Elin wins Ceredigion again

Plaid Cymru's Elin Jones retained her Ceredigion Assembly seat fairly comfortably last night with a majority of 1,777 over the Lib Dems. The turnout was 51.9%, the second highest in Wales.

Elin is pictured above making her victory speech at Aberaeron Leisure Centre. Liz Evans (Lib Dem) and Luke Evetts (Conservative) are standing behind.

The Plaid and Lib Dem candidates showed there was no personal animosity with kind words about each other in their speeches. Liz Evans said Elin Jones was, "Someone I like and respect". This picture was taken of them together after the result was declared. More photos of the night can be seen here

Both Plaid and the Lib Dems lost some of their vote share with Labour, Conservatives and Greens all increasing theirs. The Greens, with candidate Chris Simpson, scored their highest ever stand-alone vote in Ceredigion, saving their deposit for the first time. However they did not achieve their aim of winning a Regional List seat anywhere in Wales. 

On the Mid & West Wales Regional List, the big story is former Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion Simon Thomas getting back into front-line politics after he was elected on the top of the Plaid Cymru list for the region. Nick Bourne, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, lost his seat. Labour's Joyce Watson was re-elected whilst Rebecca Evans (Labour) and William Powell (Lib Dem) were newcomers elected on the list.

Four good reasons to vote for Elin Jones in Ceredigion on Thursday

1/ All outside observers agree that Elin has performed extremely well as an Assembly Government Minister. Having relaxed into the role, she has developed an engaging combination of being utterly committed to Ceredigion, the seriousness and gravitas expected of a minister, alongside a refreshing and sunny informality unusual amongst politicians.

2/ The One Wales Labour-Plaid coalition government in Cardiff has worked well for Wales because it has provided a vital balance between urban and rural areas. If Labour win this Assembly election outright that balance will be lost. Attention will be focussed on the geographically small urban areas of the country and the gains made for Ceredigion in the last few years won’t happen again. Labour are unlikely to go into alliance with any other party. It’s vital for Wales as a whole that Plaid are back in government.

3/ If it wasn’t for Plaid Cymru we wouldn’t even have an Assembly to vote for. If it wasn’t for Plaid activists we wouldn’t have won the Yes vote to devolve more powers from Westminster in March. If it wasn’t for Plaid over the last 80 years the Welsh language would be all but finished. This is a party with vision that achieves things.

4/ I don’t know of any perfect political parties. But Plaid give a much-needed alternative and left-of-centre perspective to the stale, moribund Tory/Labour/LibDem parties who have increasingly coalesced until it’s hard to tell the difference . It’s only us here in Wales who can vote for Plaid Cymru. Let’s make sure we do.

My top six reasons for voting Yes to AV

1/ Looking at the people who support a Yes vote (Plaid, Greens, most of Labour, oh yes the Lib Dems) and those campaigning for a No vote (Conservatives, BNP, Rupert Murdoch), it’s very clear who the good guys are.

2/ The Conservatives have been in power in the UK for two-thirds of the last 100 years. And yet only once in that time have they actually won a majority of the vote. Is that how democracy should work? AV would keep the Tories out for good unless they can get over 50% of the vote – that’s why they’re funding the No campaign. Anyone even mildly left of centre should vote Yes to AV

3/ The BNP know they’ll never get more than 50% of the vote anywhere. They can only get elected under First Past the Post (FPTP) – that’s why they’re backing the No campaign.

4/ The utterly dishonest and scaremongering tactics of the No campaign.

5/ If the No campaign wins that’ll be the last chance to get a better electoral system in a generation. The idea of voting No in order to hope for a referendum on a better system next time is absolutely mistaken. There won’t be a next time, at least not in the next decade.

6/ First Past the Post may work best in a horse race but politics is about real life, and too important to be treated like a sport. Most people agree our political system is not working well. We need a better way of finding a genuine consensus on how we want to be governed. Instead of electing an MP who the majority oppose, as in most FPTP elections, AV produces that community consensus in each constituency. Instead of sticking with yah-boo politics, we can then work together for genuine solutions.

