Men of Straw

One of Cneifiwr's favourite novels is a fairly obscure satirical work by Heinrich Mann, brother of the more famous Thomas Mann, called Der Untertan (The Subject), translated into English as Man of Straw.

The novel is set in Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II, and tells the story of Dietrich Hesseling, a provincial bigwig in a small town who is a member of a board of trustees of a local orphanage. In his royalist and patriotic fervour, driven by a desire to curry favour with his betters, our hero persuades the trustees that the orphanage funds would be much better spent on a large equestrian statue of the Kaiser's grandfather. Disaster ensues, both for the central character personally, but also of course for Germany itself (the novel was published in 1918).

The other day David Jones, Secretary of State for Wales, took to Twitter to say,

 David Jones ‏@DavidJonesMP 22 Jul

As a North Walian, I'm massively pleased by the interest the whole world is showing in the birth of a baby to an Anglesey couple

 

This particular couple moved on a part-time basis to Angelsey in 2011. When young Kate was suffering from morning sickness at the end of the following year, she was whisked off to a private hospital in London, and the BBC solemnly explained that her delicate medical condition meant that she would not be able to return to the wilds of North Wales and the care of the Welsh NHS because of the risk. Just like any other ordinary Angelsey couple, then.

Not to be outdone in the royal grovelling stakes, Carmarthenshire County Council decided to use its very tenuous connections with the baby (his grandfather has owned a holiday home near Llandovery since 2007) to send the couple a special real nappy trial pack, as explained by Cllr Colin Evans (Lab) here.

Unfortunately the county council has broken up for two months of summer holidays, and so Cllr Andrew James (Ind) will have to wait until September to make a loyal address congratulating the grandparents who spend a few days a year at their modest cottage in his ward.

Dietrich Hesseling may be a grotesque character from the distant past in Germany, but his fawning British cousins are alive and well.

"Pam would have been here, Sire, but she objects to Camilla muscling in."

Disclosure

The recent posts dealing with Carmarthenshire County Council, Towy Community Church and Mercy Ministries have met with one of the largest responses this parochial little blog has received since it started, and the comments received have been almost unanimous in their alarm and disgust.

The press has so far remained silent on the reappearance of the Mercy Ministries link. That is not surprising in the case of the Carmarthen Journal which has never breathed a word about any of this to its readers, but what both this blog and Carmarthenshire Planning have noticed is a great deal of interest in the story from other quarters, including the Welsh Government.

Thanks to one of the contributors, we now also know that Towy Community Church is a partner agency in the council's Team Around The Family initiative set up to help vulnerable children and families. Most of the agencies named are council departments or long-established charities. Two have close links to the Church in Wales, but Towy Community Church stands out as the body with by far the shortest history and track record in this field, and also as the only body pursuing a fundamentalist religious ideology.

In addition to being part of the Team Around The Family, the church operates a foodbank in close cooperation with the council, a debt counselling service featuring prayer and, once again in conjunction with the council, an annual Christmas toybox appeal with toys collected by the council and other public bodies but handed over to the church for distribution.

A legitimate question is therefore why this small organisation has risen so rapidly to such a position of prominence and received so much public money.

Jacqui Thompson, the author of the Carmarthenshire Planning blog, has been fighting a very long battle to get the council to disclose correspondence with the church. The first attempt was dismissed on the grounds that it would take the council too much time to fish out all of the documents. The Information Commissioner ruled against the council, which then took a different tack by declaring the request to be vexatious. The Information Commissioner has once again been asked to rule.

From that you may reasonably conclude that:

a) There must be a great deal of correspondence between the council and the church, and
b) That the council is desperately keen not to allow the public to see it.

If there are direct personal links between senior councillors and the church it is unlikely that you would find anything in the register of interests (available for inspection by appointment only with a senior officer watching you) because religious affiliations are not normally declared. In the case of senior council officers there is no register of interests to be inspected, and even if there were it is perfectly possible for anyone to be an active supporter of a body such as Towy Community Church, and even attend its Sunday services from time to time without actually becoming a member.

But perhaps everything really is squeaky clean. The trouble is that without disclosure of the records of the dealings between the council and the church, we shall never know.

Having your say on the Welsh language in Carmarthenshire

Following the publication of the Census results earlier this year which showed that the Welsh language was losing ground in Carmarthenshire in particular, the County Council set up a cross-party working group to examine the census results and make recommendations.

The original announcement dated 28 May can be found here, and in it the council invites members of the public to write in with comments, suggestions and evidence by 31 July.

This is technically not an official consultation, and it is unlikely that the working group will have been inundated with post because from what Cneifiwr can tell, no effort whatsoever has gone into publicising this request for the public's views.

