Lucky Gwynedd – more ‘investors’!

PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT I GET SENT MORE INFORMATION AND LEADS THAN I CAN USE. I TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE WHO CONTACTS ME BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY USE EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION I’M SENT. DIOLCH YN FAWR

I had planned another piece on May’s Senedd elections, but my plans changed when I learned of a big investment promised for the capital of the Cheshire Riviera . . . which the indigenes insist on calling Abersoch.

To accompany this new story I have a big update on Llanbedr International Airport complemented by reports from Gwynfryn, and Bryn Llys (aka ‘Snowdon Summit View’).

Verily, our cup runneth over!

FLY BOYS

I’ve written about Llanbedr Airfield a few times before. Try ‘Come fly with me‘, from January.

The Llanbedr site was bought by the Welsh Development Agency 31 March, 2006 from the Ministry of Defence, for £700,000. Here’s the title document. It was then leased, 31 May, 2012, for 125 years, for £887,000 plus VAT, to Llanbedr Airfield Estates LLP (since renamed Snowdonia Aerospace LLP). Here’s the title document.

Now that might seem like a good bit of business, but it’s not. In fact, it’s one of those deals that makes a mockery of devolution.

Those clowns in Corruption Bay were forced to buy a site they didn’t want, and for which they had no use. They then had to pay for repairs and maintenance, keeping the place spruce until their masters in London produced favoured tenants.

Llanbedr Airfield. Click to enlarge. Click X top right to return to blog

As for the lease, it was paid for by the Ministry of Defence and The Welsh Ministers. Though for some reason only the MoD is shown on the title document. We need to go to the Companies House entry for Snowdonia Aerospace to learn of our generosity.

So we’ve paid twice for a white elephant. But it gets worse!

Snowdonia National Park has approved a by-pass for the village of Llanbedr, which will of course run close to the airfield. We read in this Cambrian News report: “Llanbedr, which lies between Barmouth and Harlech, suffers severe tailbacks during the height of summer with people visiting Shell Island.”

Which means that a great deal of public money is to be spent causing environmental damage in order to encourage more traffic to a foreign-owned campsite! What happened to environmentally conscious Wales?

I’ve got a better idea – let’s get rid of ‘Shell Island’. It caters for campers and caravans, providing everything they need, including a shop and a bar. It contributes little to the wider area other than petrol and diesel fumes.

Alternatively, seeing as the Workman family, owners of ‘Shell Island’, will be the main beneficiaries of this by-pass, shall we ask them to make a financial contribution?

But it’not just ‘Shell Island’. (Correct name, Mochras.) There are also locally-owned caravan sites marring the littoral. Many granted consent in the days of Merioneth County Council, when men of a ‘fraternal’ bent would shake hands and grant each other planning permission.

In this BBC piece we read, “Supporters of the 1.5km (one mile) bypass have claimed it will slash journey times by an hour, and boost investment by improving access to the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre, a drone-testing facility at the former RAF Llanbedr airfield.”

The implication has to be that motorists experience one-hour traffic hold-ups in tiny Llanbedr, which is utter bollocks. I suggest the ‘supporters’ saying that may have inhaled too much traffic fumes, or something.

The second part hints at another reason for the by-pass. Though maybe I’m wrong to call it a by-pass, for a recent comment to an earlier piece of mine about Llanbedr airfield says: “And yes the Welsh Government is funding the Llanbedr bypass, which legally can’t be called a bypass as it has to be an access road to the airfield to qualify for grants. And no it doesn’t go to the airfield!”.

Which suggests that a lot of people are being misled, even screwed, over Llanbedr airfield.

This source also wrote (of the blog): “Just come across this article – excellent stuff. No mention though of RAF Brawdy in Pembrokeshire which the same people as at Llanbedr ran for a while before dissolving the company with outstanding charges against the Welsh Government.”

The company was Brawdy Business Park Ltd (Co No 3431529). And again, it took over a redundant military installation, promised lots of jobs, received grants and loans, created few jobs, folded the company and buggered off.

Will the same thing happen at Llanbedr?

Brawdy Business Park. Google image from Aug, 2011. Click to enlarge and click on X in top right to return to blog

Though ‘buggered off’ is not strictly true. For while the company, Brawdy Business Park Ltd, was certainly struck off in April 2013, the presence of those involved lingered on. Indeed, it lingers still.

