BUCKLEY, FLINTSHIRE & BEYOND
A newsletter for Bistre East Ward residents from
Cllr. Arnold Woolley, Dip.IM, MCMI
Please do take time to read through my observations.
They are intended to keep you, the ratepayers and voters
of the Town and County up to date on current situations
That being because my usual Christmas Newsletter failed to appear, despite my best efforts to get one compiled and delivered. For the past 8 years I have used a Lenovo desktop computer, purchased from a reputable retailer in Chester. It had served me well until the middle of November of last year, when it started to misbehave. A conversation with specialist computer technicians suggested that it was time for a replacement, so off I went to the retailers in Chester, taking along my 8-year-old item, so that I could purchase a new computer and get their technicians to transfer the software from my old computer into the new one. The on-line technicians had advised me that the work usually takes 24 to 36 hours. I duly purchased a new Lenovo computer, handed over my old one and was told that I would receive a phone call when the transfer of data work was done.
Unfortunately, it took the retailers ten days before they advised me that the data transfer had been completed and that both my old and the new computers were ready for collection. That was all very well, but I rapidly discovered that the data transfer from my old computer to the newly purchased one had not been properly and fully done.
Fortunately, the on-line technicians, for whom I have every high regard came to my rescue over the next couple of days and put matters right, but by then the deadline set by the printer had passed, so I decided to abort the Christmas Newsletter and instead go for this New Year version.
Regrettably, the shiny new item lasted only two weeks before it also began to behave erratically. Luckily, I had paid for a full Warranty on the new item, so that has now been collected and carted away by the retailers, for repair or replacement. Meanwhile, I am compiling this document on my old, original computer, very much with fingers crossed.
That almost unbelievable saga has actually had one practical advantage, because due to the delay I can now set out for you the details of what Flintshire County Council will receive in its support payment from the Wales Government for the financial year of 2025 – 2026. More on that to follow.
That is not just a personal opinion, but a matter of scientific and medical fact, backed up by all too much evidence over many years. Along with obesity, caused by far too much ”Fast Food”, drug-taking can only create short term so called good effects in exchange for long term very bad effects. As more than one now reformed drug addict has told me over the years, getting started on drugs is all too easy, while getting off and free of them is anything but easy. I am not a “Hang ‘em High” supporter when it comes to crime in general, but for drug dealers I certainly would welcome the return of Capital Punishment. That is why, when I read in November of last year of the successful international cooperation between 32 nations, led by Columbia, which resulted in the seizure of 6 so-called “Narco-Subs” owned and operated by Drugs Cartels and the prevention of around 1,400 tons of narcotics reaching their intended customers all around the world, I muttered a quiet “Well Done!” in the direction of all involved in the operation.
Among that total of drugs seized were 225 tons of Cocaine and 1,000 tons of Marijuana. One of those Narco-Subs, intercepted in the Pacific carried 5 tons of Cocaine destined for Australia. From information and evidence gleaned from the 6 boats, various police forces around the world made 434 arrests. This international operation, the biggest set-back for the Drugs Cartels in years, is estimated to have cost the Drugs Cartels some £6Billion to £7Billion.
This seizure is to be welcomed in the light of the ever-growing number of persons in England and Wales recorded as dying from drug overdoses each year. Relating solely to Cocaine, there were 777 deaths involving Cocaine registered in 2020, up 10% in round figures from 2019 and up fivefold since 2010. In 2020, males accounted for 79.79% (619 males against 158 females).
When one adds that to police force data which sets out that recent random stops and drugs tests on motorists have displayed that 31% of drivers checked failed the drugs test, the picture is not a happy one, particularly for the NHS in future
You and I and thousands of other UK residents all pay our annual tax bills. If we do not cough up, we can be reminded, chased and if necessary, find ourselves on the receiving end of a prosecution. However, Government after Government, of all political shades over the past many years have turned a blind eye to the massive – and I do mean massive – tax evasion activities perpetrated by giant multinational corporations and dozens of super-rich individuals all around the world.
I subscribe to an organization based here in the UK, which is called Tax Justice UK. Their latest information sheet sets out an estimated gross figure of £388billion that should have been paid to the Governments in tax dues annually but is regularly disappearing into an assortment of Tax Havens. Two thirds of that figure, £274billion, is giant multinational corporations shifting their profits offshore so as to avoid taxation. The rest is wealthy individuals deliberately avoiding taxation.
Tax Justice UK reports that these figures have been derived from investigations made by the global Tax Justice Network. The activity of tax avoidance is a global problem, depriving states and their citizens of income needed for hospitals, schools infrastructure and public services and staff required, while the rich and powerful line their pockets and steadily grow their wealth.
