Everything to do with Colwyn Bay

[Bri Roberts]

FT: RGC 28 Narberth 6.

[Jack]

Excellent win against second in the table Narberth 

Man of the match, Bryn Williams!  ££$

[Fester]

Do they have any Festers in the squad at all?

[Merddin Emrys]

  possibly not! 

[Bri Roberts]

No but there is 1 x Roberts.   

[DaveR]

The Council will be getting rent from the shops and the Civil services that will remain for some time. They will also move Housing Benefit from the old Bank and that will be taken over by Cartrefi Conwy who share occupation at present. Also they will be able to save money on the rental and overheads at the Dinerth Road site (owned by Welsh Govt), and possible also the Civic Centre. So the initial cost should be recovered in savings elsewhere.It also means that the whole building will be occupied by people with decent paid jobs who will wander into town in their lunchbreaks and spend some of their hard-earned!

This was pretty much what I was going to say.  There's talk of the tax office closing with the loss of 81 jobs so if that does happen there should be plenty of space for the council to centralise some of their departments there and it would also offset the loss to the Colwyn Bay economy.  The question of what to do with the shops is a tricky one, I'd assume that the Job Centre and Coleg Llandrillo will be staying put but finding occupants for the other two units might be easier said than done given the number of empty shops elsewhere in the Bay.

With the news coming today that the forthcoming council reorganisation could mean 15,000 job losses in local Councils in Wales, is it not extremely silly to be purchasing more office accommodation for a Council that I'm fairly certain won't even exist in a few years time?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-25730619

"Reorganising councils in Wales could cut 15,000 jobs, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has said.

Next Monday, the Williams Commission on public services is likely to recommend a big reduction in the number of councils from the current 22."

[Ian]

Next Monday, the Williams Commission on public services is likely to recommend a big reduction in the number of councils from the current 22.

The last restructuring in Welsh local government was nearly 20 years ago.

Last autumn, First Minister Carwyn Jones said he knew of no-one who argued to keep the existing councils in their current form.

But that was the view from many at the time the 22 were created. The Tory government, however, was far more interested in scoring points regarding Labour councillors than listening to the warnings by many that the fragmentation of councils into smaller units would lead to massively diluted capabilities, a growth in short-termism but - above all - huge costs for the rate payers as each tiny new council would give out jobs for the boys to create their own little empires.  I remember clearly one minister saying that councils would combine to share resources. Lying or simply stupidity? Now, at even greater cost, it's all being returned to what it was 21 years ago.  Unbelievable.  And we we elect these people.

[DaveR]

Next Monday, the Williams Commission on public services is likely to recommend a big reduction in the number of councils from the current 22.

The last restructuring in Welsh local government was nearly 20 years ago.

Last autumn, First Minister Carwyn Jones said he knew of no-one who argued to keep the existing councils in their current form.

But that was the view from many at the time the 22 were created. The Tory government, however, was far more interested in scoring points regarding Labour councillors than listening to the warnings by many that the fragmentation of councils into smaller units would lead to massively diluted capabilities, a growth in short-termism but - above all - huge costs for the rate payers as each tiny new council would give out jobs for the boys to create their own little empires.  I remember clearly one minister saying that councils would combine to share resources. Lying or simply stupidity? Now, at even greater cost, it's all being returned to what it was 21 years ago.  Unbelievable.  And we we elect these people.

You mention fragmentation, but the area/services currently served by Conwy was previously served by four different authorities - Colwyn Borough Council, Aberconwy Borough Council, Clwyd County Council and Gwynedd County Council?

[Ian]

You mention fragmentation, but the area/services currently served by Conwy was previously served by four different authorities - Colwyn Borough Council, Aberconwy Borough Council, Clwyd County Council and Gwynedd County Council?

That's simply because they chose to reduce the overall size of the previous pretty large authorities, and create new extra smaller ones but failed to realise (although I cannot understand why) that each new one would try to create its own power bases and empires. Had they simply extended one or the other to cover the region it would have made far more sense. I don't hear many singing the praises of CCBC at the moment, so I doubt it could have been any worse.

[Cambrian]

Pre 1996, it is worth recalling that Clwyd was a sort of monolith run by one Dennis Parry and Colwyn Bay arguably did not get a fair share of resources which gravitated to Deeside and Wrexham.  Likewise, Llandudno and Conwy Town suffered at the hands of Gwynedd which most people agree was far too big an entity. Local Government will never be perfect and I have little doubt that other forums elsewhere regularly criticise their own councils.

[Ian]

it is worth recalling that Clwyd was a sort of monolith run by one Dennis Parry and Colwyn Bay arguably did not get a fair share of resources which gravitated to Deeside and Wrexham.

I'm willing to bet that those areas would argue the opposite. The problem is that it's always in the eye of the beholder and never easy to prove one way or another.

[DaveR]

I've noticed that Colwyn Bay people like to complain how Llandudno gets all the money spent on it, whilst Llandudno people say just the opposite.

Quite often, their position is based on ignorance of the facts. The Pier saga is a prime example -"look how much the council spend on Llandudno's pier, whilst Colwyn Bay's get nothing' got mentioned a couple of times. In reality, Llandudno's Pier is privately owned and nothing whatsoever to do with the Council.

[Bri Roberts]

Pre 1996, it is worth recalling that Clwyd was a sort of monolith run by one Dennis Parry and EDWIN LAKE. 

[Merddin Emrys]

I've noticed that Colwyn Bay people like to complain how Llandudno gets all the money spent on it, whilst Llandudno people say just the opposite.

I live in Rhos on Sea so I can moan about both places!  :twoface:  :twoface: 

[DaveR]

The proposals outlined today for local Council reorganisation are for either 2 or 3 councils to cover North Wales.

In the local area, that means we would either become part of a Gwynedd/Anglesey/Conwy supercouncil or maybe just a Conwy/Denbighshire combination.

A decision should be made by Easter.