If we look at the last Annual Return listing shareholders we see that by September 2011 all shares had been transferred to a company named Solutions for Storage Ltd. Which had changed its name in 2010 to Ocean Park Investments Ltd.

And as Brawdy Business Park sank, lead director Lee John Paul transferred to Ocean Park Investments.

The Brawdy site is now owned by Compass Point Estates LLP. Here’s the title document and plan. And guess who we find as Compass Point Estates directors? – Lee John Paul and Ocean Park Investments. Also, Putney Investments of Queensland, Australia, operating out of the Isle of Man.

‘Now you see us, now you don’t – but we’re still here under different names!’

And that’s what we see at Llanbedr. Where we have Snowdonia Aerospace LLP, which you’ll remember received the loan from the ‘Welsh Government’ to, er, take out a lease with the ‘Welsh Government’; and since October 2019 we’ve also had Snowdonia Aerospace Estates LLP.

And who do we find as directors of the new company? Who else? – Lee John Paul, Ocean Park Investments, and Putney Investments.

Compass Point Estates has made two loans to Snowdonia Aerospace Estates. But why should that be necessary with the same people controlling both? (Because on October 1 Lee John Paul and Putney Investments took control of the two LLPs.)

My concerns are due to the fact that LLPs can be tricky beasts. “Partners in an LLP are not personally liable when the business cannot pay its debts; instead, their liability is limited to the capital they have invested into the LLP.”

So, if there’s no capital left in the LLP to which the loan was made then, when it folds, and everything is claimed by the new LLP, the clowns of Corruption Bay might struggle to get our money back.

Shall we see a repeat of Brawdy Business Park at Llanbedr, where the same people end up owning everything but under different labels?

Watch this space.

THE PHOENIX HOTEL, ABERSOCH

I’ve written about Abersoch more than once. I wish I didn’t have to. I wish it was still the sleepy Llŷn fishing village it once was, but it has been ‘discovered’.

By the ‘Cheshire Set’. Which includes those who’ve made a few bob in Liverpool or Manchester and want to flaunt it with a big house and a Range Rover in the drive in an upmarket Cheshire village. One of those communities where new developments are discouraged to the point of being almost forbidden.

Which in turn results in houses being built in north east Wales and along the A55 to accommodate those who can’t afford the entrance fee to the Cheshire Set.

In Abersoch itself we recently saw a former council property put on the market with an asking price of £385,000. Of course, no local will be able to buy it. A reminder of how tourism is destroying Welsh communities.

But we are going to focus on the site of the former White House Hotel.

This establishment closed in 2004 or 2005, inevitably fell into disrepair, and was eventually demolished in the early part of 2016.  In the report I’ve linked to we read, “A 40-bedroom hotel and spa will now be built in its place and is set to open in 2018”.

Image: NorthWalesLive. Click to enlarge. Click on X at top right to return to blog.

The owner was named as Broomco, of Surrey. At 31 December, 2019 the unaudited Broomco accounts show that money owed by debtors was exceeded by money owed to creditors to the tune of some £250,000.

Broomco’s major asset would appear to be ‘freehold property’ valued at £1,236,224. Which is presumably the site of the former White House Hotel.

The promised hotel and spa did not materialise, but now other exciting plans have emerged for the site. Well, obviously, I’m not excited, but some people seem to be getting worked up over the proposal. Here’s a report from the Daily Post website.

There’s a lot of information in the report; yet despite that, or maybe because of it, it still raises many questions. Or maybe it’s just me.

Anyway, some dude called Charlie Openshaw has rocked up, and we read: “Mr Openshaw says his firms are both contractors and developers. He says the developer is Providence Gate and the contractor is CL Projects.”

What can we learn of these companies?

Let’s start with Providence Gate. There are five companies of that name, all formed between August and November this year. All with the same three directors; Charles Marshall Openshaw, Anthony John Hayton, and William James Abram. Being so new there’s obviously little information available, though Providence Gate Developments Ltd has already taken out loans with Crowd Property Ltd.

The majority shareholder in Crowd Property is investment guru Simon Zutshi.

Turning to the other company mentioned by Charlie Openshaw, C L Projects Facilities Management Ltd, we see that this company has a long and glorious history, stretching back to its formation in July 2017, when it was known as C L Chorley Ltd.

The name changed in April this year when the three musketeers climbed aboard. Until then it was filing as a dormant company. Openshaw, Hayton and Abram are joined around the mahogany boardroom table by Robert Wood, also recruited in April.

