The first is to record my respectful and grateful thanks to our late Queen, Elisabeth II. Her late majesty served this nation well throughout and even before her long reign formally commenced. Her balancing of the demands of a successful family life alongside the many formalities and essential duties of her long reign was most skilfully done. For those who believe in an after-life the hope must surely be that our late Queen and the late Prince Phillip are happily together again.
The second is to record my personal thanks to those ward residents who, did take the time and trouble to turn out to vote, one way or another, in last May’s local elections. In particularly of course, those who kindly supported me on the day. despite the flood of allegations on mass media that I personally was solely responsible for causing the pestilential 20mph Pilot Scheme to be dumped upon Buckley and surrounds, with little prior public consultation or explanation. More on that specific issue further on.
I hope that all readers and family members who are eligible will have had all of their Covid and booster jabs and the winter Flu vaccination by the time this newsletter arrives on your doormat. Those safeguards will certainly help towards having a Christmas and New Year that you will be able to remember for all of the right and enjoyable reasons and not the wrong ones.
What is staring us all in the face by way of staggeringly unaffordable increases in the cost of gas and electricity and the rising prices of literally everything in the shops, from foodstuffs to fashion goods, raises the worrying spectre of anything but a traditional “Merry Christmas” for all too many residents of this entire nation, whether working, on benefits, or retired and particularly those families or individuals who have felt settled enough to have taken on a mortgage.
My one earnest plea to all readers and their family connections is to avoid falling into the hands of the totally unscrupulous loan sharks who are already hovering. If you have financial worries in coming months, please seek some proper, registered, known and reliable source of guidance. Using the loan sharks will only compound whatever financial problems you find yourself encountering.
On behalf of Buckley Town Council, Cllr. Vivienne Blondeck and I usually attend the regular meetings of the North & Mid-Wales Association of Local Councils. Unfortunately, due to an urgent task suddenly cropping up, I had to put in an apology for absence from the latest one on 21st October.
Whatever, in the July meeting the matter of bidding for Holyhead to become a registered free port was discussed at some length. It was noted that a bidding process, organised at the Westminster level was shortly to start. The outline of that was for just one Free Port in Wales. There was a firm conviction among members attending that that would be allocated to a location on the South Coast of Wales, leaving North Wales out in the cold as it were.
The ensuing debate argued on behalf of Holyhead also being registered as a Free Port. That discussion included the following main points: It was thought that Wales should have 2 Free Ports, not just one. Holyhead has the advantage of good road and rail connections and the fact that it is a deep-water port. The meeting agreed that the following actions should be progressed: -
i) The Minister for North Wales is to be invited to the next meeting.
ii) A letter is to be sent to both Westminster and Cardiff seeking 2 Free Ports in Wales.
iii) The MP for Anglesey is to be kept informed.
Arising from representations made by the Association since July, Westminster has now asked the Association to be a formal part of the Holyhead Free Port Bid Group. The Association will be represented by the current Chair, Cllr. P. Morton (St. Asaph City Council), the Secretary, Robert Robinson, MBE, (Llanfair Caereinion Town Council), Cllr. M. Davies (Beaumaris Town Council) and Cllr. B. Mellor (Rhyl Town Council).
I am certain that readers are well-aware that I lead the Buckley Community Speedwatch Team, which has been in existence since August of 2016.
Our small team works under the direct supervision of North Wales Police and the GoSafe Unit, with the sole purpose of trying to make the roads in and around Buckley somewhat safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
As I have set out before in these pages, team members are not at roadside to pinch pounds out of drivers’ pockets by way of fines, or to see your driving licences decorated with penalty points via a court hearing. We are at roadside to try to better educate drivers, not to punish them. If any reader wishes to explain to me how come recorded speeds of 73mph along a 30mph road and 84mph along a 40mph road represent safe driving, I shall listen with interest, because those are some of the speeds we have noted down.
Sadly, we also frequently note drivers not using their seat belts, using hand-held mobile phones or texting as they scoot along and some with children or animals sitting in their laps.
