First up is the list of candidates for the Kidwelly by-election to be held on the 19th November. Six hopefuls have put their names forward for the county council seat which was previously held by Labour.
Voters will have their own questions they will wish to put to the candidates on the doorstep but they could include, for example, the recent period of suspension for the Labour candidate....whether 'Independent' actually means independent, or if the candidate(s) is planning to join Meryl's .gang'. The Plaid Candidate could be asked his views on retrospective planning approvals for historic barns... the Tory candidate will definitely need a good wind on his side, I'm sure his explanations on tax credit cuts, welfare reforms, etc will give him plenty of experience in fielding difficult questions...
Personally, given that this is Carmarthenshire County Council we're talking about, I'd give my backing to the candidate prepared to stand up with, and support, Cllr Caiach in the Chamber at County Hall.
In alphabetical order;
Stephen Bowen - People First (Cllr Sian Caiach's group)
Fran Burke-Lloyd - Independent
Stephen Davies - Conservative
Dilwyn Jones - Plaid Cymru
Vivian Summers - Independent
Ryan Thomas - Labour
The war of words seems to be hotting up over the saga of Emlyn's Barn with legal threats starting to fly. Opposition leader Cllr Jeff Edmunds called for Cllr Dole to resign over the affair, citing the questionable moral and ethical standards being set by the leader of the council and a one time member of the planning committee;
The Carmarthen Journal quotes Cllr Edmunds;
"The barn may be in his wife's name but when all's said and done he is the leader of the council and had been on the planning committee so knew the rules.
"It beggars belief to be honest. It's right opposite his house so he'd have seen it going up without the right planning permission every morning as he sat down to eat his cornflakes.
"I'm speaking to the Monitoring Officer about what can be done and will be raising this in full council.
"Last year when in opposition Councillor Dole called for Kevin Madge, Pam Palmer and Meryl Gravell to resign over an issue and said they had been ethically and morally wrong. [he means the pension and libel indemnity scandals...it is not known whether Cllr Edmunds also deemed them to be morally wrong, he never said...]
"I feel this is ethically and morally wrong and he needs to resign to restore the public's faith in the planning system."
Cllr Dole responded by saying;
"any implication that either myself, or anyone on the planning committee, is guilty of any wrongdoing, is insulting and quite frankly defamatory".
Back in March I mentioned the planned sell-off of Llandeilo Library and it's 'relocation' in nearby council offices. The council statement at the time, announcing the consultation, got a little head of itself and announced it as a 'development opportunity' in Llandeilo.
Anyway, presumably the consultation went ahead, was duly ignored and at some point a report was drafted to progress with the closure. I could be wrong of course but Monday's Executive Board meeting (don't forget these are now webcast) has an item titled 'Llandeilo Hub/Library relocation'.
It would be good to see the report but unfortunately, for reasons best known to themselves, it is top secret and any decision likely to be 'exempt', with the webcast switched off and considered behind closed doors....
And briefly back to our Council's 'partners' down at the evangelical bowling alley and with the publication of the latest Towy Community Church accounts we learn that this charitable endeavour must be booming with the good pastor and his wife being able to take around £45,000 in wages between them in 2014, in addition, the daughter of a trustee has landed the newly created position of Administrator...doubt if they'll need to avail themselves of their foodbank.
Voters will have their own questions they will wish to put to the candidates on the doorstep but they could include, for example, the recent period of suspension for the Labour candidate....whether 'Independent' actually means independent, or if the candidate(s) is planning to join Meryl's .gang'. The Plaid Candidate could be asked his views on retrospective planning approvals for historic barns... the Tory candidate will definitely need a good wind on his side, I'm sure his explanations on tax credit cuts, welfare reforms, etc will give him plenty of experience in fielding difficult questions...
Personally, given that this is Carmarthenshire County Council we're talking about, I'd give my backing to the candidate prepared to stand up with, and support, Cllr Caiach in the Chamber at County Hall.
In alphabetical order;
Stephen Bowen - People First (Cllr Sian Caiach's group)
Fran Burke-Lloyd - Independent
Stephen Davies - Conservative
Dilwyn Jones - Plaid Cymru
Vivian Summers - Independent
Ryan Thomas - Labour
The war of words seems to be hotting up over the saga of Emlyn's Barn with legal threats starting to fly. Opposition leader Cllr Jeff Edmunds called for Cllr Dole to resign over the affair, citing the questionable moral and ethical standards being set by the leader of the council and a one time member of the planning committee;
The Carmarthen Journal quotes Cllr Edmunds;
"The barn may be in his wife's name but when all's said and done he is the leader of the council and had been on the planning committee so knew the rules.
"It beggars belief to be honest. It's right opposite his house so he'd have seen it going up without the right planning permission every morning as he sat down to eat his cornflakes.
"I'm speaking to the Monitoring Officer about what can be done and will be raising this in full council.
"Last year when in opposition Councillor Dole called for Kevin Madge, Pam Palmer and Meryl Gravell to resign over an issue and said they had been ethically and morally wrong. [he means the pension and libel indemnity scandals...it is not known whether Cllr Edmunds also deemed them to be morally wrong, he never said...]
"I feel this is ethically and morally wrong and he needs to resign to restore the public's faith in the planning system."
Cllr Dole responded by saying;
"any implication that either myself, or anyone on the planning committee, is guilty of any wrongdoing, is insulting and quite frankly defamatory".
The Plaid Chair of the Planning Committee, Cllr Alun Lenny appears to be supporting Cllr Dole and invites anyone who dares to suggest that the planning committee might be just a little bit biased or, heaven forbid, lack objectivity, to "provide proof or withdraw their allegations".
Plaid accuse Labour of using the issue to score political points - they probably are, just like Plaid did over the WAO scandals - it's what they do. But in the end surely it is public opinion that matters and the general consensus seems to be that it was a political decision to grant approval and there's one rule for one, and another for the rest of us.
So far, there appears to be a lot of hot air from both sides over all this, but whether or not Cllr Edmunds' can substantiate his allegation that Cllr Dole eats cornflakes for breakfast remains to be seen....
The saga continues next week when the application is back on the agenda for the planning committee to ratify it's decision (see earlier post) to approve.
Back in March I mentioned the planned sell-off of Llandeilo Library and it's 'relocation' in nearby council offices. The council statement at the time, announcing the consultation, got a little head of itself and announced it as a 'development opportunity' in Llandeilo.
Anyway, presumably the consultation went ahead, was duly ignored and at some point a report was drafted to progress with the closure. I could be wrong of course but Monday's Executive Board meeting (don't forget these are now webcast) has an item titled 'Llandeilo Hub/Library relocation'.
It would be good to see the report but unfortunately, for reasons best known to themselves, it is top secret and any decision likely to be 'exempt', with the webcast switched off and considered behind closed doors....
And briefly back to our Council's 'partners' down at the evangelical bowling alley and with the publication of the latest Towy Community Church accounts we learn that this charitable endeavour must be booming with the good pastor and his wife being able to take around £45,000 in wages between them in 2014, in addition, the daughter of a trustee has landed the newly created position of Administrator...doubt if they'll need to avail themselves of their foodbank.