Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Friends of Queens Park are holding their annual Party in the Park fundraiser this Saturday and it looks set to be bigger and better than last year!  

As well as the usual stalls including books, cakes, tombola, bottle stall and bric-a-brac, this year’s entertainment has been stepped up a notch. There will be a magical appearance by Peter the Magician, a Fun Dog Show, football competitions, face painting, hot dogs, the Youth Bus, Parisellas Ice Cream and more, all topped off with Rockin’ Ron – a popular local singer – and compered by Bryan George.

The event is being held to raise money, along with various grant applications, to allow the Friends of Queens Park to move onto the next phase of renovating the park. The Friends hope to renovate the entrance pillars and to install a Sensory Garden. 

Cllr Janet Finch-Saunders AM – local Assembly Member and one of the founder members of Friends of Queens Park – said: “This is a perfect example of The Big Society in action.  

“There is a true partnership between the local residents, Councillors and Conwy County Borough Council. Without this partnership approach we could neverhave imagined the possibilities of improving the park as we have.

“We have received anonymous donations and are most grateful to these unsung heroes as every penny is appreciated. 

“We are most grateful to many local shopkeepers and businesses within Craig-y-don and Llandudno who have been very generous and provided us with many items for the raffle and stalls. 

“Fingers crossed for good weather!”

 Janet also paid tribute to those who have helped ensure the continued success of the project, including the dedicated committee members, including Margaret and Richard Own, Barbara Meredith (Chairman), Frank Bradfield (Treasurer and Grants Officer), Cllr Joyce Audus Williams and Laura Oldfield. Also the fundraising committee members, including Cllr Christine Jones, Cllr Mike Pearce, Lindsey Pearce, Carol Burns, Francis and Sonia Davies, Sandy Halliday, Carol and Dave Oldfield and Gareth Saunders. Janet also gave special thanks to Lyn Davies, Peter Barton Price and the parks department at Conwy County Borough Council for all their help, support and advice. 

The Party in the Park will kick off at midday at Queens Park, Queens Road, Craig-y-don on Saturday 20^th August 2011.

This year will be crucial for consulting with the farming community on the forthcoming CAP reform in Europe. Given the obvious budget constraints at this time, CAP, as the second biggest contributor to the budget of the European Union, needs to be reformed in a way so as to ensure that our farmers in Wales receive a fair deal. To assist her in her work as a Welsh MEP in Europe, Kay Swinburne feels that the views and ideas of farmers all over Wales must be heard.

To collect the views of Welsh farmers, Kay is organising a free public meeting for interested farmers across north Wales to attend. The date for a North Wales meeting would be the 1st April at Glyndŵr University, St Asaph between 6pm and 9pm.

At this meeting there will be representatives from the European Commission, European Parliament and the farming unions will give brief updates on CAP followed by audience participation with the intention of receiving feedback along with a lively debate.

It would be great if you could join us for this event – if you would like to register or have further queries please call us on

029 2062 8685 or email us on

kayswinburnemep@welshconservatives.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

28th March 2011 - Mark Isherwood and Janet Finch Saunders were delighted to launch the start of the Bo to AV campaign in North Wales ably supported by Councillors and Activists.  Janet Finch Saunders said,  "The Alternative Vote System will fail our democracy.  AV will lead to constant co-alition government.  This is not in the best interest of our nation.  Please ensure that you use your vote to say No to AV."

Local MP Guto Bebb held a public meeting in Penrhyn Bay last Friday evening.  A meeting attended by local residents in St. David’s Church hall allowed them to quiz Guto on a wide variety of subjects including Europe.

Guto has recently been selected to sit on the Welfare Reform Committee and took this opportunity to address those present on these proposed changes that will affect everybody.

The event was filmed by Penrhyn Bay resident, Mel Woosey who is currently in the process of setting up a Community TV Company.

Guto holds regular surgeries and public meetings across the Constituency. Dates and locations can be found in the North Wales Weekly News Community News section and on the website gutobebbmp.co.uk.

It has been a long day at Westminster.

First we had the announcement in relation to the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The impacts are severe as we expected but what is even more shocking is the mess that we were left by the previous Government.