Super Saturday in Owain Glyndwr Square

Aberystwyth's Owain Glyndwr Square was turned into a political and cultural festival this morning as, in the space of a couple of hours, no fewer than eight different groups spent time there on the Saturday before election Thursday. The groups included Plaid Cymru and Elin Jones, Yes to AV, Ceredigion Against the Cuts and two choirs.



Parti Dawns yr Aelwyd show their steps. Elin Jones, Plaid Cymru's Assembly Election candidate, can be seen chatting on the far left.

More photos of the morning in the square can be seen here

Ceredigion Poll - Plaid well ahead. Big swing from Lib Dems to Labour.

A dramatic poll on the Assembly Election in Ceredigion, which local activists have been talking about for days, has tonight been published at Wales Online.

It puts Plaid Cymru, represented by Elin Jones, well ahead on 42% but also shows a huge loss of support by the Lib Dems to Labour.

The Conservatives and 'Others' (predominantly the Greens) also increase their share of the vote, bringing the constituency closer to the four-way contest it was a few years ago when all the main parties regularly achieved double-figure percentages.

Plaid Cymru  42% (-7%)
Lib Dems  23% (-13%)
Labour  20% (+15%)
Conservatives  11% (+3%)
Others  4% (+2%)
Figures in brackets compare to the last Assembly election in 2007

The poll hasn't been conducted by a conventional polling company but by students at the International Politics department at Aberystwyth University, bringing it some detractors. I understand the Lib Dems have been furiously contesting its validity and trying to prevent publication, as might be expected. The Wales Online article is transparent in including discussion on how the poll was conducted. Nevertheless, the University's record of getting similar polls right in the past, and the very large number of voters questioned (1,195) in a constituency with a small population means it will be taken seriously by most.  

The poll is also backed by canvassing results from different parties which are showing that the left-leaning swing voters who helped the Lib Dems win Ceredigion in last year's Westminster election are dropping the party like a stone since their alliance with the Conservatives at Westminster.

Ceredigion Against the Cuts

The new organisation, Ceredigion Against the Cuts / Ceredigion yn Erbyn y Toriadau, staged a successful rally  in Owain Glyndwr Square, Aberystwyth yesterday against cuts to public services. The rally was organised by trade unions and community groups within the county.

Around 40% of Ceredigion’s workforce is employed in the public sector so it’s clear that financial cuts imposed by the Westminster government are likely to affect us much more than most. This high proportion means that cuts would have an enormous knock-on effect on the private sector here also.

Three Assembly Election candidates were there to support the rally - Elin Jones from Plaid, Richard Boudier from Labour and Chris Simpson from the Greens.

As an alternative to cutting into the public sector, the rally called for the Westminster government to raise money by clamping down on tax evasion and non-payment of taxes coupled with a small tax on international financial transactions.

Public sector workers in Ceredigion include people working in:
Ceredigion County Council
The Welsh Assembly Government
Tai Ceredigion
Health
Schools
Aberystwyth and Lampeter Universities
The National Library
Aberystwyth Passport Office
Job Centres
The Post Office

Ceredigion Against the Cuts can be contacted at ceredigionagainstthecuts@gmail.com

Further Ceredigion Against the Cuts events in the next month will be:
Thursday April 21st – Assembly Election Hustings in the Old College, Aberystwyth 7-9pm
Saturday May 7th – March and Rally in Aberystwyth

Diolch i Iolo ap Gwynn am y llun

Major Cycle Race for Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth is set to host a major pre-olympic street cycle race next month, with another likely to follow in 2012.

Following the successful round-the-houses races last year involving local riders (see photo), a consortium led by the 140-member Ystwyth Cycle Club looks to have succeeded in getting Aberystwyth designated as the only Welsh leg of the Halfords Tour Series. This is a professional series of races for top riders, including Olympic athletes, taking place in ten towns and cities around the UK and will be televised on S4C and ITV 4. Last year, when there were no Welsh legs, the various events attracted between 4,000 and 18,000 spectators. An average of 130,000 people watched the races on TV, attracting considerable attention for each town.

The Aberystwyth event, which has yet to be formally announced by the Halfords Tour organisers, is due to take place on May 26th. The televised professional race, which will take place on a street circuit around the Prom and Old College area, will be held at 7pm, at the end of a day of cycle races which will include local youth groups and schools.