So, to all intents and purposes, C L Projects Facilities Management Ltd is another company formed in 2020.

Which seems straightforward enough – a group of property investors spot an opening and come up with an imaginative plan. But it’s not that simple. Is it ever?

To begin with, and according to the Land Registry, the site is still owned by Broomco. So either Charlie Openshaw and his mates are working with Broomco, or else they are yet to buy the site from that company. Here’s the title document and plan.

We’ve seen that the company named as the developer is Providence Gate Developments. But this, and the other companies sharing the name, Providence Gate Titon Ltd, Providence Gate Stalmine Ltd, and Providence Gate Bretherton Ltd are all owned by Providence Gate Group Holdings Ltd.

So who owns Providence Gate Group Holdings Ltd, formed just last month? At the risk of confusing you . . .

The shareholders in Providence Gate Group Holdings Ltd are shown in the panel below, information that comes from the Confirmation Statement made to Companies House on 30 November. Just days before the big publicity splash.

Providence Gate Group Holdings Ltd shareholders. Click to enlarge. Click X in top right to return to blog

Clearly, Openshaw and Hayton have other companies, in their own names. While Marbauk Ltd is William Abram’s new company. So it’s the three amigos again.

Just to keep you filled in – or confuse you further – Abram has another new company in WA Construction Consultancy Ltd.

Openshaw Group Holdings Ltd began life April 9 as Lockside Investments Ltd, with Openshaw’s partner Anthony John Hayton as director. Openshaw took over April 14. Hayton obviously relinquished control to set up Hayton Group Holdings Ltd April 15.

Which leaves the final name we see in the panel above, Bahadvr Group Holdings Ltd. This is the company of Ismael Bahadur, formed in August 2018, and it files as a dormant company.

There are a few other ‘Bahadvr’ companies, all recent, a few dissolved.

These new creations of the three principals own all the shares in CLProjectsUK Limited. Which began life in August 2016 as Clifford Lewis Aluminium Limited. The name changed April 28, 2018.

This company is in the business of metal doors and windows.

Let’s recap. We have a host of new companies set up by or taken over by Openshaw, Hayton and Abram. But little or nothing further back than 2016. So what were our bonny boys doing before then?

Charles Marshall Openshaw had companies called Rooftop Solutions Ltd and Rooftop Solutions and Consultancy Services Ltd. Both of which came to a sticky end.

The winding up process for Rooftop Solutions began in Bolton County Court in July 2012. There were three outstanding charges at the death. The decision to wind up Rooftop Solutions and Consultancy Services Ltd was taken in August 2009, when the company owed £485,922.00.

Click to enlarge. Click on X in top right to return to blog.

Other companies Openshaw was involved with around that time, which also went belly-up owing lots of money, were RBC (Manchester) Ltd and Rooftop Group Ltd.

None of these companies seemed to last more than two or three years. And there seems to be a gap of five or six years between these earlier companies and the recent rash of new companies.

A co-director with Charlie Openshaw in these earlier companies was Neil James Collier. Who blamed his bad luck in business for going on the rampage at a Chester hotel a couple of years ago.

To sum up, the ‘saviours’ of the White House Hotel – or at least the site – seem to come from a background of replacement doors and windows, or roofing. More recently, they appear to have aligned with people from a finance background. But do they have what it takes to complete a prestige project in Wilmslow-sur-Mer?

Charles Marshal Openshaw makes it sound so simple – his companies are going to build an ‘international landmark’ hotel on the site of the White House Hotel.

But, for a start, he doesn’t even own the site. And once we start looking into his companies we find other companies behind them . . . and other companies behind the companies behind them . . . and companies behind the companies behind the companies behind . . .

If I was Cyngor Gwynedd, I’d sit Charles Marshall Openshaw down in a comfy chair, give him tea and biccies, pat his knee and say, ‘Now, Charlie, tell us who’s really behind this project’.

And I wouldn’t give planning permission until I had satisfactory answers.

‘CASTLE’ GWYNFRYN

Regular readers will be familiar with that name. It refers to an old gentry mansion near Llanystumdwy, which served a number of purposes after its glory days until, as a hotel, it catched afire in 1982.

This update is in three parts. First, Philip Andrew Bush seems to have been a naughty boy, travelling up to Gwynfryn from Kent during lockdown. Second, the planning application for 25 residential units in what’s left of the mansion has now been submitted. Third, the young developers we met earlier have started a raft of new companies.

