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News round up; Leighton looks west....and council budget news
Senior payPlaid AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas brought up the issue of senior officer pay, and pay-offs, in the Senedd last Wednesday. Labour Minister for Public Services Leighton Andrews (just to confuse...
View ArticleMore of Meryl's meetings
It was a little disappointing that Cllr Meryl Gravell did not attend the full council meeting last week. As we know the WLGA report was discussed and Cllr Gravell, as former council leader and...
View ArticleA question of costs
Back in February this year, the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee requested a full breakdown of external legal costs incurred by the council and the report is finally before the committee next...
View ArticleHypocrisy
Council leader Kevin Madge (Lab) has been gracing the pages of the local press recently pledging and vowing to support an end to domestic violence. This evening both he and leader of the independents,...
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Those 'allowable expenses' were 'allowable'! Fancy that!
Well well, it must be little known fact that, despite these austere times, Carmarthenshire Council has a 'policy' to pay off third party loans on behalf of private companies. This unbelievable...
View ArticleCars, bins and mergers - news in brief
I'm sure everyone is now aware that the residents of Pembrokeshire have unwittingly been funding a £90,000 Porsche for their now departed chief executive, Bryn Parry Jones, to cruise luxuriously...
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Severance - Repaying unlawful payments?
With chief executive Mark James having declared his application for severance, we might assume that calculations regarding the final sum are being made as we speak. Back in October, Council Leader...
View ArticleCouncil by-election reminder, and another one on the way.
As we know the by-election for the Trelech ward will be held on the 11th December and the candidates are (in alphabetical order);Jean Lewis (Plaid)Hugh Phillips (Independent Group)Selwyn Runnett...
View ArticleCare Home closures - thinking it through?
One feature of Carmarthenshire Council's Social Care policy has been to close all the council run homes for the elderly. The shift has been to support independent living and to create Extra Care Homes...
View ArticleBudget cuts - Respite care for disabled children?
Back in February's budget, a proposal to close one of the two council run respite centres for profoundly disabled children, Blaenau and Llys Caradog, was given a temporary reprieve after one of those...
View ArticleThe Planning Committee...online
Today's Planning Committee meeting was a bit of a strange affair, if you wish you can of course watch the archived webcast when it's uploaded. (Here it is;...
View ArticleLibel costs - to be discussed by Executive Board
A few week's ago the council's policy and resources scrutiny committee met and on the agenda was a report detailing the cost of external legal advice and representation. I wrote about it here.There is...
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Grants, agendas and a reminder
The minutes of last Monday's Executive Board meeting have been published and include reference to what can only be described as a timely visit from the EU auditors, specifically looking at grants...
View ArticleReprieve for the childrens' respite centres
Further to last week's post 'Budget cuts - Respite care for disabled children?', I understand that a councillors' budget seminar was held yesterday and Cllr Caiach and others forced a vote to remove...
View ArticleMore from Oggy Bloggy Ogwr - Robochief
Fans of the silver screen will have undoubtedly enjoyed Oggy Bloggy Ogwr's take on the classic movie 'Apocalypse Nawr' back in August. It told the story of the secret mission to advance up the River...
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December council meeting - A test of stamina
Update12th December: The Trelech by-election result was a significant Plaid Cymru gain over Pam Palmer's Independent party. Plaid now have 29 seats and Labour and the Independents (in coalition) have...
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Gloucestershire Police remain silent
A couple of months ago I contacted the Information Commissioner and challenged the decision by Gloucestershire police not to disclose documents used in the criminal investigation into Carmarthenshire...
View ArticleGrants - a 'clean bill of health'? Not just yet
Last week I mentioned that EU auditors had paid a visit to County Hall (Grants, Agendas and a reminder) specifically to look at the South West Wales Property Development Fund (SWWPDF). Their findings...
View ArticleScarlets - Palpitations in County Hall
There was some confusion on Monday morning regarding a winding-up Order listed in the High Court for the Llanelli based regional rugby club, the Scarlets. HMRC had brought the case suggesting it...
View ArticleThe Governance working group - Cats and Pigeons
Ten days or so ago I emailed the acting head of law and Monitoring Officer Linda Rees Jones asking for details of the membership of the working group set up to consider the 38 recommendations of the...
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