If you are wondering where all of this money is going to, you have to look no further than the assortment, world-wide, of tax havens. Money which should have been taxed vanishes into locations which lack transparency, places where you do not have to declare where the money came from.
Referring back to that figure of £388billion, a staggering one third of that total flows into or through, or is enabled by Britain and its overseas territories. Think of locations such as the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda for starters. How come this is possible? Well, British Overseas Territories act as secretive jurisdictions simply because they do not have strong financial reporting rules. You do not have to declare where the money has come from.
Over recent years, campaigners have attempted, hard and long, to persuade the various British Governments and the Overseas Territories themselves to introduce more transparency into their financial affairs, but without any notable success. However, so far, only Gibraltar and Montserrat – just two out of the 14 Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories – have introduced a publicly accessible register of company ownership. That is why The Just Money Movement were at the Foreign Office in London at the end of November, to once again represent the strong case for change.
Inside the offices, leaders of the British Overseas Territories met with the UK Government, while outside, The JustMoney Movement awarded The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Bermuda, medals for being the largest enablers of the continuing tax abuse. A special prize was publicly awarded to the British Government for failing to take action on this matter over many years. To follow that up, in the first week of December, Tax Justice UK wrote to Rachel Reeves and David Lammy urging the Government to take urgent action to rectify this long outstanding matter. I have yet to be advised of any reply having been received by the Tax Justice organization.
Figures made available last October set out that while the Government(s) of recent years seem reluctant to ensure that the wealthy and mega-wealthy cough up their fair share of taxation, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Department (HMRC) have been far less shy on taking formal action against far less wealthy residents. The figures showed that the Department has issued fines to over 83,000 UK residents, all people on low incomes, for failing to file an Annual Tax Return on time. These people were all earning under the £12,570 personal allowance but were still required to complete and submit an annual tax return, on time, which HMRC alleged they had each failed to do.
The Tax Justice organization commented that waiting times, when trying to phone HMRC for advice, continue to rise. In total, UK taxpayers spent 719 years on hold on their phones when attempting to contact HMRC last year.
There is just one glimmer of hope on the horizon, because the Government announced in the Budget their intention to employ an additional 5,000 staff within HMRC. No date for achieving that increase appears to have been provided.
The following is extracted from a report by the Jubilee Committee dated 17th November, 2024.
Tuesday 9th July 2024 saw the people of Buckley celebrate the 168th Buckley Jubilee. This quite unique event saw congregations from all of the local churches and chapels come together on Buckley Higher Common for a short service before processing around the town center and then returning to the Common. On the completion of that, the various congregations then dispersed to their own particular churches and chapels to enjoy their Jubilee Tea.
The only break in the annual event was in 2020 and 2021, when the nation was in the grip of the dreadful Covid Pandemic, although a goodly number of people gathered on the Common and churches and chapels put up bunting and flags to mark the occasion
.
The origins of this annual event can be traced back to a Temperance March by the non-conformist chapels of the time, since when the event has undergone numerous changes, but the act of processing behind the various church and chapel banners has been fundamental. It has always been organized by the Jubilee Committee, supported by Buckley Town Council relating to the erection of bunting around the town and by Flintshire County Council’s StreetScene Department and by North Wales Police over matters of traffic control.
In 2022, when the Jubilee resumed after the Covid problem, the Jubilee Committee decided to shorten the route taken by the procession. As the November report sets out, there were a number of reasons for this:-
a) The ages of the participants, some of whom were clearly struggling
to manage the traditional distance.
b) Difficulty in securing the necessary road closures over the traditional long route.
c) A hope that the shorter route would concentrate the crowds watching into a smaller area.
d) The whole procession would return to the Common rather than have individual church and chapel groups breaking off along the route.
For those who watched the jubilee this past year you will have noticed that there were no floats in the procession. Prior to 2020, issues with insurance were making it more and more difficult to include vehicles carrying children in the procession. There is also the situation where, since 2022, only a few of our churches and chapels actually have an active Sunday School.
The Committee’s report goes into the ever-rising costs of putting on the Jubilee Procession and the difficulties of covering those costs. Following several meetings of the Jubilee Committee, to consider future costs and the feasibility of the annual event, the Committee has taken the decision that in 2025 the Jubilee Celebration will go ahead in the usual format on the second Tuesday in July which will be the 8th. The latest word from the committee in the middle of January is that this year’s Jubilee Celebration may well be the final one.
If any reader has strong views or ideas on the future of this long-standing annual event, I am sure the committee would welcome them.
