Clair Powell

This morning I met with community councillors and residents in Llyswen, along with representatives of Powys County Council to discuss the problem with flooding in Church Lane that has occurred over a number of years, which residents believe has got progressively worse over the past months.

It appears that a culvert is blocked or broken and this is causing the flow of water to the stream to slow up, which has consequences when there is heavy rainfall of flooding in the lane. Church Lane of course leads to a number of properties and the floods that have occurred, although not directly effecting properties, causes a great number of problems to residents trying to access or leave their properties via Church Lane.

Why the Question of responsibility?

We need to find out who is responsible for the problem culvert. It appears that this culvert was installed back in 1976 but who is responsible for it we are not sure. The helpful people from the council are going back to look in the archives to try and find out more information.

Of course, the problem is financing any repairs. I can understand the councils view - that they don’t want to be paying out for repairing or even replacing the culvert if it is not their responsibility. There are tremendous strains on the budget and it looks like the highways maintenance may be struggling again in the next financial year.

But of course, and quite rightly, residents are concerned and want this problem resolved as quickly as possible. Let’s hope this gets sorted out once and for all - whoever is responsible - so the residents of Church Lane don’t need to rely on their wellies all winter.

Today I have received the news that the school transport appeal was finally granted yesterday at a meeting held in County Hall.

This will mean that the resident for whom we were appealing will now receive free school transport to Gwernyfed High School.

I would now like to encourage other parents to re-apply for school transport as they may have previously been turned down but since this ruling, now be eligible for free transport.

Lobbying WAG over the poor financial settlement -

Cllr Clair Powell, Mick Bates AM, Kirsty Williams AM and Cllr William Powell.

Yesterday I joined the Powys Against Cuts in Education Group (PACE) to lobby the Welsh Assembly Goverment over the latest poor settlement that the authority has received. The lobby was timed to coincide with the budget debate that took place in the Assembly.

PACE are concerned that the poor 1.5% settlement may lead to cuts in the education budget.

I welcomed the opportunity to lobby the Welsh Assembly Government for the vital funding for education in Powys.  Our children cannot loose out because the WAG has negotiated a bad settlement from Westminster and is passing this onto local authorities.

Tomorrow I am joining residents of Powys to lobby the Welsh assembly about the budget settlement we have received. Initially 0%, but now given a floor of just 1.5%, the Powys Against Cuts in Education group have arranged to lobby the Welsh Assembly tomorrow ahead of the finance debate that will take place at the assembly in the afternoon. The very poor settlement is extremeley worrying for Powys  and I hope that the Assembly members will take notice of the concerns we raise. We need to fight for a new formula as being a rural area we are constantly losing out when it comes to the budget settlements. We, in rural areas have our own deprivation issues to face. We have poor or even non existent tranpsort links and need to tackle sparsity issues. There is a huge demand on our adult and social care services and we must ensure that the Welsh assembly take these serious issues into consideration.

Here are some concerns raised by PACE (Powys Against Cuts in Eductaion)

• This year the budget increase is 1.5% - inflation is 5.2% - this represents a huge cut
• Teachers and essential support staff will lose jobs - leading to larger classes and cuts in the subjects offered to pupils in Powys
• Already parents in some schools are raising up to 50% of the budget needed to buy essential learning materials
• Teachers often use their own money to buy materials for classroom use
• Many schools are still housed in crumbling. leaky buildings with antiquated heating systems and little ventilation.

 POWYS AGAINST CUTS IN EDUCTAION (PACE) is a group of non-aligned parents, governors and tecahers. They say enough is enough.

Pupils in the village of Bronllys, near Brecon will now be entitled to free school transport following an appeal to Powys County Council by a local mum and her Liberal Democrat County Councillor Clair Powell.

Pupils who live in the village of Bronllys that attend Gwernyfed High School, in Three Cocks have previously had their free school transport applications turned down by Powys County Council due to the three mile rule, which says that pupils are only entitled to free school transport if they live over three miles from the school. Bronllys is just under three miles from Gwernyfed High School. However the ruling from the Welsh Assembly states that pupils should be entitled to free school transport where there is no available, reasonably safe walking route.

Cllr Powell and local resident Mrs Deborah Tame fought against the council decision as they felt that the route from Bronllys to Gwernyfed, along the A438 was not safe.

Cllr Powell said “When challenged it was clear that Powys County Council had not carried out a Risk Assessment of this route, and indeed there are likely to be many others in the County. Parents have had their applications for free school transport turned down without due consideration by the council of the safety of the walking route to their nearest High School”.

“I along with Mrs Tame, other parents and our Liberal Democrat MP Roger Williams have been raising this issue with the council for some time. We have walked and videoed the route which has a large volume of traffic, many heavy good vehicles, little or no footpaths. It has now been deemed that the likelihood of an incident occurring is high and the severity of any injuries would also be high.”

“I am delighted that at last the pupils of Bronllys, and indeed many other areas across Powys, will now have the safety of the routes to their schools assessed properly. This will lead to many more pupils being able to access free school transport. The current cost of sending your child on the school bus by using the vacant seat payment scheme is £105 per pupil and these parents will no longer have to pay this or transport the children to the school themselves.

“This is a historic victory for the community of Bronllys and I understand that many other areas across Powys will be affected by this decision.

“The Welsh Assembly Government can legislate in Cardiff but it doesn’t mean anything unless local authorities are getting this right on the ground. The Welsh Assembly should provide adequate funding to local authorities to enable them to comply with the legislation that it has laid down”.

Roger Williams MP said “Most people go into local government to try and make a difference, but Cllr. Clair Powell’s tenacity on this issue is certainly going to make a difference to the people of Bronllys and other communities across Powys. I must also congratulate Mrs Tame and other parents in the village for their efforts and persistence in getting this change of policy from the county council. The onus is on WAG to ensure that funding is available to the council to enable it to provide free school, transport that meets its guidance”.

Today’s full council meeting saw a long and emotionally charged debate about the councils current policy for switching off 2 in 3 street lights outside non core areas.

 The decision, which was taken by the councils board in July had triggered numerous complaints from across the County. This led to there being two motions to council today, one from the Liberal Democrat Group and one from the Conservatives.

The motions were discussed and many councillors raised the issues of public safety, the perception of danger and serious concerns for the elderly and vulnurable in our communities.

After much discussion the Liberal Democrat Group and the Conservatives agreed on a joint motion to council. TAn ammendment supporting the switch off was then proposed and seconded by two independent members.

This ammendment was then put to the vote and unfortunatley it was supported by a majority of the council, being voted for by 38 votes to 25 in favour of continuing with the current switch off programme.

 I am very dissapointed by this decision. I have made it clear that I am not against switching off lights where they are not needed, but I feel that the current 2 in 3 lights process is causing residents great distress and numerous safety issues.