Ceredigion Cabinet finally says Yes to Civil Parking Enforcement

Ceredigion Council’s Cabinet voted on Tuesday to take on Civil Parking Enforcement. The decision, some 13 years after it was first discussed by the Council, will next year see the Council taking over the role of traffic wardens from the police, who have said they will withdraw their service from the end of May due to the lack of Council progress on the issue.

During the debate, the Cabinet Member for Highways, Ray Quant, acknowledged that he had begun to feel, “like King Canute” in trying to hold back the tide of opinion running in favour of the measure, whilst surrounding Councils all adopted it. He also acknowledged that it had been the action of the police that had finally made the decision unavoidable but also mentioned that Council officers had been, “pushing me and pushing me” on the issue.

Although non-Cabinet councillors like myself aren’t allowed to vote on the issue, we were allowed a peripheral role in the Cabinet debate on Tuesday. Although I’ve been a constant critic of Ray Quant on this issue, I did try to strike a striking a conciliatory note by acknowledging that he had made the right call on some other controversial issues (like weekly recycling collections and street lighting). I also asked the Council to seek a meeting with the police in the hope that they may find a way to maintain their traffic warden service until next year now that they are assured the Council will take it on after that.

As discussed here, here and here, Civil Parking Enforcement will allow the Council to recycle money from parking fines into improved local traffic management, whereas fines currently go straight to the UK Treasury. Civil Parking Enforcement is now likely to be introduced in Ceredigion around June 2012. It is also hoped that the measure will eventually enable the Council to adopt residents parking schemes around Aberystwyth town centre.

One interesting anecdote from the debate; In Blackpool, Civil Parking Enforcement was opposed by shop owners as they believed that improved parking enforcement in streets with short-term parking would discourage trade. When a survey was done, it was found that the majority of parking spaces in these streets were actually taken up all day, not by shoppers, but by the shop owners and workers themselves. When Civil Parking Enforcement came in and the shop workers had to park in the car parks, retail increased by over 15%. 

Major Bronglais funding announcement

Press statement on Bronglais Hospital released today:

MAJOR INVESTMENT IN BRONGLAIS HOSPITAL

"Plans for improvements to west Wales health services also move forward.

"The Welsh Assembly Government will invest £38million in Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, Health Minister Edwina Hart announced today [Tuesday, 22 March].

"The final plans include:

• New emergency department, clinical decisions unit, and GP out-of-hours services – speeding up access to treatment and reducing inappropriate hospital admissions;

• Purpose-built day surgery unit, incorporating two day case theatres;

• New short-stay surgical ward;

• New maternity unit, including relocating antenatal and paediatric clinics;

• Refurbish existing accommodation to relocate pathology services to establish an integrated blood sciences department to improve turnaround times; and,

• Refurbishment of the main theatre suite.

 "Work to demolish old workshops and stores and the development of a new multi-storey car park and off-site car park has been completed to pave the way for the major improvements.

"Construction work on the new build is expected to begin in May 2011 and completed by February 2013 followed by refurbishment of the existing emergency department and outpatients and the development of the new maternity unit.

Mrs Hart said:

“This major investment in modernising Bronglais Hospital secures its long-term future. This demonstrates the Welsh Assembly Government’s commitment to provide first class district general hospital services for the residents in mid and west Wales.

“The new facilities will improve patient care by ensuring the Health Board can sustain and improve on our waiting times targets and improve the working environment of staff.”

Hywel Dda Health Board is developing business cases to improve health and social services in West Wales including plans for:

• £20m for new critical care and emergency assessment facilities at West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen;

• £6m for a new renal unit at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest;

• £20m for the development of a new hospital in Cardigan;

• £18m for increased capacity for Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli to improve facilities for short stay and day surgery;

• Developing an integrated health and social care facility in Aberaeron to replace Aberaeron Hospital; and,

• Plans are progressing on the development of a new health and social care facility in Tregaron.

Chris Martin, the Chair of Hywel Dda Health Board, said:

“This is wonderful news for the people of Ceredigion, South Gwynedd and North Powys. This significant funding approval made by Welsh Assembly Government secures the future of Bronglais as a District General Hospital. I hope this will reassure the public about our commitment to ongoing investment into the future of health and social services in Ceredigion.

