Port Talbot redevelopment - what will it mean?

The County Borough Council has invited proposals for the redevelopment of an area including Port Talbot railway station and the Plaza cinema.

The extent of the area involved seems somewhat fluid at this stage, but it may well extend to commercial properties with past local Liberal Democrat involvement ;-)

One hopes that the level crossing, a nuisance to both commercial traffic and pedestrians alike, will disappear under the preferred plans.

However, a place should be found for at least the façade of the Plaza. It is sad that neither Neath nor Port Talbot town centres can support a first-run cinema, in the face of competition from Swansea and Aberavon, but one must bow to the inevitable. However, there can be few remaining examples of the Plaza's style of architecture. Surely a place can be found for that imposing frontage in any new development? (By the way, if anyone has a copyright-free photo of the Plaza in its hey-day, we should be glad to replace the distressing present-day view - above - with it.)

Also, the opportunity must be taken to bring trains and buses under one roof in a proper transport interchange. Ideally, this would be where the present bus station is, convenient for both the Aberavon Centre and civic buildings. An additional halt could be provided to serve Taibach and Margam on Swanline trains.

Clearly, that would be an expensive proposition, but bringing the buses alongside at the present rail station site would be the next best thing.

- Frank Little

Missing Blogs

What has happened to "A View from the Glen", "Inside Swansea" and "Swansea Phoenix"?

Pipeline work drags on

Work started on crossing the Tawe valley with the Milford-terminated gas pipeline last November. Nine months later, the valley is still disfigured, favourite walks are still blocked and people attending acoustic sessions at the Pontardawe Festival this coming weekend are liable to have their enjoyment ruined by the sound of heavy plant.

Tim Garden

The sad news reached us today of the death of Tim Garden, our spokesman on defence in the House of Lords, from pancreatic cancer.

To those of us campaigning for an ethical, or at least intelligent, foreign and defence policy, he was an inspiration. As his biography shows, he was no theoretician, but knew whereof he wrote and spoke.

Those who knew him personally describe him as "a good social liberal".

- Frank Little

Who has more friends: Peter Hain, Derek Vaughan or the BNP?

Just as Virgin and Vodafone are pulling their adverts from the "look at me" website Facebook, council leader Derek Vaughan is reported by the Evening Post to have joined Neath MP Peter Hain in a bid to make friends and influence people.

Advertisers are withdrawing because their logos could appear on the same pages as the BNP.

If someone steals your credit card details, don't you want to know?

You may remember the TK Maxx scandal earlier this year, when customer details were stolen and used fraudulently. There is still no law in this country to force companies in this situation to warn their customers.

Now there is a petition to government to put this right.

Council should be more open

Neath Port Talbot council observes the national Code of Conduct regarding declaration of councillors' interests, but only on paper. The register of members' interests is accessible only during office hours at the Port Talbot civic centre, and only when an officer is free to supervise access.

We feel that our council should follow the lead set by Swansea City - on a Liberal Democrat initiative - and put the register on its web pages. This would make it available to anyone who can use a PC, wherever they live in the county borough.

The council has had poor press in recent weeks over its attitude to democracy. Putting the councillors interests register on the Web would be a small step towards improving its reputation.

Skewen councillors fight to save medical facility

Coedffranc Community Council is exercised (quite rightly, in our opinion) about the potential, and needless, loss of Cefn Parc clinic.

It has until only recently been used as a maternity clinic. It has outlived its usefulness as such, but would seem to be ideal for provision of additional dental facilities, which the community badly needs.

From a Neath Guardian article: "The land that the clinic is built on was originally sold for a nominal fee to the Parish council to provide maternity facilities for the Coedffranc area in 1938.

"Until recently the site has served this purpose and documents dating back to 1938 state the site should not be used for other purposes without consent in writing from the Vendors.

"The spokeswoman said solicitors representing Bro Morgannwg Trust have told them they do not have a copy of the original conveyance."

This has not prevented the Trust from selling the building. The community council attempted to purchase it, but was outbid. Bro Morgannwg has refused to reveal the name of the purchaser. However, the Trust cannot finalise the sale because of the restrictive covenant, of which community councillors do have a copy.

It is the firm view of the Community Council that the sale should not have started until the council was consulted over any possihle change of use.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Coedffranc North, and a member of the community council, Keith Davies, said that the way in which the trust has handled this "makes them prime candidates for a review by the Director General of the Audit Commission".

Currently, the community council has approached the Welsh Assembly Government so that this contretemps between two publicly funded bodies can be resolved by them, rather than incurring high legal costs.

Resolven and Cwmgwrach flood defences

Dave Howerski tells us that the work at Cwmgwrach was completed in time to save the village from damage after the wettest June & July in British meteorological history.

Work at Resolven has not been so fortunate. It seems that every time the contractors get started, another deluge washes their work away. We fear that it is a race to complete the defences there in the next weather window before there is a "Gloucestershire" event in the Neath valley.

By-election Results

Click the button on the right for links to the details of the parliamentary by-elections. Go to Peter Black's blog spot comments for those of Swansea Llansamlet council election.

In all three, the Liberal Democrat vote rose and the Conservatives made no impact. Labour were smart to hold the Westminster by-elections during the Gordon Brown "honeymoon" period, or the results might have been worse for them.

Save Bryncoch Farm

It is not only a valuable part of a green wedge, but it is also of historical interest. Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats support the campaign to save Bryncoch Farm.

John Warman, Liberal Democrat councillor for Cimla, is so concerned about the loss of green wedges in the county borough that he has resigned from the planning committee. He feels that his freedom to campaign has been held back by legal restrictions while he has been on the committee.

Richie: congratulations (I think!)

Dave Howerski being unable to continue because of demands on his resources (we hope the parachute jump in Sweden went well, Dave), Richie has agreed to resume secretarial duties, with the unanimous approval of tonight's party meeting.

- The Chairman

Still no Ffynnon Oer money for communities

Readers of Paul Lewis's article in the Evening Post might be forgiven for believing that new money has suddenly become available for "greening" our communities' schools.

"Council officers are now thrashing out a deal to decide how the cash resulting from the 16-turbine npower development will be spent locally," he writes, no doubt from a press brief prepared by the County Borough Council.

In fact, £32,000 has been available since May 2006. Investigations by Richie Northcote in Resolven, as to what had happened to the money, started soon after. (Resolven is just one of the communities which would benefit - the others are Cymmer, Glyncorrwg and Pelenna.)

It turns out that the money is still sitting in nPower's coffers. It has doubled as from May this year, and will be added to at the rate of £32,000 on each anniversary of the establishment of the Ffynnon Oer wind-farm for the life of the installation.

All that was needed to access the money was for Neath Port Talbot CBC to set up a suitable financial vehicle, such as a trust. Planning for this could have started at the time planning permission for the wind farm was granted. Schools and other community facilities could have benefited from Day One.

Instead, on the council's own admission, they are still discussing the form of the trust.

