Weekly Diary March 20th - 26th

On Monday evening i attended a police meeting at the Stiwt, Rhos. This meeting was for people to hear a presentation on local police plans andto ask Inspector Paul Firth some questions on Police matters.

On Tuesday evening i did a surgery in the opportunity centre, Hampden Way. I do a surgery there on the third tuesday every month starting at 6.30pm

On Wednesday i had a meeting with the Dogs trust which is holding an event in Plas Madoc on monday 27th, I also attended a meeting of the Communities first board followed in the evening by a meeting of Acrefair School Governors, where saddly the headteacher anounced his retirement.

For the rest of the week i have been dealing with residents concerns.

Plas Y Wern Bail Hostel

On Friday evening 17th March I attended a meeting at the Plas Y Wern bail hostel. Present at the meeting was Karen Sinclair AM and from the probation service was: Carol Moore Chief probation officer, Steve Ray , Chris Higgins from the hostel and others

At the meeting steve ray gave us a presentation of facts about the hostel they were:

• 30 out of the 35 residents are from North Wales
• 27 are in the hostel on licence from prison and 12 are on bail
• No women are resident at the hostel
• There have been seven breaches of bail conditions this year for, Drugs, alcohol & mental illness
• 4 residents have been recalled back to prison for crimminal damage to the hostel, motoring offences, shopliffting & mental health
• The hostel management is looking into a derilict house close by to the hostel which is used by drug users with a view locating the owners and possibly demolishing the property.

At a previous meeting at the hostel members of the public present asked about sattelite tracking for offenders. Carol Moore reported back that she has loked at this the home office is currently undertaking pilots of this system in three areas of England and it was to early to say if this system was working properly, if it eventualy does then it could be rolled out accross the country. Carol Moore also talked about voice recognition technology as a way of tracking offenders.

Citizenship Ceremony

On Wednesday March 15th I attended the Citizenship Ceremony of Plas Madoc resident
Mr Lyle Zeiler. Lyle is a South African, who has been living in the U.K for the past five years. He first applied for British Citizenship three years ago, and he kindly invited me to his ceremony which took place in Wrexham.

Pictured above from Left to Right is the Deputy Mayor George James, Myself, Mr Zeiler,
Mrs Zieler and their their three Daughters.

In Need Of Some Extra Money ?

The Councillor for Ruabon Nick Colbourne is organising a :
Benefits Advice - Income Maximization Evening i the Pavillion, Next to Ruabon Village Hall on Tue 23rd March 6.30pm - 8.30pm

The event is being run by Jacki Cowee a legal advisor who specialises in all sorts of financial problems, and can advise you on the right benefits you can claim and how to claim them, plus all sorts of other kinds of financial help. The event is open to all residents of Plas Madoc.

You can also arrange for a private chat with Jacki on the night.

For more info : www.ruabonlabourcouncillor.blogspot.com

Cefn Commercial Regeneration

On Wednesday evening i attended a meeting of the Cefn Commercial Area Regeneration Group.
This meeting is held about once evey six months and is concerned with the regeneration of the commerical centre of Cefn - Well St & Crane St.
During the meeting we discussed some of the empty shops on Crane St, it looks like these will be modernised shortly. We also discussed the work going on at Ebenezer Chapel and the closure of Crane St which has upset many people including the traders. The police stated the reason they had to close it was because, when it was a one way people were not sticking to the rules and this posed a risk to the contracters.
A solution to the problem is now being investigated and hopefuly the road will be open shortly to one way traffic only.

Budget Meeting

On Wednesday Evening i attended a meeting of the Full Council, in the Council Chamber. The meeting was called to discuss this years budget and to set the level of the Council tax.

The ruling Liberal Democrat group wanted a 3% increase in the council tax as well as the ability to part privatise home help for the elderly, and introduce a number of damageing cuts to Council services, one of those long term cuts could be the closure of Llys Madoc nursing home.

The labour group opposed the budget,and highlighted a number of weaknesses as well as introducing our alternative spending plans which would protect services to the most vunerable in society. These alternative plans were vote down by the Lib -Dems.

As this budget sought to increase Your Council Tax by 3% and would hit the most vunerable in society i voted against.