“The Health Board’s other business cases in development will make sure that patients in Hywel Dda healthcare area are provided with modern, high quality services for the 21st century.”

Notes:

The Health Minister, Edwina Hart, has approved the Final Business Case (FBC) for the re-development of Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth. The Welsh Assembly Government is fully funding the £37.978 million capital cost of this development.

The FBC is the final phase of a three-stage business case process for significant capital investment in the NHS in Wales. "

Update 23/3/11

Ceredigion’s Assembly Member Elin Jones has now also commented:

“I’m very pleased that this project has been signed-off by the current One Wales government.

“In going into government in 2007, Plaid Cymru ensured that the then hospital centralisation plans were dropped and I’ve fought hard to ensure that Bronglais remains as a District General Hospital.

“This funding confirmation now ensures Bronglais’ future as the major hospital serving all of Mid Wales and it will be almost impossible for the next Assembly Government to reverse a decision of this magnitude.”

Welsh tweeters at number three in the world's small languages

Welsh has the third highest number of Twitter users of all the world's minority languages, according to the blog Indigenous Tweets, with users in Aberystwyth being central to the scene.

The most prolific minority language group on Twitter is Haitian Creole with Basque next and then Welsh, followed by Frisian and Setswana,  a South African language. The site, which lists all Twitter users of minority languages in incredible detail (for example, apparently 29.5% of my tweets are in Welsh), records 1598 people as using Welsh on Twitter. The next highest Celtic language is Irish Gaelic on 771.

The Indigenous Tweets project aims to increase further the use of minority languages on Twitter. Any Welsh tweeters not on their lists can get themselves added. More information here.

Diolch i Hacio'r Iaith am adnabod y stori.

Assembly agrees funding for five more projects in Aberystwyth

The Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Housing and Regeneration, Jocelyn Davies, has announced that the Aberystwyth Regeneration Area Partnership Board have approved a variety of projects for the town, including an ‘Adizone’ and multi-use games area at Min y Ddôl, Penparcau and a £1 million scheme to improve housing and living conditions in properties along the promenade.

Funding for improvements to Aberystwyth’s bus station and the area around the town’s train station was also granted, as well as an approval in principle for the development of the Mill Street car park site.

Following the announcement, Ceredigion's Assembly Member, Elin Jones, said:

“I’m very pleased that the Deputy Minister is now in a position to officially confirm that five projects in Aberystwyth have been approved for funding under the town’s SRA scheme.

“These are very welcome projects which will improve the town’s amenity for both local residents and visitors alike, and I look forward to seeing tangible progress on these schemes in the near future”.

Ceredigion votes Yes by 2:1

The Yes for Wales campaign in Ceredigion achieved two thirds of the vote in yesterday’s historic referendum to extend law-making powers for the Welsh Assembly. The decisive victory for the Yes campaign across Wales, in which 21 of the 22 local authorities voted Yes, greatly shifts the balance of power from Westminster to Wales and paves the way for Wales to plough a much more distinctive political furrow than we’ve previously been allowed.

Ceredigion achieved the second highest turnout in Wales, just 0.29% behind Carmarthenshire, with what Radio Wales today described as, “one of the best organised and disciplined Yes campaigns”. This maintains the county’s tradition as a good participator in the democratic process. Ceredigion also had the second highest turnout at the referendum which established the Assembly in 1997.

In keeping with the pattern across Wales, the gap between the Yes and No votes in Ceredigion widened by 14% compared to 1997 to over 32%.

Although the referendum question appeared to be something of a technicality, and the campaign a low-key one due to the No campaign’s refusal to allow government funding for a proper debate, the long-term significance of the vote will be far greater than that of the coming Assembly elections on May 5th.

The result in Ceredigion:
Yes 16,505 (66.24%)
No 8,412 (33.76%)            Turnout 44.07%

1997 Ceredigion Result
Yes 18,304 (59.2%)
No 12,614 (40.8%)       Turnout 57.1%

Yes for Wales - the story from Aberystwyth

Cliciwch yma am dolen i'r fideo You Tube am yr Ymgyrch Ie Dros Gymru yn Aberystwyth. Diolch i Trystan Morris-Davies a Glyn Langham am y ffilmio 

Click here for a link to the You Tube video about the Yes for Wales campaign in Aberystwyth. Thanks to Trystan Morris-Davies and Glyn Langham for the filming.

