Empty Properties

Crunching and interpreting data from the 2011 census will no doubt go on for some time to come, but one interesting set of statistics relates to properties returning "no usual resident". These were properties which were either vacant at the time of the census or second homes. Not included in the figures it seems are the many thousands of holiday lets which are a major feature in many coastal and rural areas of Wales.

The full data set for Wales can be found here. To view detailed figures for each authority at ward level, click on the name of the council.

[NB This link appears to be unstable. To find the data, go to the ONS website here. Select "Get data by topic", then choose "Housing". Scroll down to "Household Spaces, 2011 (QS417EW)". Select and click on "Next" at the bottom of the page. To view, click on "Next" and then select "2011 Administrative Hierarchy". Click on "Next", and you will see the data for Wales. To drill down, click on Wales, and then click on an individual county to see ward level data.]

The overall percentage for "no usual resident" for Wales as a whole was 5.97%, compared with 4.25% for England.

Within Wales there is a wide variation between the 22 local authorities. Leading the field with the highest percentages of vacant properties and/or second homes were the following:

Authority	At least one usual resident	No usual resident	% vacant
Gwynedd	52,473	8,602	14.1
Pembrokeshire	53,122	7,590	12.5
Angelsey	30,594	3,589	10.5
Ceredigion	31,562	3,107	8.9
Conwy	51,177	5,022	8.9
Powys	58,345	5,137	8.1
Merthyr Tydfil	24,264	1,990	7.6
Carmarthenshire	78,829	5,326	6.3

Not suprisingly, there is a wide variation at ward level as well. Abersoch in Gwynedd is probably the most extreme case, with 54% of properties returned as "no usual resident".

The figures for the remaining local authorities were as follows:

Authority	At least one usual resident	No usual resident	% vacant
Neath Port Talbot	60,393	3,624	5.7
Rhondda Cynon Taf	99,663	5,647	5.4
Denbighshire	40,546	2,191	5.1
Swansea	103,497	5,480	5
Blaenau Gwent	30,416	1,536	4.8
Bridgend	58,515	2,983	4.8
Monmouthshire	38,233	1,845	4.6
Torfaen	38,524	1,705	4.2
Cardiff	142,557	6,042	4.1
Vale of Glamorgan	53,505	2,159	3.9
Newport	61.172	2,433	3.8
Caerphilly	74,479	2,765	3.6
Wrexham	57,029	2,015	3.4
Flintshire	63,781	2,057	3.1

Only 7 of the 22 Welsh authorities were below the average for England.

In some cases the figures throw a question mark over proposed Local Development Plans which provide for a massive expansion of house building.

Carmarthenshire is one which comes to mind. Its LDP is based on a projection that the number of households would soar from 78,000 in 2006 to just over 93,000 in 2021. Five years into this period, and the number of households was static at 78,000. The number of empty properties, on the other hand, rose from 3,574 in 2001 to 5,326 in 2011.

Caebrwyn's Trial

Next Wednesday, 13 February, will see the start of the trial involving fellow blogger Jacqui Thompson and the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council. It will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and will be heard by a judge without a jury, as is common practice these days.

As a brief reminder, the dispute dates back to the publication of a letter written by the Chief Executive to the Mad Axeman blog in which Mr James launched a highly personal attack on both Jacqui Thompson and her family. Bearing in mind that Jacqui's children have played no part in Jacqui's campaign for greater openness and transparency by the council, that was a reckless and foolish thing to have done, and unsurprisingly the legal advice received by Jacqui was that she had grounds to seek legal redress.

The whole matter could have been ended at that point in late 2011 with an apology and a settlement. Instead the Chief Executive countered with an action for defamation against Jacqui, funded by council tax payers. The council did so using powers that it had granted itself, claiming that these were "extraordinary circumstances" but without ever explaining what was so extraordinary about them.

This was an extremely unusual thing for a local authority to do, and Carmarthenshire appears to be determined to test the limits of the law where the consensus has hitherto been that government cannot sue for libel.

A victory for Mr James could have enormous consequences for the press, blogs and other media as it would open the way for any council or other branch of government to sue critics by proxy.


Whatever happens, the Welsh Government needs to act to tighten up the rules for council officers and councillors to prevent public funds from being used for pursuing (as opposed to defending) claims for defamation. If a council officer or councillor feels that they have been libelled, they would still have the same right to bring an action privately, just like everybody else.

It is sometimes argued that council officers are like the royals in that they cannot answer back and defend themselves against criticism.