Contrary to the rumours and complaints on Social Media, that we hide behind hedges and walls and cause drivers to receive upsetting cautionary letters, just for being a mile or two over the proper limit, we function under the same rules as the GoSafe Vans. Apart from being somewhat prominent in our high-viz yellows, we allow 10%+1 over the legal limit before we start writing. Thus, it is only those vehicles doing 35mph or above in a 30mph road or 46mph on a 40mph road, which will set us taking notice and starting to record details which, after checking via DVLA, go forwards to GoSafe for advisory letters to be sent.
We do not keep records of Vehicle Registration Marks (VRMs) because the Information Commissioner has ruled that such are private property and not to be keep on record by us roadside civilians. The situation is of course different with NWPolice and their keeping of records. The papers on which we record vehicle details of the speeders go forward to North Wales Police at the end of each week, for certified destruction. Despite that, with the growing habit of personalised number plates we do recognise some as having crossed our path some weeks, months or years before. Clearly there are those drivers among us who take no heed of a what is after all, just a friendly word of advice.
Interestingly, we are encountering a growing number of Doppelgangers. Those are speeding vehicles, almost entirely vans of one kind or another, which we see and record as maybe a White Ford Transit, the VRM of which comes up in DVLA records as something totally different. Criminals and their activities maybe?
When the pesky 20mph Pilot Scheme was unceremoniously dumped on Buckley and certain surrounding areas in February of this year, our CSW team was instructed not to carry out any roadside speed recording on any of the 20mph roads covered by the Pilot Area. That instruction still stands. However, we remain operational on roads with 30 and 40mph limits. Currently, as I begin to compile this newsletter towards the end of October, word is beginning to reach us, informally, that the GoSafe Vans and our CSW Team will soon be called upon to start monitoring on the Pilot Scheme Area’s roads currently indicated as 20mph.
Just how the Wales Government’s decision-makers are going to rationalise the currently absurd and irrational situation which they have created, I know not. There seems to have been no consideration as to how the police force will manage to adequately monitor the 20mph roads after September of 2023, nor how the courts will have time deal with the inevitable increase in workload as incensed drivers thumped with a fine for doing 24mph on some roads demand their hour in court. Neither does any consideration seem to have been given to buses and timetables, nor for delivery van drivers either.
Most certainly, the WAG will need to get their public relations act together way before 17th September of 2023, which appears to be the target date they have for going nation-wide with the blanket 20mph rule in all built-up areas in Wales. One small glimmer of hope is that they now appear willing to at least discuss and review which roads really do need to be retained as 30mph, rather than fall under the blanket 20mph cover due to be imposed as of next September.
I have also made it very plain to those “upstairs” that the CSW team which I lead will not start monitoring in any of the 20mph locations we may be steered towards, unless and until there has been a comprehensive publicity campaign to provide drivers with fair warning that continuing to motor along at 30 plus on designated 20mph roads might just get their unlawful speed formally recorded by a GoSafe Van, rather than us at the roadside, which certainly will cost them £s from their pockets and put points on their licenses.
I believe that I have mentioned to readers in a previous edition that I am a supporter of The Good Law Project, which aims to take Government and Ministers to Judicial Review whenever they get up to dodgy doings. Following on from the recent ruling by the judges that the Government’s flagship Net Zero Strategy is both inadequate and unlawful, the team came across a bit of a hangover from Boris’ dodgy doings.
Readers will recall that when in No. 10, Boris Johnson, MP, was slapped with a fine for breaching Covid-19 Regulations. It has now come out that instead of simply paying off the fine out of his own pocket and putting it down to experience, he has instructed a legal team to challenge the issuing of the fine. While he does have that right, what has now come to light is that he allocated the probable £112k of legal costs not out of his own personal finances, but from Public Funds, which is just not on. The judicial review on that point is pending.
If you wish to read more on the activities of The Good Law Project, which is based at 3 East Point, High Street, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0EG, just tap The Good Law Project into your favourite browser and read what is there.
In June of this year, a Human Rights Bill was introduced into parliament. Nominally, all well and good. However, what is in the consultation document accompanying the Bill fails to build upon or strengthen the Human Rights Act of 1998 but seems to me to be a significant demolition of that Act.