We applaud the ideas outlined in the article, and welcome the call for further suggestions from the communities, but condemn the fifteen month wait, and the continuing delay.

Liberal Democrats to cut 4p off Income Tax!

Radical tax plans that will take the basic rate of income tax to its lowest level since 1916 were unveiled today by the Liberal Democrats.

The move to cut the basic rate by four pence in the pound will reduce the basic rate of income tax to 16p, benefiting millions of people on low and middle incomes.

The plans are a development of those approved by the party conference last year and form part of the party's proposals to lift the tax burden on low and middle income earners whilst making the rich and people with environmentally damaging lifestyles pay a fairer share.

The revised proposals are tax neutral and have been independently evaluated by the IFS.

The proposals launched in the document Reducing the Burden: Policies for tax reform include:

* Reaffirming the commitment to abolishing Council Tax, replacing it with a tax based on ability to pay

* Removing tax loop-holes exploited by the super-rich

* Radically simplifying the tax code, removing over 500 pages of unnecessary regulations

* Reforming stamp duty to reduce the amount of tax paid on properties worth less than £500,000

* Reforming Inheritance Tax, with the aim of raising the starting threshold to £500,000

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Ming Campbell said "Our new proposals will put fairness at the heart of the tax system. Low and middle income earners in this country shoulder too heavy a tax burden. By cutting the basic rate of national income tax by four pence in the pound the Liberal Democrats are proposing the lowest basic rate since 1916. By reforming stamp duty and inheritance tax we will ensure that people who were not originally intended to pay these taxes no longer do so. The unacceptable reality is that in Britain today the poorest pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the super-rich. Under our proposals tax cuts for the majority will be paid for by the wealthy minority, as well as those with environmentally damaging lifestyles. Only the Liberal Democrats have produced a costed plan to create a tax system that is fair, simple and green. I challenge Gordon Brown and David Cameron to back up their rhetoric by endorsing our plans."

Commenting further, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP said "This paper takes forward, in a more radical form, the proposals we passed at our conference last year. Those on low and middle incomes will benefit from a cut in the basic national rate, and from the scrapping of council tax. The national tax cuts will be paid for by abolishing the capital gains tax break, which allows the very rich to pay a lower tax rate than the person who cleans their office, as well as only providing tax relief for pensions at the standard rate; and raising taxes on polluters. Taken in conjunction with the abolition of council tax, these policies benefit the vast majority of families."

Sedgefield - The One to Watch

Liberal England has a very interesting and plausible analysis on the current by-election fever sweeping through Ealing and Sedgefield. Whilst Labour and the Tories are fighting each other intensely in Ealing Southall over which councillor will defect, to whom, next. The Liberal Democrats are catching up fast in Sedgefield by campaigning on the local issues that matter to local people. Labour and the Tories can continue to play their powerbroking nonsense games, but what will really be on the minds of the electorate, on thursday, is who has been campaigning on the issues that matter.

Below is an extract from his blog article:

As I said on 18 Doughty Street the other night (hem, hem), when MPs resign to take highly paid jobs elsewhere, their party often does very badly in the ensuing by-election.

I also said that Tony Blair sometimes treated his constituency as no more than a film set - rushing up to Trimdon to announce he was going to stand down as prime minister and then resigning as its MP as soon as he had.

So maybe we should be watching the result in Sedgefield more closely. Up till now, this contest has been rather overshadowed by the defections and similar malarkey in Ealing Southall.

Certainly, Paul Routledge thinks so. He writes in today's Mirror:

The Tories, a poor second in 2005, are nowhere. But the Liberal Democrats are closing the gap rapidly on Labour.


- Richie Northcote

Labour/Nationalist coalition lets down carers

See the July 11th entry on Peter Black's blogspot.

Ealing Southall By-Election Watch

This is how the local media in Ealing Southall are reporting the by-election campaign. With the Tories out of the running it can mean only one thing.....couldn't it? - A Lib Dem victory? Maybe.

BUT, i'm not going to count any chickens yet, there's a week to go and things might change. Its going to be an interesting week ahead, on the same day (19th July) there is also a further parliamentary by-election in Sedgefield and a local by-election in the Llansamlet Ward of Swansea.

Good Luck Ealing, Sedgefield and Swansea Liberal Democrats from your Aberavon and Neath colleagues!

- Richie Northcote

Ming Campbell - "Rattling the Cage of British Politics"

Ming Campbell has promised that the Liberal Democrats would be “rattling the cage of British politics and challenging the cosy consensus” between Labour and the Conservatives, exposing the government on issues such as BAE, freedom of information and the erosion of civil liberties.

He said the party will “campaign constantly on behalf of all those betrayed by this government over the past decade – those without proper housing or healthcare.”

You can listen to Ming’s speech on YouTube (part 1 here, part 2 here).

Traffic Management Needed in Aberavon

I feel that I must comment on the, ever worsening, traffic situation created by the installation of traffic lights where Beach Hill used to be. Instead of a hill, we've now got a cross roads with a three way set of traffic lights. Further on roughly 200 metres is another set of traffic lights, at the cross roads of Hospital Rd/ Newbridge Road & Victoria road. Recently, these traffic lights have also become a three way set of lights.

Prior to Beach hill being taken down, traffic could move smoothly between Yscuthan Road and Victoria road via beach hill, there is now traffic backing up along both Yscuthan Road and Victoria Road as a result.


A simple solution would be to co-ordinate these lights. The lights at the Yscuthan road could be green when the lights at Victoria Road go green for traffic to go to the beach, likewise coming back from the beach.



- Jean Bellingham (Local Resident)

**UPDATE**

The Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats are in the process of lobbying Neath Port Talbot Council in a bid to co-ordinate these lights to ease congestion along the affected routes.

How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

40%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Online Dating

Well apparently, I am only 40% Nerd!

- Richie Northcote

Neuro-surgery and nurses

We now know that there will be a Labour-Plaid coalition*. However, even if this agreement had not been reached, there are already two
good reasons for the electorate not to have given Labour an overall majority.

The Assembly government agreed to pay the nurses pay award in full, without staging, as has been done in Scotland. Edwina Hart said that this was a principled decision, and drew attention to her trade union roots. Yet, as pronouncements by Rhodri Morgan showed, there is little doubt that Wales would have followed the English example if Labour had been able to govern alone.

Neuro-surgery in Swansea has been saved. (And to those consultants who claim that Wales cannot afford more than one neuro-surgery unit, may I suggest that the Cardiff one be shut down? Cardiff and Newport can easily be served by Bristol.)

- Frank Little

*Plaid's special conference agreed to share power by 225 votes to 18, or 92%.

Roger Williams new spokesman for Wales

It's good to see a Welshman in this post. The Conservatives are sticking with their English MP - obviously their Welshman does not fit the Cameron pattern for the pastel blue-greens.

Congratulations to Lembit Öpik on his new position, too. Further details and the views of Mike German are here.

