NEWS

BRIGHT FUTURE FOR PORTHCAWL

I hope you were able to take part in the recent placemaking consultation and to consider some of the ambitious proposals that Bridgend County Borough Council wants to explore. An all-new luxury spa waterfront hotel was one of several potential opportunities showcased during the consultation – other highlights included modern multi-storey car parking at Hillsboro Place, new landscaping and pedestrianisation along the Eastern Promenade, improved public transport infrastructure and a Metro link, the extension and refurbishment of Dock Street, the creation of new plazas and fresh community spaces, and much more. A new luxury spa hotel would support ambitions to provide additional leisure facilities within the town as well as previously identified needs for more high-quality accommodation within Porthcawl, which in turn would help to attract further largescale events in addition to the likes of the Elvis Festival and Seniors Open golf tournament. Elsewhere, the coastal defence work is making great progress. With the walls of the Eastern Promenade being rebuilt, works to the main rock revetment on the seaward side of the Western Breakwater continuing and replacement block stone strengthening slipway areas around Rhych Point and the nearby dunes, I’m looking forward to seeing what new progress 2022 will bring.

COUNCILLOR CHARLES SMITH Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration Bridgend County Borough Council Tel: 01656 643643 www.bridgend.gov.uk

NATURE NETWORK PROJECT

The start of a New Year has us all thinking about fresh starts, whether it is in the resolutions we make, or the hope of the seasons turning and spring being just around the corner. I am so excited that in Bridgend we have been awarded by the Welsh Labour Government £580,000 to the Cwm Taf Nature Network Project to invest in local woodlands – to deliver green spaces for the whole community to enjoy. These last few years have been so hard with COVID. Having access to parks and greenery has given some much needed respite – whether to go for a short walk, to sit and enjoy nature, or to play for our younger residents. Open green spaces are so important for our children especially, and that’s why I’m always so keen to hear ideas from young people themselves for the future. At my recent Porthcawl Regen Dragon’s Den event I got children to submit ideas for what they would want to see in local parks – with Hazel at West Park Primary winning the contest. If your children have any ideas for the future of our community, or you’ve any problems that I can help with – get in touch sarah.murphy@senedd.wales

SARAH MURPHY MS Member of the Senedd for Bridgend

TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR FLY-TIPPING

Tougher penalties have been introduced for fly-tippers and anyone who dumps rubbish illegally in Bridgend County Borough. From now on, anyone who disposes of waste or who abandons a motor vehicle on land maintained by the council will be issued with a fine of £400. If prosecuted, fly-tippers also risk being fined up to £50,000 and receiving a prison term which can be as much as five years if the dumped waste is hazardous. The changes have been agreed after the Cabinet of Bridgend County Borough Council updated its policy on the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices. As well as being designed to deter fly-tippers, the new policy can be applied in cases where individuals create problems for other residents by storing multiple vehicles on the public highway for the purpose of selling them. The changes, which also cover the storage and disposal of commercial waste, follow the recent launch of a new enforcement team for the county borough, and the establishment of several community litter hubs to support volunteers who give up their time to help keep the area clean. If you spot fly-tipped waste dumped on council-maintained land, report it to cleanupthecounty@bridgend.gov.uk so that it can be fully investigated.

COUNCILLOR HYWEL WILLIAMS Deputy Leader Bridgend County Borough Council Tel: 01656 643643 www.bridgend.gov.uk

DISCOVER WHAT’S ON YOUR DOORSTEP

If your New Year resolutions include getting out and about for some physical exercise, Bridgend County Borough continues to offer stunning parks and areas of natural beauty for you to enjoy. And as part of the Nature Keeper Project, there’s even more to look out for with oak sculptures and accompanying poetry to tell their stories. Five of the sculptures are located at Bryngarw Park, and a further 10 can be found in beauty spots such as Wilderness Lakes, Tremains Wood Local Nature Reserve and Parc Calon Lan. The county borough also features wildlife havens in places you might not expect – such as Frog Pond Wood, a local nature reserve which backs onto Village Farm Industrial Estate. Perfect for short walks, it offers a mixed woodland of oak and ash, wetland areas and more. If you want to venture further out, there are footpaths around Aber Fields in the Ogmore Valley overseen by ‘The Keeper of the Fields’, while Bedford Park in Cefn Cribwr has about 18 hectares of green space and the ruins of an 18th century ironworks to discover. These are just some of the wonderful walks waiting to be discovered – to find out more, visit the council website.