Gwynfryn. Click to enlarge and click X in top right to return to blog

Maybe I should explain that until fairly recently Bush owned both the house and the land around, but he sold the ruin to his pal Aaron Hill, who’s also an associate of the Bryn Llys gang, a crew we’ll meet in the next section.

Bush is now pestering neighbours over a non-existent right of way, and making a nuisance of himself. It’s rumoured he wants to make some money by building something in the Bryn Llys grounds.

Access will be a big issue for any project of Hill’s, and for the residential units. Which explains his desire to knock down walls and find another route onto his land. He’s getting desperate, for the clock is ticking . . .

Let’s turn to the planning application. Which is dated 03/12/2020. A passer-by kindly sent me a photo of the public notice affixed to some railings.

Click to enlarge and click X in top right to return to blog.

Though what I find strange is that the planning application itself is dated 14/02/2020. with a ‘validation’ date of 20/11/2020. Read it for yourself.

There’s something very amateurish about this planning application. To begin with, it keeps referring to “the castle”. Has whoever compiled this document been reading too much Kafka, or has he never seen the building? Because it’s a 19th century house with a bit of crenellation for effect.

I’m sure the natives could get a bit stroppy back then but I’m equally sure the squire didn’t need a castle.

Then, in the Design and Access Statement, Section 6, the writer quotes English Heritage! Has it escaped him that Gwynfryn is in Wales?

Click to enlarge and click X in top right to return to blog

Something else that caught my eye was in the planning application document itself (21), where it seems to suggest that there are currently 5 full-time and 3 part-time employees at the Gwynfryn ruin.

Are they including the Bryn Llys gang, who have helped out? Or are they counting the bunny-wunnies?

Gwynfryn is another of those projects where there are many fingers in the pie. And among these digits are those belonging to James Armstrong and Anthony Wilmott.

As I wrote back in October,  ” . . . the developers’ in this instance are Anthony John Wilmott and James Edward Armstrong. The latter has a company called Acquérir Ltd; Wilmott has a few companies of his own; but they get together in Armstrong Wilmott Ltd.”

Since I wrote that, Wilmott and Armstrong have launched three more companies. These are: Armstrong Wilmott Developments Ltd, Armstrong Wilmott Holdings Ltd, and Armstrong Wilmott Construction Ltd. All three formed 22 October.

Now doubt it’s only a matter of time before we’re in another maze of companies at Gwynfryn in which council planners will get lost . . . if they even venture in.

BRYN LLYS AKA ‘SNOWDON SUMMIT VIEW’

We left off with the Bryn Llys saga when capo di tutti capi Jon Duggan appeared before the bench in Caernarfon. His dogs had got out – again – and attacked a neighbour’s chickens.

Despite being victimised – the poor man always is – he had to cough up £1,002.00.

As it was given to me: “He complained that he was before the same magistrates who heard the Shane Baker excavator driving, criminal damage case (Baker is one of Duggan’s ‘soldiers’) but was told that this was an entirely separate case. Mr. Duggan likes to imply that he will not get a fair hearing and is picked upon by police, council officials and others. He also accused the neighbours of filming his children, another one of his tactics is making unfounded, malicious allegations about anyone who does not give in to him.”

But he could be facing another court appearance in the near future.

You’ll recall that Duggan and a few associates were in court in August for breaching an enforcement notice. (The poor man being victimised again!)

Here we see Duggan, on the day of the court appearance, with his wife at his side, his half-brother Scott Smith facing him, while the fourth man is Andrew Battye, who we are asked to believe owns Bryn Llys aka ‘Snowdon Summit View’.

Nobody does believe it, and certainly not Battye.

Click to enlarge, click on X at the top right to return to blog

In one of the more bizarre deals I have covered on this blog, Duggan bought land from Aaron Hill (who got a mention just now at Gwynfryn). But because Duggan is supposedly without assets, Hill loaned him the money to buy the land!

Here’s the title document.

After buying the land Duggan laid an unauthorised road, and he was instructed to remove it and undertake remedial work. The deadline for compliance was 20 November. Of course, Duggan has not complied.

Gwynedd planners have been informed of Duggan’s non-compliance. Now it’s up to them to do their job. No more, no less.

