Was it really that bad? readers of the Neath Guardian may ask. Well, yes, unfortunately it was. The Guardian’s reporting on this, and on the other items relating to Blaenhonddan in this week’s edition, is accurate so far as I can recall. One can only hope that, having got the party-political and personal point-scoring in the first meeting after the AGM out of the way, we can concentrate on working for the good of the community, rather than our respective political parties.

The report of my comments on Cllr. Matthews’ motion was also accurate. I also said that, if his motion did actually become law, parish and town councils in many parts of England would collapse. What I was tempted to add was that a few Labour councillors might be disbarred if a residents-only rule were applied to the county borough council!

On the positive side, I managed to get appointed to the Open Spaces Committee of the council. Sadly, for reasons which were not entirely clear to me, Peter Jutsum, Labour fellow-representative from Cadoxton, had not been elected to it. I can only hope that I can achieve half of what Peter has done for the ward’s footpaths and open spaces in the last four years. Fortunately, Mike Richards, whose name is mentioned in the same breath as Peter’s, will continue.

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