Making A Difference Day!

Today was the Annual Communities First "Making A Difference Day" Held this year at Ysgol Rhiwabon.
The day started with a speech by the co-ordinator Miriam Beard, A drama but on by some children from Plas Madoc. Then staff & volunteers of Communities First spoke about their work and the impact they were having on Plas Madoc. Following that came the awards ceremony I was privelaged to present an award to Alex & Alan the two council caretakers, who do a sterling job in Plas Madoc. I then went on to make a speech, where i spoke about the positive things Communities First is doing for Plas Madoc. Finally former International Welsh rugby star Jonathan Davies gave speech.

A New Dawn Has Broken !!

Today Gordon Brown becomes our new Prime Minister, and a new chapter in this progressive labour government starts. It was sad to see Tony Blair depart the stage, but like all long serving Prime ministers he made a big mistake. That mistake was following George Bush into Iraq, for that reason he had to go.

I hope Gordon Brown is as good at running the country as he was at running the economy and i wish him all the best!

Environmental Action Day

Today was the first Environmental action day we have had in Plas Madoc. Organised by Communities First The day centred around Glaslyn. The day involved officers from North Wales Police, North Wales Fire & Rescue Service, Victim Support and workers from the councils Housing & Environment Departments. Everyone split into teams of two groups one comprising housing officers, Police & Fire officers who knocked on residents doors and spoke to residents ,and the other clearing up rubbish from people houses.

The areas covered were Gwynant, Glaslyn, Alwen, Idwal & Ogwen. The day was a great success we managed to clear a few skip fulls of rubish from peoples houses. The hope now is that residents as well as council workers will keep on top of it so as to keep those areas clean. I would like to pay a special thankyou to Andrew Harradine from Communites First for organising the day, hopefully we can have another such day in another part of Plas Madoc in the near future!

The Ebenezer Centre

At Last the D.V.C.P have finally got possesion of the newly restored former Ebenezer Chapel. Shortly a new cafe bar will be open in the centre and we can enjoy a coffee on the square.

The new centre will be an asset for everyone that lives within the Cefn Community.

A sad end to Llys Madoc

The above picture shows a boarded up Llys Madoc Care Home. The result of putting your eggs in one basket. The Liberal led administration decided to close the home last year with the hope that it would be replace with an extra care facility. This facility would be paid for by a £5m extra care grant from the assembly. Unfortunatly the council were not succesfull in getting this money. And now the home has been closed before any alternative could be found. This is a situation i have argued against from the start and unfortunatly lost. Hopefully their will be light at the end of this dreadful tunnel? In the meantime i hope my worst fears are not realised, that the building becomes a haven for vandals and drugies.

Druid Flats

Anyone passing Druids Flats recently will notice work has begun on the roof. This is phase two of the modernisation of the building which when completed will have a new roof and wall cladding. The work has progressed thanks to local estate staff. When i was first elected Druids Flats had been a problem building for many years, and demoliton was on the cards. But i felt that their was a demand for low cost flats in the area. I invited the Chief housing officer, together with the landlord services manager, housing operations manager& estate manager to have a look at the building and pursaded them to invest in it. Today most of the flats are occupied and their are no anti-social behavour problems. A fine example of what happens when housing department shares the same vision as me and invest some money.

Council Tax

A meeting was held in the Guildhall last night (28th February) To decide on the Council budget for the year and set the council tax. The rulling lib-dem group recommended a 3.68% increase in the tax. The Labour group put forward an amendement to the budget.

That the following service pressures be supported

• £30.000 For addressing the educational attainment gap between Junior & Lower secondary pupils
• £50.000 to fund a pilot scheme for patient re-enablement( to reduce bed-blocking)
• £50.000 to support modern apprentice scheme
• £125.000 to fund preventative / inclusion measures for young people including safegaurding of youth facilites
• £150.000 to improve homecare

The above service pressure be funded by reducing the amount currently proposed to go to balances by £800.000

The Lib-Dem led administration voted against this amendment, and as a result Labour councillors felt they could not support the budget or the council tax increase. I along with my fellow labour councillors voted against the budget and the council tax increase of 3.68%

Lies & Innuendo

In Monday evenings, Evening leader Mr John Bell the Conservative candidate for the Welsh Assembly Accused me of "Double Standards" of opposing the closure of the leisure centre in public but backing its closure in a council meeting which took place on the 30th January.

