Neath Port Talbot council has completely revamped its way of dealing with staff sickness absence, with the aim of virtually eliminating abuses while giving better support to those genuinely ill. At a presentation by the review team on Thursday afternoon, there was an almost universal response by council members of “about time, too!”. I would […]

Blaenhonddan Community Council tonight resolved, by ten votes to five, to rename the Owain Glyndwr Centre as the Waunceirch Community Centre. The reasons advanced by the majority group were that: all the other centres in the community were named after their locality, that the original naming decision had been taken on political grounds (when Plaid […]

Earlier this week, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude announced the results of the review of arm’s length public bodies (quangos). The coalition government believes that people are fed up with important decisions being made about their lives by people they can’t elect, they can’t hold to account and they can’t vote out. The aim is […]

Disappointed as I was by yesterday’s result in the by-election in Neath North, I was encouraged by the fact that the new Labour councillor is of the age from which we should be drawing more of our council members: mature, but some way from pensionable age. Too many of us are in the latter category. […]

The new Conservative minister for the construction industry, Mark Prisk, has confirmed the coalition government’s continuing support for the TrustMark scheme. This helps homeowners find reliable and trustworthy tradesmen to carry out, for instance, repairs and improvements to houses. If a firm displays the TrustMark logo, you know that they have been subject to an […]

There was a seminar in Port Talbot Civic Centre yesterday morning at which representatives of the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU) presented their plans for the immediate future. Deputy leader Cllr Peter Rees, in the absence of leader Ali Thomas, introduced Ed Roberts, vice-chairman of the board and well-known to members, and chief […]

Congratulations to Claire Marchant, the county borough’s head of community care, who was delivered of a baby girl earlier this week. (Robert Rees has assumed temporary charge of Claire’s responsibilities while she has been on maternity leave.) The briefing from the officers today was unusually short on detail, but mother & baby are doing well, […]

The Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales has published its final proposals for reorganising ward boundaries in Neath Port Talbot. They have endeavoured to achieve electoral divisions with a councillor-to-electorate ratio no lower than 1:1750, but avoiding the geographical nonsenses of their first draft which had been universally condemned. The result for Cadoxton is merger […]

Just a reminder that the closing date for the submission of further candidate sites for the Local Development Plan (LDP) passed on the 27th July. The council is now inviting comments on them up until 30th September – see http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=6210 Note that Cadoxton is covered by the “Neath Spatial Area”. Residents may be also be […]

My next two surgeries, to be held in the Cadoxton community centre between 10 a.m. and mid-day, will be on 26th June and 31st July. From August onwards, instead of being held on the last Saturday of the month, they will be on the third Saturday, in order to avoid holiday weekends. The smaller room […]