COUNCILLOR HUW DAVID Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council Tel: 01656 643643 www.bridgend.gov.uk

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DENTAL DISASTER LOOMS

THE lockdowns caused by the Covid pandemic have had many unforeseen consequences including the decimation of dental services in Wales. Prior to Covid, Welsh dentists delivered just over 2.3 million courses of treatment each year. But in 2020/21, that figure fell to 544,755 – a drop of more than three quarters. Dental services were suspended almost totally for months, apart from some emergency work, and things are not yet back to normal. The spray generated by some treatments means that surgeries have to be left for an hour in between patients for any spray to settle and then the room has to be deep cleaned. This has massively reduced the number of patients who can be seen. The situation with children is even worse. Fewer than 3500 examinations were done in the past year – a drop of 99 per cent over previous years. The long-term repercussions for the dental health of children and young people are horrific. Dentists fear that they may never catch up with the backlog of cases. I urge Welsh Government to allocate more than the £3 million already earmarked for the recovery of dental services as we will need to train and recruit more dentists in Wales.

DR ALTAF HUSSAIN Welsh Conservative Regional MS for South Wales West

COALITION OF CHAOS?

A shocking 1-in-5 people in Wales are on an NHS waiting list. People are waiting hours on end in A&E. Ambulances are queuing outside hospitals. Our health service is at breaking point. Staff are working around the clock under immense pressure with morale at an all-time low. And what’s the Labour Government doing to tackle the issue? Next to nothing. They’re too busy jumping into bed with nationalists Plaid Cymru, focusing on creating more politicians and moving Wales towards independence instead. Mark Drakeford and Adam Price have unveiled details of their coalition – a deal that fails to deliver for Wales. The deal focuses on 46 areas, but does nothing to address the NHS crisis, our creaking infrastructure or help fire up our sluggish economy. Our NHS was struggling before the pandemic thanks for more than two decades of mismanagement by Labour - and now it’s even worse. But there’s no mention of how Labour and Plaid intend to throw our NHS a lifeline, instead putting their energy into reforming the Senedd. The message to voters is clear. Vote Plaid, get Labour and vote Labour, get Plaid. Only the Welsh Conservatives can deliver the change that the people of Wales need.

TOM GIFFARD Welsh Conservative regional Senedd member for South Wales West

LABOUR’S TOURISM LEVY IS LUNATIC

THE new Labour-Plaid alliance at the Senedd is bad news in many ways but it could spell disaster for the Welsh tourism industry. Fresh from the battering that our hotels, guesthouses and caravan parks have suffered as a result of Covid, the Welsh Government and their Plaid cronies have come up with a plan for a tourism tax in Wales. If it goes through, each local authority will be able to levy a charge per night on everyone who stays in accommodation within his or her area. This means that visitors will pay more to visit Wales than they will to go to other popular places like Cornwall, Devon or the Lake District. I raised the issue with Chancellor Rishi Sunak in a debate in the House of Commons and he agreed with me that the last thing our tourism sector in Wales needs is a tax, which will make it less competitive with other areas of the UK. We have a major seaside resort at Porthcawl, which will be badly affected if this lunatic proposal is passed. But Labour, bolstered as always by Plaid, will have the numbers. Jobs and livelihoods are at stake in Porthcawl and local people must make their opposition to this plan clear.

JAMIE WALLIS MP for Bridgend

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Wishing all our our readers a Happy New Year

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