New job for Wales Governor-General

Peter Hain, MP for Neath and Secretary of State for Wales, has been relieved of the Northern Ireland brief, and been promoted to be Minister of Work and Pensions. He has criticised us for wanting to reform the wasteful New Deal programme. However, he now finds himself in charge of the run-down of local Job Centres, part of the Treasury's desperate scramble to fill the so-called "black hole" in government finances. Will he attempt to reverse this?

Incidentally, an unkind Scottish colleague suggested that Quentin Davies (about whom Guido Fawkes is scathing) should become the Welsh Secretary in view of "his history of sheep abuse".

On the subject of Tories crossing the floor to New Labour, Shaun Woodward has been given the Northern Ireland brief which Paddy Ashdown turned down, showing how peripheral this job has become and thus vindicating Paddy's decision.

- Frank Little

Liberal Democrats launch NHS SOS website

As part of their major summer campaign on the NHS, the Liberal Democrats have launched a new website - www.nhssos.com

The site includes details of the Liberal Democrats 3-step plan to improve the NHS, local campaign news from around the country and an on line petition which people can sign.

Ming Campbell said, "I know from my own experience just how important the NHS is, and how hard nurses, doctors and other staff work.

"But by trying to control every detail of what goes on in the NHS the Labour Government has wasted money and caused a massive wave of cuts."

Country Needs a Change of Direction, Not Just a Change at the Top: Campbell

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell said that the country needed a change in direction not just a change in personnel at the top.

Launching an attack on the last ten years of Blair-Brown, Menzies Campbell said that Gordon Brown can not distance himself from the last ten years because his fingerprints are at the scene of the crime. He said that the vast majority of people had been let down over the last 10 years. Since 1997:

* Children from poorer backgrounds are doing worse

* Students are saddled with mortgage-style debts

* The poorest are paying a higher proportion of tax than the richest

* Only one in every hundred crimes in this country is punished in court

Speaking as Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Menzies Campbell said:

"Gordon Brown cannot escape the last ten years. Labour's failures are his failures too.

"This is the man who has signed the cheques for the Iraq war and who raised taxes for the poorest and lowered them for the richest.

"Britain needs a change in direction not just a change at the top."

Applause for Glyn Davies

Peter Black's appreciation of Glyn Davies is understandable. His unspun, common-sense, view of the political process is an antidote to the opposite attitude of New Labour and of his current leader in Westminster.

Yesterday, on BBC-2 Wales's AM.PM, he identified Ming Campbell's interrogation of the Prime Minister over the alleged BAE payments to a Saudi prince as the most serious questions of the session. There was hardly any reaction in the chamber, apart from some restlessness. Then there was almost palpable relief as MPs reverted, as Mr Davies said, to "their usual knockabout".

Mind you, he did reveal his true colours when he confessed that he wished the Liberal Democrats would disappear altogether ...

- Frank Little

Peter Hain Supports Replacement Nuclear Power Station on Anglesey

Peter Hain has backed the plan for a replacement nuclear power station on Anglesey.



Below is the Hansard extract whilst being questioned by Liberal Democrat Shadow Welsh Secretary.

Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)

"While I welcome tidal energy in the Severn estuary, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is enough tidal power off the north Wales coast to offset the need for a replacement nuclear power station in Anglesey? However, given that all bar one of the Labour deputy leadership candidates said on "Newsnight" that they support more nuclear power stations, including the right hon. Gentleman, how can anyone seriously believe that the second nuclear consultation is not destined to be as big a sham as the first?"


Peter Hain (Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office)

"It is not a sham. I have always made it clear that if a nuclear new-build is necessary in order to keep the lights on, it would be irresponsible to rule that out. As the hon. Gentleman knows, no one is more enthusiastic about clean, green renewable energy than me. Indeed, I often have scraps with Liberal Democrats about wind farms and other sources of clean, green energy, because they are in favour of green energy in principle, but in practice differences can arise. However, I think that we can work together to make sure that Wales benefits from all forms of energy. Sometimes there is a demand for a replacement nuclear power station. That is the case in Anglesey. The local council and my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen) support a replacement of the existing nuclear power station, and they deserve to be supported."

Click HERE to see the full debate

Skewen station

The reports of hooliganism at Skewen station bring home how little regard is paid to this vital facility.

We have previously drawn attention to the state of the road bridge and to the lack of passenger information (the speaker system has long since been vandalised). Llansamlet station, just along the line, has a volunteer manager and more facilities. Why not Skewen? Do Network Rail and the council see it as an embarrassment?

21 teachers to be made redundant in Neath and Port Talbot

The price for keeping our schools open is now revealed by the Evening Post.

It is to be hoped that the county borough is not to lose the services of its most experienced and qualified teachers.

Are you affected by these changes? Please let us know, if so.

More Dental Pain

Yet again, it is being reported in the Neath Port Talbot Guardian that there is no end to the dental crisis in Wales, with patients living within the Borough having to travel as far as the Rhondda Valley for NHS dental treatment.

The article goes on to say that remarkably:

"None of the 17 dental practices in the borough are taking on NHS patients while an advert in the Guardian last week promoted NHS places available in Ferndale and Treorchy."

Aberavon AM, and Health Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons has recently said,

"We have already started to see a rise in the number of NHS dental places available thanks to the Personal Dental Services Scheme."

Where? We ask. Certainly not in Neath or Aberavon.

The Liberal Democrat approach would be to:

Focus on increasing the use of mobile dentists to serve the most rural areas and more salaried dentists to serve areas of particular shortage. Alongside this we will expand the use of dental hygienists and therapists, who are trained to do much of the routine work currently done by dentists, increasing the number of training places.

Reform the Welsh Dental Initiative to provide capital grants for dentists wishing to set up practices in rural areas. We will also employ salaried dentists to do school check-ups and focus on dental health and prevention at primary school level and at playgroups and nurseries, building on the Community Dental Service.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Manifesto 2007

Lib Dem Action Plan to Save the Post Office Network

We are the only party to have a costed a credible set of proposals to keep post offices open and, where necessary, to open others. Our opponents have no such policy.

Our plan keeps the Post Office Ltd in the public sector and enables Royal Mail employees to get a share in their company through a radical employee share ownership Trust, similar to the John Lewis Partnership. Royal Mail will take a new ownership model, with the sale of some of its shares providing the investment needed by our post offices.

The Liberal Democrat plan would enable us to –

• Open new post office branches where they are needed


• Keep the Post Office in the public sector


• Make the Royal Mail into a successful company, with new investment freedoms


• Give Royal Mail staff a guaranteed stake in their company through employee share holding and participation


• Protect and improve the service to customers that provides a daily delivery at a uniform price across the country
  

You can find out about the proposals in more details by reading our background paper on the policy.

Why the Lib Dem plan is the right thing for Royal Mail as well as the Post Office

The Royal Mail has been starved of investment by successive governments and needs at least £2 billion to invest in automation to remain competitive. Royal Mail now faces full competition as its centuries old monopoly on the delivery of mail was ended on 1st January 2006. It is facing massive competition from well financed competitors. Doing nothing would see the Royal Mail wither on the vine, putting at risk many services, including the Universal Service Obligation (the guaranteed daily delivery at a uniform price throughout the country) which so many communities rely on.

