Aberystwyth Renewal Area

A proposed Aberystwyth Renewal Area will be the subject of Open Days on Monday and Tuesday 24th and 25th January.

Aberystwyth’s designation as a 'Renewal Area' is part of the Welsh Assembly Government's Strategic Regeneration Area funding and follows the success of the Cardigan Renewal Area, which has been on-going for the past seven years and has revolutionised the look of the town. Another Renewal Area has recently been declared for Tregaron and Neighbouring Villages.

The Aberystwyth Scheme will concentrate on housing issues and aims to upgrade the town’s dilapidated properties and public areas, improve energy efficiency in the town’s oldest houses, reduce the number of vacant properties and improve access for the disabled.

The open days are an opportunity for people to find out about the scheme and put their views about exactly what’s needed. They'll be held at Canolfan Morlan in Queens Road on:

Monday 24th Jan 10am – 8pm

Tuesday 25th January 10am – 4pm

Aberystwyth builders fined over unsafe cliff

Aberystwyth developer Merlin Homes was today fined £10,000 with £7,000 costs over the controversial Infirmary Road cliff (story last covered on this blog here).  The fine was for contravening a Prohibition Notice by the Health & Safety Executive supposed to prevent further work on the area to the rear of the new flats at the foot of the hill whilst the cliff behind remains unstable.  The cliff is part of Parc Natur Penglais, a local nature reserve owned by Ceredigion Council and run by local people.

The cliff developed major cracks in 2009 after local residents reported it being eaten into by JCBs and is thought to be in danger of collapse. The developer will need to agree a solution to the problem with the Council before work can continue.

Photo by David Kirby

Ysbyty Bronglais - old maternity wing demolished

The old Maternity Block at Ysbyty Bronglais in Aberystwyth has been in the process of being demolished over the past couple of days. The work is being viewed with some sadness by the many people in the area who were born in the building in Caradog Road. However, over the next couple of years, in its place will be built an Assembly-funded three-storey extension to the hospital incorporating a much-needed new Accident & Emergency department, a 14-bed clinical decisions unit and a day surgery unit.

On the same site, a new layer on the car park is due for completion by the end of February. The overall work at Bronglais represents the largest Assembly health investment in the whole Hywel Dda Health Board area.

Yes for Wales campaign kicks off in Aberystwyth

Ceredigion’s Yes for Wales referendum campaign kicks off in Aberystwyth at 7.30pm on Wednesday 5th January at the Morlan in Queens Road.

That’s when representatives of all (and that means all) the main local parties will hold a public meeting to set out their vision for law-making powers for Wales and their plans for the campaign which will culminate just eight weeks later with the vote on March 3rd.

The meeting will be chaired by former Labour MP Lord Elystan Morgan, with contributions from Richard Griffiths of the Richmond Hotel, Assembly Member Elin Jones and MP Mark Williams. With former Conservative Assembly Member Lisa Francis chairing the local campaign and the Green Party also in support, the whole thing has a refreshingly co-operative feel and shows how far the Assembly has come in the thirteen years since the historic vote to set it up.

Simultaneous events will be held in Aberdare, Bangor, Newport and Wrexham, with Swansea launching the following week.

In the 1997 referendum Ceredigion played an important role as the fourth largest Yes vote of the 22 Welsh counties.

Nadolig Llawen Aberystwyth

Parc Natur Penglais, with Aberystwyth behind, taken yesterday

Nadolig Llawen to everyone who's read this blog in 2010

LDP plans another 2,400 housing units for Aberystwyth

Ceredigion’s Local Development Plan (LDP), launched for public consultation today, is set to open the way for extensive housing development around the outskirts of Aberystwyth.

Areas around Aberystwyth proposed for housing development in the Plan include:

* Three blocks of land for an estimated total of 325 housing units at the Southgate end of Penparcau. A developer has already applied for planning permission for the Piercefield Lane section.

* A further four blocks of land for a total of over 1100 units in the  Waun Fawr/Llanbadarn area.

* Land for 1,000 student units at Penglais Farm on Clarach Road to the north of the town.

The plans are likely to receive opposition from people concerned about the further erosion of the countryside around the town. However it is actually environmental arguments, and the need to reduce car travel, that have led to such a large proportion of the development planned for the county being in the town areas.

