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.

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 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”.

 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.

Firstly the name of the Outreach service in Boughrood which the Post Office continued to refer to as Llyswen. We all know that the Post Office is in Boughrood, even though it also serves the community of Llyswen, but this took some time for Post Office Ltd to understand! Thankfully after numerous discussions with representatives of Post Office Ltd it will now be reffered to as Boughrood Outreach Service.

For Erwood the Mobile Service is now parked behind the old Post Office. Pete (who is running the service) is very grateful to Penny and Arthur Robinson for allowing him to park there. At one time it appeared that there may be no where to park in the village!

But Boughrood service is a different story altogether!

Remember the public meetings? How many times was the issue of the possibility of a poor signal raised with the representatives of the Post Office and Post Watch? Numerous times! Only for us all to be told that Post Office Ltd and the new Outreach service will have all the equipment that was necessary and there was no need to worry.

BUT…….Low and behold come the first day of the service being introduced in Boughrood what happened? There was no signal! Which meant no one could withdraw any money!

I met with Pete, who is doing his very best to provide a excellent mobile service and he certainly isn’t to blame for this sequence of events.

I just wish that Post Office Ltd had listened to the public in the first place.

It will now be some ten weeks until a box can be put on a telephone pole in Boughrood to enable Pete to connect to a signal, by which to operate the mobile service. In the meantime Pete is using the old post office counter in Boughrood Shop which Derrick has very kindly agreed to. So it’s back to using the shop which lets face it is what we wanted to continue doing in the first place!

Come on Post Office Ltd get your act together!

This has already been completed across Bronllys Ward.  A number of residents have raised concerns with me about this decision. 

I have approached the council about this but following the Boards decision to continue with the implementation of this decision and carry out a review at the end of the year, I am unable to say when or if any lights will be switched back on.

 However, I along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues on Powys County Council have tabled a motion to the next full council meeting (Thursday 23rd October) calling for the council to reconsider the current position.

 Personally I have no problem with the council switching off lights that are not essential but I am very concerned that some lights have been switched off which may cause unnecessary concerns for the safety of the public.

 We shall have to wait to see if our motion to council gains the support it needs to overturn the Board’s decision. I’ll keep you updated.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS OR VIEWS ON THIS ISSUE. IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HEAR FROM YOU.

There will be a public meeting on Monday night (6th October) in Llyswen Village Hall at 7.45pm.
As in Erwood a couple of weeks ago, Pete Jenkins who will be running the Outreach Postal Service will be coming to Llyswen to talk about the services that the new Outrecah Service will be able to provide.
Please come along and find out what will be available.

 I opposed the closure of the nominated phoneboxes in Bronllys Ward due to the often poor mobile signal in the area. I also had the opportunity to speak on this issue at last weeks Breconshire Committee. Members welcomed the news that I had informed the portfolio holder of the councils right to Veto the proposals under BT’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) and many members joined me in calling upon the Board to veto as many of the propsed closures as necessary.

 We will now wait for the response from BT.

 However the decision will not be overturned and we now look to the start of the new Outreach Service. On Wednesday I attended a meeting in Erwood where we were joined by Pete Jenkins who will be running the Mobile Service. Pete explained how the service will be run and the services that the mobile unit will be able to provide.

 Below is the new timetables for when the Mobile Service will be available:

 ERWOOD - (parked on The Terrace)

Mon - 16:45 ~ 17:45

Tue - 12:30 ~ 14:00

Wed - Closed

Thur - Closed

Fri - 12:30 ~ 14:00

BOUGHROOD (parked outside Boughrood Shop)

Mon - 15:00 ~ 16:30

Tue - 14:30 ~ 16:30

Wed - 12:30 ~ 14:30

Thurs - 14:30 ~ 16:30

Fri - 14:30 - 16:30

The Mobile Post Office is run by Llandrindod Wells Main Office. For further information you can contact them on (01597) 824114

I would welcome your comments on the mobile service once it is in place.

The aim of the exhibition was to seek the views on the problems and issues that the study should be addressing, and the possible options or solutions.

The goal of ‘One Wales’ is to promote sustainable transport networks taht safeguard the environment while strengthening our economic and social life.

Following the Public exhibition there will be further assessments and a Public Consultation on the identified options during the summer of 2009.

 Further information is available on the Welsh assembly Government website:

http://new.wales.gov.topics/transport/roads/NewRoads3

Then click on: A470 Builth Wells