1. In total Labour left us a £38bn black hole over the next ten years. To repeat, they had committed to spend £38,000,000,000 more than the money in the defence budget over the next ten years.

2. The top fifteen (15) spending programmes are currently £8.8bn over budget with the delivery programme for these commitments facing a delay of 32 years UNDER THE LABOUR PLANS!

3. Last year alone the Labour Government increased their spending commitments on defence equipment by an incredible £3.3bn in one year and yet made no additional funding available.

So the background is horrendous to say the least. However, the announcements at least attempted to make sense of the chaos left to the Coalition by the Labour Party – but there was a heavy price to pay.

The loss of the investment at St. Athan in South Wales was a serious blow to my colleague Alun Cairns, the Conservative MP for the Vale of Glamorgan and there are some unpalatable changes in all three services. However, as a result of this review there are important positives which we need to highlight;

Royal Navy

• There will keep a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent
• Seven attack submarines and 19 Frigates and Destroyers will be maintained
• All three naval bases will be retained

Army

• All 36 Infantry Battalions are to be kept
• There will be a new structure of five deployable Multi-Role Brigades
• There will be no changes to Army Units involved in Afghanistan

RAF

• Move to a fleet of Carrier Variant Joint Strike Fighters and a Typhoon Fleet by 2020
• New state of the art Strategic Airlift aircraft consisting of C17s, A400Ms and A330s
• No impact on operations in Afghanistan

Having attempted to digest all these announcements we then met the Minister for Culture, Jeremy Hunt, to discuss his proposed new funding arrangements for S4C. As I was attempting to get to grip with the details the story appeared on the BBC. I suspect that tomorrow will be exhausting. There will be the fallout from the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the funding announcements of the BBC and S4C coupled with the Comprehensive Spending review being revealed at 12.30.

Interesting times!

Guto

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend this dinner at the St. George’s Hotel in Llandudno on Friday night to honour those individuals and groups who work quietly but effectively to make life better for us as a society.

The event, sponsored by Trinity Mirror and Scottish Power, was excellent with an attention to detail which would not be found in many far grander televised award events. The St. George and their staff showed why we as a community should be proud of Llandudno as a tourism destination – I was incredibly pleased to see the way that Llandudno could rise to the occasion so effortlessly.

However, the real success of the evening was the quality and breadth of the award winners. These were people who had turned adversity into opportunity, tragedy into a chance to serve others and often, through sheer willpower, had managed to make a real difference to entire communities and the lives of numerous individuals.

It was humbling and gratifying to see the Aberconwy area walk away with no fewer than five awards. These were;

1. Abigail Williams, from Llandudno, in the Young Person of the Year Category
2. Friends of Queens Park, Craig y Don, in the Team Effort Category
3. Ysgol Nant y Coed, Llandudno Junction, in the School of the Year Category
4. James Singleton, Dwygyfylchi, in the Sporting Champion Category
5. Theresa Evans, Llandudno, in the Person of the Year Category

My sincere congratulations to all and to every other nominee in what was an inspiring evening. As the deputy editor of the Daily Post said;

“we often read about the bad things in society on the front pages of our newspapers but occasionally it pays to recognise and acknowledge the immense good work that is undertaken each and every day in our communities”

Guto

I will be on a panel for a half an hour discussion of the Comprehensive Spending Review tomorrow at 6pm.

Guto

This announcement made during what was a very good week in Birmingham has caused quite a stir. I probably did not help things by responding to questions for Wales Today and S4C which were subsequently used by Newsnight. To ensure that everybody understands my position I will make a few things clear;

1. I do not support the principle of Universal Benefits. At a time of serious financial difficulties for this country it is not clear why high income families should be receiving state handouts.

2. The level of income which can be defined as 'high' is a difficult issue. It was remarkable how a vox pop on Radio Wales in Llanrwst found only one person concerned by the change whilst a similar survey for S4C in Cardiff found every mother expressing doubt about the policy. What this shows is that whilst £44,000 IS a very significant income in many parts of the UK it is not a king's ransom. However, I would be willing to accept a proposal that saw a gradual withdrawal of the benefit at £44,000 if it was based on the family income.