Although this blog recently mentioned the consultation in Welsh, a reader has suggested that there are many non-Welsh speakers or people who don't feel comfortable with written Welsh, but who nevertheless care about the language, and who may want to contribute.

You can e-mail the group at this address: WelshLanguage@carmarthenshire.gov.uk .

Although the council changed its constitution a few years back to stop people who don't live, work or have a business in the county from asking questions when, horror of horrors, someone from outside the county asked a question about food sourcing, perhaps the Working Group will be a little more welcoming.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith has asked the Working Group to extend the closing date, and perhaps by inference, to ensure that the invitation is actually publicised.

Cymdeithas also recently submitted its Charter for Carmarthenshire to the council. This document sets out a series of practical proposals which it is urging the council to act on. You can download it in Welsh or English here.

Themes which anyone responding may wish to consider include:

• Strengthening Welsh medium education, starting with rural parts of the county
• Following the example set by Gwynedd to use Welsh as the working language for at least some council departments in Carmarthenshire
• Raising the standard of Welsh required for posts classified as "Welsh essential" so that we make more use of home-grown talent, less of expensive imports, and end up with senior officers who really can communicate in the language of nearly half the county's population.
• Insisting that "strategic" partners and suppliers have a sound and effective language policy in place. Despite receiving large amounts of public money, some of the council's local partners make no effort to promote themselves in Welsh, leave alone offer services in Welsh.
• Improving the provision of Welsh education for adults in the county. A recent report for the Welsh Government showed that take-up of Welsh courses in Carmarthenshire was way below that of comparable authorities.

Cneifiwr will also be happy to pass on any interesting ideas and comments to the Working Group posted on this blog.

Trolls please note - your comments will not be published, so don't bother.

Gweithgor y Cyfrifiad

Yn sgil canlyniadau'r Cyfrifiad sefydlodd y Cyngor Sir weithgor trawsbleidiol i ystyried sut y gallai'r Cyngor a'r gymuned ehangach fynd i’r afael â’r dirywiad yn y niferoedd o siaradwyr Cymraeg yn y sir.

Mae'r grŵp yn gwahodd aelodau o'r cyhoedd i gyfrannu drwy naill ai ysgrifennu at Gweithgor y Cyfrifiad, Polisi a Chynllunio Cymunedol, Neuadd y Sir, Caerfyrddin SA31 1JP neu anfon e-bost at IaithGymraeg@sirgar.gov.uk erbyn 31 Gorffennaf gydag unrhyw  syniadau a sylwadau. 

O'r hyn rwy'n ei ddeall, mae'n debygol y bydd y gweithgor yn ymestyn y dyddiad cau, ond mae'n hynod o bwysig bod cymaint o bobl ag sy'n bosib yn cyfrannu eu syniadau at y grŵp.

Ceir nifer o syniadau ac awgrymiadau ymarferol yn Siarter Sir Gâr Cymdeithas yr Iaith (dolen yma), ond gallwn ni fod yn sicr bod gan ddarllenwyr y blog yma ragor o syniadau da. 

Er enghraifft, beth am ddefnyddio cytundebau 106 a grantiau i sefydlu cronfa addysg Gymraeg er mwyn ariannu pobl ifanc a phobl mewn gwaith sydd am wella eu sgiliau Cymraeg?

Utter tosh and cheap-shot lies

There are times when you have to pinch yourself to remember that Carmarthenshire County Council is a branch of government responsible for the education and welfare of the people of this county, public health and the environment. You certainly have to wonder what sort of outfit this is whenever the press office goes on the rampage.

Caebrwyn reports on the latest spat between the council and Unison, which has raised concerns about the council's plans for the Pembrey Country Park and the Llanelli coastline.

There are two aspects to this story which are disturbing.

The first is what the council has in mind for this part of the county and how transparent any deals will be. Bearing in mind what happened with Beach Break Live which effectively did a bunk and left small local businesses seriously out of pocket, Unison is right to be worried. This is something the blogs will be watching closely in the coming months.

The second is the reaction of the council's press office to the Unison statement:

Unison's claims are complete and utter tosh and scaremongering. This is same old same old rumour and fabricated diatribe that is resurrected every few years that has absolutely no foundation at all. It is a downright and cheap-shot lie that the park is for sale, designed to provoke anxiety.

These words were attributed to an unnamed spokesman. An extremely opinionated and aggressive spokesman.

Who was the spokesman? Who authorised this hysterical attack on a union? Was the council leader, Kevin Madge, consulted before this message was broadcast to the world? There is certainly no love lost between Unison and the Carmarthenshire Labour Party, and the spokesman has strayed onto political ground here. Who these days says "utter tosh"?

Whatever the answers to these questions, we either have a dangerously out of control and politicised press office, or yet another misuse of public resources by the ruling Labour group hiding behind an anonymous spokesman.

