Drop-in sessions at 44 Alfred Street, NEATH SA11 1EH Mondays 9.30 – 11.00 Tuesdays 12.30 – 14.00 Wednesdays 9.30 – 11.00 Fridays 12.30 – 14.00 Telephone service available on 08444 77 20 20 Monday – Friday 10.00 – 16.00 There are also information kiosks  at various points throughout the county borough, including Resolven Building Blocks.

The Neath and Swansea Citizens Advice Bureaux, noting the rise in the number of clients bringing in troubles caused by debt, have arranged sessions to help the public at large. A Financial Capability Session is designed to encourage financial planning and budgeting, especially in times of financial hardship or when people experience a change in […]

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 […]

I wouldn’t normally comment on England-only political matters, but the coalition’s abolition of Labour’s BSF programme has impelled a leading Liberal Democrat councillor to threaten to leave the party: http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/07/09/liverpool-lib-dem-leader-warren-bradley-we-ll-be-wiped-out-by-coalition-with-conservatives-92534-26816261/ What Councillor Bradley ignores is that the Liberal Democrats, and the Liberals before, have always been “sound money” parties. BSF was largely based on the […]

  7 June 2010 PR 36/10 Commission warns of bogus telephone calls   The Charity Commission has been made aware of a scam involving people being telephoned by individuals claiming to represent the Charity Commission. In the phone calls these individuals claim to be from the “debt collection department” of the Commission and they demand payments […]

There will be a meeting covering the NEATH/DULAIS VALLEYS tomorrow, Tuesday 6th October, at Llangatwg Comprehensive, starting at 17:30. More details here.

The Welsh Assembly seems to have consulted local councils on a Legislative Competence Order, relating to community councils, as an afterthought. Certainly, they did not allow for the fact that many community councils do not meet in the month of August. As it was, the request for comments came before us on Blaenhonddan Community Council […]

The community council is sent a copy of the annual report of the West Glamorgan county archivist. I was lucky enough to be first in the queue to see the 2008-9 report, and fascinating reading it is too. Most of the features are Swansea-orientated, since that is where the HQ is based, but the Neath […]

This is a summary of decisions taken at the Liberal Democrat federal executive committee last Monday: 1. There will be a code of conduct binding on Liberal Democrat parliamentarians and candidates. 2. All Liberal Democrat MPs will support the proposals from Sir Christopher Kelly’s review of MPs’ expenses. There will be no picking and choosing […]

The hustings at the Environment Centre in Swansea went well. Having been organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition Cymru, an umbrella organisation representing almost 70 environment organisations and charities, the session concentrated on “green” issues.The opening remarks by the chairman, Phil MacDonald of the Swansea Environment Forum, suggested that feelings might run high, as […]