Well for everyones information i was not in the guildhall on the 30th of January i was instead chairing a meeting of Cefn Community Council. Mr bells letter shows his complete ignorance regarding the way the county council is run. All decisions in Wrexham are taken by a ten member Executive board heavily dominated by a coalition of Liberals, Conservatives and independents. I suggest Mr Bell directs his comments at that group. I need to remind everyone including Mr Bell that it was a Labour council who supported the building of the Leisure centre and the wave machine in the pool as well as its continued use up to now. I am tottaly opposed the closure of the centre, and working with others will do everything possible to stop it. I have never voted in principle to close the centre "their has never been a vote on the matter"

The week ahead 26th - 28th Feb

Not a lot of meetings this week

Monday - a meeting of the community council

Tuesday - a meeting of the labour party exec committee

Wednesday - a meeting of the Environment & Regeneration Scrutiny committee, which will be discussing the provision of librarys, Plas Madoc does not have one and the report makes a mention of that.

A meeting of the full council takes place after to discuss the budget and to set the council tax for the comming year. I do not see why the people of plas madoc should have to pay their council tax this year due to the savage cuts imposed on the people by this lib-dem led administration.
It does not sound very responssible comming from a councillor, but i belive that the people are not getting the service they are paying for.

Is this a car park!

The above pictures show the state of dis-repair of the so called car park at the back of houses on hampden way. The estate office have told me time and again that the pot-holes would be fixed and time and again nothing happens! Its about time officers pulled their fingers out and did something about this blot on the landscape.

Surgery Time!

Its time for my once a month advice surgery.
This is held on Tuesday 21st February, at the opportunity centre ( old community centre ) Hampden Way. The advice surgery starts at 6.30pm. If you have any problem or want advice regarding any service provided by the Council then please turn up.

If you cannot be there, you can contact me during the day on 01490 430873 or evening and other times on 07855 620879 Or if you have a computer you can e-mail me at
paul.blackwell@wrexham.gov.uk Bu please make sure you do not e-mail me with a hot mail account.

Drugs

So David Cameron the Tory leader has at last admitted taking soft drugs when he was younger.
So What!!

I belive that soft drugs should be legalised. Why? Because by making them legal you break the link with the grug dealer. It known that a drug dealer will always try to sell you soft drugs at a low price and pursade you later to take hard drugs. In countries where soft drugs are legal, such as in Holland where you can buy them in licensed cafes, the use of hard drugs is neglegable.
By legalising soft drugs we can give the police real time to agressively pursue hard drug dealers. Also if soft drugs were legal the government could tax them and thus poor the revenue into the fight against hard drugs.

My views are controversal, but without radical action we will continue to loose the war on drugs.

Leisure Review

As has been reported in the press recently the rulling Lib-Dem Council has come up with proposals for leisure within wrexham. Contary to the press articles the leisure centre in Plas Madoc is not closing. What is under threat is the Leisure Pool. The reason this is under threat is because it is thirty years old, leaking and costs too much to run. Also the rest of the leisure centre building needs a new roof and boiler room. To pay for this the Lib-Dems are proposing to close the pool.
The sports council for wales produced a report which stated that if all improvements including those to the pool were not carried out within the next five years then the centre would have to close. So the option we have is either close the pool or the entire leisure centre.

This Lib-Dem council should honour its commitments to Plas Madoc as a Communities First area and spend some money it puts into balances every year to provide a leisure centre which the people of Plas Madoc and the Borough can be proud of.

The Week Ahead

This week is another busy week in the life of your Councillor, so i thought i would give you a glimpse into what i will be up to from Tue 30th Jan - Fri 3rd Feb

Tue 7pm The first meeting this year of Cefn Community Council. Tonight is the meeting where we decide on the budget for the year ahead and set the Council Tax

Wed 10am Site meeting with estate manager & assistant where we will be walking the streets of Plas Madoc
Wed 2PM Meeting of the Housing scrutiny Committee at the guildhall. This is to receive a report from consultants concerning the housing repairs section. From the phone calls i have had from tennants the repair section is in a terrible state.

Thur 7pm Meeting in Ruabon to discuss local development Plan. I would like to see a change in this plan that would allow housing developments to occur on Economic development land where it is proved that no industry will locate.

Fri 7pm A meeting of the Constituency labour party, where i will meet both the M.P & A.M

Happy New Year !