Anyone who is familiar with Carmarthenshire will know that that principle has been turned on its head. Councillors who are criticised, no matter how unfairly, by the Chief Executive in public meetings have no right of reply. And members of the public who have been attacked by the Chief Executive and the council's PR machine in the press have found that the control of editorial policy exercised by County Hall in the case of some of our local papers means that they have no right of reply either.

As a result of all of this significant sums of public money have been squandered, and a threat to freedom of expression remains.

For Jacqui personally this is an extremely stressful experience, and I am sure that most of you will join me in wishing her success in what is a just cause.

Cynhadledd yn Rhydaman: Y Gymraeg a'r Cyfrifiad

Cynhadledd:  Y Gymraeg a'r Cyfrifiad, Dydd Iau, Mawrth 14eg, 2013

Gwesty'r Mountain Gate, Tycroes, Rhydaman, 

9:30 – 4 o'r gloch

Bydd y gynhadledd yn cynnig fforwm i drafod, dadansoddi a dehongli canlyniadau'r cyfrifiad o safbwynt yr iaith.

Dangosodd y canlyniadau fod heriau mawr yn ein hwynebu; yn wir bydd y ddegawd nesaf yn dyngedfennol o safbwynt diogelu dyfodol y Gymraeg fel iaith fyw yn ein cymunedau. Fel grwp ymbarel yn cynrychioli amrywiaeth eang o fudiadau sy'n  hybu a hyrwyddo'r Gymraeg ar lawr gwlad teimlwn ddyletswydd i ysgogi trafodaeth agored a chreadigol er mwyn ymateb i 'r sefyllfa hon. 

Trwy ddwyn ynghyd arbenigwyr, gwleidyddion ac ymarferwyr profiadol yn y maes, ein nod yw trafod yr heriau sy'n ein hwynebu ac i osod seiliau ar gyfer gweithredu'n gadarnhaol ac ymarferol er lles y Gymraeg.

Prif siaradwr y dydd  fydd Leighton Andrews, AC a Gweinidog dros y Gymraeg

Siaradwyr sydd eisoes wedi cadarnhau : 

Meri Huws, Comisynydd y Gymraeg

Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, Prifysgol Aberystwyth

Heini Gruffudd, Rhieni dros Addysg Gymraeg

Ellen ap Gwyn, Arweinydd Cyngor Ceredigion

Dyfed Edwards, Arweinydd Cyngor Gwynedd

Dr Martin Rhisiart, Ysgol Fusnes Prifysgol Morgannwg

Noddwyd y Gynhadledd gan y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol

DIWEDD

Am fanylion pellach cysylltwch â: Gaynor Jones  ar 07854 171165 / gaynorjones@dathlu.org

Another "apology"

It seems that the Ombudsman for Public Services will have his work cut out in teaching Carmarthenshire County Council how to say sorry.

Readers may remember (post here) how last November a couple of Carmarthen residents appeared on a Radio Wales programme to tell listeners about the council's shoddy treatment of members of the public wishing to exercise their rights to observe the council's public meetings.

According to BBC staff who seemed to be as amazed and shocked as their guests, the council refused to take part in the programme, but sent in a statement while the programme was on air attacking Mrs Williams and Mr Thomas, accusing them of spreading untruths about the council and having "an agenda", even though, the BBC said, it had not told the council their identities.

As it happens, Mrs Williams had her cards marked when she joined a campaign to persuade the county council to make changes to the St Catherine's Walk shopping precinct some years ago. Mr Thomas, who also happens to be a town councillor in Carmarthen, has as far as Cneifiwr knows, no "previous".

To be called liars on air by an anonymous member of the council's Ministry of Truth was extremely upsetting for them both, and Mrs Williams duly made a complaint to the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman said he was unable to pursue the complaint on the grounds that Mrs Williams could seek legal redress (in plain English, she could sue the council for defamation). However, the Ombudsman did ask the Chief Executive to reply to Mrs Williams' original letter of complaint, and this is what she received:

Dear Madam 

I refer to your letter of the 22nd November the contents of which are noted, however I write to inform you that the Council has no comment to make.

Yours faithfully

Mark James CBE

The letter had no reference number, and was clearly typed by someone who has only a vague familiarity with Microsoft Word (alignment of words) and punctuation rules.

Mrs Williams has now forwarded a copy of the letter to the Ombudsman to add to his bulging Carmarthenshire files.

For anyone in County Hall reading this, here is a brief selection of the Ombudsman's tips:

 

What is an apology?