Our proposals would create a new ownership model for Royal Mail which would allow it to borrow to invest without it having to compete with schools and hospitals as it is no longer wholly owned by the public sector. (This is because publicly owned bodies have to have government permission to borrow.) Our proposals will enable Royal Mail to become a great British company free to improve its own business services, fight off foreign competition and win markets abroad.

The employee shareholding scheme would benefit future Royal Mail employees not just current ones. It would not be a one off hand out to people who happen to be working for Royal Mail at the time of change of ownership. Rather the employees' shares would go into a trust for the benefit of those working for Royal Mail. When an employee leaves the company, that person will no longer be entitled to any dividend. A new employee, however, would become a partner in the company and would be entitled to receive a dividend from the trust. The model is similar to that operated by the John Lewis Partnership. In addition to the trust, we would establish a system of employee participation so that staff are involved in the running of the company. Again, this would be similar to the John Lewis Partnership model.

Three Ferrets in a Sack

That was the delightful description by Roger Roberts (and he was in favour!) of the possible Plaid-Tory-LibDem coalition at today's special members conference at Llandrindod Wells. The conference agreed that it was a bold step, but voted 125-77 in favour of the proposition that "Conference endorses the proposals in Working Together for Wales as the basis for forming the government in the National Assembly".

Supporters pointed to the successful operation of "rainbow coalitions" in Swansea, Bridgend, Cardiff and Wrexham. The working document (The All-Wales Accord) contained about 75% LibDem policies and that this was the best chance we had of putting them into effect. STV elections for local government and smaller class sizes were valuable prizes to be gained.

Many felt we should respond to the electorate, who had largely rejected Labour - only 32% of the vote - and who were looking to the other parties to come together to provide stable government.

To those of us who were concerned that the Plaid policies which had been introduced were uncosted, Mike German promised that a positive vote would enable him to go to the civil service to refine the cost estimates. There had not been time to do this on the tight time-scale of the selection of a new First Minister.

There were no illusions that the coalition would be easy, but the Accord was in the nature of a contract which could be enforced on AMs of the member parties.

Tony Blair "hell-bent" on more nuclear power

Exchange in the House of Commons yesterday:

Sir Menzies Campbell:
"Can the Prime Minister explain why in his manifestos of 1997, 2001 and 2005, he did not seek a mandate for a new generation of nuclear power stations? Why is he so hell-bent on nuclear power now?"

Tony Blair: "We are going to go from a situation, as my right honourable friend [Alistair Darling] will explain today where we are 80%-90% self-sufficient in oil and gas - that is going to decline completely in relation to gas, largely in relation to oil.
We are also going to have a situation where a lot of the fleet of power stations becomes obsolete and our nuclear power stations become obsolete.
Now, if we want to have secure energy supplies and reduce CO2 emissions we have got to put the issue of nuclear power on the agenda.
If people are not prepared to do that, then I would like them to explain how we are going to manage to reduce that self-sufficiency, dramatically as I describe, how we are going to be able through wind-power or renewables to make up the huge deficit that nuclear power is going to leave and if we are about serious policy-making I'm afraid we have got to confront and take decisions on these issues."

Sir Menzies:
"Very clearly, in the Cabinet Office Review of 2003.
Why is it that the Prime Minister is so committed to nuclear power in a way which suggests he disregards the issue of risk and cost and toxic waste?
Where is the investment in wave, wind, and tidal power, and clean coal technology that would give us a secure, non-nuclear, future?"

Tony Blair:
"Look, first of all, we are boosting renewable energy significantly.
But let's be absolutely clear about this; we are not going to be able to make up through wind farms all the deficit on nuclear power, we're just not going to be able to do it.
And in addition to that, we have had nuclear power in this country for over half a century without the problems that the honourable gentleman draws attention to.
And I also urge him to look round the world, and he will see that at this present time, I think I am right in saying, there are something like 70 to 80 new proposals for nuclear power stations, and that is for a perfectly sensible reason, that every country round the world is looking at these two problems: securing energy supply, with sufficient diversity; and reducing CO2 emissions.
And the reason why we should look at nuclear power as an option here is because if we don't do that, we are simply, for reasons, in my view, of ideology, putting it to one side when plainly round the world many others are coming to the opposite conclusion."

Analysing that answer:

we are boosting renewable energy significantly
See earlier blog entry about the cuts in government grants in two key areas.

Giving aid to multi-national companies to set up wind farms is not a big boost to renewable energy.

we are not going to be able to make up through wind farms all the deficit
(admitting that this "one-club" approach is inadequate).

He fails to address the points about wave and tidal power, and clean coal technology, all of which have been shown to be more productive than wind generators. The answer must be that the Westminster government has done nothing about these.
Sadly, news has come through that a Scottish carbon-capture scheme, proposed by BP, has been abandoned. Is this because there is no longer a LibDem minister in Scotland to push it through?

we have had nuclear power in this country for over half a century without the problems that the honourable gentleman draws attention to
Maybe Tony Blair is too young to remember when Windscale (now Sellafield) blew its stack, but he must have been aware of the discovery of the Dounreay "drain". The aggravating problem of storage of waste must also have come to his attention. Until the government has the guts to publish a strategy for the long-term storage of nuclear waste, which is still piling up, it cannot be deemed fit to start another nuclear programme.

round the world many others are coming to the opposite conclusion
So we must keep up with the Jones? (Or rather, Patels and Kims.)

securing energy supply
Does he not realise that nuclear fuel has to be imported, and that we are not self-sufficient in the raw material? That there is logic in India, and even Iran, which do have uranium ore, developing their own nuclear generating capacity, while we would be making ourselves dependent on other countries? That is before the difficulties of transporting the fuel are considered.

"Hell-bent" and "committed" just about sum the Prime Minister up. In this he is just as obstinate and unable to listen to reasoned argument as Mrs Thatcher.

Labour and the Conservatives – in alliance over shameful vote on secrecy

Welsh Liberal Democrats in Neath Port Talbot have slammed Labour and Conservative MPs for voting for a change to the law to remove the public’s right to see MPs’ travel and expenses claims.

The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill, introduced by the Conservative MP David Maclean, would remove any obligation for MPs' expenses to be made public. It would also stop people from finding out what their Member of Parliament has said to other public bodies.

Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats have welcomed the launch of a national petition by Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell against the proposals to exempt MPs from Freedom of Information rules. The petition calls on all political parties to back the campaign to stop the change going through.

Below is a message from The Leader of The Liberal Democrats,

Sir Menzies Campbell OBE:

Dear Supporter,

I am shocked that the Labour and Conservative front benches in the Commons have joined forces to vote for a special exemption for MPs from the Freedom of Information Act. This brings Parliament into disrepute.

Liberal Democrats have led the opposition on the floor of the House of Commons and I have decided to launch a national petition so voters can show to the House of Lords (who debate the bill next), Gordon Brown and David Cameron how they feel.