Hello everyone, and a happy 2007. Once again sorry for not putting any postings up but have yet again been having problems with my broadband system.

It was not a very good start to 2007 with the hanging of Saddam Hussein. I am appalled at the whole process of his trial and subsequent hannging. Saddam should of been tried by an independent U.N court in another country for All his crimes, and if the sentence was death then he should of been kept on death row for several years, so he could mount proper appeals. And if eventually he was to be killed then that again should be carried out by non-Iraqis. Instead we have Shite Iraqis putting him on trial and then killing him which goes against any idea of a united Iraq.

LLys Madoc to Close

Tonight i attended an extraordinary meeting of the Council called for by the Labour Group in order to ask Members of the council whether they would vote to reconsider a decision made by the lib-dem / independant run Exec Board to close Llys Madoc home.
After much debate mainly from my fellow Labour councillors, all councillors were asked to vote. All labour members voted to reconsider the decisision and the rulling Lib-Dem Independant alliance group voted against. Thus Llys Madoc care home is to close in March 2007.

My views on this are straight, i do not belive in the privatization of our care homes , but in a mixed provision of both public and private care, thus giving people a real choice. The rulling Lib-Dem group say there is no money to run these homes but in their budget which was classed by the leader Aled Roberts as being both 'Wonderfull & Exciting' They put two million pounds of Council Tax money into council balances, as well as spending £25.000 on a minority welsh festival at a failing theatre called the Stiwt.

The Lib-Dems as ussual know the cost of everything and the value of nothing!!

We Shall Remember Them

This morning I attended the Annual remembrance day service at the Cenotaph Cefn.
This year as Chairman of the Community Council i had the privilege of laying the reath on behalf of the Council. The service was conducted by Mr R Breeze (Lay reader) Mrs C E Edwards (Lay reader) & the Rev R.D Thomas.
The service was well attended by the whole community.

Liberal's Close Llys Madoc

I went to a meeting with Cllr Nick Colbourn of Ruabon, to Llys Madoc care home.
Where in front of me and the staff Aled Roberts, Leader of the Council anounounced that Llys Madoc will be closing as of March 2007, with all its residents faceing eviction from a home they dearly love. This is a disgrace!! Especially when the Council will not know until January if its bid for an extra care housing facility will be successfull. The worst senario is that it wont and Plas Madoc will have an empty building which will be destroyed by vandals and druggies.

At the meeting i congratulated the staff for all the work they have put into the home and i would not like to be in their position - again for many staff when they have to move residents from the home they love.

The Lib-Dems are like darlecs off Doctor Who, they strutt around the county screaming "I Will Destroy - I Will Destroy"

Community Safety

Yesterday Wednesday Oct 25th I attended the once a month Plas Madoc Community Safety meeting. The meeting is held on the last Wednesday every month, at the Opportunity Centre, Hampden Way at 2pm

The meeting involves residents, police, fire brigade, & council employees and discusses all things to do with community safety and the general environment of Plas Madoc. At wednesdays meeting we discussed aspects of the 'Safer Living Better Living' action plan. As well as drugs, Youth service, & the road system around Plas Madoc including drivers speeding, with a new initiative being launched soon which includes school children handeling a speed gun with the police and thus hoping to shame speeding drivers.

All residents are welcome to attend.

The week ahead !

Below is what's in my diary for the week October 16th - 20th

Monday
Meeting at 6.30 at the Guildhall of Wrexham labour group, where we discuss what is going on behind the scenes on the Council, and our strategies for the week ahead.

Tuesday
My surgery at 6.30pm at the Opportunity Centre, hampden way. Any resident of Plas Madoc is welcome to come along for advice asisstance regarding the Council.

Wednesday
Children & Young People Scrutiny Committee 6.00pm at the Guildhall. This week the committee will be interviewing the headteacher of Ysgol Clwyedog, and discussing the folowing reports - Update on strategy to transform achievement in secondary schools, review of primary school provision, flying start initiative, and secondary schools reorganisation.

Thursday
An extrordinary meeting of the full council, in the council chamber, Guildhall 6.30pm to discuss the Neighbourhood warden scheme - this meeting has been called by the labour group.All members of the public are welcome to attend.

Friday
A meeting of the Fabian Society 7.30pm The fabian society is a political think-tank, our meetings consist of a nice meal followed by a guest speaker !