An apology is much more than an expression of regret. It can be relatively simple – and helpful – to say sorry that someone had a bad experience. It is much harder to apologise for your mistakes or for those made by your organisation. An apology is an exchange between two people (or groups), so getting the process right is as important as saying the right things.

Not very hard, is it?

The Ombudsman's letter also sets out 7 simple tips on how to make an apology:

1.    The timing of an apology is very important. Once you find out that you have done wrong, if you delay then you may lose your opportunity to apologise.

  

2.    To make an apology meaningful, do not distance yourself from the apology and do not let there be any doubt that you are owning up to your mistake (for example, say ‘It was my fault’ rather than ‘If mistakes have been made…’).

  

3.    The language you use should be clear, plain and direct.

  

4.    Your apology should sound natural and sincere.

  

5.    Your apology should not question whether the person who has made a complaint has been harmed (for example, by saying ‘I am sorry if you were offended’).

  

6.   Your apology should not make the offence seem unimportant (for example by saying ‘no-one else has complained’).

  

7.    It is also very important that you apologise to the right person or people.

If all of that is too difficult, perhaps the Ombudsman will oblige with a Janet and John version.

How to say Sorry

Updated

Mrs Breckman has provided a copy of the "letter of  apology" which she received from the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council.dated 3 October 2012, three months after the Ombudsman published his report into the case.

The letter was addressed to Mrs Breckman only and makes no reference to Mr Eddie Roberts, her partner, although he was just as much a victim of the council's extraordinary behaviour.

After some preliminary waffle, the letter kicks off by emphasising that the complaint to the Ombudsman was only partially upheld. It goes on to say that while the erection of a second shed on the neighbouring property should have been determined by the planning committee rather than by the council's officers under general orders, the outcome would probably have been the same anyway.

Next comes a mangled attempt at saying sorry for not acting on the information provided by Mrs Breckman. The English is so strained and peculiar at this point, that it appears to have been extracted through torture:

We regret the failure to follow up the information that was provided as perhaps could have been.

Next comes the truly tricky part. What actually happened was that the council accused Mrs Breckman of falsifying and manipulating evidence.

The letter half-heartedly admits that this was the case, because there was "some limited reference"  to these accusations in correspondence and internal documents.

In the view of the Ombudsman, this gave rise to an appearance of a lack of objectivity on the Council's part, and it is very much regretted that firstly this appearance may naturally have flowed from this, and secondly that you would have found such observations on the Council's part as upsetting.

Putting aside the bizarre English once again, we know what the Ombudsman thought. What Mrs Breckman wanted to hear was what the council thought about its conduct.

Next the letter deals with the thorny subject of the council's policy on persistent complaints. Mrs Breckman was placed on the register without being told and not given an opportunity to appeal. The council justifies this by stating that "you were not given due warning that the policy would be applied to you (as recommended by the policy itself)".

It is hard to know what to make of that. Was it the policy's fault? Were the council's officers powerless to act because the policy was dictating what had to be done like a manic, out-of-control robot?

The letter concludes by saying "it remains the case that for matters to be complete that we tender our apology for those failings, and hope that these apologies are accepted".

The letter does not offer Mrs Breckman a meeting or any opportunity to ask questions, such as what does this letter actually mean?

**************************************************************


The Ombudsman for Public Services has met to discuss what progress has been made by Carmarthenshire County Council in implementing his recommendations in the Breckman case, and it seems that he is generally satisfied that the authority has taken most of the steps he outlined.

In one important point, however, the Ombudsman was less than impressed, namely the extremely reluctant apology it has given Mrs Breckman and her partner.

As a result, the Ombudsman will be providing the council with a set of guidelines on how to say sorry, something which comes very hard to a council which operates under the principle of "never admit that you are wrong, and never, ever say sorry".

Just how sorry the Council really was can be judged from a letter which Meryl Gravell wrote on behalf of the Dream Team to Carl Sergeant (minister for local government) in February last year. The letter was written after the Ombudsman had expressed frustration to the minister about the council's lack of cooperation and its attitude towards people who make complaints.

Clearly, Meryl felt that the council's procedures were absolutely fine, and that any grumblings could just be put down to a few disgruntled individuals.

Getting from there to a position of being able to admit mistakes and apologise unreservedly for them will present County Hall with one of its biggest challenges, since if the apologies are to mean anything, a wholesale change of culture will be needed.

A Literary Storm

An inevitable update (6 February 2013)

Dear Mr Ruck

Thank you for the comments you posted last night. I have published one of them, but draw the line at personal attacks on private individuals. Those in public office and people like you and me who set up soap boxes and mouth off in public are fair game on the other hand, although I am not sure why Gwyneth Lewis's seasickness, real or alleged, should be a stick to beat her with.