That 1998 Act has worked well in encouraging and indeed compelling public authorities of all kinds and sizes to promote and protect our individual human rights. Against that, the current Bill appears to be a deliberate effort on the part of government to weaken the provisions of the HRA of 1998, while reducing the accountability of public bodies as well as seriously increasing the powers of The State over everyone.
Work on understanding the potential impact of the proposed Bill was undertaken by several concerned agencies over the summer. That work was needed in preparation for the second reading of the Bill which was scheduled for 12th September 2022. The Second Reading stage would have allowed MPs to vote on the Bill for the first time.
Had a majority of MPs voted for the Bill, it’s journey to become law in the UK would have progressed. However, following the change of Prime Minister and new cabinet appointments (including the replacement of Dominic Raab with Brandon Lewis as new Justice Secretary) on 6th September 2022, newspaper reports announced the following day that the Bill would be shelved, two years after the official Human Rights Act reform agenda began. The shelving of the Bill means that second reading did not go ahead as planned. While this delay is welcome news, it does not mean that our Human Rights Act is safe.
In the interests of yourselves and your families, please do use your favourite browser, if you are IT equipped, to read the available information.
Please be assured that the battle to bring back a real Bank to the
town centre is continuing and that us councillors and other interested groups will not cease our combined efforts until we have succeeded, no-matter how long it takes.
Item 1 - The Old Post Office Building, 10 Brunswick Road:- Planning Application 062106. Permission was granted a year or more back for conversion into a restaurant/café. Despite some major internal alterations having been made it has yet to open. Hopefully that new business will come alive in the near future.
Item 2 - The old NatWest Bank unit at the entrance to the Buckley Shopping Centre, which most of us still call The Precinct. Formally it is Unit 20 of the Shopping Centre. Planning Application 062892, to turn the old NatWest Bank location into a Thai Restaurant and Take-away was also approved about the same time as that for the Post Office. Fortunately, that enterprise has since opened for business and appears to be doing a good level of trade. Long may that continue.
Item 3 - Units 2 & 3 of the Buckley Shopping Centre, which used to be the Travel Agents. Planning Application 063655, to convert the units into a Female Only Gym progressed successfully through the routines at FCC and is now operational under the name of Aspire to Inspire. Let us all hope it flourishes.
Item 4 – Not exactly in the middle of Buckley Town, but another welcome enterprise recently opened has been The Rise, based within the old Bistre Community Centre on Nant Mawr Road. Offering very fresh-baked bread, etc., plus the usual café fare of drinks, sandwiches, and light meals. Very well worth a visit, on foot or by car.
Item 5 – Recently opened has been a new Indian Restaurant, East Meets West, situated on the Mold Road not far from the junction with Bistre Avenue. Like the other new enterprises above, one can only wish them successful trading.
Several keen-eyed resident have contacted me in recent weeks, asking how come there appears to be a growing number of FCC-owned Flats, Bungalows and Houses all standing empty in the middle of a serious social housing shortage. I can assure concerned readers that I and other colleague councillors, locally and more distant within the county, have also noticed this and have raised questions about it. So much so that there was a Housing & Social Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee presentation by Departmental Officers towards the end of September.
At this time of writing, FCC has some 7,307 housing units on its asset register. At any one time around 365 to 511 of those come into the classification of being void because of awaiting repairs before being able to be issued to applicants on the county’s waiting lists. Looking at those figures, that number are at any one time, unoccupied, resulting in a loss of rental income to the county.
Officers assure us councillors that there are several reasons why voids exist, in the short and long term. Quite rightly, it is not policy to hand keys over to aspiring tenants until each housing unit on offer meets the currently required national standard. Bringing individual units up to that re-allocatable standard may mean minor, or major repairs.
Some exiting tenants are kind enough to carefully tidy and cleanse their home before moving on, but others have been known to do just the opposite, carefully smashing every piece of porcelain, kicking in internal door-panels and so forth before departing. Some units require careful examination for and clearance of asbestos materials, which entails calling upon the services of specially qualified and equipped outside contractors, who may or may not be able to undertake the necessary work for weeks, or even months ahead, depending upon their already scheduled workload.