♦ end ♦




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Dafis

Lucky Gwynedd indeed ! It could end up reduced to a single parliamentary constituency if this lot eventually gets adopted.
Check this out. https://nation.cymru/news/wales-voice-diminished-number-of-welsh-mps-reduced-by-eight-from-40-to-32/
An alternative would be to cut it to zero, a big round O, and revert to a totally subjugated colonial status which would suit a lot of arse lickers and servile types throughout the land. Of course that would screw the career opportunities for hot air politicians who have made a living out of promising much and delivering sweet F.A. Best option of all would be to cut us adrift, totally free to make our own way because the merits of genuine representatives of the people would soon become evident and the ishoo peddlers would probably migrate to Islington or Brighton to carry on with their useless crusades.

Brychan

Off Topic. How Glynfach became Britannia.

Those familiar with Rhondda will know that between Trehafod and Porth was a colliery called the Lewis Merthyr. Now closed. It was converted to a museum, now called “The Welsh Mining Experience”. This was not the first colliery on site. A few hundred yards upstream was the original colliery opened in 1851 by Issac Williams. This colliery was called Glynfach after the little stream that flowed into the main river. Around the colliery was built some terraced housing.

This village was named Glynfach, after the colliery.

When the new Lewis Merthyr colliery was sunk a cast iron footbridge was built over the main river so the colliers could get to work. The footbridge was named Britannia, and the street near the bridge was called Britannia Street. At the top of this street was a pub. This was named The Britannia after the bridge. Many a pint was sunk in the Britannia at end of shift. Modernised in the 1980s, Britannia become a place to go. Since then however, the bridge has been demolished.

RCT council now refer to the village as Britannia.

Being my old stomping ground I have been looking at the reports on the recent flooding events in Rhondda, The list of villages affected were all too famliar but I hadn’t heard of the village of Britannia. Only the pub, at Glynfach. The village is now being refered to by the council as “the village of Britannia”.

Beware of bridge names.

Many are assuming that the anglicisation of place names only affects y fro gymraeg. This is not the case. There has been a systematic replacement of Welsh place names, particularly in the valleys. I have since become aware of this as you speak to people and ask ‘Ware you from butt?” and the older people say “Glynfach”, but the council now call the place Britannia. It won’t be long before the new sign appears on the bypass, and the language will not just be a memory, but as if it never existed.

Clue is in the name.

Of course, the original stream at Glynfach flows in a culvert near Britannia Street, and in 2020, the council is wondering why there was flooding. One reason could be they felled the forest above Glynfach and the culvert was blocked. Issac Williams originally sunk the shaft there using the stream to drive the washery.

Dafis

just read that LibDems have selected William Powell to attempt to retain the seat to be vacated by Kirsty Williams in the Senedd elections. Jane Dodds, leader of LibDems in Wales not selected ! Maybe the good folk of Brecon +Radnor prefer their candidates to be resident on the patch rather than shacking up in a London suburb for much of her time.

Mair Macsen

Got an e-mail address to contact you?

Dawn Ross

Fantastic blog!! So well researched and commented on.If only local journalism was this HOT!!
People need to Know the workings of sham funding esp when our money is handed over to “developers”
Ownership? and all of it’s connotations should be available to all via the media, so that we are all more informed esp those without the wherewithal to research behind the headlines! That’s real news! Who what and why??
The White House story! A prime example? Excellent comment! Someone please put this out for all to see!

D

I came across this gem, vaguely remember it.

Adam helping an immigrant [and family] who forgot to renew his visa. Gives a nice warm glow, but how did he get on with helping a blogger nearly getting kicked out of her home by a council official? or the couple being harassed by the neighbour, police & planning?

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2007-07-17/debates/070717100000003/AldrinQuibuyen

Dafis

Just when one thought that no more public funds would get poured into that bottomless pit a.k.a Kairdiff, along comes yet another “regeneration”. Check this out:
https://businessnewswales.com/masterplan-revealed-to-transform-cardiff-bay/

Choice quotes include :
Leader of Cardiff Council: Cllr Huw Thomas, said: “For successful cities, regeneration isn’t a single event, it’s an ongoing process. The redevelopment of Cardiff Bay three decades ago helped establish Cardiff as a dynamic European Capital, and today we set out an exciting vision for the next stage in that redevelopment.”

Bastard has hijacked old Ron Davies’ quip about devo in 1997/99 and modified it. And there’s plenty more spin and patronising bullshit in there to meet my week’s tolerance limit!

Poor old Gwynedd and all other parts of Wales will have to wait for odd crumbs, or another wagon load of spivs from over the border.

