Monday 2 July 2012

A news round up...and the value of rocking horse s**t

.....Another recent ombudsman's report found it's way to Caebrwyn last week. The ombudsman found against the council following a complaint about the administration of a particular grant;  this was not a public interest report so I'll not go into details. To summarise, the grant application process was found to be misleading - an attempt by the ombudsman and the complainant to bring an early resolution by resubmitting the grant application was refused by the council. The ombudsman stated that the council were 'entrenched and unhelpful', ordered an apology, a review and fined them £750..... (see Ombudsman slams Carmarthenshire's complaint handling)

......A public meeting was held on Saturday in Llandovery concerning a proposed 76 home development. Local residents had set up the event to make people aware of what was happening, I went along as an observer. Local Member Cllr Ivor Jackson, ex-Chair of the Council and now back yet again on the Planning Committee was there and was surprisingly outspoken given his previous silence over the closure of the town's secondary school. In fact, a little too outspoken, and much to the amazement and horror of many of those present, including many objectors, blithely declared that the application, still at the consultation stage, would 'go through without a problem'. Fortunately a town councillor who clearly had greater knowledge of planning matters than the hapless Ivor was on hand to calm things down and suggested that what he might of meant was the presumption in favour of residential development through the UDP...a relieved Ivor happily agreed, I'm not sure the 'floor' were entirely convinced though...

......On the subject of Cllr Jackson, I wonder if he read this article in the South Wales Guardian  "Llandovery town councillors are stepping up their campaign to improve safety at a notorious junction in the town. They want the Trunk Road Agency to look into the possibility of extending double yellow lines along High Street, closer to the Myddfai junction. PC Howie Davies told members he had received numerous complaints about parked cars from lorry drivers travelling through the town...Cllr Thomas reported there had been “a near miss” at the location that day. “That junction’s completely blind because cars are parked so close to it,” she said.


Cllr Jackson on the Myddfai junction (from earlier post May 3rd)


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....Oh nearly forgot this little incident at the last full council meeting. Due to the continuing mysterious smell of boiled cabbage, intensified by the oppressive heat generated in the Chamber, Cllr Caiach employed the use of a small electronic fan. This, as you will understand, attracted the immediate attention of the Chair who ordered the rebellious councillor to 'turn off that recording device'. Cllr Caiach explained what the 'recording device' was and a ripple of amusement followed as one councillor declared that he was relieved that 'at least one of them had a fan....'

Cneifiwr reports today on the subject of councillors' allowances; Can we have a refund Kev?

4 comments:

Tessa said...

Wales Audit Office - what IS the point? "I exist therefore I am"?

Anyway, re. Rocking Horse Shit - that could be better use of public money. People would travel and pay to see THAT. More than they do (much) for CCC's other white elephants.

Plaid Gwersyllt said...

Councillor Ivor Jackson seemed to me to have pre-determined the planning application in favour of the development at Llanymddyfri if he doesn't declare a personal and prejudicial interest in the full Planning Committee then I suggest he should be reported to the Ombudsman.

Angharad Evans said...

re: Boiled cabbage smell..do you think someone has sabotaged the chamber and hidden a large camembert cheese somewhere under the seats?..if so, the smell should get worse as the months pass. A few flies will be buzzing around it by September and someone might mistake it for a new fandangled listening device!

Cneifiwr said...

Actually the smell has been there for a long while - it's a sort of blend of B.O., boiled cabbage and school changing room. With a bit of mildew thrown in.

Given the advanced age of most of the councillors, the heat has to be turned up high, so we have ideal conditions for an outbreak of something very nasty.