Ioan y Ffin
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What the strike has revealed is how much waste some households in Wrexham produce! Some people’s carbon footprint would outsize even that of your typical American whose negative environmental impact on the planet is well known. Alcohol consumption levels at home are very visible too.
The Council seems to have not realized that by charging individual residents for their green bins, it has entered into a contract with each person who pays for the service. It is not a ‘take it or leave it’ situation as in other ‘free at the point of delivery’ council services, where the council can unilaterally withdraw the service and the council tax payer has few means of redress. The Council has taken a payment and if it does not deliver the service, it is in breach of contract.
The latest changes to how the Boundary Commission decides constituency boundaries, introduced by the Conservative government in Westminster, are just another example of an un-conservative policy they have imposed on us. Previously constituencies took into account historical boundaries (often represented as county or city boundaries), geography, sense of community, as well as population size. Instead the new reforms seem to have come from mathematical right wing thinktank which says the main priority must be size.
Absolutely no-one had a gripe with British politics because there were 10,000 fewer people in a neighbouring constituency to their own and that therefore they were under-represented. Even the old rules took numbers into account, but they were sensible enough to take into account ‘community’. Everyone feels more represented if they feel their community is represented, but if their community is fractured, the fact that their constituency is a similar size to all the others is meaningless. Part of the reason we accept the election result in each constituency is because we believe that is the decision of our community, people who weaken that feeling are weakening our democracy and should be called out as such.
Lumping Bersham to Chirk with Montgomeryshire makes no sense historically, communally, socially or economically, when all those communities are so linked (whether they like it or not) to Wrexham. It is just an example of the cynical numbers game in politics and our democracy (with its many many faults) is more important than that.
The drawbacks to independent councillors are well-known. However the political party candidates are not without their faults. To highlight just a few of them: a) you never know whether their job is to represent you and your fellow constituents or their political party in the council chamber b) we are electing councillors, but sometimes councillors belonging to political parties give the impression of wanting to be members of the Senedd or Westminster and see being a councillor as a stepping stone to power elsewhere (and this influences how they act) c) political parties’ manifestos don’t give as much weight to local issues and concerns – they all prefer a one size fits all approach d) people who don’t support the party of the winning candidate inevitably feel more unrepresented – there is always a chance of persuading an independent councillor. Whereas most political party candidates appeared to have decided everything already.
There are obviously some good councillors who represent political parties, but there’s no evidence that a party rosette is some kind of sign of quality, competence or originality,
In many ways it is so much easier for a party candidate to get elected as they have the support of an electoral machine behind them, so how safe really is any independent’s seat?
However, i admire anyone who is prepared to enter the bear pit of local politics. It appears a rather thankless occupation, even when they are doing their bit for the greater good.
Perhaps the bus is being branded for the City of Culture bid and that wouldn’t be possible on an historic Crosville bus? Anyone rocking up with a bunch of vinyls to stick on the paintwork of a classic bus would get short shrift from the owners!!
Some recent council job advertisements have attracted no qualified candidates and in some cases no applicants at all. Cheshire, Shropshire and other counties, not to mention other Welsh and UK government organizations, offer more attractive salaries, as well as the private sector, so people go there instead. It is a jobs market out there and talent is always mobile. The best can pick and choose in a country where there is a massive skills shortage.
Council tax will continue to rise to make up for the decrease in funding from central government. The Welsh and UK Governments could choose to tax individual and company wealth more, but it is easier for them to tax property (and let councils take the blame) because property doesn’t move off-shore (unless it is owned by someone already off-shore or is claiming to be a holiday home and therefore claims small business tax relief).
Councillor Bithell says ” “What we’ve got to be mindful of is that we can’t be responsible as a council for everything that happens on private land and private property.”
When exactly did Yorke Street, Temple Row, College Street and Abbot Street become private property? I hadn’t realized I have been trespassing all these years.
Place names are bilingual in Wales because cities, towns, villages, hills and rivers are known by different names by speakers of different languages – in our case, Welsh and English. These names have developed over a long period of time because these places have been inhabited or known by speakers of both languages. It is only recently has any official organization given itself the power to change those names.
The existence of multiple names for places is a very common situation throughout the world but somehow appears to be a concept that some people on this island find difficult to comprehend. There are places in mainland Europe that historically have or had three, four or more names. Can’t see the problem, unless you have a thing about people speaking different languages to you.
