News
Town Teams ‘important to the future’
A RECENT campaign was launched to breathe new life and vitality into Britain’s local shopping high streets. ‘Support Your High Street’ took place at the end of September with the aim of encouraging businesses and organisations, including local government, to support the idea of shopping ‘locally’ in town, village and city high streets, rather than just using out-of-town retail parks.
On September 18, Pembrokeshire’s County Council released a Town Centre Regeneration annual report, via its Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report focussed heavily on ‘Town Teams’ as part of this regeneration programme. As the report states, Town Teams are partnerships comprising the local business community, town councils and local interest groups along with the County Council, and have been established in six of our county towns: Haverfordwest, Fishguard and Goodwick, Milford Haven, Pembroke, Pembroke Dock and Tenby. Each Town Team is to produce their own action plan. On the subject of Town Team funding the report states, ‘Match funding has been generated via Town Councils and Chambers of Trade with a number of the Town Councils setting funding aside within their own precepts.
Match funding in 2013/14 was generated in three of the six towns (Fishguard, Haverfordwest and Pembroke). Match funding in kind/cash contributions is requested on a project by project basis.’ It further states where the responsibility for Town Team management lies, defining the County Council’s role as one which is to facilitate and enable the Town Teams to work under their own direction and progress with implementing their action plans, with appropriate support from the County Council. Local Pembrokeshire politicians were keen to have their say on this continued initiative to regenerate our County’s struggling towns.
Simon Hart, MP for South Pembrokeshire said: “These schemes are good news for the towns in question, and I am glad that progress is being made. I hope the council will look carefully at areas that are under occupied, such as Pembroke Dock, and provide additional assistance wherever possible. As ever with these schemes, it is action, rather than words, that really matter.” Speaking to The Herald Delyth Evans, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for South Pembrokeshire, stated: “The idea of Town Teams is a very good one. I particularly welcome the involvement of local businesses because they are so important to the future of our towns and they usually know what kind of improvements are necessary to help to attract visitors and customers.
I hope the trend towards out of town shopping has stopped. We should be encouraging people to shop in their local high street and spend their money on local produce and goods. My main concern is that there must be proper financial control and scrutiny of all money spent on improvement schemes, so that the recent misuse of a regeneration grant in Pembroke Dock doesn’t happen again. Complete transparency and rigorous auditing is therefore essential to ensure taxpayers’ money is well spent. Overall the Town Teams have made a good start and I would like to thank those involved for giving up their time and energy to improve their local community.”
Local Councillor for Wiston, and leader of the Conservative group on PCC, David Howlett commented: “Talking to business owners, business rates are a huge expense and although the Welsh Government have introduced some initiatives, I believe they should be going much further in taking far more businesses out of business rates altogether. We should be encouraging entrepreneurs that in turn would help our High Streets. Reduced amounts paid in Business Rates would greatly help this. Another policy I would like to see adopted is that some of the proceeds of council tax are retained by the Local Authority to spend in a way that they think will help regenerate town centres, rather than at present all the proceeds going to the Welsh Government. This would allow local initiatives that would hopefully help local high streets. This policy is already taking place in England, and I would like to see the Welsh Government follow suit.”
Education
Lib Dem leader meets student union after scrapping of teacher training
Last week, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds visited Aberystwyth University to meet students following the announcement that the University will be scrapping their Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) program.
The announcement comes after the publication of an Estyn inspection report last year, which found that the institution had “been too slow” when it came to prioritising student support.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have now called for the University to produce and implement an action plan that will enable the reintroduction of this course at the earliest opportunity, as well as for the Uni to rectify any similar shortcomings in other training programs.
Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:
“Aberystwyth university has long been seen as a cornerstone of education here in Wales, and its role in shaping the future of Welsh-medium education is pivotal.
However, the decision by the Education Workforce Council to withdraw accreditation for their teacher training program now puts this at risk.
The report published by Estyn rightfully identified several flaws in the Uni’s approach to supporting student teachers, along with requiring the University to make significant improvement.
The decision of the EWC suggest that these improvements have not been made.
We are now calling on the University to get their act together, fix the shortcomings in this program and begin plans to reintroduce the course as soon as possible.