Please visit www.ourcampaign.org.uk/foi to sign our petition and lobby a member of the House of Lords. Please also forward this email to your friends and colleagues.

Thank you for your support.

With best wishes

Sir Menzies Campbell

Liberal Democrats

www.mingcampbell.org.uk

Pay people for the power they provide!

Donnachadh McCarthy is a micro-generator, green consultant and former Liberal Democrat federal executive member. In 1997, before it was fashionable, he installed solar panels on his South London roof. (Though the illustrations are of local solar heating and generating installations.) He has since added an experimental wind-turbine.

He calculates that he will never have to pay for energy again and is even able to recoup some of the cost through a deal with EDF Energy. Donnachadh receives from them 7p per unit for electricity generated which he does not use. Thus, he was able to bill them for £45 last year. At the retail price of 11p, he reckons to have made a further saving of £55 annually.

However, he paid over £13,000 for his solar panels and wind-turbine. Even with a government grant, he reckons that it will take between 90 and 120 years for him to pay back the capital cost of the system.

Some UK energy companies will pay the full market price for micro-generated electricity, but charge the customer for the installation of the export meter. This could be £100 or more.

The German government compels its energy companies to buy back from consumers at a far more generous rate. That could account for the fact that there are over 300,000 installations of solar panels generating electricity in Germany. The UK equivalent is 5,000.

The Labour MP (and at one time a challenger for the deputy leadership of his party) Alan Simpson chaired a recent symposium at Westminster. Simpson is an enthusiastic micro-generator, but only receives 40% of the market price for his exported electricity. German customers get four times the market price. Simpson calls for a similar deal for UK consumers, guaranteed over twenty years.

The capital cost of solar panels has come down. However, the UK government grant has come down even more. The maximum is now £2,500, whereas it was previously, in practice, £7,000. (See table below.)

The government defends its policy, saying that more households will be able to benefit from the lower grant. It also calculates that subsidising households as the Germans do will cost £380m annually.

However, our Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, Susan Kramer commented:

“This announcement means fewer people will be able to afford to generate their own electricity.

“This will have a knock-on effect on the industries servicing green energy. Even before this announcement, the mishandling of these grants has caused redundancies. This announcement will mean businesses withdrawing from the sector and further redundancies.

“The Budget announced an extra £6million for the Low Buildings Carbon Programme. Given that the cuts in grants will no doubt lead to reduced take-up, how exactly will this extra money be spent?”

Technology	Previous maximum grant	New maximum grant
Solar Photovoltaics	£15,000	£2,500
Wind Turbines	£5,000	£2,500
Small Hydro	£5,000	£2,500
Solar Thermal Hot Water	£400	£400
Ground Source Heat Pumps	£1,200	£1,200
Automated Wood Pellet Fed Room Heaters/Stoves	£600	£600
Wood Fuelled Boiler Systems	£1,500	£1,500

"Abominable. Loyal, Blind, Apparently Subservient"

Those were the comments of Ex-President Carter this evening, whilst describing Blairs relationship with Bush, on BBC radio.

The article below has just been released by Reuters and makes interesting reading. I doubt any of it will appear in the "Blair Memoirs"


Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter blasted George W. Bush's presidency as "the worst in history" in international relations and condemned Prime Minister Tony Blair for his loyal relationship with Bush in interviews released on Saturday.

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said in a telephone interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from the Carter Centre in Atlanta.

"The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me," Carter told the newspaper.

In an interview on BBC radio, Carter slammed Blair for his tight relations with Bush, particularly concerning the Iraq war.

"Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient," Carter said when asked how he would characterise Blair's relationship with Bush.

"I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter said.

Carter, who was U.S. president from 1977-1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his charitable work, was an outspoken opponent of the invasion of Iraq before it was launched in 2003.

In the newspaper interview, Carter said Bush has taken a "radical departure from all previous administration policies" with the Iraq war.

"We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," Carter said.

The White House declined to comment on his statements.

Carter told the BBC that if Blair had opposed the invasion he could have reduced the ensuing harm by making it tougher for Washington to shrug off critics, even if the prime minister had not been able to stop the war.

"It would certainly have assuaged the problems that have (arisen) lately," Carter said.

"One of the defences of the Bush administration in America and worldwide ... has been: 'Okay, we must be more correct in our actions than the world thinks because Great Britain is backing us,'" Carter said.

"I think the combination of Bush and Blair giving their support to this tragedy in Iraq has strengthened the effort and has made opposition less effective and has prolonged the war and increased the tragedy that has resulted," he told the BBC.

Blair, who made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Saturday, has said he will step down in June. His Labour Party has named his long-serving finance minister, Gordon Brown, to succeed him.

Brown was a member of the Cabinet that voted in favour of the war, but has said mistakes were made in Iraq and he will review policy there.

In the newspaper interview, Carter, who brokered the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel, also criticised Bush's Middle East policies.

"For the first time since Israel was founded, we've had zero peace talks to try to bring a resolution of differences in the Middle East. That's a radical departure from the past," Carter said.

Government Business is key to Post Office Survival

Business from the government is the key to the survival of post offices Lib Dem MP Susan Kramer has said.

Speaking in response to a statement in which the government announced the closure of 2500 post offices Ms Kramer, who is Lib Dem Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, challenged the government to give assurance that no more government business would be withdrawn from the Post Office.

Ms Kramer called on the government to explain their contingency plans in the event that the Post Office failed to win the tender for the Post Office card account. She also criticised the government’s plan to abolish the post office watchdog Postwatch, leaving consumers with little support when fighting local post office closures.

You can read Susan Kramer’s full speech here

Visit the BBC Action Website to see what YOU can do about the proposed Post Office Closures.

**UPDATE - 20 May 07**

I have just received the Official Closure Statistics between 1999 and 2006. During this period a total of 4101 Post Offices have closed across the United Kingdom. 20 of these closures have been within Neath and Port Talbot County Borough. These statistics DO NOT include the latest closures of a further 2,500 Post Offices recently announced by the Government.

-Richie Northcote

Rainbow Coalition

It is hard to see where the general agreement Mike German was so hopeful of, in his statement to "Waterfront" tonight, is going to come from. We and Plaid agree that Wales should have more powers, that there should be a fair voting system at all levels of government, and that council tax should go. The Conservatives are against the latter two and speak with many voices on the first.

The rediscovery by the Conservatives (in opposition, be it noted) of their belief in the freedom of the individual and of devolving power to town halls brings them into line with ourselves, but how will that chime with the authoritarian socialist strand in Plaid?

One can guarantee that not all Plaid, and not all Conservative, AMs will go along with such a coalition. Unlike the coalition with Labour, whose party discipline is well-known, the "rainbow" is likely to be fissile during its run as well.

The impression being given to the public is of a fight over ministerial seats rather than putting into place the policies which Wales voted for.

As still the largest party, Labour has first option on power in the Senedd. It is not essential that it go into coalition with anyone, though it obviously needs reassurance that it is not going to be voted down every week.