Sion Blewyn Coch

Selfish fuckers who don’t give a toss about the Country as a whole. As long as they are ok, and their pals get a few backhanders then all is right with the world….happens everywhere, I suppose, but doesn’t make it right. Especially when you have the wasting of money on 3rd Sector shite that achieves nothing but paying some twats for virtue signalling. I can’t help thinking of that woman from London who used to dress up garishly and used to be mates with BoJo etc….then her charity nosedived into debt…..wonder where she is now?

Sion Blewyn Coch

Daily Mail, 10th November….she’s in court trying to overturn being banned for next 6 years from being a director. Her excuse……she doesn’t know what day of the week it is. You couldn’t make this shit up, could you.

Dyn Gwyrdd

Good luck tomorrow Monday 14th with your Stocks & Shares and Unit Trusts & Investments & even Bog Standard Savings Accounts that most of us poor Welsh have as “a very very small nest egg for a rainy day”. They will all be probably affected by the imminent end of the Brexit talks. Lots of rich buggars were recently hedging the exchange rate with investments in non European Markets up to last week. Interesting (in a bad way) to see how the markets behave on Monday – they open in the Far East between 11 and nine hours tonight ahead of London, if a no-deal exit is announced tomorrow. Hold tight, it is going to be a bumpy ride. Too late to hedge now, the markets have probably already factored in bad news.

Brychan

I see the BBC is running with a headline “UK to end aid for fossil fuel projects abroad”. So what does this mean? It may come as a surprise to some to learn the UK treasury is sending aid to coal mines and oil wells abroad. It doesn’t. What it does do is provide export guarantees on the currency, usually fluctuations between the dollar and sterling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55276769

For example, North Sea oil engineering firms in Aberdeen will contract long-term projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The UK treasury doesn’t actually give out any cash. What it does do is buy dollars in London as bonds, it’s insurance against the UK currency devaluing against the dollar, so a UK, or in this case a Scottish firm can compete on equal terms with an American one.

What this announcement does tell us is two things. Firstly the UK is abandoning engineering firms in Scotland and secondly, that Westminster expects the UK currency to devalue, as there’d be a profit if it increased. Nothing to do with climate change, or rather the claimed acceleration of naturally occurring climate change.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cx250jmk4e7t/pound-sterling-gbp

It also tells us that the UK treasury is, instead, going to concentrate on buying bonds in Euro as they expect sterling to crash as a result of the failed Brexit deal and the disastrous performance against Covid-19 (ironically except Scotland) compared with the rest of Europe.

Dyn Gwyrdd

A quick glance at Leanne Wood’s public Facebook shows her topics are certainly not a priority for Wales and Independence or our economy or our culture and language. She is a very prominent Plaid Cymru person if you did not know. Plaid Cymru is now an obscure minority political party in the mid west of the British Isles in case you did not know that either. Here is a selective sample of topics on Leanne Wood’s Facebook:-
(admittedly selective examples of “Woke Virtue Issues” )
These must surely reflect Plaid Cymru’s priorities politically :-
Solidarity with the women of Poland;
“Green Revolution” like the “valleys Greenprint”;
Support of the UN National Day of Solidarity for the Palestinian People;
Humanism;
Socialism;
West Bank Palestine;
US Congresswomen of colour;
Lebanese Refugees;
Trump & Mrs. Windsor.
The list grows further in virtue woke signalling in older postings.
All very virtuous but not very relevant to Wales today. More relevant to Labour Corbynism with which Plaid is desperately ambitious to join in a future coalition in Cardiff Bay to keep Labour’s Wales Government – with the crumbs of two Cabinet Jobs for Plaid’s leadership.

Brychan

It’s nothing new. Here is a video of Rhondda 1986. It was produced by ‘Rhondda Enterprise’ the first third sector regeneration scheme in Wales. The Valley Aid event in Llwyncelyn fields, Porth is shown from 2:00 to 4:00. You will see the Eritrea stall set up by Plaid Cymru. Yes, that is Jill Evans, who went on to become MEP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whr5AlcMrrM{Removetoplay}

You will also see a girl clapping near the bouncy castle called Leanne, someone who will remain nameless pissing up against the wall from Trealaw, and a kid called Nathan from Blaen trying the beat the goalie. Unlike Wales, Eritrea did actually win independence.

