Author: Rhys Gregory

Clawdd Poncen residents have welcomed a series of improvements to their green spaces including a new pump track, thanks to the Nature for Health programme. Following consultation with residents, a series of improvements were identified, including a community growing space, a path around the field and a much-needed facility where children could develop cycling skills. Nature for Health is a collaborative project that engages with individuals and communities to promote the role access to nature can play in improving health and wellbeing. The programme is a partnership between the Council’s Countryside and Community Resilience teams who are supported by the…

North Wales tidal energy project, Morlais, has reached the final in the prestigious Constructing Excellence Awards, to be held in London on November 15. After winning both the Climate Action and Infrastructure Project of the Year in the preliminary round, Morlais is now set to represent Wales on a UK stage, competing against major construction and infrastructure projects.   Managed by Anglesey-based social enterprise Menter Môn Morlais Ltd, the scheme is the only renewable energy project to reach the final and is one of only two projects from north Wales. Morlais already stands out as Europe’s largest consented tidal stream electricity initiative…

A North Wales company has grown to become the only UK-wide housekeeping provider. Godfrey Group has expanded rapidly during the last two years and now provides housekeeping services to holiday parks, holiday homes, resorts and hotels. The company’s growth has also been boosted by its commercial cleaning division with key sectors including schools, housing associations and factories. Clients include Luxury Lodges, Wayfind Escapes, Meadow Bay Villages, Charteroak Holiday Lodges, Adra and Niagara Healthcare. During the last two years, turnover and headcount have more than doubled. The company currently employs over 300 people at sites across the UK. Godrey Group will…

Independent advisory Turley has recruited Annie Gingell as Associate Director in its South West and Wales team. Annie joins from Tetlow King Planning where she was an Associate Director and Head of Affordable Housing. Annie specialises in affordable and other specialist forms of housebuilding, working with landowners, house builders and housing associations on projects across the UK. Recognised as an expert witness in her field, Annie has a wealth of experience of giving evidence at Section 78 appeal hearings and public inquiries across England, and is an active commentator on the sector and a champion of its benefits to society.…

New analysis revealed today at Wales’ largest renewable energy conference shows Wales has an unprecedented £46.8 billion investment opportunity from renewable energy by 2035—a transformation that could drive long-term economic growth, create thousands of jobs, and invigorate Welsh communities. Delegates at Future Energy Wales 2024 at the ICC in Newport heard the first insights from preliminary research conducted by BiGGAR Economics. Commissioned by RenewableUK Cymru in collaboration with Solar Energy UK and Marine Energy Wales, it maps out the potential economic impact of hitting Wales’s renewable energy targets for onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, and tidal power. The analysis projects…

Welsh companies signalled expansion in new business inflows during October, according to the latest NatWest Cymru Regional Growth Tracker. The expansion, which is the fourth month of growth in succession for the region, also coincided with reports that there is further optimism among Welsh companies regarding output for the coming year, with confidence driven by hopes of new client wins. But the sequence of growth was the softest since July, and October saw a stronger fall in output across the Welsh private sector. At 47.0 in October, the headline Wales Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures…

Last week, Whisper Cymru was recognised at the 10th Cardiff Business Awards, winning Innovation Business of the Year, having previously won Creative & Digital Business of the Year. The Cymru Broadcast Centre first opened its doors in August 2024 ahead of delivering Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympics. The new fully accessible, remote production facility based at Tramshed Tech, offers a versatile, state-of-the-art production facility featuring everything needed to deliver global remote productions on a large scale, which will bring new and increased opportunities to the region. Alongside 18 other winners, Whisper Cymru took home the title, after…

Art historian and exhibition curator, Peter Lord, has been exploring the myth that there is ‘no Welsh art’ since the 1980s, discovering and recording examples and artists. On Saturday, November 16, a new exhibition opens in the Gregynog Gallery at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, combining his substantial collection with items from the library’s National Art Collection for the first time to tell this important story. The exhibition challenges a statement made in 1950 by late Welsh novelist, poet and broadcaster Dr Llewelyn Wyn Griffith who controversially said: “So much for the past. No patron, no critic, therefore no painter, no…

A new steam locomotive will be heading the annual Santa Special trains on Corris Railway for one of the first time in decades. For most of the last 20 years, ‘Tattoo’ steam locomotive Number 7, built new for the railway in 2005 has done the honour. This year, however, the starring role goes to Number 10, a “Falcon” class loco delivered new to the Corris in 2023, After a spell as Britain’s newest steam loco, it has had a busy 2024, starring in gala events on both the Corris and the Talyllyn Railways. It also played a leading role in…

Denbighshire County Council will once again be running the ‘Free After Three’ parking scheme in the run up to Christmas. Adding an additional two days to the scheme this year, Denbighshire Council-run town centre car parks will be free to use county wide across Denbighshire every day from 3pm between 18th November – 31st December. This scheme runs alongside the 5 free parking days issued to Town and City Councils each year. The ‘Free After Three’ parking scheme opens over 25 central town centre car parks for residents to use for free after 3pm. This initiative makes the high streets…