Currently, there are some 2438 applicants for county council housing of one type or another, from bedsits to 4-bedroomed units on the housing waiting list. Our housing inquiries team has been receiving between 600 and 700 housing inquiries per week over recent months. That number of inquiries appears to be growing as the quantity of private houses available for rent in the area and across North Wales dwindles, for whatever reason.
Regrettably, certain residents of the county do find themselves homeless at short notice, which is why there are currently 115 applicants on the housing register who are having to be accommodated in emergency/temporary provisions.
Just to add to the problems, there is also the natural turnover of housing repair team staff, which slows progress. At the time of writing this, there are two vacancies for team supervisors, both of whom have recently taken themselves off elsewhere.
Rising fuel costs hammering your pocket? Why not make an inquiry with Flintshire County Council? Sadly, the council is genuinely short of staff across many skillsets/disciplines, both for parttime and fulltime employees. Many of the vacancies are listed on Jobrapido, or you can simply make a phone call to 01352 752121 and take it from there.
My last newsletter of some 12 months back carried the then current list of our local neighbourhood police team members, to enable readers to hopefully make contact when needed, rather than using the 101 line with its tendency for delays in answering calls. Since then, several residents have spoken to me about finding it frustrating when using the 101 number to attempt to get in touch with the North Wales Police by phone, because of the length of time they are kept on the line before a real live voice comes on to speak with them.
Taking it that my last list of 26th September 2021 has probably become somewhat out of date, I recently asked NW Police for a current list. Readers may care to take note of the following information, dated 11th October 2022, about contacting members of the Buckley Neighbourhood Policing Team:-
1) PCSO Lewis JONES (4423) email lewis.jones@northwales.police.uk
2) PCSO Rachel DUDDLE (4412) email rachael.duddle@northwales.police.uk
Mobile phone number 07811713427
3) PCSO Lucy DAVIES (4404) email lucy.davies@northwales.police.uk
Mobile phone number 07814075619
If you encounter any need to contact North Wales Police, other than a need for the 999 emergency call system, do give one or other of the local team a call, remembering, please, that the officers do work shifts, so if the first one you try is not available do try another of the team. If, by any mischance, you cannot contact any one of those three members of the Buckley Neighbourhood Policing Team, you could try for PCSO Adelina OLARU, whose mobile phone number is 07814075613. Her email address is <adelina.olaru@northwales.police.uk>.
While on about matters of crime and policing, do give a thought to the fact that we are now in the longer and darker evenings. Criminal elements are known to take advantage of that. If you are out for the evening, particularly if you are among the many houses without a burglar alarm, do think about leaving a light or two on, so that it is not obvious that there is nobody home. None of us would wish to come home to find we have been burgled, particularly in the run-up towards Christmas and the New Year.
(1) If the Wales Government is to be truly representative of the entire population of the nation, in all of its glorious diversity, residents do need to be expressing their views, please. I wonder how many readers are aware that the Wales Government has something like 18 Public Consultations open presently, to invite the views of the population before legislation on all sorts of issues is processed and finalised?
The list of the 18 or so currently available includes:
1. Revised planning guidance in relation to air quality, noise and soundscape.
2. Draft strategy for engaging the general public in actions on climate change.
3. Changes to statutory guidance on school uniforms and appearance policies.
4. Electoral administration and reform white paper.
5. Statute Law (Repeals) (Wales) Bill.
6. Developing a substance misuse treatment framework for children and young people.
7. Reforming non-domestic rates in Wales.
8. Renting homes (Wales) Act, 2016 – improving security of tenure.
Somewhere in the 18 consultations currently open, there is guaranteed to be one or more which will involve YOU. So why not have your say?
Do take a moment, please, to use your favourite browser to take a look at Government Consultations Wales, on the list dated 21/10/2022.
(2) What appears to have been progressed very quietly through the parliamentary processes at Westminster in recent weeks is the formal legislation under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act, which will reduce the number of MPs in Wales from 40 to 32 at the next general election. Boundaries of the present 40 constituency areas are being re-drawn to make population numbers in each more equal. For those who may wish to find out more details of the changes, just tap the title of the Act into your favourite browser.
