Tai Ceredigion looks for local builders to take on contracts worth £40 million

Tai Ceredigion, the housing association for Ceredigion, is calling for local contractors to get in touch and express their interest in work on all sizes of contracts, including their heating, windows & doors programmes.

Over the next five years the local not-for-profit housing association based in Lampeter must bring all their 2,229 properties in Ceredigion up to the Welsh Quality Housing Standard - quite a task. It will entail a massive £40m improvements programme which the organisation has been in consultation with its tenants and leaseholders about during the past year.

Llyr Edwards, the Director of Property Services said,
“We're looking for all qualified contractors in the area to get in touch with us. We've split all the work into different sized contracts accessible for small, medium or larger firms. We are focused on employing as many local contractors as possible so if anyone is interested they must express an interest first and then a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) will be sent to them.”

The closing date for the application for a PQQ pack is the 16th December and then all completed PQQs must be returned by 28th January.

Interested parties can express an interest and order a PQQ pack by e-mailing  pss@taiceredigion.org.uk

Ceredigion does better than most in local government settlement

The Provisional Local Government Revenue Settlement published on Friday by the Welsh government following the previous week’s draft budget shows that Local Government in Wales will face a cut of 1.4% over the coming year. In England local government is facing a cut of 7.1% each year for the next 4 years.

Ceredigion has received the second lowest cut in its budget of all 22 local authorities in Wales. Ceredigion’s cut in budget is well below the average at -0.7%, although is still, of course, a cut.

As Ceredigion's Director of Finance says in a report to this week's Council Cabinet meeting:
"It would only be fair to say that the provisional settlement for Ceredigion is better than had been anticipated. However, a provisional RSG decrease of 0.7% for Ceredigion is clearly the worst settlement since the inception of the Council as a Unitary Authority in 1996. The Council’s budget for 2011/12 will need to be formulated within the available resources, and work is on-going to determine how resources are to be allocated in order to ensure that services are protected as far as practicable."

Elin Jones, Assembly Member for Ceredigion, said:

“I’m pleased that Ceredigion has fared better than most local authorities in the budget settlement. This will help local councillors running services for people in Ceredigion. The Assembly Government has given priority to education and social services, and I hope that Ceredigion County Council will also honour this priority as they design their budget.

“Councils in Wales will face an overall cut of 1.4%; far lower than the 7.1% cuts for local council authorities in England. With the Conservatives and Lib Dems making savage cuts to public services, drafting the Welsh budget was always going to mean some difficult decisions. With Plaid Cymru in government we have been able to ensure that the things most important to the people of Ceredigion and Wales have been looked after as best they can.”

Students besiege Lib Dem HQ in Aberystwyth

Around  80 students besieged the Lib Dem headquarters in Aberystwyth today in protest at the Westminster government's proposed drastic increases in university tuition fees. The protest was one of a series of actions across Wales and the rest of the UK.

Although the police kept a low presence at the front of the demonstration, 70 officers were kept on standby in case of serious disorder. In the event the demonstration was noisy and colourful but peaceful. Lecturers held a seminar in Owain Glyndwr Square and drama students danced and staged short performances.

The issue of student fees looks likely to dog the Conservative / Lib Dem government in Westminster for years to come and is likely to seriously affect the votes of those parties in university towns.

Aberystwyth - Rhywbeth i Bawb

A series of images, including the one above, has been put together to provide direction for all marketing activities associated with Aberystwyth. The exercise, commissioned by the organisation Menter Aberystwyth, also includes the typeface and strapline above which can increasingly be seen on flags and posters around the town.

Some of the graphics will be used on information boards to be placed around the town soon, depicting its various aspects and giving directions.

The several hundred images, together with the branding guidelines, are available free of charge as high resolution downloads for use to support any promotional activities. Their use is unrestricted but users first have to register with the site - see here for access. They were taken this year by local photographer Guy Taylor.

The project is part of a scheme by Menter Aberystwyth to, 'develop and implement a coherent sense of place in Aberystwyth'. It's being funded by a number of local organisations through the Rural Development Plan scheme.

Aberystwyth Town Councillors get stuck in

These are Aberystwyth Town Councillors planting bulbs in the garden of North Road Bowling Club today. This kind of volunteer work could become more important in the future as the County Council's popular town centre flower displays are likely to be one of the first victims of pending cuts.

Pictured from the front are town councillors: Ann-Marie Hinde, Sue Jones-Davies, Samantha Hearne and Mark Strong.