Author: Rhys Gregory

An important milestone has been reached in the building of a new home for a thriving Welsh medium primary school in Swansea. The steel frame for the £9.9m development for Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Tan-y-lan has been completed. Contractor Kier has made great progress on the school since moving on site last summer while working within strict coronavirus safety measures. Usually pupils are invited to a ‘topping-out’ ceremony to mark such an occasion but due to the current restrictions this has not been possible. The development is being jointly funded by Swansea Council and the Welsh Government under the 21st Century…

An overgrown and neglected bridleway in a Swansea community is being given a new lease of life in a bid to encourage more use by walkers and cyclists. Swansea Council has secured more than £1.8 million of Welsh Government Active Travel funding to create a series of cycling links in the Sketty and Mayals communities. Part of the funding is being invested in a 2.5km cycle lane which will follow the path of the existing bridleway, across an old landfill site in Clyne Valley. The new route will include a safer and more accessible surface, enabling wheelchair users and families…

Neath-based construction company J.G. Hale Construction has commenced the demolition of five existing two-storeyresidential blocks in Newport, to make way for a development of more energy efficient homes. The existing site at Longmeadow Court will be demolished and replaced by a development of 35 dwellings for Newport City Homes. The scheme will comprise of 24 one-bedroom apartments, 9 two-bedroom houses and 2 four-bedroom homes. The homes provided by the £5.2m project will be built to EPC A standard – the highest grade on the ‘energy efficiency’ scale, which as well as reducing energy costs for the residents, also reduces the…

The highly anticipated details for the regeneration of a brownfield site in Cardiff have been unveiled by developer Vastint UK as a public consultation launches today. Members of the public have been invited to share their views on the masterplan proposals for a transformative, mixed-use project which aims to strengthen connections between Cardiff City Centre and the bay along the banks of the River Taff. The Embankment at Dumballs Road will deliver the sustainable redevelopment of a key strategic, 40-acre site, creating up to 2,500 new homes alongside 54,000 square metres of business space as well as opportunities for leisure,…

Local High School, Mary Immaculate have been going the extra mile once again. This time the school has managed to raise £760.91 to donate to the Know Your Lemons Foundation in honour of Mrs Dawn Wilson. Know Your Lemons is a foundation that is dedicated to spreading the awareness of breast cancer symptoms, their important mission is to help women find breast cancer as early as possible. As of 2020, they reached 1 billion people online because of their #knowyourlemons campaign, helping to educate women all around the world. After Dawn was diagnosed with breast cancer, she discovered that there…

Wales has seen a significant drop in the value and number of fraud cases taken to the Courts, with only ten cases totalling £4.1 million being taken to court in 2020 compared to 17 cases totalling £17 million in 2019. The average value (between £250k-£1m) of each case was also lower in 2020 than compared to 2019. The perpetrators of 90% of the frauds in 2020 have been men, most of whom were career criminals. The typical victims were members of the general public and government organisations. Damian Byrne, Forensic lead for KPMG in Wales, commented: “Since March 2020, as…

Welsh homelessness charity, Llamau, have received a donation of £1,000 from the Amazon fulfilment centre in Swansea. Daring to imagine a world without homelessness, Llamau, supports young people, women and children who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Since first established more than 30 years ago, Llamau has supported over 67,000 people to escape homelessness and domestic abuse. The charity run services across Wales, supporting young care leavers, people involved with the criminal justice system and women who’ve experienced domestic abuse. The range of services provided by Llamau aims to prevent homelessness from ever happening but when it does,…

The Football Association of Wales can confirm that Jayne Ludlow has left her post as the Cymru Women’s National Team Manager by mutual consent. Jayne has been at the helm since October 2014 and became the first manager to lead the side for more than 50 games. During that period Cymru reached the top 30 in the FIFA Women’s rankings for the first time and her side narrowly missed out on a place in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. FAW Chief Executive Jonathan Ford said: “Jayne has played a huge part in the progress of the Women’s game in…

A new survey from NatWest has found that over a quarter (28%) of people in Wales don’t feel financially secure or believe they have enough money to live comfortably and afford essential payments (e.g. groceries, utility bills, mortgage and rent payments) in the current Covid-19 climate. Despite this, almost a third (31%) of Welsh respondents admitted that they would be uncomfortable speaking to friends and family about their current financial status and almost a quarter (23%) said they have previously lied to make themselves seem more financially secure than they are. Over half (55%) of Welsh respondents also acknowledged that…

The Moondance Foundation Covid-19 relief fund has earmarked an additional £10 million in 2021 to distribute to Welsh charities and organisations who are supporting those struggling as a direct result of Covid. Diane Engelhardt, Chair of Moondance said, “2020 has been a difficult year for so many people in Wales.  When the pandemic hit, we immediately wanted to help and launched a Covid-19 Relief Fund.  Since March 2020, we have donated £7.5 million to over 800 charities and organisations in Wales but there is still much to be done. “The impact of Covid-19 is set to continue well in 2021…