3. The issue of family income is the crux of the matter. As the proposal stands a family with one wage earner on £44,000 would lose every penny of the benefit whilst another family with two wage earners on £43,000 each would retain the benefit even with a family income of £86,000. I simply cannot see the fairness in such a proposal.

I have written to the Chancellor on this issue and the text of the letter is available below;

The Chancellor of the Exchequer

Guto

Update

Interesting view from the Daily Express!

http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/204406

As interested readers are no doubt aware the Gwynt y Môr wind farm development was approved some 18 months ago despite the opposition of local councillors and the concerns of the significant tourism sector centred on the town of Llandudno in this constituency.

The announcement of the success of the consortium led by RWE Npower Renewables in attracting the funding for the project, around £2.2billion, was made a few weeks ago and whilst this was in many ways a disappointment to local protesters and businesses which argued against the development. However, there was also a realistic view expressed by many that “we are where we are” and as such there was a clear need for the area to benefit financially from the development. This potential financial benefit would come in two ways;

1. The opportunities for local businesses to benefit from opportunities to win contracts with the developers.

2. The Community Benefits Package which had been discussed by the consortium with the local authority, Conwy County Borough Council.

I have contacted the Welsh Assembly Government Department of Economy and Transport in relation to the first opportunity in relation to the potential to use the Local Supplier Development Programme to support and guide businesses in relation to what they need to do to access the opportunities arising from the development. In the same way I have, in private meetings with the Secretary of State for Wales, asked her to make representations to the Consortium in relation to the accessibility of contract opportunities for local businesses. I hope to be involved in a ‘meet the buyer’ type event in the area in due course and will keep readers posted on any development.

However, my real concerns at this point relate to the Community Benefits Package. In the original discussions between Conwy Council and the consortium there were two separate strands for support discussed. These were;

1. Tourism support package for Llandudno (subsequently changed to Conwy Council Area) worth £230k per year
2. Community Benefits Package of £1m per annum for a period of 20/25 years

The concerns I have, which are shared by constituents, is that the Tourism Support Package is now been described by the Consortium as a package of support for Conwy and Denbighshire. It was disappointing, but perhaps understandable in many ways, that the initial tourism package which was proposed for Llandudno had been changed by Conwy Council to include the whole of the County. However, this package is now being described by the Consortium as a fund for the counties of Conwy and Denbighshire.

This is contrary to the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Consortium and Conwy Council which stated specifically that the Conwy Coast Tourism Programme (originally for Llandudno only) would be separate from any discussions with other authorities along the North Wales coast. The local population feel that the Consortium have made promises in order to attempt to win the support of Llandudno residents and businesses which are now been significantly changed since public support is not now needed. This change in the Llandudno Tourism package was made know to the Council on the 14th of April.

Secondly, in the same letter dated 14th April 2010 the Consortium informs Conwy Council that the Community Benefits Package will be significantly reduced from the promised £1m to £768k per year. This is justified on the basis of detailed site design work resulting in a project with a capacity of 750mw being reduced to 576mw.

At the Welsh Select Committee I asked the Secretary of State to meet with representatives of the consortium to discuss the unilateral changes to both the Tourism Support Package and the Community Benefits Package. Furthermore I also asked the Secretary of Sate whether she was of the view that there was a need for an agreed level of compensation for communities affected by large scale developments in order to ensure that a consortium such as the one led by RWE at Gwynt y Môr would not be in a position to make promises and then change them without consultation once planning permission had been secured. On this point I was advised to raise the matter with the Department of the Environment and Climate Change which I am now progressing.

ITV Wales and the Daily Post provided coverage for the fact that the issue was highlighted at the Welsh Select Committee – it might be possible to embarrass the consortium into honouring the original Memorandum of Understanding!

Guto

A long day!  Meeting of the 1922 this evening and a warm response to the position taken by the shadow cabinet.  Will it be enough or will the Liberals back Labour?  If they do then we as a country will be in serious trouble.  What we need is a stable administration able to govern for four or five years.  A Lib/Lab/SNP/PC/SDLP/DUP agreement = problems.

We as a party have worked in the interest of the country – will the Liberals do the same?

Guto