Dafis

Off topic, here’s a beauty for you, as predicted recently

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/11/car-battery-firm-scraps-plan-to-build-uks-first-gigafactory-in-wales

Interestingly the Guardian ran another article about lithium extraction which must have gone down like a bucket of cold puke with adherents of the orthodox green gospel.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/dec/08/the-curse-of-white-oil-electric-vehicles-dirty-secret-lithium
This quote kind of sums up where those obsessed with electric vehicles are bogged down today –
“The extra materials and energy involved in manufacturing a lithium-ion battery mean that, at present, the carbon emissions associated with producing an electric car are higher than those for a vehicle running on petrol or diesel – by as much as 38%, according to some calculations. Until the electricity in national grids is entirely renewable, recharging the battery will involve a degree of dependence on coal or gas-fired power stations.” And that is in addition to the pollution from the mineral extraction activity and its refining.

Very Greta, I think not ! Just pray that some wise guy doesn’t decide to extract lithium on Ynys Mon. It often crops up in among copper bearing formations and it’s already sending some people heading west to Cornwall with big ideas about fouling large tracts of that county.

Brychan

In 2020 so far over half of electricity in the GB grid was made by burning natural gas, which is made up of fossil methane. The reaction is CH4+(O2*2)=(H2O*2)+CO2. This means that for every molecule of natural gas burnt, a molecule of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

https://gridwatch.co.uk/

Converting this to electricity in the most efficient gas power station is only 62% efficient, and the transmission losses are 10%. This means that not only is half of the energy used by electric cars is made by burning fossil fuels but only half of that ever reaches the car.

There is an argument that by building more wind turbines on the GB landmass the proportion of electricity generated by burning methane can be reduced. This is not the case due to when the wind does not blow. The GB grid is already at wind capacity, so this can only be achieved by tidal generation, lagoons. There are only two counties in the world where electric cars make sense, Iceland where electricity is generated by geothermal, and Norway where electricity is mainly generated by hydro.

France and Japan are catching up using 80% nuclear.
http://www.gridwatch.org.uk/france/

GB is currently 8% nuclear. I have still yet to find any study to define how much of our current natural global warming cycle is caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Estimates are at 53% However, as the largest emitter on the GB landmass is actually home heating, so the best way to help the planet, is not an electric car, but to rip out the gas central heating in the home, and replace it with storage heaters and building additional nuclear capacity or tidal lagoons.

A million trees have been felled in Wales to make room for wind farms.

Brychan

If you’ve been laid off work due to Covid-19 and are from somewhere like Wolverhampton, or retired and shielding in your holiday home, you can apply for a £300 grant from the Cefn Croes Wind Farm Community Trust.

https://communityfoundationwales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cefn-Croes-Wind-Farm-Community-Trust-Covid-19-Hardship-Fund-ENGLISH.pdf

This will help pay stuff like cooker, washing machine, fridge/freezer or perhaps a new mattress or pay the additional utility bills incurred for shielding in Wales.

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.U3latVPFu-y_tUC6-q_phAHaEI

All that you need to do is provide last years council tax bill for the wards Blaenrheidol or Pontarfynach and the argument that Covid-19 has resulted in additional hardship by shielding in the holiday home.

Dave

Off topic but worthy of mention is Plaid’s latest fine mess where HMJ has had to grovel for forgiveness for agreeing Transphobia shouldn’t be likened to the murder of 6 million Jews

Plaid Cymru are beyond parody it would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic

I’d be careful where you suggest Plaid Cymru might dissapear – sensitive area ….

Brychan

It should be remembered that it was not only Jews that were victims in the holocaust.

Anyone who was different, a scapegoat, became victims, and this did include homosexuals, which at the time would have included transsexuals. They were sent to concentration camps and murdered in their thousands. So I think that Helen Mary Jones is not wrong, but a dangerous. She is seeking to stir up hatred and division against people in Wales who are a bit different.

Nobody should vote Plaid Cymru in Wales so as long as this obnoxious bigot remains a candidate. Same applies to Al Fifi, the anti-Semite.

Dafis

It’s quite bizarre how nationalists, both in Wales and in Scotland, seem to be hell bent on sinking their cause without a trace by having serious schisms over an issue ( or ishoo) about which most of the electorate couldn’t give a shit. It’s the old gay rights debate all over again.

People at various stages of transition, doing so discreetly & privately, generally attract support and sympathy from their communities. Most of the hatred, and certainly the anger, gets aimed at those politicians who crave an issue to bang on about and its attendant publicity, along with a very small minority of transitioning folk who also enjoy a good bicker when really they ought to be getting on with their personal journey.