The council's press and PR operations fall within the chief executive's own department, and Unison may want to ask him to explain the actions of staff who answer to him, perhaps coupled with a freedom of information request.

Cllr Darren Price (Plaid) noted at the most recent meeting of the full council that the communications budget is around £1 million a year. The council has been cutting back on its services, and it is warning of much worse to come. So far the holy cow of communications has been protected.

Cllr Price said that the people of Gorslas would not lose any sleep if it was put under the knife, and we can be sure that the people of other towns and villages across the county would agree with him.

Protest 'Pants' yng Nghaerfyrddin - Diweddariad

Mark Spencer a'r pants

 [Diolch i Ffred Ffransis]

_____________________________________

Dewch i G'fyrddin yfory (Gorffennaf yr 20fed) am 12pm i ddweud wrth Marks & Spencer nad yw eu polisi iaith yn dderbyniol.

Mae Cymdeithas yr Iaith wedi bod yn galw ar M&S i barchu’r Gymraeg ers blynyddoedd.

Bedwar mis yn ôl gwnaeth M&S ail-frandio’r siop yng Nghaerfyrddin a dweud y byddai’n fodel i Gymru gyfan. OND, er i Gymdeithas yr Iaith gyfarfod â’r rheolwyr droeon a llythyru gyda nhw – mae’r siop ar ei newydd wedd yn uniaith Saesneg. Methiant & Siom yw agwedd M&S tuag at eu cwsmeriaid Cymraeg.

Barod, Mrs Evans?

Clobbering Llanelli

Now that celebrations to mark the regeneration of Llanelli's town centre have come to an end, the town's small businesses are being presented with an unexpected bill.

The Valuation Office has recently been doing the rounds according to reports, increasing the rateable values of many of the smaller premises in town to above the magic threshold of £12,500. If that were not bad news enough, the adjustment is being backdated because the Valuation Office says there was an error in its records. 

The result of this double whammy is that businesses are not only being presented with unexpected bills, but have also lost their small business rate relief, meaning that the increases are very high for those affected.

The owner of one small shop contacted the Valuation Office to ask if she could appeal. The friendly female voice at the other end said yes, but added that she would also be the person dealing with the appeal.

Unsuccessful appeals can be taken to the Valuations Tribunal. Needless to say this is a time consuming and expensive process.

For some at least in Llanelli, the municipal celebrations have been followed by a nasty hangover..

Cymraeg yn hanfodol

Cyflwyno Siarter Sir Gâr

Roedd pawb yn gwenu - wel, mi wnaeth Ffred Ffransis ei orau glas o dan yr amgylchiadau - wrth i Gymdeithas yr Iaith gyflwyno Siarter Sir Gâr i Kevin Madge (Arweinydd y Cyngor) a Mair Stephens, sydd bellach yn gyfrifol dros yr iaith yn Neuadd y Sir, ychydig o wythnosau yn ôl.

Mae'r Siarter yn galw ar y Cyngor i symud tuag at gyflawni ei waith trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg.

Fel mae'n digwydd, bydd nifer o swyddogion uwch sy ddim yn siarad Cymraeg yn ymddeol eleni. Dyma gyfle da i ddangos bod y Cyngor yn newid ei agwedd trwy Gymreigio ar y lefel uchaf, fe fyddech chi'n meddwl. Er enghraifft, mae'r Cyngor yn chwilio am Gyfarwyddwr y Gwasanaethau Technegol newydd ar hyn o bryd (cyflog £111,000-£119,000).

Os gwnewch chi gais am y swydd hon, mae 'na restr hir o sgiliau hanfodol, gan gynnwys medru siarad Cymraeg - print mân: dim ond hyd at "Lefel 2", a pheidiwch â phoeni os nad ydych yn siarad yr un gair o Gymraeg -"Darperir hyfforddiant a chymorth er mwyn cyrraedd Lefel 2 cyn pen 6 mis ar ôl dechrau'r swydd".

Beth yn union yw Lefel 2? Mae'r Cyngor yn esbonio:

Ystyr hyn yw:

• Yn gallu cyfarfod â phobl yn y gwaith a'u cyfarch
• Yn gallu cyflwyno cyfarfodydd yn Gymraeg
• Yn gallu ynganu enwau llefydd lleol ac enwau prif lefydd Cymru yn Gymraeg
• Yn gallu ynganu geirfa allweddol maes Awdurdod Lleol yn Gymraeg
• Yn gallu deall sgwrs syml yn Gymraeg ac yn gallu cyfrannu at hynny.

Mewn geiriau eraill, cewch chi gwpwl o wersi i ddysgu sut i ynganu "Bore da", "Llanelli" (mae gallu dweud Machynlleth a Rhandirmwyn yn perthyn i Lefel 3, mae'n debyg), "Croeso",  "Cyngor Sir" a "Diolch yn fawr".

