The budget, libel indemnities and pantomimes
BudgetThe council’s latest budget consultation is currently circulating in cyberspace with the response deadline for next Tuesday. This time it’s all been a bit rushed, the fault of the Welsh Labour...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mark James - off the hook again?...Updated with revised statement from the...
Update 9th MarchStatement issued today from Swansea University on the internal investigation and police inquiry. Here's an extract, with my emphasis. And as we know, the "number of others" includes...
View ArticleCPS decision - open email to Police Commissioner
Previous post; Mark James - off the hook again?...Updated After having had some time to digest the CPS response to the investigation I am finding it more an more incredulous that no charges were...
View ArticleThe Grillo site, Cwm Environmental, and a short rant
The old Grillo zinc oxide site in Burry Port came up again at Monday's Executive Board meeting. It was not, as you may think, to clear away the heavy metals and toxic chemicals which pervade the ground...
View ArticleThe slush fund - the 2020 CRWG meetings
Last week I finally received copies of the minutes from two of the meetings held in private last year to discuss the fate of the unlawful libel indemnity clause. Readers of this blog will recall that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
No slush fund at Bristol City Council...
Events over the bridge, at Bristol City Council, have caught Caebrwyn’s attention. It seems that two of the city’s councillors are being sued for libel by two senior council officers. I am not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Emlyn's folly - the Carmarthen 'Gateway' sign
Whilst most of us are struggling to pay council tax, put food on the table, and local businesses are trying to keep heads above water, Carmarthenshire Council are spending nearly £350,000 on a sign....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Carmarthenshire Council company almost struck-off
A brief post just to mention that Lleisant Delta Wellbeing Ltd, one of the arms-length companies wholly owned by Carmarthenshire Council has narrowly avoided being struck-off from the Companies House...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The leaked £190,000 costs report, part two - Unredacted. And a reply from the...
Part one; The leaked £190,000 costs report - redacted, five years onAfter several months, and some pressure from the ICO the council finally changed its mind, and sent me a (mainly) unredacted copy of...
View ArticlePlanning Department under fire from Audit Wales, and other news
News is beginning to filter out of County Hall that a less than complimentary Audit Wales report about the Council's Planning department is imminent. Details are sketchy as the report is still, it...
View ArticleAudit Wales report - Carmarthenshire's Planning Service in meltdown
As anticipated on my previous post, the Audit Wales report into the council's planning services has now been published, there is a link to it at the end of this post.It is a damning report and it is...
View ArticleNews round up - planning tales, and more
Following the damning Audit Wales report on Carmarthenshire's Planning Services, the Ombudsman has also found the council lacking. A brief report, from June 2021, shows that the council's approach to...
View ArticleFull council next week - and that damning report into Planning Services
Just a brief heads up about next week's (15th September) full council meeting. The damning Audit Wales report into Carmarthenshire's Planning Services hasn't gone away, or found the long grass just...
View ArticleCroydon Council and libel funding, Carmarthenshire style...
There is growing anger amongst the council taxpayers' of Croydon that their hard-earned cash has been spent unlawfully. After obstruction and delay and the involvement of the ICO, Inside Croydon, a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New flood maps - the undersea world of Pentre Awel (the Wellness Village)
As from 1st December all Planning Authorities must adhere to new flood maps and the revised advice in TAN 15. The revised maps and guidance have now, finally, incorporated the effect of climate change...
View ArticleOld friends - Mark James' new venture...
Back in July 2020 I wrote a post about an interesting connection between former Council CEO Mark James, his 'management' of Century Wharf, Cardiff and his old friend from Llangennech, Nigel Lovering....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Operation Koel
Back in July I made several separate FOI requests for documents relating to the Wellness Village bribery investigation. Due to the scandal the project was later renamed Pentre Awel.This criminal...
View ArticleCarmarthenshire Residents Alliance
I'm posting this brief mission statement (below in bold), of a new pressure/campaign group, the Carmarthenshire Residents Alliance, to gauge the level of interest.To those who have followed this blog...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vote for Caebrwyn - County Council election 5th May
I have decided to stand for County Councillor in the forthcoming election to be held on the 5th May. My nomination papers have been validated so my name - Jacqui Thompson - will be on the ballot paper...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Election news, and more from my Facebook page
With local election fever beginning to break into a mild sweat WalesOnline has picked out the Carmarthenshire Councillors who are not seeking re-election; Amanda Fox, Bill Thomas, John Prosser, Shirley...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Farewell, Emlyn Dole
As the former Council leader Emlyn Dole has featured many time on this blog it would be remiss of me not to say a few words after he lost his seat last week. The vote was close but went to a fellow...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mark James - caught red-handed - the email and the secret trust
The moment that former CEO of Carmarthenshire Council Mark James CBE has been dreading for over two years finally arrived yesterday. An email he had sent to Marc Clement, from his personal account,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Open email to Cllr Darren Price - Plaid Cymru Leader of Carmarthenshire Council
At the end of June this year former County Councillor Sian Caiach emailed the new Plaid Cymru leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Darren Price with a few questions relating to the Wellness...
View ArticleMark James and his secret trust - Council Leader replies to my 'open email'
Previous post: Open email to Cllr Darren Price - Plaid Cymru Leader of Carmarthenshire CouncilI finally had a response from Carmarthenshire's Council leader Darren Price to my queries concerning Mark...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ICO refusal notice - Operation Koel
I finally had a decision from the Information Commissioner concerning my FOI request for Carmarthenshire council paperwork re Operation Koel - the police Organised Crime Unit investigation into the...
View Article