I have met Ms Lewis briefly and am familiar with some of her work, in particular Llofrudd Iaith. Personally I found it memorable, innovative and thought provoking. Each to his own, I suppose, but whether you like or loathe her poetry and other work, she is a unique voice in contemporary Welsh writing.

The Guardian article you refer to can be found here. Readers can decide for themselves whether those are the thoughts of a deluded intellectual inadequate.

For the record, I am very sorry to hear that you have received threats, and would certainly condemn anyone who has made them.

With kind regards

Y Cneifiwr

________________________________________________


As regular readers of this blog will know, Cneifiwr's ramblings rarely venture beyond the shenanigans at the Zoo County Hall, and forays into the world of literature have been limited to fan mail to the Great Dewi Prysor. However, news has arrived of a literary spat in Carmarthenshire featuring somebody called Julian Ruck, and now even Dyfed Powys Police have got involved.

Like me, most readers will probably have been only dimly aware of Mr Ruck if at all because of his role in the Kidwell-e Festival which was held at Meryl's Ffos Las racecourse last July. The event featured a host of literary talent, including Mary Hooper, Polly Courtney and Dougie Brimson (I've never heard of them either), and only a handful of people turned up. Some of those who did go may have thought that another of the resident writers, Adele Geras, was odds-on favourite in the 3.15.

Mr Ruck threw a fine old tantrum and blamed just about anyone and everyone before declaring that he would take his festival to England where people would be more appreciative.

Although Mr Ruck is a Swansea Jack born and bred, he takes a pretty dim view of the Welsh, as you can see from his blog where he is currently weighing in to "those people who seek a Welsh language only, RS Thomas bucolic paradise of insularity and a backward existential wasteland of introverted stupidity".

In another post he has a go at a minister of religion for speaking Welsh at a funeral. Julian didn't understand what the Reverend was saying, and so concluded that it must have been, "damn all you sinners to Hell for not speaking Welsh!"

Fittingly, Julian has a regular column in the Llanelli Star where he holds forth on the evils of the Welsh literary establishment, the "billions spent on promoting the Welsh language" (really?), and Welsh Nationalists and Welsh Labour, who are apparently all in it together.

On his blog one lengthy entry in block capitals is devoted to denouncing Gwyneth Lewis.

Someone with a lot of time on their hands, possibly a literary critic, has produced a replica of Mr Ruck's blog in which the literary colossus of Carmarthenshire is given a pseudonym which rhymes with Ruck.

The rival blog takes Mr Ruck to task for what it considers to be the low literary merit of his oeuvre and weak grasp of the fundamentals of English grammar.

Mr Ruck alleges that matters have escalated beyond blogs and "Twatter" accounts, and that he has received various threats, including suggestions that his home may be spattered with dog poo.

As a result, Mr Ruck has called upon Dai Knacker to investigate, but he also seems to be engaging in a little sleuthing himself. One of Cneifiwr's readers, a woman of impeccable character, has been contacted by someone calling himself Julian Ruck accusing her of posting messages on the *uck blog as Mrs Penn-Thomas and "The Dog Woman".

My correspondent was especially upset to be addressed by Mr Ruck as "Mrs".

Take my advice Jules. Don't mess with her.

As a family blog, any comments on this post will be subject to rigorous moderation.

The Breckman Case - more procedural voodoo

For a council so obsessed with PR, Carmarthenshire County Council's handling of the Breckman case should enter the text books as an example of how not to manage bad news.

The Ombudsman for Public Services published a damning report at the beginning of July 2012 showing how the authority had failed to enforce planning regulations and victimised the complainants over a period of years.

The extraordinary twists and turns in the story were the subject of a BBC documentary, and the press reported that the nine year battle was over now that the Ombudsman had ordered the council to pay the couple compensation and implement a number of measures to ensure that similar failings would not be repeated.

They had not reckoned with Carmarthenshire County Council.

It was clear from the start that the council's top brass hated the report, but instead of taking a deep breath and getting the matter over with, it has deliberately dragged its feet for months and gone to great lengths to prevent any discussion of the report by councillors.

Mrs Breckman's county councillor, Cefin Campbell, has tried repeatedly to raise the matter in full council, but has fallen foul of procedures which have been rigorously enforced to prevent any questions relating to matters which do not appear on the published agenda.