Beth am ddeall a chyfrannu at sgwrs syml? Mae hynny'n swnio'n reit uchelgeisiol. Dyma sgwrs syml:

A. Bore da. Sut dych chi heddiw?

B. Bore da. Iawn, diolch. A chi?

A. Wedi blino. Hwyl!

B. Hwyl!

Ac wedyn cewch chi dystysgrif i ddangos bo' chi wedi cwrdd â'r meini prawf ac yn siarad Cymraeg, achos bod gallu siarad Cymraeg yn hanfodol.

Man a man i chi roi trwydded yrru i rywun sy'n gallu gwahaniaethu rhwng car a bws.




.

We need to talk about Kevin - Updated

Update 18/7/13

Thank you to Anon (comments below) for this link to a letter from Mark Evans to Kevin Madge.

 ____________________________

 

As readers may have noticed, Ed Milliband and the unions are not exactly a mutual appreciation society at the moment, and it's not just about vote rigging in constituencies, but a much wider rift about the direction Labour is taking as it edges ever closer to the policies of David Cameron and George Osborne. Our MP, Jonathan Edwards, has coined a term for that - the Red Tories.

Of course, all of that is taking place in what Carmarthenshire's Labour leader, Kevin Madge, likes to call the "Westminster Bubble", but a letter in this week's Carmarthen Journal from Mark Evans, Branch Secretary of Unison in Carmarthenshire, makes it clear that the union and its members are far from happy with Kev and his friends in County Hall.

The letter points out that the council is about to embark on a new round of deep cuts to services, and that these cuts are being passively passed on to councils by the Labour government in Cardiff. Nobody in Labour seems to be putting up a fight, and yet they will hit ordinary families and the low-paid hardest.

Mark Evans has also spotted what Cneifiwr noticed recently (A Message from the Leader, 4 July) when the council chief executive once again took over a big chunk of the paper to warn us of dark days ahead. In a normal democracy you would have expected this to come from someone who had put himself up for election, rather than from an appointed officer who is supposed to be politically neutral. Kev ("my grandparents were miners") was nowhere to be seen.

There is a lot of pain to come, and Mark Evans points out that the chief executive (on at least 13 times the pay of many council workers), and Kevin Madge (leader's salary of £47,500) will not be sharing any of it.

Elsewhere in the paper there is a report on a meeting of Ammanford Town Council, which is being asked to take over a park and children's playground from the county council. The council has allowed the playground to fall into neglect. Some councillors noted that the county council is trying to pass off more and more of its responsibilities on to local councils, but Cllr Colin Evans (Kev's right-hand man) was there to warn of impending doom, as the county council braced itself for cuts of £18 million.

Notice how this figure is being quoted at every opportunity. In his State of the Union address the other week, the chief executive said his best guess was cuts of £12m next year.

Mercy Ministries and Towy Community Church

A little more on the news that Towy Community Church is once again planning to open a hostel with Mercy Ministries in Carmarthen.

Following the scandals which rocked Mercy Ministries, especially in Australia, the organisation has become much more media and PR savvy. Whenever accusations about its practices are made, Mercy issues either flat denials or says that this or that aspect of its programmes has been changed.

From time to time stories have emerged of young women who have left the programme claiming that it used exorcism or "recovered memory" therapy. Some parents of girls who have undergone Mercy Ministries programmes have been accused of physical and sexual abuse as a result of the "therapies" and lost all contact with their daughters. Mercy dismisses these accusations and says that it is inevitable that a minority will complain.

There are also persistent suggestions that the organisation regards lesbianism as a demonic condition which can be treated with therapy. Mercy Ministries makes no bones about its fundamentalist beliefs, but steers away from this particular subject by saying only that it loves everyone, and its website talks only about "inappropriate sexual behaviour".

In other words, we have a swirl of claims and counter-claims, accusations and denials which are well nigh impossible to prove either way. But there are some aspects of the Mercy Ministries story where there is less room for doubt.

The biggest scandal to have hit Mercy Ministries since it was founded was in Australia. The affair was extensively reported in the Australian mainstream media, including the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC (see here and here).

Last year a US women's organisation called Reproductive Healthcare Reality Check published an expose (here) detailing the experiences of two girls who had been through the programme in the US. This elicited a long denial from someone called E Williams, the Executive Director of Marketing at Mercy Ministries of America (MMOA), who wrote that Mercy Ministries Australia (MMAU) was nothing whatever to do with Mercy Ministries:

Although it shared the “Mercy” name, it was not founded by MMOA’s Founder & President, Nancy Alcorn. Simply put, MMAU was an independent charity with no oversight from MMOA and was solely responsible for its operations and actions. 