The total number of housing units believed to be needed for Ceredigion is based on population trends. But where those houses actually go is increasingly being guided from Cardiff by a desire to site new development close to services or on public transport routes so that car use can be minimised. At the macro level this makes absolute sense but doesn't feel so good if you like the countryside around your town.

The LDP will provide a development framework for the area for the next 15 years. The public consultation period will last until 17th February. Full details are here. Before anyone mentions it, the consultation period has been extended for an extra two weeks to take account of the Christmas period. 

Aldi to receive go-ahead for new supermarket in Aberystwyth

Aldi will receive the go-ahead to build a new supermarket in Park Avenue, Aberystwyth following a meeting of Ceredigion’s Development Control Committee this week (artist's impression right).

The plans involve the demolition of the derelict former Kwik-Save building and car showroom and the building of an Aldi store facing the police station with two storeys of hotel on top and a car park on the town side of the development. A previous application which didn't include the hotel element was rejected last year (previous posts here and here).

This is a key site on the eastern approach to Aberystwyth. In a presentation to the Town Council last year Aldi themselves acknowledged that their presence wouldn't add to the retail provision in Aberystwyth but would just challenge existing supermarkets. The planning report describes them as catering for the 'deep discount market’. There’s certainly a demand for that from the many low-waged in the area, and one member of the committee spoke strongly in favour of the application on that basis. However many people feel it’s a demand well catered for in the town already. And the decision won't please those hoping to raise the standard of Aberystwyth or those opposed in principle to more supermarkets.

On the positive side, the site has been an eyesore for some years now and it could be said that almost anything would be an improvement visually. The regret is that Aberystwyth is still not capable of attracting anything better.

The meeting gave planning officers the go-ahead to approve the scheme once conditions, such as creating a pedestrian refuge in Park Avenue, are agreed.

Minister shelves Local Government Boundary Review

In a surprise announcement, Carl Sargeant, Assembly Minister for Social Justice and Local Government (pictured), has shelved the Local Government Boundary Reviews, which were due to come into force before the next local elections in 2012.

In Ceredigion’s case, the Review had recommended a reduction of five County Councillors in order to create more equal representation across the County. As well as saving the Council a significant amount of money, this would have corrected the current situation whereby rural areas in the south of the county are ‘over-represented’ at the expense of Aberystwyth.

The 2012 elections will now go ahead using the current council ward boundaries. The statement talks about implementing the Review's recommendations in time for the 2016  elections. However I suspect a much more far-reaching review may be on the cards by then.

The Minister’s full statement, with reasons for the decision, is below.

"Under directions issued by my predecessor, the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales is conducting a review of the electoral arrangements in each County and County Borough Council. They have a duty to conduct such reviews at intervals of not less than 10 and not more than 15 years and to consider making proposals to Welsh Ministers for a change to those electoral arrangements.

"To date the Commission has completed the electoral reviews of seven local authorities and has published the final reports for these areas. I will be considering the proposals for each area in due course.

"The directions included a requirement for the Commission to complete all the reviews by June 2011, with the intention that this would allow for orders to be made in good time for candidates to be selected and for local authority registration officers to make necessary adjustments to the electoral register in good time for the local elections of 2012.

"Despite allocating adequate resources to complete the reviews within the timescales specified in the directions the Commission has fallen considerably behind schedule. I have over the past year re-iterated to the commission the importance of delivering to these timescales. However, it has now become clear that the Commission will be unable to meet this date in respect of a number of counties.

"In considering the reports I do have before me I also have concerns about their consistency of the reports which have been issued and it is clear that in a number of cases considerable amendments would be needed in order to protect the link between councillors and the communities they represent, which I consider to be extremely important. Concern has also been expressed about administrative errors which have occurred in the process of carrying out these reviews.

"In light of these issues, in particular the delays in producing reports for a number of counties I have concluded that I will not make any orders in respect of the boundary reviews for any local authorities in Wales take effect for the 2012 elections. I do not wish to create a situation where some local authorities will conduct elections in 2012 under new arrangements and others under existing arrangements because of the imbalance inherent in such a situation. I am making this announcement now to provide certainty to local government and others concerned with the electoral process.