Since the Chief Executive is responsible for drawing up meeting agendas, there was never any likelihood that the report would find its way in to the council chamber.

Cllr Campbell then tried to raise the matter under "Any Other Business". A recent attempt to raise a question about the misuse of the council's press office in the Sainsbury's press release scandal was ruled out of order because, the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer declared, the Council Chair had not been informed of the question ahead of the meeting.

So Cllr Campbell duly informed the Chair of his intention to ask about the Ombudsman's report before meetings of the council began. But that was ruled out of order because, in the Chief Executive's view, the matter was not urgent, even though 7 months have now passed since publication of the report.

When Cllr Campbell made it clear before the last meeting of the full council in January that he would raise the matter under AOB anyway, the Chief Executive intervened and had AOB removed from the meeting agenda.

As we know, instead of presenting the report to full council, the Executive decided that the Ombudsman's recommendation that the report should be "presented to councillors" was sufficiently ambiguous to allow it to send the matter off to the Planning Committee instead, even though the report deals with matters which go far beyond planning enforcement issues.

Not content with that, officers recommended that discussion of the report by the Planning Committee should be subject to a public interest exemption and heard behind closed doors.

It also emerged rather late that the Planning Committee was not being asked to consider the Ombudsman's report, but a doctored and watered down version of it written by the council's officers.

After 9 years of dealing with the council, Mrs Breckman was probably not surprised by any of this, but she wrote to the Chair of the Planning Committee, Cllr Anthony Jones (Lab), making it clear that, as both the principal subject and victim in the case, she felt strongly that the report should be discussed in public.

Mrs Breckman took the precaution of copying her letter to Cllr Campbell, who responded promptly, but she did not receive even the courtesy of an acknowledgement from Cllr Jones.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman is understood to be concerned about the handling of the report and the lack of progress by the council in implementing his recommendations. A meeting has been convened to discuss this.

The Ombudsman may also want to take a close look at what happened at the Planning Committee when it came to application of the public interest test. Usually such decisions are formalities, but in controversial matters such as this when opinion is divided, it is remarkable how often the divisions occur along party lines, even though party whips are strictly forbidden.

A block vote by the "independent minded" Independents and their Labour chums in favour of chucking press and public out of the meeting might take some explaining, especially now that the Ombudsman is probably not in the best of moods when it comes to the Best Council in Wales.

At least the top brass in County Hall can congratulate themselves on one thing. Their expertise in manipulating procedures seems to be finding admirers in other Welsh councils, as Cllr Arfon Jones found recently (here) when he proposed allowing "live broadcasts" (specifically the use of Twitter) at council meetings in Wrexham.

The result was a carbon copy of the tactics deployed in Carmarthen last year when Plaid Cymru proposed allowing the public to film council meetings.

Rugby Gloom

If yesterday's game against Ireland was not depressing enough for you, imagine what it must be like if you support the Scarlets.

Off the field things are if anything even more dire. PriceWaterhouseCoopers produced a report on regional rugby last year, and if the BBC's summary of its contents is anything to go by, regional rugby is facing a grim future indeed.

Here are a few of the report's findings just for starters:

• The regions are not financially sustainable in their current form without continued support from benefactors or alternative funding sources.
• The collective funding gap has been rising.
• The economic downturn and growing disillusionment have meant that most, and in some cases all, of the support provided by wealthy benefactors is drying up.
• Poor management and poor decision making, partly because of the over-riding influence of the benefactors.
• Lack of oversight of finances and, in some cases, lack of an up to date business plan.
• Signing expensive overseas players.
• Significant additional costs incurred by the lure of participating in the Heineken Cup.

PWC went on to point out that most of the savings achieved by the clubs can be put down to the cap on players' salaries. That in itself is a double-edged sword because the regions can and are easily outspent by richer clubs in France and England.

The report also diplomatically described the Welsh clubs' targets as "ambitious" when set against past performance.

Not included in the PWC report's deliberations, it seems, was the effect which the growing success and popularity of Welsh football is having on regional rugby match attendances, something discussed on the BBC's Sport Wales the other week. Tickets to watch Swansea City are like gold dust, and attendances in Swansea and Cardiff are running at more than three times what the regional rugby clubs can pull in.

The response of the WRU and the rugby regions to all of this has been to set up a new board which will meet once a month to try to turn the Titanic round.

In Carmarthenshire it's not just club supporters who have reason to feel depressed. As we wait to find out how much extra we will have to pay in council tax this year, the County Council's financial support for the Scarlets is beginning to stand out more and more like a sore thumb as jobs are cut and services slashed.