This appears to be at odds with what happened because Nancy Alcorn, the founder of the Mercy Ministries group, intervened in events down under in April 2009 to appoint Margaret Stunt to head up Mercy Ministries there:

God clearly showed me who was to be our new Executive Director of Mercy Ministries Australia. The Word says that everything should be confirmed out of the mouth of two or more witnesses, and there was unanimous consent from our Mercy Ministries Australia Board and our Mercy Ministries International Board, as well as apostolic and pastoral leadership that I am submitted to.

You can find a lot more in the same vein on Return of the Blogonaut, a blog devoted to chronicling the whacky world of sects and cults.

Oh, and Margaret Stunt also served on the board of Mercy Ministries UK.

Another claim, this time from Mercy Ministries itself (Program FAQs):

All counselors at Mercy Ministries are required to hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited university in social work, psychology, counseling or a related field, and more than 80% have master’s degrees.

When challenged as to why Mercy Ministries is not licensed by state authorities in the US which oversee residential homes and mental health practitioners, Mercy responds that it is not operating medical facilities (RH Reality Check again). Nevertheless, it treats young women with a wide range of conditions, including eating disorders.

Mercy Ministries is also adamant that it does not charge for its programmes, although it had to repay a large amount of money taken from girls in Australia. This is what the MM website has to say (note the "but"):


Our program is free of charge, but we do make sure that the girl applying to the program is fully committed to change in order to ensure that we are good stewards of the investments made by our contributors.

Another central tenet of Mercy Ministries is that it does not accept state funding because that would interfere with its freedom to practise. Its partner in Carmarthen, Towy Community Church, clearly has no such inhibitions.

It will be very interesting to see where the money comes from to pay for the proposed hostel in Carmarthen, in that case. Will Carmarthenshire County Council oblige as usual? Will MM therapies be a part of the chief executive's plan to provide "services in a different way"?

As has been pointed out on this blog and by Caebrwyn previously, the architect's plans for the new bowling alley, cafe, debt counselling, furniture recycling and "auditorium" also include a suite of therapy rooms.* Could come in handy, that!

Anyone wishing to find out more about Mercy's programme and the manuals used can find them here.

* The designs for the building were previously available on a website belonging to Pembroke Design Limited in Pembroke Dock. This website is no longer available.

Breathtaking Cynicism

Mrs Morgan, Cneifiwr's old Sunday School teacher, was a very sweet old lady generally, but she could turn into fire-breathing dragon if she thought any of her charges were telling fibs. When someone (yes, Stephen, it was you) stole a few shillings from a collection box, Mrs Morgan let it be known that the perpetrator risked being struck by a thunderbolt.

It is quite likely that Mrs Morgan, if she were still with us, might have some very stern words to say about Towy Community Church.

Caebrwyn reports that now the church has cashed in all its grant cheques and got the County Council and other funding sources to sign off all the required paperwork for the new bowling alley in Johnstown, it has resurrected plans to set up a hostel for "fallen women" in partnership with Mercy Ministries in Carmarthen.

When first confronted about its ties with this very controversial US outfit, the church's pastor dismissed it all as an idea which had been abandoned, and he downplayed Towy Community Church's links with Mercy Ministry.

Shortly after Wales on Sunday ran a piece in November 2011 about the church and Mercy Ministries, the county council met to approve the latest funding package for its favourite evangelical outfit. The pastor himself was in attendance. Not a word was said about Mercy Ministries. [For reasons which are not clear, the original WoS article is no longer online, but you can find an article from the Daily Post here, or the original WoS text on Caebrwyn's blog here].

Only a couple of weeks ago the church did another sudden about turn when it was granted a licence to sell alcohol in the bowling alley, despite having promised that it would not do so.

Councillors who were persuaded by the pastor, the chief executive and Cllr Pam Palmer to sign on the dotted line must now be wondering what will come out of the woodwork next.

Supermarket Sweep

It has been quite a while since this blog looked at the whacky world of supermarket planning battles, but Cneifiwr's attention has been drawn to the role played by the allegedly "independent" consultants who advise both local authorities and the supermarket companies on retail planning matters.

Parochial as ever, let's begin with a quick sweep of what has been going on locally.

Newcastle Emlyn

The battle here culminated in September 2011 when the County Council's planning committee voted by a narrow margin (Labour and Independent councillors in cahoots as usual) to approve an application for a supermarket on the site currently occupied by Cawdor Cars and a public car park.

Much of the battle revolved around retail impact studies produced by Nathaniel Lichfield Partners (NLP) for the council. One of the key documents submitted by NLP to the council was headed "New Forest District Council" and concluded, among other things, that the Somerfield store in town (now Co-op) could afford to lose £1.7 million in turnover to a new supermarket. Another NLP report estimated the store's turnover at £530,000.

Despite this and numerous other glaring errors, the council's planners declared that they had no reason to doubt NLP's findings.