Commenting, a spokesperson for the Welsh Young Liberals said: “There was an overwhelming lack of support, especially for Disabled Students, which has been consistent since 2020.
Previous lecturers were always late, and assignments were marked late and inconsistently.
As a joint honours student my timetable is very erratic, and this has an adverse effect on my wellbeing.
This does not however, mean that the course should be cut, Aberystwyth university should be looking to improve the course and help deliver the next generation of teachers.”
Commenting, the Welsh Liberal Democrat PPC for Ceredigion Mark Williams said: “The reputation of Aberystwyth University as a well-respected centre of education is rightfully a source of pride for many residents here in Ceredigion.
This is why it is so dis-heartening to hear that the Uni have failed to take the recommendations in the 2023 Estyn report seriously, leading them into the embarrassing position of losing their accreditation which risks delivering a severe blow to the future of Welsh-medium education.
The lack of foresight from the Uni in this regard is deeply worrying and I hope that, for the sake of both the students and the wider community, they take all the steps needed to restart the course at the earliest opportunity.”
Crime
Manslaughter charge following death in Carmarthenshire
DYFED-POWYS POLICE have confirmed Jason Thomas, 39, from Llanelli, has been charged with manslaughter following an incident on Saturday, March 25.
Police were called to a property in Robinson St, Llanelli to concerns for the welfare of a man.
Liam Rhys Morgan-Whittle, 22, was taken to hospital where he sadly passed away.
Jason Thomas was quickly arrested and later released on conditional bail while the police investigation continued.
He will appear at Llanelli Magistrates Court on Thursday, May 30, it has been confirmed.
News
£10,000 legal row over English-only parking charge notice continues
THE LANGUAGE campaigner Toni Schiavone will appear in court in Aberystwyth for the fourth time on Monday, 13 May over his refusal to pay an English-only parking charge notice, after the parking company One Parking Solution won an appeal to reintroduce the case in January.
This is despite the judge, Gareth Humphreys, warning that the company should carefully consider the value of continuing with a case that has already been “long, beyond unfortunate” and has cost the parking company over £10,000 in legal fees to date.
Cymdeithas yr Iaith have called on the court to rule that English-only parking charge notices are insufficient as ruled by the judge Mervyn Jones-Evans in a recent case in Caernarfon, and on the Welsh Government to legislate to ensure the rights of Welsh speakers in the private sector are respected.
Toni Schiavone received the English-only notice for not paying for parking in a car park in Llangrannog in September 2020.
The original case was thrown out of court in May 2022 because a representative from the parking company was not present, and the second case in August 2023 was also thrown out because the case was presented late and under incorrect rules.
On 26 January this year, One Parking Solution won an appeal enabling them to continue prosecuting Mr Schiavone, after the judge ruled that there were no grounds to throw the first two cases out of court.
Speaking at the hearing in January, Toni Schiavone said he had received a letter with costs of £10,156.70 a the day before from One Parking Solution, and that the company had acted “disrespectfully, unreasonably and vindictively.” According to research by Cymdeithas yr Iaith, translating the notice into Welsh would have cost only £60.
Siân Howys, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Welsh Language Rights Group said:
“It is disappointing that One Parking Solution have decided to resubmit this case, but the real reason Toni must appear in court yet again is because the rights of people who live in Wales to use the Welsh language are not ensured in statute. We have seen other cases of this recently as HSBC and the energy company OVO have weakened or even abolished their Welsh-medium services, without any serious response from our Government.
“We call on our members and supporters to be present on 13 May to support Toni, and to demand that the right to use the Welsh language in all aspects of life is respected through legislation.”
On 30 January, the Welsh Government voted against Heledd Fychan MS’s motion on behalf of Plaid Cymru in the Senedd to set Welsh Language Standards on a statutory basis for institutions in the private sector, such as banks, supermarkets and private car parks.
During the debate, Siân Gwenllian MS referred to Toni Schiavone’s case as an example of the need to legislate to ensure the rights of Welsh speakers. Discussing the parking company, she said:
“Once again, the response is arrogant and insulting.
“Why must Welsh speakers continue to campaign and demand services through the medium of Welsh?
“It is high time that the basic rights of Welsh speakers were respected through statute, and that in all aspects of life.”
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