(3) While that lessening of MP numbers in Wales has been in process, down in Cardiff they have been looking to go the other way, by increasing the number of Senedd members from 60 to 96 and drastically changing the way they would be elected when the next round of Senedd elections comes along in 2026.
Supporters of the proposed changes have long argued that there are not enough MSs to properly scrutinise the activities of the Wales Government, once government ministers and presiding officers are taken out of the equation.
The proposals, jointly supported by Labour and Plaid Cymru, do not appear to have been costed in any detail as yet, but the Senedd Commission, which runs the Welsh Parliament has estimated that the extra 36 members would cost between £11.7m and £12.9m. Those figures being not only for the salaries of the additional elected members, but including the likely cost of additional Senedd staff, the greater cost of election processes, along with additional building and office maintenance costs.
Currently, 40SMs are elected for single-person constituencies by the familiar “first-past-the-post” system, with whoever wins most votes taking the seats. In addition, there are a further 20SMs who are elected to represent 5 Regions in a second vote which takes place at the same time as the individual constituency vote.
Unlike the “first-past-the-post” candidates’ election, those votes are totalled up and divided out among the parties in a system which is aimed at better reflecting the share of the total vote which each party receives.
Under the new proposals, there will in future be 32 constituencies for the Senedd. These will have the same boundaries as those proposed for the 32 new constituencies for the UK Parliament which have been drawn up and put out for consultation by the Boundary Commission for Wales, as I mentioned above.
Those 32 new constituencies will be paired up to create 16 Regions, which would return 6 SMs each, making up the total of 96 members in the new Senedd. The Committee for Senedd Reform is also considering bringing in the Single Transferable Vote system and on requiring the contesting parties in each Region to be legally obliged to meet gender quotas within their candidate list.
Regular readers of my occasional newsletters may perhaps recall that in my newsletter of 12 months back, I set out the following:-
“ Over the past few weeks I have lost count of the number of motorists, cyclists and walkers of all ages who have questioned me or complained about the most peculiar set-up of the lights on the refreshed pedestrian crossing on Argoed Way. They have a set-up which seems to be unique and concerning, if not confusing. Where every other such crossing has traffic control lights on nearside and offside of the road as you drive or ride towards them, this set has both sets of controlling lights on the nearside, one behind the other. I have raised a question with StreetScene and Highways Officers, but so far, apart from being told that the set-up conforms to regulations and specifications, which I am not sure is correct, I am getting no answer as to the obvious question which is; if this set up is proper, how come all of the other pedestrian crossing traffic control lights are set differently, because simple logic says they cannot all be right and proper. I can assure those who have raised the matter with me that I shall not stop challenging the appropriate county officers until I have a sensible answer and hopefully some re-positioning of the traffic control lights so that they match all the others around the town.”
All that I shall set out here is that in spring of 2022, without any word to me, certain changes were made to the set of lights in question, which changes brought them into line with the set-up of other pedestrian crossing lights around Buckley.
I really do wish that I could provide readers with some assurance that FCC is doing well and really is totally on top of its public services game. Unfortunately, it would be foolish of me to do so. That is not because our Officers are incompetent or idle, or that us county councillors are disinterested either. Far from it! The fact is FCC is being called upon to do more, with less than adequate funding and fewer staff.
In August of last year, UNISON published a document which set out that Councils in England, Wales and Scotland were then grappling with huge budget deficits of almost £3bn for the next financial year, which is the one we are currently in. The article went on to voice the opinion that the record shortfall in funding, – totalling £2.996bn – in 2022/23 would lead to huge service and staff cuts at local authorities across Britain unless the government urgently coughed up the money to protect communities and their genuine needs. In the intervening time, there has been no indication of Westminster, let alone the Wales Government, being able or inclined to improve the overall funding for local councils.
As I compile this newsletter, Flintshire County Council is facing a probable shortfall of £24million for the 2023-24 financial year. i.e., the difference between what we councillors and our officers feel we need to do and what our financial allocations, plus likely earned income, will allow us to do.
Given a total recorded spend for the 2021-2022 financial year of £296.5m, that £24m is an 8% likely shortfall. Caveat that, please with the thought that those are figures as of now. Our concern is that the shortfall figure will likely grow between now and April of next year.