A complaint that NLP was treating turnover of shops within the Newcastle Emlyn catchment area as leaking from the catchment area was dismissed by the senior planning officer as standard practice.

Together Newcastle Emlyn and Adpar have a population of about 1,500. The town serves a number of surrounding villages, and as many readers will know, it already has a supermarket as well as a Co-op, a Spar and a number of independent retailers.

Despite that, NLP concluded that the town could sustain both a Lidl discount store and a supermarket on the Cawdor site with a floorspace as big as all the other existing retailers put together.

What happened next was that Lidl got cold feet and pulled out, and as far as we know, there is no queue of supermarkets clamouring to get a piece of the action on the Cawdor site.

In other words, the market's response to the NLP findings that there was a pot of gold waiting to be claimed in Newcastle Emlyn has been deafening silence.

Aberystwyth

Up in Aberystwyth a battle involving Tesco's and M&S continues to rumble on. The likelihood that Ceredigion County Council will have to resort to using a Compulsory Purchase Order to evict Mrs Enid Jones from her home to make way for the supermarket appears to be growing. See BBC report here.

Cardigan

The farce continues, with plans by Sainsbury's to open a large new store still on hold because of land stability issues (subsidence was also a major issue in Newcastle Emlyn).

Tesco's responded to the Sainsbury's application by seeking a major extension of its own store. Tesco's strategy appeared to be based on the old-fashioned negotiation tactic of demanding far more than it knew it would get in the expectation of getting what it really wanted, and quite possibly rather more.

NLP was used to advise the council on both applications, and Tesco eventually got what it had wanted.

Anyone familiar with the town will know that neither of these two developments has taken place. The reasons for Tesco's delays are not altogether clear, but a staffer told Cneifiwr that the site also suffered from.... stability problems. Or perhaps the store group is biding its time and waiting to see what happens to Sainsbury's.

Haverfordwest

If you haven't been to this once proud market and county town for a while, you are in for a shock. The town centre may as well have been targeted by the Luftwaffe following the opening of a smart new retail centre next to Withybush Hospital out of town. Guess who advised the county council on a Regeneration Framework for the town back in 2008.

Llandeilo

Sainsbury's also came unstuck in Llandeilo, and eventually withdrew even though the County Council had obligingly passed the application for a large new store there.

The size, location and product mix proposed for the Sainsbury's store were extraordinary, but despite this NLP recommended that it should be given the go-ahead. In their enthusiasm, councillors also approved a second Sainsbury's store in Cross Hands against the advice of NLP.

A Cosy World

For anyone who has witnessed a major planning dispute, one of the things which rapidly becomes evident is just how small the world of council planners, agents and planning consultants is. Everybody knows everybody, and often for the good reason that there is a well worn path beaten by former council planning officers taking up employment with the poachers.

NLP operates across the UK, and advises many councils on individual planning applications and local development plans. It also derives a large part of its income from advising supermarkets in planning applications.

On its website you can read:

NLP provide a wide range of planning, design and economic services to Tesco Stores Limited throughout the country. Our role involves assisting Tesco to deliver new and extended stores across the UK, from ‘Extra’ stores in complex town centre developments, to ‘Express’ convenience stores.  NLP also updates Tesco on changes in planning policy and advises on implications for their trading operations and development aspirations.

The firm likes to give the impression that it operates a Chinese wall to separate its work for supermarkets from its work for local authorities, but it seems that work is allocated on a case by case basis, rather than to dedicated teams. And as an employee trust, both the firm and the staff benefit financially no matter who the client is.

NLP has said that it carries out checks to ensure there is no conflict of interest in given geographical areas where it might otherwise run the risk of working for both a council and a supermarket.

NLP is regulated by an august body called The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), which has a code of conduct outlawing conflicts of interest.

The problem is that, as is so often the case in Britain, the regulator is not independent either. NLP's chairman is a Fellow of the RTPI, and many of the RTPI's board of trustees are commercial planning consultants. NLP sponsors an annual RTPI lecture and has been given RTPI awards.

Adam Price for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr

At the second of two hustings held in Llandybie last night Adam Price was chosen by local members of Plaid Cymru to be the next candidate for the Carmarthen East and Dinefwr seat in the Senedd.

Adam spoke about his experiences in the United States, the economy, local government, the need to reinvigorate our country and the lessons we can learn from the Basque Country.

Whatever your political views, Carmarthenshire can be proud that it will be represented by one of the most gifted and respected politicians of his generation. Not for us the party hacks and hangers-on.
 

A Victorian Council Meeting

Perhaps it was that rarest of Welsh weather phenomena - a heat wave - or perhaps it was the imminent prospect of getting two months off, but the atmosphere at this month's meeting was rather more subdued, and the chair managed to get the whole thing over within under three hours.