"Cleary the fact that the Boundary Commission has failed to deliver this programme of reviews consistently and within the agreed timescales gives me cause for concern. I have therefore instructed my officials to establish an independent review to identify why these failures have occurred and indentify actions that can be taken to ensure that the programme can be delivered efficiently and to a high standard in time for the 2016 elections."

Carl Sargeant, Minister for Social Justice and Local Government

Plaid win Ciliau Aeron by-election

John Lumley last night won the Ceredigion Council by-election in Ciliau Aeron for Plaid Cymru with a majority of 120.

Plaid Cymru  367 (55%)

Lib Dems 247 (37.5%)

Conservatives 43 (6.5%)

The result takes Plaid back up to 20 councillors in Ceredigion, with the ruling independent/Lib Dem group on 22.

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.

New Cemetery Conservation Plan

Aberystwyth Cemetery in Llanbadarn Road has a new conservation plan. A report written by the Greener Aberystwyth Group, and now adopted by the County Council, recommends a number of measures to maintain wildlife around the cemetery. These include putting up bird and bat boxes, preserving the arch of trees along the entranceway (above) and steps to encourage the growth of wild flowers.

The cemetery is a substantial space of almost seven acres which can make a significant contribution to the network of green sites around the town if managed in the right way. Its most famous grave is that of Gwenallt, one of the most important literary figures in the Welsh language.

Aberystwyth Passport Office to close

It pales into insignificance compared to the 245 job losses in Newport, where there was a major demonstration today, but four part-time jobs are under threat at the Aberystwyth Passport and Identity Office in Northgate Street (above) which currently opens two days a week.  It's now been announced that the Aberystwyth office, together with local offices in Swansea and Wrecsam, will close in September 2011. The passport service are apparently looking to provide mobile facilities elsewhere in the area, although where or how has not yet been established.

Student fees and Ceredigion

The student fees issue is clearly going to be huge in Ceredigion in the next few years. Ceredigion’s Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Elin Jones has now warned of the dire consequences for both students and universities at Aberystwyth and Lampeter if Vince Cable’s plans to reform their funding are allowed to proceed.

Reacting to this week’s Browne Report on student and university funding and Vince Cable MP’s subsequent response, Elin said today:

“The ConDem Government intends to introduce a wholesale market into the world of Higher Education. They intend to slash the university teaching grant and force universities to make up that gap by charging higher fees to students in a competitive market.

“This will act as a huge distinctive for students from lower-income families to attend universities. Ceredigion has one of the lowest average wage levels in the UK and our young people will be particularly hard-hit by the prospect of fees increasing to £7,000 or even £12,000 per year.

“Both Aberystwyth and Lampeter universities could be severely disadvantaged in a more market-orientated system. Future students will be looking to cut costs to a minimum and may well chose to study closer to home – that could have a damaging impact on recruitment to Aberystwyth and Lampeter.

“While the Assembly Government will take the policy decision on this matter in Wales, our hands here will be tied behind our backs because the public funding cut to universities which is now being proposed for England will automatically cut the funding to Wales.

“It's not surprising that the Tories in the UK coalition favour introducing market forces into the Higher Education sector. However, it's a complete turnaround for market-driven fees to be introduced in the name of the LibDems and Vince Cable – especially since the LibDem posters campaigning to ‘Scrap Tuition Fees’ are still up in some windows in Aberystwyth (example above). These posters tell a sorry tale of betrayal.

“To represent the interests of Ceredigion, we need to oppose the Westminster Government’s savage cuts to university funding as well as opposing introduction of market-driven student fees.”

Vote for faster broadband in Aberystwyth

A councillor from the ruling group on Ceredigion Council sent me the following e-mail today:

"Please forward this e-mail to as many people as you can. Put it on that biased blog of yours if you want."

"VOTE FOR FASTER BROADBAND IN ABERYSTWYTH ON BT'S SITE."

http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/

 Delighted to help

The continuing growth of Aberystwyth

Tonight’s news that the passport interview office in Northgate Street, Aberystwyth is under threat, on the back of the loss of the main passport office in Newport, may be the start of things to come. Certainly we’ve become used to Aberystwyth shopkeepers saying, “the town is dying”. However what is actually remarkable about Aberystwyth right now is the number of major building projects either going on or about to start around the town.