One does not even have to go as far as New Zealand to see this strategy in operation. In many local authorities, including at least one in Wales, there is a minority administration.

- Frank Little

Cilfrew gas-transfer station

The planning and development committee, forced by judicial review to re-consider its decision on this matter, has again rejected the, in our view, reasonable objections of the residents to the siting of this plant.

More details when we get them.

- Frank Little

The True Cost of ID Cards

Not only was it a convenient time for the Government to release the news of the spiralling cost of the ID Card Scheme (The day of the Prime Ministers resignation) they also attempted to "Spin" the true cost. Luckily, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg, and his team uncovered the true cost of the scheme by scrutinising the ID Card Cost Report - as the extract from the article below, published on Home Office Watch, shows:

Over the next 10 years, ID cards will cost £5.55bn. That’s up from an estimate of £5.4bn six months ago - but they also reveal today that, whoops, they got the numbers wrong in October and at that point the cost was just £4.9bn. So that’s a 13% cost increase, an extra £640m in total, pushing the total cost of an ID card for Joe Citizen to over £100.

And the icing on the cake?

The Home Office has been spinning all day that the costs are really only £5.3bn. If you read the full cost report, this is the cost noted in table 3, which is something along the lines of “how much ID cards would have cost last October, if changes we’ve made to the scheme since then had been incorporated”. Also known as “a completely pointless piece of information we’ve included to make things look less bad.”

Since the Advertising Standards Authority have ruled that the following advert is not offensive to the Prime Minister, I thought it fitting to publish it here. In a lighthearted approach to the whole ID Card fiasco.

-Richie Northcote

Have your say on Assembly coalition talks

Foster Parents in Wales

In a rather poorly advertised consultation by the Welsh Assembly Government, some 35 foster parents replied to the consultation, either singularly or as a couple. Some interesting statistics show that there are some 1,949 foster parents in Wales, so between 2% to 3.5% of the foster parents in Wales contributed to this consultation on Foster Parents Allowances.

In total, a further 20 agencies contributed to this consultation. Be they Local Authorities or private fostering agencies. It is to their advantage to keep this allowance as low as possible.

While in the original consultation, there are some 1,200 children in care who aren't with foster parents, and some 3,200 who are looked after by Foster Parents. I suggest that WAG should look at how much it cost each of the 22 local authorities to look after each of these 1,200 children?

The Small Fortunes table for the cost of bringing up a child, weekly rates vary from £78 to £98 per week per child depending on age. The monetary value of the allowances each foster parent get for a child varies from £114 to around £150 per week. I very much feel that this is on the conservative side.

My first recommendation would be to establish the costs per child of keeping a child in Local Authority Care. My second recommendations to the consultation is that the minimum amount per child should be £14,000 per year, and again this would be cheap compared to the cost of keeping a child in Local Authority Care.

Visit the following links to the relevant sections of both the Welsh Assembly Government and Neath Port Talbot CBC Websites for further information.

--Gary Lewis

Peter Black AM: Speaking out inappropriately

Peter Black AM: Speaking out inappropriately

Its Not All Bad!

Our performance in the Welsh Assembly elections is hardly going to set the world on fire, that much we are all agreed upon. However, it actually provides us with the opportunity to take stock, evaluate and move on to pastures new.

By this, I mean we need a new direction. We need to communicate our message to the electorate in a more cohesive manner. Our campaign concentrated on delivering tabloid style newspapers that were predominantly negative in their nature and presented little of the Liberal Democrat manifesto. If we are going to succeed in the future we need to communicate our message to the people of Aberavon and Neath not just highlight the failings of the Government (which are far too many to mention here).

Its not all bad news however, not only did we thoroughly enjoy the campaign but we also managed to substantially increase our membership. Several new members, within Neath and Aberavon, were recruited during this campaign.

We held our own in Neath against the predicted Plaid surge and a resurgent Conservative Party thanks to Sheila Waye and her campaign team. We almost won Newport East from Labour and we have moved up to second place in numerous constituencies across Wales. The best news for Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats is that we now have a more solid grounding, than ever before, to contest the local elections next year.

Furthermore, I wish to add congratulations to Peter Black AM, Lib Dem AM for South Wales West, who was re-elected to the Assembly. Peter Black is probably one of the hardest working AM in the Assembly. I'm not just saying that because I am a Liberal Democrat - judge for yourself.

Visit http://peterblack.blogspot.com to see for yourself.

--Richie Northcote

First thoughts on thepoll

Well, the turnout was up about 4% in both constituencies, but still less than the figures recorded in the first Assembly election (46.8% in Aberavon, 47.9% in Neath).

Our vote yesterday increased in both constituencies, as compared with the 2003 result. Thanks to all the people who put in work delivering our message, without whom we might even have slipped back.

Congratulations to Plaid on their well-run campaign which enabled them to recover all the votes lost in their plunge in 2003. Congratulations, too, to Gwenda Thomas in holding on to the Neath seat in the face of the Plaid surge and the general unpopularity of the Labour Party throughout Wales.

The Conservatives seem to have shaken off that mantle to make a modest recovery.
_
However, the general election will tell a different story.

Polling Day

Eighty-five per cent of the French electorate turned out in the first round of their presidential election. That must be too much to hope for in the Welsh general election, but, given the good weather, there is no excuse for not bettering the poor turnout of 2003 - 37.4% in Aberavon, 39.1% in Neath. So, c'mon, pass judgment on your politicians!

Post Office closures

Odd that the Evening Post should publish Claire Waller's release about PO closures over the last seven years in Aberavon (for which we are, of course, grateful), but make no mention of Sheila Waye's comments on the proportionately larger culling (ten out of forty-two post offices) in Neath.

Could it be that the Neath press release reminded people that the Conservatives closed 3500 post offices while they were in power, and the Aberavon one didn't?

The Blair legacy

On the day before the PM is presumed to announce the timetable of his departure, the Independent newspaper publishes an opinion poll suggesting that he will most be remembered for Iraq - 69% of respondents put that at the top of the list.

9% would remember his relationship with George Bush. The first positive aspect of his tenure, the Northern Ireland peace process, comes in next at 6%. Then came cash-for-honours, the minimum wage and "spin", all at 3%.

I think that history will be somewhat kinder to Blair, and recall one or two reforms that the poll respondents did not. In social matters, for instance, the introduction of civil partnerships and amelioration of the laws on homosexuality. On his watch, the Bank of England was given the freedom to set interest rates and a better Freedom of Information Act was introduced (though the government is now trying to back-track on the latter).

On the other side, respondents did not register his botched Lords reform, shilly-shallying over hunting with hounds or his reneging on the promise to consider electoral reform. History will probably forget about these, too.

Strangely, 61% thought he had been a good PM and only 2% had no opinion.
- Frank Little

Pause for breath

This is probably the last time campaigners can sit back and pause for breath before the dash to the May 3rd poll and the Welsh general election finishing line.