Brechfa

First up was a motion tabled by Peter Hughes Griffiths (Plaid) calling for proposed overhead cables on pylons through the Brechfa Forest to be laid underground (see Western Mail report here).

Brechfa before Barker

There was unanimous agreement that large wooden pylons cutting a swathe through this outstandingly beautiful area should not be allowed, but since under devolution the decision rests with a government minister in London, Carmarthenshire County Council will have no say in the matter.

The minister concerned, Tory MP Greg Barker, reportedly said that he had no need to visit the site to see Brechfa for himself. He could just as easily make a decision in Whitehall or Kathmandu.

Barker is no stranger to controversy, both for his close links to various Russian oil oligarchs and revelations during the MPs' expenses scandal.

Social Services

The next major set piece was a presentation by the Director of Social Services, Bruce McLernon, of his annual report.

Mr McLernon will never win a prize for public speaking, and thanks to the weather and his monotonous delivery, his audience appeared to have no appetite for saying anything much when he finished. What was refreshing was that almost uniquely in recent council history, the director freely acknowledged that not everything in the garden is rosy. One area in which the council has a frankly appalling record (not Mr M's words) is the huge amount of time it takes the council to carry out assessments of people seeking help, and it was good to hear the director say that this needed to be tackled.

Staring into the Abyss

Decidedly less honest was the next report to thump down in front of councillors. This was the council's  glossy annual report and improvement plan.

Kevin Madge, still inexplicably council leader, got up to commend the report. The council's translator must have offered up a small prayer of thanks that he did not have to translate from English to Welsh at this point. The kindest thing we can do is move on.

Peter Hughes Griffiths (Plaid) gave us a flavour of the report by picking out the word improvement. A pity that nobody from the Guinness Book of Records was on hand because the page he was reading from was clearly going for a world record. Everything in Carmarthenshire is improving and set to improve still further, if the report is to be believed, except that the council is facing very severe cuts. This would be the last year, Peter Hughes Griffiths predicted, where it would be possible to talk about improvement.

The chief executive took up this theme a little later. Bad times - very bad times - were just around the corner, he predicted. He and his staff were beginning to look at what options they had. Nothing could be cut from social services or schools, and other services would have to bear the brunt, but it could be possible to continue providing some of those services "in a different way", he added mysteriously.

We will have to wait to find out what that means. Evangelical road repairs? The Scarlets to run our leisure centres? Who knows.

Cllr Pam Palmer, the council's latter day Mrs Jellyby, gave us a glimpse a little later when she told councillors how she had been very busy of late running round the county setting up foodbanks and preparing for the next Christmas Toybox appeal with her charismatic missionary friends.

She also reminded everyone listening how she had been instrumental in setting up the Ammanford Foodbank (readers may recall how recently she refused to take part in a photo shoot because she thought MP Jonathan Edwards was muscling in on her patch).

Mr James referred to his recent "interview" (monologue would be more accurate) with the Carmarthen Journal. In that he had said that his best guess for next year would be cuts in central government funding of £12 million, with £18m as a worst case. Things must have got dramatically worse in the last few days, because now the only figure he quoted for next year was £18m. And that was just next year. There would be more cuts the year after, and the year after that, he predicted. Probably £30 million.

It was not realistic to expect the council to go on improving year after year when £46 million was being taken off the table.

Fortunately he ran out of steam at that point, because given a couple more minutes cuts could have been in billions

The Best and Worst of Times

Earlier this week a council press release boasted how a survey (here) showed that Carmarthenshire came top among Welsh councils when people were asked how well the council kept them informed about how it was performing. The PR release didn't mention that the figure was a less than impressive 52%. Neither did it mention that in two further categories (whether people felt they were being listened to and whether they wanted to become active in their communities), Carmarthenshire came bottom of the pile.

Cllr David Jenkins (Plaid) wondered whether a score of 52% really showed that we are getting value for money from the £1 million in the council's communications budget.

Chris Burns, one of the assistant chief executives, admitted that he was flummoxed by this.

It comes as a surprise to nobody that people don't feel listened to. Go to Llanelli, Penybanc, Llandovery or any number of other communities, and you will hear the same.

Perhaps the explanation for people's reluctance to get involved is the top-down, Big Brother culture which has been fostered in Carmarthenshire for so long. More often than not, "community" projects are run by organisations which are anything but representative of the communities they operate in.

For a taste of how a local authority can work with local people, Mr Burns could do worse than travel to Cardigan where the restoration of the castle has engaged large numbers of local volunteers, and another group called 4CG has raised significant amounts of money by selling shares to local people to buy the Pwllhai site, the old courthouse and the former police station as community assets. Another group in the town is about to launch a new papur bro.