I am a firm believer in the observation that justice delayed is justice denied, which caused me to raise both eyebrows when I came across a recent report from the Good Law Project, which sets out that the ladies in our communities are being denied the level and efficiency of justice which they rightly deserve.
As of March 2024, 10,141 sexual offence cases were awaiting trial. That is a 21% rise on the previous year. However, that pales into insignificance when noted against the shocking rise of 196% in such cases awaiting trial since 2019.
Waiting for more than a year for their cases to be heard in court leaves survivors of rape and other serious sexual offences continually reliving their worst experiences again and again, making a dreadful sexual experience even worse.
The discovery of those unwelcome statistics has caused the Good Law Project to take the first step toward legal action to challenge the backlog in the courts. If the Government is to live up to what they have said about aiming to halve cases of sexual violence against women and girls within the decade, then prompt hearing of such cases in court would go a long way towards achieving that aim.
For a few years now, your county council has been working with a social mobility charity entitled “We Mind the Gap”. That charity, which is designed to up-skill participants, offers participants six months of on-the-job work experience with four different employers, combined with weekly GCSE level Maths and English lessons. There is solid evidence that this ongoing combined activity has transformed a worthwhile number of young lives right across the county.
Another program delivered by staff of the county council is “Sidestep” which benefits young people aged 11 plus who are at risk of exploitation and involvement in crime, often linked into the county lines activities of organized drugs gangs. Pleasingly, the latest statistics show that 100% of participants have improved their connection with education, training or employment, while 89% reduced their involvement or risk of involvement with serious or organized crime.
Readers of my newsletters will be aware of the fact that I have been coordinating and leading Buckley Community SpeedWatch team for several years now. Team members are not interested in snitching £s out of drivers’ pockets nor slapping penalty points on driving licenses. What we do hope to encourage in a non-punitive way is safer driving practices. Any “driving too fast” encounter with us will see a polite letter from GoSafe arriving through your door, basically asking you to please be a more attentive driver. Mind you, if you end up with three such encounters with us or any other of the several hundred such schemes around the UK, then your vehicle’s details are likely to be passed on to the area’s Road Traffic Unit by GoSafe. The Road Traffic Unit will, if they see you driving on the road, pull you over and give you a formal check-out to ensure that both you and your car are entirely legal on the road.
Us CSW team members do wonder sometimes just what certain drivers are up to as they motor along. Mobile phone usage is common. No seatbelt in place is also a frequent sight. Parents with unrestrained young children on the back seats or sitting in their laps as they drive along have been seen by us on far more than one occasion. We have even seen one or two dogs sitting in drivers’ laps, with paws on steering wheels.
Perhaps the worst one was a lorry driver beetling along with a laptop open on his steering wheel.
To be safe on the road, drivers do need to be in good physical and mental order, which makes me wonder about the real understanding of their habit(s) of drivers who will get behind the steering wheel of their car after they have had a few pints at their local pub or with some friends in a household and the 31% of drivers who, when pulled over by police and subjected to a routine drugs test, fail that test.
I suspect that most readers, like me until recently, think in terms of alcohol clearing after 24hrs or so and drugs needing around 48 hours or so to be fully gone. Current qualified medical advice throws up that while alcohol will usually be completely cleared at around 20 to 25 hours after imbibing, a much different and more concerning picture exists for those who have a drugs habit. It indicates the one-time smokers of Cannabis need 2-7 days to be totally clear. Those who regularly smoke one joint at weekends need 5-10 days, while those who smoke 3 joints weekly need 10-17 days. For those who are habitual weed smokers, at or near 1 joint a day, it may take their bodies some 17-30 days to eventually be totally free of the traces. That picture may help to explain that figure of 31% I mentioned nearly a dozen lines back.
When the Coastal Path was put together some years ago, concerns about it possibly being enjoyed recklessly by users of items of personal transport, such as pedal cycles, motorcycles and mopeds, to the potential endangerment of genuine walkers caused the creation of preventive barriers to be placed at a number of locations along its distance. Time and increasing usage brought umpteen complaints from persons with walking impairments, who genuinely wished to enjoy the amenity of the pathway but encountered problems because of those disability barriers. Equality groups threw their weight behind the rising demand for removal of the barriers. In the last months of 2024 work was started to remove those disability barriers, after consultations with Natural Resources Wales, North Wales Police, Sustrans and local councilors at both town and county levels.
As a result, the “A” frame barriers in the Saltney area were removed some weeks back. By the time that this newsletter reaches you, the “A” Frame barriers in the Connah’s Quay and Shotton stretches of the pathway will have been removed too. Hopefully, the clearing away of those barriers will encourage more people, particularly those with disabilities, to get out and about and enjoy the exercise, the scenery and wildlife of the area.
