I have been appointed as a Local Education Authority Governor at Catwg Primary School, with effect from last Monday.
I have been unsuccessful in a bid to join the board of governors of Llangatwg School.
Neath Citizens Advice Bureau at 44 Alfred Street has been enabled to carry on providing advice and assistance to people claiming Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, at least until 31st March next year.
HM Revenue & Customs’ Annual Reviews are due by 31st July - that is, next Thursday. Therefore, it is important for all claimants of Tax Credits to submit details of their income from the tax year April 2007 - April 2008. If HMRC discover that they have not been told about changes in income, and overpayments result, the penalties could be crippling.
Citizens Advice ask that people requesting advice make an appointment on 01639 634062.
The Neath Guardian report was somewhat sensationalist but basically accurate. It should be said, however, that a decision on the Marie Curie donation was deferred rather than rejected outright.
It is regrettable that a debate over One Voice Wales should split on political lines. (See previous post) It is not as if heat had been generated by differences of party philosophy. Another community council, on which Labour has the largest party representation, has been affiliated to One Voice Wales from the outset. It recently decided, after a reasoned debate, to send just one representative to attend a number of OVW’s training modules.
Other resolutions were passed, notably on a proposition from Cllr Linda Ware, “that in all future meetings of there will be a regular item - ‘Report from County Borough Councillors & Reports from all Outside Bodies”. Cllr E Jones objected that it was illegal for the community council to call borough councillors to account. This is certainly something which the Clerk is going to have to look into.
It is clearly right that members of the community council nominated by the council to represent our interests on outside bodies should give an account of relevant developments on those outside bodies. However, the CC as a whole has a direct relationship with the county borough council; county borough councillors have a direct relationship with the voters in their wards, and not with the people in the other wards which make up Blaenhonddan; and there is a direct relationship between the county borough councillor and the county borough. The possibilities of conflict of interest, and of prejudice, are obvious. I attempted therefore to remove the reference to ‘County Borough Councillors’, but was unsuccessful.
One correction to my previous report: Mike Richards, it seems, will not continue on the Open Spaces Committee which is therefore one member light, as I understand it.
There was a useful PACT (Partnerships And Communities Together) meeting at Llangatwg School yesterday evening (22nd July).
The troubles in the unadopted lane behind Caegroes and Cadoxton Terraces were discussed at length. The police community officers announced that they had been given access to the Scout hut for regular use as a sub-base, which would appear to be a major step forward.
The priority items for the next couple of months would be speeding and the illegal use of motorcycles in both Cadoxton and Aberdulais wards. The next meeting is provisionally scheduled for 16th September.
The streetcare people at the Quays have resisted replacing the traditional-style shelter (left) because it requires less maintenance and casual visitors tend to like the appearance. The current model looks very smart when new, but the polycarbonate panels lose their transparency over the years, taking on a misty appearance as micro-scratches build up.
However, the argument that the old shelters in Cadoxton have attracted rubbish - and worse - has been accepted. There is a backlog of installation (some parts of the borough on bus routes have no shelters at all), but a start will be made as soon as new shelters become available.
There is a legal anomaly in that there is much legislation against dogs fouling footways (and other public spaces), but not against horses depositing much larger contributions.
If you do see horse droppings where they should not be (and you don’t want to collect them for a garden!), please phone Service First on (01639) 686868.
I have received a prospectus from CISWO, a charitable organisation providing services to mining dependents. Among these is holiday provision at The Court Royal Mines Home, Bournemouth.
Further information is available from the Regional Manager, Unit 5 Maritime Offices, Woodland Terrace, Maesycoed, PONTYPRIDD CF37 1DZ, or by clicking the link above.
South Wales West AM, Liberal Democrat Peter Black, has made a significant speech to the Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services.
A fortnight ago, the councillors for Aberdulais, Cadoxton and Tonna were invited to observe a COMAH emergency planning exercise. The scenario was a collision and fire at the Calor Gas plant in Aberdulais. The disruption to the public and the cost clearly ruled out a full-scale reconstruction (though a video of the original incident staged at the plant was shown to the participants), so the exercise was restricted to the “table-top”. However, all the authorities who would be involved in such a major civil emergency were represented, in most cases, so far as I could see, by the actual people concerned.
The main thing I took away from the exercise was reassurance, on two counts: firstly, that even the tip of Cadoxton Ward which came within the danger area* was unlikely to be affected; secondly, that the front-line services (fire, police, ambulance primarily) were well equipped and well drilled to deal with the immediate emergency.
If there were to be a spillage of gas, it would flow - as it expanded from its liquefied state - along the ground, being heavier than air. The gas would almost certainly sink into the Neath Canal and flow with it, raising the alarming prospect of fire taking hold in the woods and undergrowth along the canal, threatening the houses in Tonna above it. This is a worst case, and the fire service, along with Calor’s own emergency staff, were clearly confident they could prevent it, though possibly at the cost of pollution of the canal and river from the chemicals used.(Even here, there are now tight regulations on what chemicals can be used in such situations, and there is more danger to wildlife resulting from diesel spillage.)
Less clear-cut were issues resulting from relations with the public. In the unlikely event that evacuation was felt to be necessary, the police have no powers to force people to leave their homes. Some might not even find it easy to do so. (The police can legally prevent entry to the emergency zone.) It could also be difficult to inform local citizens what is going on. Apparently, the percentage of the population listening to local radio has dropped considerably in recent years (presumably as .mp3 players have caught on). The siren at the plant can give no more information than that an emergency has occurred. It may be that the old-fashioned (and person-intensive) knock at the door may have to be brought back.
Doreen Jones, ward councillor for Aberdulais, pointed out another serious hole in the existing emergency plan: informing elected representatives. There was no provision for letting the ward councillor(s) know what was happening. This has now been rectified in that the Joint Resilience Unit (which coordinates emergency action in Swansea & Neath Port Talbot) will inform the corporate communications and marketing manager, who will in turn pass on the news to cabinet and ward members. All councillors have now been provided with an emergency incident prompt card, as well.
*The Public Information Zone, the area around a COMAH establishment to which information (in writing) must be made available, is set at 400m in the case of LPG. However, the danger area may actually be smaller than this. The limit is based on practical experience of an actual fire, but on a vessel on water, not a land-based incident.
There are just a few days to go before the Evan Evans Bevan exhibition closes at the end of June.
The exhibits are not shown to their best advantage, in Neath Museum’s temporary home in the Dyfed Road Leisure Centre, but the displays are well up to the Museum Department’s standard. It must have brought back memories to many, and was certainly illuminating to those of us who may have supped only a pint or two of “Vale of Neath” ales before the brewery had to close.