The difference is that in Cardigan initiatives are bottom up, with local people coming together and working towards an agreed aim. In Carmarthenshire the council sets the priorities, and then selects a preferred partner organisation to bring it about. 4CG would have been strangled at birth.

Section 106

In a discussion on the extent to which the council's regeneration schemes actually benefit local people and local businesses, the Director of Regeneration, Dave Gilbert, cited Section 106 agreements as a way in which local communities were benefiting from regeneration and development projects.

Cllr Sian Thomas was having none of this. She had been waiting for a year to see money tied up in a section 106 agreement in her ward put to use, and had requested that some of it should be put towards a local park. Nothing at all had happened, and on one of the hottest weekends of the year last week, the park gates had remained firmly locked shut.

The point Cllr Thomas was making is one which could have been made by many councillors because it is not uncommon for section 106 money to be kept locked up for years.

From what happened next it was also clear that she had raised this issue with both Dave Gilbert and the chief executive on a number of occasions, and Mr James said somewhat sniffily that he was sure Dave Gilbert would be happy to speak to her about this "local issue".

Yorkshiremen

Anyone who has followed council meetings for a while will have noticed that declarations of interest have become extremely fashionable. They are now peppered throughout council meetings, and are increasingly made for no good reason at all.

Towards the end of the meeting there was a sudden avalanche of declarations from the Labour benches, led by Kevin Madge who wanted it to be known that his grandparents were miners. This was in connection with some meeting minutes which mentioned a contribution the council is making to a national miners memorial.

Was Mam-gu Madge really packed off down the pit?

Colin Evans' grandparents were also miners, but Cllr Jeff Edmunds managed to trump the lot by declaring that he had actually been a miner and had been injured at work.

Cllr Keri Thomas was unfortunately absent from the meeting, or he would have had to resort to telling the council that he had been born in a mine and spent his first 5 years working as a canary before being promoted to pit pony (3rd class).

As someone pointed out, a lot of councillors could claim some mining heritage, and the same applies to a good chunk of the population of Carmarthenshire (including Cneifiwr by the way).

If this is allowed to continue, some of the Labour councillors may live to see their grandchildren declare that their forefathers never had a proper job in their lives.

"Not on the agenda" - Llanelly House

A favourite device used by the Carmarthenshire Politburo with increasing frequency during the last year is to declare anything they don't want discussed to be not on the agenda, and therefore not a subject to be raised.

At yesterday's meeting of the full council, Cllr Alun Lenny (Plaid) asked whether Llanelly House had repaid part of an emergency loan of £250,000 made by the county council at the end of last year.

"Not on the agenda", snapped the Chief Executive.

The question was raised during a discussion of the council's Annual Report and Improvement Plan, which was very much on the agenda. This is a vast document, and it contains a section dealing with regeneration projects. Listed among them is Llanelly House, which we are told is on course to open in 2013.

Back at the end of 2012, Llanelly House popped up as an emergency item at a meeting of the council's Executive Board (minutes here). The reason for the emergency was that Finance Wales (a body set up by the Welsh Government) was not willing, for reasons we can only speculate about, to extend an existing loan to the trust which runs the Llanelly House project.

The minutes state:

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the provision of a cash flow loan (on an interest free basis) of up to £250k for the period from January 2013 to December 2013 with a part repayment of £125k being made in July 2013 be approved.

So it would seem that while the Annual Report and Improvement Plan was on the agenda, its contents were not, and we can probably take the chief executive's refusal to answer a simple question as to whether the part repayment had been received as a "no".

TAN20 - A very odd consultation

Cneifiwr has recently been involved in a couple of long-running scraps in the comments section of this blog with people whom he suspects of being Independent and/or Labour county councillors. Either that, or they are very strange people who have formed some sort of cargo cult involving worship of Councillors Tom Theophilus and Callum Higgins.

In one of their responses on the subject of TAN20, Cllr Anon said with an air of authority, "Carmarthenshire County Council gave their consultation response in 2011", before suggesting that Carwyn Jones's recent request for fresh responses could be open to legal challenge.

As we know, the official consultation ended on 11 June 2011, since when the whole thing has been gathering dust in some dark basement in Cardiff.

The document which invited interested parties to respond to the consultation said:

The Welsh Assembly Government intends to publish a summary of the responses to this document. We may also publish responses in full. Normally, the name and address (or part of the address) of the person or organisation who sent the response are published with the response. This helps to show that the consultation was carried out properly...

Cneifiwr was unable to find the promised published responses anywhere, so he asked the Welsh Government to point him in the right direction.

Back came a response that the original responses were "currently not stored online", but a consultation report would be published along with the revised TAN20 in the autumn.

So whether Carmarthenshire County Council really did respond to the original consultation, and what it said if it did is not known. 

Anyone interested in finding out may wish to make a freedom of information request.