As I write, and off the top of my head, the following developments are happening, or being planned, around the town, many of them with funding from the National Assembly:

 * An extra storey on the Bronglais Hospital car park is currently being built (pictured) and is due to be completed in November

* The building of a new Accident and Emergency block and 14-bed medical assessment unit at the hospital is due to commence next year - the largest capital investment in Hywel Dda Health Board.

* A major extension to Ysgol Plas Crug school is continuing

* A new university and hospital car park has recently been completed in Clarach Road

* Aberystwyth Town Hall is currently being converted into the new town library in a £1 million scheme

* The building of a new medical centre, including GP Surgery, pharmacy and crèche, has recently started on the west side of Penglais Hill

* Work has started on a new building for the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University, heated by ground source heat pump

* An application for 28 new homes (a combination of flats and houses) at Llys Ardwyn, just off Llanbadarn Road, is going through the planning process. At the same time the conversion of the old Penweddig school building into flats is continuing on the same site.

* Eight new flats in the old antique showrooms in Maes Iago at the top of Great Darkgate Street have just been approved.

* A major extension to the Llety Parc hotel at Parc y Llyn seems likely to receive planning permission

* A planning application has been submitted for 79 new houses in Penparcau between Piercefield Lane and Maesycrugiau

* Plans are being developed for more student accommodation buildings along Clarach Road

* Firm interest is being shown by developers in the planned multi-storey car park at Mill Street with the possibility of a planning application in the new year

* £1 million will be spent on environmental transport schemes this financial year.

That's quite a list. And there are probably one or two others I've forgotten. Of course, I fully expect the Westminster government's cuts to hit Aberystwyth hard, like everywhere else, at some point, maybe quite soon. I'm also aware that not everyone welcomes all the developments listed above. But right now, relative to others, I'm not sure Aberystwyth has too much to complain about economically. We've got the National Assembly to thank for much of that.

New plans for Post Office site

New plans have been drafted for the controversial Post Office site in Aberystwyth town centre. The plans involve a five-storey development with 2,275 square metres of sales area on the lower two floors and flats on the top three. Crucially, all shops in the surrounding streets are maintained on the draft plans with the exception of the post office in Great Darkgate Street (pictured) which forms an access to the site along with the existing sorting office entrance in Chalybeate Street. Delivery lorries will access the development via an existing rear entrance in Queen Street.

Aberystwyth Chamber of Commerce has issued this press statement following a meeting with the owner of the site:

“CHAMBER BACKS DEVELOPMENTS”

“At a special meeting of the Aberystwyth and District Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday [22nd Sept] Mr Meirion Ellis Jones addressed members with a summary of events surrounding the proposals for the former Royal Mail Sorting Office site in the town centre.

“Members agreed that the Chamber should support proposals to develop the Sorting Office site into a property for retailing. Chamber members also acknowledged that existing businesses in Great Darkgate Street and Chalybeate Street, where the proprietors wished for their premises to be incorporated into any development, should not be prevented from doing so. It was stressed however, that any properties added to the original site should be on a voluntary basis by the owners and that support should be conditional on this basis.

“Chairman Cyril Baker said, “The Chamber would like to thank Mr Jones for meeting us and explaining the past events and current situation regarding the old Royal Mail Sorting Office site. The Chamber will wholeheartedly support a scheme that is fully consulted upon and does not involve businesses being forced to participate”.

The Chamber's statement is carefully worded and appears to rule out compulsory purchase orders on surrounding small shops for any expanded scheme, the threat of which caused so much controversy last year. However the threat was, of course, a County Council measure apparently required by the National Assembly as an assurance before their quite substantial funding could be released. Although the Assembly pulled out after seeing the weight of opposition in the town, the attitude of many on the County Council Cabinet doesn’t appear to have changed. The statement clearly still sees some kind of expanded scheme as a possibility, although emphasises that this should be voluntary and involve proper consultation.

There are actually a wide spectrum of views within the Chamber of Commerce on the Post Office site, ranging from those wanting a sensitive scheme preserving all the current small shops and architecture to those traders who would support just about anything on the site because their shops are in another part of town and they don’t personally stand to lose anything. The press statement represents an uneasy compromise between those factions.