobs over the next 12 to 18 months. Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Ken Skates today announced OGM (SW) Limited will use the investment from the Economy Futures Fund to turn its Hengoed-based plant into a world-class plastic injection moulding operation. The funding will be vital in supporting the local economy in recovering from the impact of coronavirus. As well as helping create 25 new jobs, the funding will enable the company to invest in new…