In the meantime many of us out in the electorate stand in amazement, utterly pissed off by the antics. Had we not had major problems to resolve throughout our communities I think that focussing on the challenges of gender transition might have deserved top priority. There again many of said challenges are conflated with other failings in our health service where waiting lists for other conditions are totally unacceptable. The real problem seems to be an inability to address any onstacle without descending into an immature tantrum with toys flying out of political prams in all directions. That’s not likely to get anybody’s vote of confidence.

Brychan

There are some Jews who want to withdraw human dignity from black people, doesn’t make them right.

I have looked at HMJs twitter feed, and unlike Dr Dilys Davies who posted clear professional opinion on the issue, a point of discussion and engagement, HMJ on the other hand is re-publishing various bigoted statements from some very nasty quarters like religious fundamentalists and those who disguise themselves as feminists but have a clear hate agenda. HMJ is tolerated yet Dilys was expelled from Plaid Cymru on this matter. Should have been the other way round.

I am of the opinion that independence for Wales involves all the communities of Wales and that would have to include people who are trans, gay, black, Jewish or whatever, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for politicians to pontificate over what people are allowed to do or not do in there personal lives as long as it doesn’t harm others. Gender and identity is something personal and best be a matter for the individual concerned, and with medical assistance if needed.

It is not the only reason why I and many others will not be voting for HMJ here in the Llanelli constituency. Fortunately, there are now other options.

Brychan

Plaid Cymru are so busy on niche ishoos that their obsession with such matters impinge upon the freedoms and well being of others at the same time as ignoring things that matter. There are only two words that should define policy in matters of gender, sex, colour, race, etc.

Liberty and Equality.

I doubt if the candidates resigned because of, but a final straw on the camels back. People are resigning from Plaid Cymru in their droves and support for them is collapsing at the same time as support for independence in the general population is increasing.

Jonesy

Gwmws

Jonesy

I do not know what all this trans nonsense is about. I known quite s few over the past 35 yrs and none of them have been vilified, killed, stoned or mauled by feminists or anybody else. I have seen a few male gay friends beaten up for being homosexual. Time wasting hair splitting, naval gazing , bollocks ( apologies for naming male parts if it may offend anybody.
What is worrying me and other people in what was Welsh Wales is census22, when we will find out that our language and community are totally fucked. And no Welsh politician cares enough to do something about it cos they are having a migrane or committee spat about which pronoun to use. Well at this rate it won’t be , Hi, fe , chi, neu nhw, cos nobody will be able to pronounce them in a london or essex accent

David Robins

“Though what I find strange is that the planning application itself is dated 14/02/2020. with a ‘validation’ date of 20/11/2020”

Not unusual these days. The first will be the date the application is submitted, the second the date it was accepted as complete. The clock only starts ticking towards a decision date once the application is valid. Applicants who haven’t done their homework will find they have to provide additional information to bring the application up to the required standard. Sometimes this will mean having to go away and commission specialists, have the bats and newts counted, that sort of thing. Perhaps more than usually difficult to organise this year.

Dafis

Recently I had reason to draw this site’s attention to the Wales Cooperative Centre’s involvement with the proliferation of 3rd Sector “social enterprises” well meaning no doubt but on a par with chocolate teapots for serving any real purpose in lifting communities out of their poverty. Today I found an article which shows the WCC doing a better job.

https://businessnewswales.com/calls-for-welsh-government-to-follow-scotlands-commitment-to-employee-ownership/

If we can stimulate greater employee interest and participation in real value adding ventures right across Wales then we may overcome one of the major obstacles to better conditions. The attraction of globalist corporates to set up units in Wales has proved to be at best a passing success. Many are folded almost as soon as the qualifying period for handouts lapses. Better therefore to build indigenous businesses with local investment of hearts minds and knowhow. And don’t sell out to the first conglomerate that comes along unless you can use the proceeds of sale to spawn yet more innovation and prosperity. Otherwise the colonialist cycle gets restarted.

Brychan

I was wondering if Philip Andrew Bush, of Kent who has been breaking the Covid tier3 lockdown of Kent and the travel restrictions in Wales is this chap.

https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/56003898

If he has been found harassing neighbours at Gwynfryn, as photographed in his Peugot, then I’m sure Kent Police will be interested.

https://www.kent.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/c19/tell-us-about-possible-breach-coronavirus-measures/

That vehicle has a number plate and will allow them an opportunity to visit to give him ‘words of advise”. Best reported by the eye witness.