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2017 - A year on the blog
JanuaryFor the first couple of months of 2017 Caebrwyn's mind was pretty much preoccupied with hanging on to the family home. The council had acquired a charge of £190,000 in December and Mr James, one...
View ArticlePress Office news
Interesting rumours were circulating just before Christmas that changes are afoot within the council's notorious press office, a couple of senior staff, including press manager, Debbie Williams are...
View Article'Blindlingly obvious' - and those missing declarations of interest...
As I mentioned in my end of year post (scroll down) I emailed the head of legal/monitoring officer Linda Rees Jones before Christmas raising a few concerns. One of these concerns was the revelation...
View ArticleThe Boston Diaries....leopards and spots
Chief Executive, Mr James, in his witness statement to the police last year, accused me of saying that he had been 'tampering with documents before a tribunal'. In fact, what I had said, here, was that...
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News round up - City Deals, 'Teckals' and more...
I would hope that the collapse of Carillion has, if nothing else, put the brakes on the PFI-style arrangement known as the Swansea Bay City Deal, or Techniums Part 2 for those with longer memories........
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Councils at war
It seems that the former police commissioner is not the only one to view our council as Wales' answer to a Sicilian cartel - an element of Pembrokeshire County Council have also expressed the same...
View ArticleFebruary's Council meeting
There are a couple of points worth mentioning from yesterday's full council. For the connoisseurs, the whole epic can be seen on the archived webcast.Firstly came the latest instalment in the County...
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ICO response - Police will retain my details for six years
Once more we return to the subject of the Police Information Notice, or 'harassment warning' issued to me by Dyfed Powys police in August 2016 in relation to this blog. The complainant was council...
View ArticleCourt hearing to reduce instalments
I have applied to Carmarthen County Court to reduce the monthly instalments of £250 I have been ordered to pay the chief executive of Carmarthenshire Council, Mr Mark James.It is an application to vary...
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March meeting...and other news
Update 16th March - With regards to the use of Welsh Government cash for free parking pilots being spent by the council on new pay-and-display machines instead (see post below), the council, in a very...
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Happy Birthday Blog - Nine years old today
I can't let this moment pass without a brief comment. When I first started writing this blog I expected it to last a couple of months, not nine years and it's as much a surprise to me as anyone else,...
View ArticleCounty Court hearing - the outcome
My application to reduce the monthly instalments which I am paying to chief executive Mark James was heard at Carmarthen County Court yesterday. I was asking to vary the Order made on 23rd March 2017...
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Those unlawful libel indemnity clauses....a call to arms
The council AGM, coming up next month, often provides the opportunity to 'update' the council's constitution with any amendments which may be deemed necessary. As we know this is currently the remit of...
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Town Hall rich list - Carmarthenshire
With the annual Taxpayers Alliance Town Hall rich list published yesterday Carmarthenshire's entry, for senior officers pocketing over £100,000 per year, with pension contributions, looks relatively...
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BBC reporter barred from council Executive Board Member decision meeting
An interesting issue developed this morning over press access to Executive Board Member (EBM) Decision meetings.A BBC reporter had been covering a story about plans to reroute a public footpath which...
View ArticleCouncil epetitions - is the four year wait nearly over?
Wednesday's full council agenda includes a Motion put forward by Cllr Rob James (Lab), elected last May, asking the Executive Board to introduce an epetitions facility on the council website.There is,...
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FOI news - Office costs
A Freedom of Information response arrived today which shows that the Plaid/Independent executive spent over £8,000 on refurbishing their offices since August last year;Click to enlargeWe can all recall...
View ArticleCaerphilly news...
With the news that the long-running Caerphilly council pay scandal, involving three of it's most senior officers, including its chief executive, is set to rise to £3.6m, today's editorial in the...
View ArticleSwansea Bay City Deal...way behind schedule? A few thoughts.
The Western Mail reports that the projects in the Swansea Bay City Deal have just had a 'massive' financial boost and that residents in the four council areas will 'reap the rewards' from the various...
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City Deal - a scandal in the making, and the wrong man for the job?
Western Mail 27th April 2018. Click to enlarge.At a Neath Port Talbot meeting last week the council leader Rob Jones stated publicly that, at the moment, they would not be signing the City Deal Joint...
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