For some while now, your county council has had a vision and a hope that to accompany the Coastal Pathway, an easily accessible Coast Park, celebrating the rich natural environment and the considerable heritage all along our Flintshire coastline, might be created. Once again, via consultations with North Wales Police, Natural Resources Wales, Sustrans and local councillors, the project has been quietly moving forwards. A few months ago, funding for the project was finally achieved from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund. In coming months, greater detail will be emerging. The intention is that such a park, along with the Coastal Footpath and the existing Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) will make Flintshire an attractive and interesting, indeed a prime destination, for visitors from throughout the UK and even further afield.
Also being raised currently is the quite contentious matter of perhaps creating an entirely new National Park for North East Wales. On both of these issues there is yet much to be done before workable and fully funded plans can be put on the table for all parties to consider, let alone for work on the ground to begin.
Most everyone in the county knows, or at least knows of, the blocks, or Phases, of the buildings known as Shire Hall or County Hall, which were built in 1967 alongside Raikes Lane in Mold, for the second iteration of Flintshire County Council. I use the words “second iteration” because the original Flintshire County Council was created in 1889. That local authority was abolished in 1974. From that year until 1996 the building housed Clwyd County Council. When Alyn & Deeside District Council existed some few years ago, that local authority occupied and functioned from the building called Ty Dewi Sant in Ewloe.
The re-creation of Flintshire County Council in 1996 saw that local authority taking over the four blocks or Phases of County/Shire Hall.
To avoid Ty Dewi Sant simply standing empty and degrading, that building was rented out to the Unilever organization until a year or two back when they gave up their tenure.
When I became Leader of FCC for four years, starting in 2008, one of the first things I did was to undertake a complete walkabout of the then four phases of County Hall, in company with the Estate Manager. What I saw, as a qualified and experienced Management Consultant, appalled me, particularly with regard to the Phase Four block, the roof of which leaked badly, was sparsely occupied by employees and uncomfortable for anyone to have to work in. It was costing a fortune to maintain and clearly needed emptying and demolishing, with employees working in it being relocated among the other three Phases, where there was ample room for them. The then CEO, Colin Everett and the Estate Manager were both fully supportive of my proposal, as were almost all of the councillors of that time. The result was that Phase Four was shorty cleared of staff and demolished.
Alongside that exercise, councillors of the time and officers too, were clear that with maintenance costs of the remaining three Phases rising significantly annually, there was no long-term future for the Council and its remaining employees in those three aged buildings at County/Shire Hall.
With Ty Dewi Sant standing empty, total employee numbers dwindled from 12,000 in 2008 to around 6,000 now and a great deal of “Working from Home” going on after the ravages of the recent Covid Pandemic, thoughts of a total move to Ty Dewi Sant grew apace until we now have a definitive target date of the end of January, 2025, for the completion of the transfer of all county council activities based on Shire/County Hall, to Ty Dewi Sant in Ewloe, where us county councillors will hold our full council meetings in the chamber where Alyn and Deeside District councilors once met.
Hopefully, that process of transition once completed, will cause no problems for residents who may need telephone contact with councillors or officers of the local authority.
For readers who have a thought of what it is intended to do with the once emptied remaining three office blocks alongside Raikes Lane, I can set out that the eventual aim is to demolition them and to clear the site so that it can be offered out as potential housing land, with these sale value providing an addition to county council’s income.
Overall political control of the county council is a matter of which party or coalition of parties musters the majority of votes in our chamber of 67 councilors. Whichever party or coalition that is, it is that party or group at any time, which decides upon who will be a member of the Cabinet. Below that Cabinet level there is the matter of who gets to sit on the several committees, and which party or group is allocated the individual chairmanships of those committees. Those allocations are governed by whatever the Political Balance is within the council at any one time. That political balance is a purely mathematical calculation, based upon the number of members of each group at any one time. It can change from day to day, should any particular councillor decide to leave one party or group and join another one. The calculation of Political Balance, which is based upon percentages, is carried out by our Chief Legal Officer, presently Gareth Owens, who has had to make a few such calculations over the past twelve months.
Gareth Owens issued the latest version, number 5 of 2024 in December.
That set out that there were then 8 distinct Groups within the council. The Groups and numbers of councilors within them were indicated as:- Labour 29, Independent 13, Eagle 6, Flintshire People’s Voice 6, Liberal Democrat 3, Conservative 1, True Independents 7 and Non-Aligned 2, making up our total number of 67. Clearly, any ruling group requires 34 or more councillors to reliably and regularly support it in order to remain in overall political control of the council. Presently, the Independent Group provides support for Labour, with a member of that Group positioned as Deputy Leader of council.