The overwhelming impression has been of delivering leaflets in continuous sunshine. It makes up for all the campaigns in years gone by, foot-slogging through horizontal driving rain, trying to push soaking leaflets (with the ink running, of course) through doors in the hilly villages of the Neath and Aberavon constituencies. One has to add, what a transformation towns like Banwen and Cwmllynfell undergo when the sun is out.


The writers of this blog would like to take the opportunity to thank all the party members and others who have put themselves out for this campaign, and in campaigns past. We also send our good wishes to campaigners throughout Wales.

It's about more than just management

It's things like Sajjad Karim's fight for human rights which remind me that party politics is about principle, and why I am in the right party.

Then news arrives from England of Sir Menzies Campbell's address to party workers in the build-up to the local elections there. He said:

"What we need is the dominance of principle over fashion.

"We've got two parties - two conservative parties - who agreed about
Iraq, agree about civil nuclear power, agree about the replacement of
Trident."

(One might add: a similar belief that government was only about cost-effectiveness and centralisation in the name of efficiency.)

Sir Menzies said the environment was an example of an issue that had
become "fashionable" with other parties pushing it up the political
agenda, but the Lib Dems had been talking about it "for a long time".

Instead of photo opportunities, he said, "what we need is real, tough
decision-making about how we are going to deal with the problem of
climate change".

He also said the Lib Dems had once been "derided" for championing gay
rights, but had been shown to be right.

We are still derided for supporting victims of oppression abroad, because sometimes it means giving them a home here. Nevertheless, unpopular though it is for the Sun and the Mail, we will persist, because it is part of our philosophy. (Actually, their readers may be more liberal than the journalists give them credit for. There have been several occasions when communities have defended families from Africa or Asia, who have set down roots, against forced deportation by the Home Office.)

Commentators complain that "all parties are the same", because we appear to concentrate on which of us is better at managing the economy, the health service, civil order, education, the environment and the rest. I happen to think that we really would do better in England and Wales* than the other parties, because so many of our members are practical people - working professionals, small business people and middle managers - but that's not really the point.

Our approach stems from the party philosophy, expressed on page one of the constitution, and unchanged since the party was set up.

Our opposition to the invasion of Iraq stems from our belief in the rule of law, internationally as well as locally.

Our support for devolution is based not so much on assuaging pride in a native country or language, noble though these things are, but from the philosophy that government is best when it is closest to the governed.

(That is why I personally regretted siting the Senedd in Cardiff Bay. It does not bring government closer, in practical terms. to north and mid Wales than leaving decision-making in Westminster. Lest people should accuse me of hypocrisy, I should add that I voiced these opinions when I contested the Vale of Glamorgan in the first Assembly elections. They cannot have helped my chances!)

Our support for keeping open and, indeed, enhancing, local post offices stems from a belief in local communities, not just courting local opinion for electoral reasons, then ignoring it when in power.

We believe in open government, even if it means that pressure groups with which we do not totally sympathise may make use of the results.

One could go on. There are others. The point is that because vital promises are rooted in the philosophy of the party, they will be kept if we get into a position of power.

- Frank Little

*We have already shown what we can do in Scotland.

Leader in Aberavon town centre today

Picture shows Mike German with Jackie Radford (far left),
Peter Black (far right, talking to BBC reporter Janet Cohen) and party workers, prior to a well-received "meet the people" walk through Aberavon.

Resolven Needs a Dental Surgery

There is a growing need for a dental surgery in Resolven. The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning hard for local access to free NHS dental care throughout the United Kingdom. Peter Black AM, Liberal Democrat Regional Welsh Assembly Member for South Wales West, who has recently been campaigning for a Dental Practice in Pontardawe has now lent his support to the Resolven cause:

"Under this Labour Assembly Government more and more dentists have left the NHS with the result that communities like Resolven are left without a proper service. It is not reasonable to expect people to have to travel such distances to see a dentist. There is a need for Resolven to have a dental surgery of its own."Welsh Liberal Democrats are also campaigning for Salaried Dentists to visit Primary Schools to provide free check-ups.

How green are political parties?

While we were delivering our tabloid in Gwaun-cae-Gurwen today, a citizen accused us political parties of hypocrisy. "You all say you're green," he said, "but all four of you are sending out bits of paper to everyone which aren't read."

Since, at the time, he was using a pressure-washer to clean a piece of garden statuary, I don't think he was arguing from a green point of view. However, he did have a point.

The trouble is, I explained to him, that all the other parties do it, so we have to. Political parties are in the position of Leslie Lever, one of the founding fathers of Unilever, who reckoned that only half of his advertising was effective. The trouble was, he didn't know which half. The effectiveness of our advertising is somewhat less, but if we stopped it, the voting figures would show it.

- Frank Little

PS It seems from a letter to Peter Black that the Green Party in Swansea is the worst offender of the lot!

Labour election machine snubs Neath Port Talbot

Following Tony Blair's praise for LibDem-run Cardiff's renaissance, Welsh Labour's recent election broadcast highlighted the dramatic reconstruction of Swansea (run by a coalition in which Liberal Democrats are in the majority).

The Labour leaders of Neath Port Talbot council must be quite put out. There is large-scale building going on - the southern distributor road, the refurbishment of the Gwyn Hall, Llandarcy village, the gas pipeline (well, perhaps that last is a bit sensitive), yet Neath and Aberavon receive not even a name-check.

The uncharitable may think that the Labour parliamentary party does not like Dr Gibbons, Gwenda Thomas or Cllr Derek Vaughan. Coalition conspiracy-theorists could believe that Labour is deliberately boosting the Liberal Democrat vote.

The truth is more likely to be that the New Labour machine, run from London, has lost touch with the party's roots. It probably turned over the production of its election media to bright political graduates with presentation skills, but no knowledge of local government.

If Scotland, why not Wales?

The Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto has just been launched.

Global Warming - more than one swindle going on

As a recent letter to the South Wales Evening Post showed, almost as many people were taken in by Martin Durkin's Channel 4 documentary (also shown on S4C) entitled "The Great Global Warming Swindle" as believe entirely the word of Al Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth".

While virtually no climate scientist will state that all the global warming which started in the late 20th century is caused by man's efforts alone, few - unless they have a vested interest - will say that man has not contributed and is not contributing to the increase in greenhouse gases and thus global warming.

Al Gore may have over-simplified the case against carbon dioxide, but Durkin, through using misleading graphs, turning a blind eye to some data which came in after 1991 and selectively quoting a respected scientist (who considered suing as a result), presented a dishonest case for the defence.

Durkin has form. A previous documentary of his had been found to distort the truth. Chris Huhne, the LibDem environment spokesman, felt strongly enough to ask for Channel 4's comments on green campaigner George Monbiot's view that it was distinctly odd for Durkin to be commissioned again, in view of the ITC's earlier findings against him.

There is an even more trenchant criticism of the 2007 programme which suggests a far-left political motivation.