Civil Parking Enforcement moves a step nearer in Ceredigion

Civil Parking Enforcement moved a step nearer in Ceredigion today after the Council’s Highways Scrutiny Committee voted unanimously to recommend the measure to the Council’s Cabinet after viewing detailed costings. I was particularly pleased to be able to propose the motion since I’ve been banging on about this issue ever since I became a councillor.

The Cabinet is expected to discuss the issue in March. An agreement then would be likely to see Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) coming into force around June 2012. That, in turn could see a Residents’ Parking Scheme, the holy grail for many residents in Aberystwyth, being introduced a year later, in 2013.

The issue was brought to a head at the beginning of this month when the police announced their intention to abandon their traffic warden service from the end of May in frustration at the Council’s lack of action (see post below).

Todays’ committee meeting heard that ten out of 22 Welsh authorities have already adopted CPE, with Pembrokeshire going live 17 days ago and Powys due to start on April 1st. Of those remaining, six Councils are now working towards it with only those in Gwent still holding back.

Under CPE, the money re-couped from parking fees has to be ring-fenced to be spent on traffic management within the Council's area instead of going into the UK Treasury as street parking fines do now. 

Street parking enforcement set to break down in Ceredigion

Street parking enforcement is set to break down in Ceredigion after Dyfed-Powys Police announced their intention to withdraw their traffic warden service from the end of May.

The move follows years of frustration in which both the police and Plaid Cymru councillors have repeatedly asked the Council Cabinet to take over parking enforcement from the police, known as Civil Parking Enforcement. The great benefit of this is that money from parking fines would go back to the Council and can be re-used for improving local transport services whereas the current fines from parking tickets simply go straight into the UK Treasury.

The sense of such a move was highlighted recently when the Council's own Finance Department pinpointed taking on parking enforcement as a way for the Council to save money and avoid additional cuts. Civil Parking Enforcement is also a pre-requisite for Residents' Parking schemes, something constantly requested by local residents within Aberystwyth

The reasons for the Council Cabinet's stubborn refusal to act have never been made entirely clear and they have become increasingly isolated as other Councils all around them have taken on the role.

At a meeting yesterday, when councillors were first told of the situation, I asked how long it would take for the Council to take on the Civil Parking Enforcement role, now that it looks as if they will have no alternative. I was told that, if the Council Cabinet agree to this in March (a big 'if'), the practical and legal issues will take at least a year to work through. The period between the and of May and that taking place could be very interesting.

A statement today by Dyfed-Powys Police said,

“In relation to enforcement during the transition, officers will respond to calls from the public to deal with parking problems in Ceredigion and will assist with pre-planned events. This will not be the service currently provided by the wardens and any calls relating to parking will have to balanced with other operational demands”.

Poll backs Yes vote by more than 2:1

An opinion poll published today by Yougov into the referendum on giving the National Assembly more law making powers shows people in Mid & West Wales backing a Yes vote by a majority of more than two to one, the largest majority of any Welsh region.

Yes 56%

No 25%

Don’t know 11%
Not voting 7%

The figures for the whole of Wales show Yes voters leading by 49% - 26%. The referendum will be held on March 3rd.

When asked how they were planning to vote in the Assembly elections on May 5th the figures for Mid & West Wales gave Plaid Cymru a clear lead:

Plaid Cymru 34%
Labour 28%
Conservative 26%
Lib Dems 6%
Greens 2%
UKIP 2%

The figures were adjusted to take into account likelihood to vote
Full details of the opinion poll are here

Conservatives out on the streets of Aberystwyth backing the Yes for Wales campaign

As part of the spirit of harmony and co-operation pervading politics in Ceredigion in the Assembly Referendum campaign, here's a photo of Nick Bourne, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, out campaigning with all the other parties on the streets of Aberystwyth this morning for a Yes vote on March 3rd. Next to him is Lisa Francis, former Conservative Assembly Member.

This is a vivid illustration of how far Welsh politics has come since the vote to establish the Assembly in 1997 when the Conservatives backed the No campaign.

Similar Yes for Wales street campaigns were held in Aberaeron, Llandysul, Lampeter and Cardigan this morning.

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.