What does that mean for residents? Well, the euphemistic term is “economies.” In plain language it means “cuts”, right across the board of both staff and service delivery, just as UNISON predicted.
Right now, it could be said, to misquote a phrase from a well-known song in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta “The Pirates of Penzance”, that,
“A Councillor’s lot is not a happy one!”
Flintshire County Council has launched a new “Cost of Living Support Hub.” Given that we are all, to one degree or another, already feeling the effect of the current economic situation that the UK and Flintshire are facing, residents need to know of the help which is available if they need it.
A set of wide-ranging information has been brought together to provide help in these difficult times.
That help comes in a variety of forms. The topics range from those directly linked with the rising cost of living, through to matters of benefits, employment, children and schools, plus transport and more. The list will be added to and updated as time moves on. There is a direct link to the hub on the home page of FCC’s website. Go there and put in CostofLivingHub, which should bring up full details for you. If you know of any friends, relatives or contacts who might wish to use the information but have no on-line facility available, please urge them to visit one or other of the Connects Centres, the easiest of which for us is upstairs in the Buckley Library.
Almost a year ago, our then Town Clerk, in position since 2006, Mr. Martin Wright, felt unable to continue working. He put in his resignation. In February of this year, Mr. Kevin Glyn-Davies was appointed to the role. Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for the proper functioning of your Town Council, he, after about 8 months in position, received an offer of, in his own words, “a lucrative consultancy position.” As a result, he tendered his resignation on the 4th October of this year. He decided to use his accumulated holiday entitlement as his notice period, so he physically departed from the office on that very same day, leaving our two very diligent Personal Assistants and us 20 town councillors just a bit stunned and in need of finding a replacement Town Clerk, via necessary processes, just as fast as possible.
Readers may be a little misled into thinking that a replacement for a Town Clerk should be an easy person to find. However, the appointee is far more than just “A Clerk” in the usual understanding of those words. That is because Town Councils need to have in place, fulltime or parttime, a Proper Financial Officer, with certain qualifications, for the essential purpose of keeping the council’s financial activities all proper and correct.
Very few readers of my newsletters, or the population in general, will ever have heard of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF).
It is in fact a registered charity. One with a reputation for considerable influence over MPs and the Government itself. Quite incredibly, in these days of worries about Global Warming and Climate Change, their goal is to reduce measures to tackle climate change.
Tufton Street in London and nearby other Westminster addresses are home to a network of policy “think-tanks” lobbyists, pressure groups, public relations firms and media organisations which promote right-wing agendas and provide a revolving door to government and the media. The GWPF is part of that Tufton Street group of organisations. GWPF has been criticised multiple times over recent years for its reliance on anonymous donors. A recent report revealed that one of their donors has millions of pounds invested in oil.
After the Charity Commission concluded that the promotion of its views did not constitute “education” as GWPF were claiming, GWPF set up Net Zero Watch (NZW) to allow itself to continue lobbying to stop measures that address climate change.
In a complaint submitted to the Charity Commission, MPS from the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Green Party have expressed concerns that that the GWPF may be in breach of its duties in regard to the use of its charitable funds, by using them to fund non-charitable activities carried out by its subsidiary Net Zero Watch (NZW), which has produced reviews at odds with mainstream science, which claim that there is no climate emergency and shared work which suggests that a rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be a good thing.
A golden oldie went to see a specialist about his hearing problems and was fitted with two hearing aids that got his hearing back to normal. A few weeks later he went back to check that the aids were working properly, which they were. The specialist said, “Your family must be delighted that you can hear properly again, so that they don’t have to shout anymore.”
“Oh no”, replied the patient. “I’ve not told them yet. “I just sit quietly and listen carefully to what they say. I’ve changed my will four times already.”
Merry Christmas to all readers
If you have problems and need a word of advice or support, I am always available, 24 hours of the day and seven days of the week, via my home phone number of 01244 549421. If I am out, please leave me a recorded message. I will get back to you as soon as I can. I can also be contacted on email at arnold.woolley@flintshire.gov.uk and arnoldwoolley@outlook.com. You are also very welcome to visit my website at www.arnoldwoolley.com.
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