Those of us who can afford the time and money for broadsheet newspapers as well as watching TV are able to take in a broader and more objective view of the climate debate. Unfortunately, there has been no significant attempt on TV to put the various films and documentaries into context.

Carbon footprint

I am grateful to a scientist member of the Liberal Democrats for the following survey of carbon footprint calculators:

"I did some Googling on carbon calculators and came up with the following:

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.html
covers household fuel usage and travel

http://www.carboncalculator.co.uk/
has both a carbon calculator and a shopping calculator but requires you
to register

http://www.mycarbonfootprint.eu/
is the European Commission's version

http://www.foodcarbon.co.uk/
just calculates the carbon from the food you eat

http://www.clevel.co.uk/homecalc.html
covers all the areas but fairly crude on food &waste

https://www.edfenergy.com/climatebalance/edf-energy/calculator.do
only covers house heating

http://www.resurgence.org/carboncalculator/
covers everything apart from food

http://www.esd.rgs.org/link6.html
links to 10 different calculators

http://www.safeclimate.net/calculator/
only covers travel and home energy use

Quite a few local councils have a link to carbonfootprint.com, and it
looks quite comprehensive apart from ignoring food; combined with
foodcarbon.co.uk it is probably the best for an overall estimate."

Anonymous allegations

Many people reading this will have received, in the mail, a well-produced printed statement of criminality directed against a potential candidate in the forthcoming Welsh Assembly elections.

These allegations are serious, and, if true, would surely disqualify the person concerned holding public office. They merit investigation by the proper authorities or, if the author believes the judicial process has failed, another investigative medium.

However, an anonymous attack is dangerous for public well-being in general and the political process in particular. That is why there are laws against anonymity in publishing printed material.

That is why, although my party would appear to be the main beneficiaries of this attack, I shall be referring my copy of the communication to the police.

- Frank Little

Housing and infrastructure

There is new housing going up all over the county borough. But can the infrastructure - sewerage and roads in particular - cope?

All the county borough's money appears to be directed towards the new Port Talbot southern distributor road. Ordinary scheduled maintenance is clearly suffering. Regular travellers remark on the poor quality of the road surface in Neath Port Talbot compared with the roads in Powys.

A Welsh national cricket team?

I trust that the Plaid Cymru AM who suggested that Wales aspire to a national cricket team which competes in the World Cup has had second thoughts after watching Scotland's dismal performance in the Caribbean.

(There is, of course, a Wales team which competes in English one-day cup and minor county competitions, but, reliant as it is on ex-county and club players, has not had much success)

Competing in the county championship, Glamorgan has done more for Welsh pride and reputation over the years than any separate national side would do.

- Frank Little (Glamorgan CC member)

The Budget - a first reaction

The biggest give-away was not the 2% cut in the basic rate. That doesn't take place until next year, and will in any case largely be paid for by the abolition of the 10% starter rate.

No, the chancellor is rewarding the section of the population most likely to vote - the over-65s. He will take more pensioners out of taxation than any other section of society.

He figures that the pensioner population, who pay a larger proportion of their income in council tax than the richest ten per cent of the population, will be mollified by reducing their income tax burden. He has not addressed the inequity of the council tax as such, nor is Tony Blair bothered. Neath and Aberavon constituencies must have a higher proportion of pensioners in poverty than most of the UK and will suffer accordingly.

In reply to a question from Ming Campbell, the prime minister acknowledged the high marginal rate paid by the poorest in our society, because of council tax. However, his only response was to point to the Lyons Commission which, if early reports are to be believed, does not consider any alternatives to council tax.

Small Business

Once again Labour shows their love of big business and contempt for small business. Corporation tax is to be cut, but small company taxation is to be raised with virtually immediate effect. This is going to hit a large number of small enterprises in this borough and adjacent areas. I am particularly concerned about the effect this is going to have on those companies pioneering green solutions to our energy problems.

We would be interested to see any other views of how this budget will affect the local economy.
-Frank Little

Family health centre for Cimla and Pelenna

Pontardawe has a substantial, modern, health centre replacing the prefabs ruined by the floods of the storms of Spring 1998. There is to be a new
Dulais Valley Primary Care Centre. Why isn't there a health centre serving Cimla and the Pelenna valley?

A bit of history

In the mid-1990s, Councillor John Warman organised a campaign for a general practitioner to be located in Cimla. A massive petition was raised, and hard work was rewarded with a doctor prepared to make a go of a local surgery. Unfortunately, he was unable to build up a solid list of patients, as too many people, faced with a choice of leaving the list of a GP in Neath, and an untried practice (they couldn't register on two lists), preferred to stay with the doctor they knew. Therefore, the business (a GP surgery is a small business) failed.

So what has changed?

Well, a hundred or more extra households on the Cimla, for a start. But even in 1999, Cimla residents (as part of the Agenda 21 consultations) were again calling for a local health centre. They were fully aware of the earlier failure of the GP surgery.
Then there is the difficulty that Pelenna residents are facing: the ending of a regular surgery in the valley. Most are registered with doctors in Cwmavon. However, the young, very old and the infirm cannot drive there. If they can't get lifts, then they have to rely on two bus-routes with often a long lay-over between services.

A possible future

In the wake of the Harold Shipman affair, the single-handed GP practice is virtually a thing of the past.
There is a trend in the Welsh NHS towards salaried health professionals. A health centre does not have to run as a business, and can afford to take the long view. Modern equipment and computer facilities can be shared by nurses and doctors.
It makes sense to provide a health centre in the Cimla which is directly accessible from Pelenna.

Neath Port Talbot - fiscal respectability close

According to the Evening Post and the Neath/Port Talbot Guardian, the County Borough will shortly lose its lead in the most unenviable table in Wales, that of high council tax, to Merthyr Tydfil. (That is, for those areas of the borough which are not parished; I predict that those of us who live in Coedffranc community will still be paying the highest council tax in Wales in 2007/8.)

Let us give credit where it is due, to council leader Vaughan and his team. However, while we still suffer this iniquitous tax, further progress can and should be made, without cutting essential services. The continuing increase in high-banded housing in the borough, in particular Llandarcy village, will aid the process.

Manifestos in Morriston

If not the starting gun, then this weekend's conference is the final warm-up lap before the Welsh Assembly campaign starts in earnest.

Conference will endorse the 2007 manifesto, without, it appears, any dissension predicted. What a strange Welsh Liberal conference that will be!

Laura Norder (3)

In New Labour's surveillance society, protecting the interests of central government and multi-national utility companies is more important than keeping the streets and
the houses of ordinary citizens safe.

Maintaining a police presence at the Cilfrew protest against the siting of a gas transfer station caused officers to be withdrawn from local towns like Skewen, as Emma Denholm's report in the Neath Guardian explains.

Frank Little writes: "Let me be clear. I am in favour of the gas pipeline, as it reduces England & Wales dependence on supplies from an increasingly capricious Russian state-controlled utility.

"However, it was wrong to divert police resources to what is basically a security company job. The implication that these respectable people now find themselves on a central police database of criminal suspects is very worrying."