I hope that readers of this newsletter will approve of the fact that in November of 2024 a new employee position of Energy Conservation Engineer was created within your county council. A lady by the name of Hannah Boaden will be developing the council’s plan around renewable energy generation, progressing actions within the Local Area Energy Plan, which includes development of the county-wide EV charging infrastructure and generally looking to ensure that your county council is a leader in combatting climate change, which threatens us all, individually and collectively, in so many different ways.
A public survey was held during summer of 2024 in an effort to promote stakeholder/public engagement. That was followed up by School and Youth Forum consultations which took place last November. While all of those were going on councillors were engaged in a number of workshops on the subject, so that both knowledge and involvement might be improved. Developing on from that work, a revised strategy, initially in draft form, is due to be published shortly.
SP Energy Networks is the organization which manages the power supply to North Wales. They offer a Priority Services Register. Naturally, in the event of a power cut, their teams work around the clock to restore the electricity supply as quickly as possible. However that organization recognizes that for some residents encountering a total electricity supply failure can be a very distressing event. That is why they are now offering extra support to customers who feel that they need some special help at such times. Anyone in that situation can now join their Priority Services Register, provided that they are :-
a) Over 60 years of age.
b) Have a special communication need.
c) Depend upon electricity for home or medical care.
d) Have a child under 5 years of age.
e) Have a chronic illness.
f) Or just genuinely feel that you need a little extra help when a power failure occurs.
If any reader, or any relative or friend wishes to look into this offer, the simplest way is to give the team a phone call on 0330 1010 167.
Back at the bottom of page 1, I did set out that I would be providing a little more information on the subject further on in this newsletter. Having taken a good look at the Provisional Settlement details, issued by the WAG in December, I can set out that the picture has changed hardly at all from past years. Flintshire County Council is once again in 19th place out of the 22 County or County Borough Councils in Wales.
In simple terms the WAG intends to allocate us £274,779,000 for 2025-26, which is a 3.3% uplift from the £266,074,000 provided to FCC for the current financial year of 2024-2025. That is better than the 1% we were expecting. Again keeping it simple, Newport, Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil are the top three, while below us are Gwyneth at No. 20, Powys at No 21 and Monmouthshire at No 22.
For those readers who enjoy poring over lots of figures, you can do that by putting “Wales Local Government Financial Report (No1) 2025-26 (Provisional Settlement – Councils)” into any search engine.
Your county council’s decision to shortly alter its Household Waste (Black Bin) collections from every two weeks to every three weeks has been a direct result of a failure to achieve its mandated waste and recycling target of at least 64% across the years of 2021 to 2024, which caused the WAG to threaten us with infraction charges or fines, amounting to £1.2million.
However, something of a reprieve has been offered by the WAG now that the council has agreed to move to a pattern of three-weekly black bin clearance as of April of this year.
Councillors and Officers have a real hope that the move to three-weekly clearance of the black bins will persuade all householders to be much more pro-active in sorting out their total domestic waste for items that can be recycled, in order to prevent their black bins from overflowing between collection days. An assurance is offered that your items of paper, cardboard, plastics, glass and food waste will continue to be collected at present rates on the currently set days for those items in your area.
It is in every ratepayer’s interest to help keep thee council free from any infraction fines, simply because if council does ever have to pay them because off continuing failure to meet recycling targets, the need to find the money to pay the fines is bound to result in a cut in services somewhere, or a compensatory increase in the annual community charge which we all have to pay. Neither councillors, nor officers wish to see either of those come to be.
While on the matter of bins and clearance of them, if, as I am, you are a subscriber to the Garden Waste Collection Scheme (Brown Bins) which operates between March and November of each year, you need to please renew your subscription of £38 per brown bin for this 2025 year, preferably before 1st March. You can reduce that fee to £35 per bin by submitting your subscription before the27th of February of this year.
Payments can be made via the FCC website, visiting the Connects Centre above Buckley Library, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, or by phoning StreetScene on 01352 701234 during normal working hours.
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If you have any problems, troubles or worries and perhaps need a friendly word of support or advice, please do remember that I am a town and county councillor who is in position to do my best to serve and assist ward residents and the communities of Buckley and Flintshire. To that end, I am available 24 hours of the day and 7 days of the week, via my home phone number of 01244 549421. If I am out, please do leave a message on the answerphone. I will get back to you just as soon as I can. I can also be contacted by email at either arnoldwoolley@outlook.com or Arnold.Woolley@flintshire.gov.uk. You are also welcome to visit my website at www.arnoldwoolley.com.