It is well nigh impossible to work out how much all of the overt and covert subsidies to the club add up to. Just about every council event, no matter how small, is likely to find itself taking place at Parc y Scarlets, with stretched departmental budgets being raided to pay for hospitality in Llanelli. Even the annual "Welsh Learner of the Year" event (maximum of about 30 attendees) was held at the stadium last year at a time when the council was cutting back on classes.

The question of whether all these subsidies are legal under EU Competition Law appears to be a very touchy subject in County Hall.

The Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire County Council, Mark James, told councillors that legal advice on state-funded aid to the Scarlets was contained in the huge bundle of documents they were given back in 2007, but a Freedom of Information request recently made by Cllr Siân Caiach for disclosure of the legal advice was refused under the cloak of legal privilege.

Cllr Caiach wonders why, if the advice provided by an external firm of lawyers showed that everything was in order, would there be any need to conceal it from elected councillors. Could it be that the advice highlighted concerns which the council's officers have not dealt with?

Not unnaturally, Cllr Caiach also wonders whether councillors were ever actually provided with the external legal advice given the authority's refusal to disclose it now.

Sometimes it doesn't just rain, it pours.

Rali'r Cyfrif yn Aberystwyth

Daeth rhyw 500 o bobl o bob oedran i'r digwyddiad yn Aberystwyth ddoe, hanner can mlynydd yn union i'r dydd ers y protest ar Bont Trefechan ym 1963, ac roedd sawl wyneb adnabyddus yn y dorf, gan gynnwys Ellen ap Gwynne, arweinydd y Cyngor Sir.

Yn wahanol i'r rali yng Nghaerfyrddin ddwy wythnos yn ôl, felly, ac agwedd ddiystyriol arweinyddiaeth y Cyngor Sir yno. Ni ddaeth arweinydd y Cyngor Sir Kevin Madge nac unrhyw aelod arall o'r Bwrdd "Gweithredu" yn agos at y lle.

Council launches charm offensive

Motorists who parked their cars in the main mart car park in Newcastle Emlyn the other Sunday were shocked to discover that they had received a ticket when they returned. In fact, every single car parked in the council car park had been ticketed following the introduction of parking charges for Sundays.

Cneifiwr is pleased to say, rather smugly, that he was not one of those caught in the raid.

To be fair, there would probably have been no more than about a dozen fines if the average Sunday is anything to go by, but the council clearly thought it was worthwhile paying someone to travel out on a Sunday to get its message across.

Unsurprisingly people who had parked while going to chapel or church, or stopped briefly to go and buy a newspaper or a pint of milk were none too pleased, but the Council told the Carmarthen Journal (story not yet online) that rules were rules.

Fortunately the newspaper probably won't tell the town's residents about the Chief Executive's "cash advance" (in the Western Mail today: WARNING: this article contains a disturbing image), or they might get very angry indeed.

Not so many years ago car parking in this small market town was free, but as is the way with so many things, charges were introduced and have been ramped up every year ever since. Not long after charges were introduced someone rammed the parking machine with what must have been a small tank and put it out of action for a while. Luckily, the council had CCTV monitoring the car park, and the villain was given a stiff fine.

Unfortunately the spiralling cost of parking has not been matched by any improvement in maintenance of the car park. There was a short burst of pothole filling last year and the parking bay lines were re-painted, but parts of the car park regularly flood thanks to inadequate drainage, and new monster potholes are developing.

Local people who do not want to wreck their vehicles or pay parking fines have long since realised that double yellow lines in the main street mean "park here for free". The police very rarely hand out fines, and the search is on for a genuine police parking ticket to be displayed in the town's museum.

Cneifiwr has even seen anarchist drivers (e.g. lady nipping into a very expesnive frock shop) who park in the one free lane of the very narrow main road, the other having been turned into a car park, and bring the entire town to a standstill for up to half an hour. They have been given a mild ticking off and sent on their way.

Of course all this would have stopped long ago if the town's residents hadn't kicked up such a fuss about allowing the council to turn the town (population  of around 1,500) into the place with the largest concentration of supermarkets per square mile in Wales.

The council's planning officers thought that free car parking in supermarket car parks was wonderful, and they highlighted all the other benefits which would have been showered upon us in return for shutting down the pokey little independent shops.

But that was not to be. So that pint of milk you want to buy will cost you at least 30p more than at a supermarket thanks to the car parking charges, and it could cost you a whole lot more if you don't buy a ticket.

Best to park on those double yellow lines, then.