Anglesey - Island of Opportunity?

Anglesey Council - Welsh Audit Office (Jeremy Colman, Auditor General)

Anyone wishing to contact the Wales Audit Office click here

Anglesey Council - Executive Management future resolved?

Today it emerged that in advance of Anglesey Councils' Audit Office visit next week that an exit deal is thought to have been forged with the potential of an immediate departure of the MD with a compensation package. More on this soon.

Valley Market - bucks the trend, despite Council "bullying"

Anglesey Council continues to bully independent markets in Anglesey however it is revealed in yesterdays' Daily Post that to survive, Anglesey Trading Standards Portfolio Holder Bob Parry has commanded a "regime change" by slashing of market operators' fees to ensure Council run markets survive.

At Valley Market, times are tough due to Council imposed "license fees" however bucking the trend and with a poisitive business attitude, Eleanor Webber continues to attract new business. A photo taken on 25th September 2008 shows the popularity of Valley Market, integral in the Valley community.

See Valley General Retail Market & Car Boot Sale website

Readers comments are welcome

Anglesey - tension; somethings' got to give.

Readers will be aware that "all has been quiet" for some weeks following the revelation that Jeremy Colman of the Welsh Audit Office flew-in to Llangefni following a letter of complaint sent by senior management at Anglesey Council.

Indeed Steve Thomas, Chief Executive of the Welsh Local Government Association has even had input, it's pretty serious stuff.

Deep suspicion and mistrust lies at the heart of the matter, essentially putting Anglesey Council at risk of being governed from Cardiff if a route forward cannot be agreed.

Nevertheless, it appears that by Friday this week some key decisions will have been made that somehow will allow The Council to function properly and be the provider of "excellent public administration" which Anglesey desperately needs in order to focus on jobs, homes, tourism and riding-out the recession as a winner.

There are grave concerns that Anglesey is slipping into the mire, its public perception is not good, even a butt of jokes especially regarding governance and planning related issues. We cannot continue to allow The Island to be perceived in this light, resident taxpayers deserve better. Members have an almost fiduciary duty to the electorate and they are entrusted to make the best decisions for Anglesey.

Readers comments are welcome to comment.

------------------

"Anglesey Day" - promotion of island at Westminster

Yesterday in Westminster, Albert Owen hosted a celebration of Anglesey and what it has to offer.

The idea was to celebrate the islands' tourism, diversity and culture, which formed part of an exhibition supported by local businesses, Anglesey Council and RAF Valley as one of the islands' (expanding) employers with entertainment including traditional songs and dance plus a tour of the palace.

In essence, the "Anglesey Day" in Westminster is aimed to raise the islands profile.

However there are some issues that require attention that we list as follows:

1 Clearly, the message from Westminster is "business as usual" despite 10 years of procrastination regarding the future of Wylfa and a weakening Anglesey job market.

2. Holyhead centre's retail core is imploding, capture of 2million annual ferry-users "potential monetary spend" by Anglesey businesses has not materialised.

3. The mixed-use retail permission Ty Mawr, Llanfairpwll impacting all local centres hopefully will be rejected by WAG as it breaks six planning policies.

4. The Island Games planned for 2015 was quietly switched off...why?

5. The Gallows Point Marina proposal (upheld at the Court of Appeal) is being challenged at the House of Lords. Another marina would be good news for tourism. Why not a marina at Amlwch?

6. Diversification is key to Anglesey's survival but why does the LDP timescale take so long when prestige business parks and industrial units could be allocated with schemes in the pipeline?

7. Llangefni requires massive investment - will the Council push for redevelopment of its Ysgol y Bont / Ysgol y Graig site?

Any more on this list?

Anglesey's "profile", we ask you to comment upon the "positive and negative" aspects of Mon Mam Cymru.

This is an open debate, please comment.

------------------

Anglesey - allowing public speaking at Council planning committees to be reviewed?

Readers may have previously read here at YnysMon.com about Anglesey Council's stance regarding public speaking at Planning committee (The Anglesey County Council Planning & Orders Committee) however in this weeks' Holyhead & Anglesey Mail an article covers the story of 3 minute egg timer costing £1.99 being sent to Anglesey Council as a potential technical solution in allowing public speaking. 

John Arthur Jones ex-Anglesey Councillor first mooted the public speaking idea in September 2007 however the Council are yet to implement the proposal blaming procrastination on an inability to find funds to procure the technical element of allowing public speaking (now potentially resolved by use of an egg timer) and that Planning & Orders Committee Members are yet to further observe how public speaking works at neighbouring authority, Wrexham Council.

Readers views and comments are welcome.

Conflict of interest - Trading Standards Dept run Mona car boot sale.

Anglesey Councils' Trading Standards Department have demonstrated scant regard for the public's perception of its department.

It is understood that Trading Standards are to take over the running of Mona car boot sale, a move that usurps the private sector and provides Anglesey Council with an "out of centre" operation in addition to its own Council-run markets (as of right under Charter) at Amlwch, Holyhead, Llangefni and once a year at Menai Bridge.

As previously reported in this website, Anglesey Trading Standards are actually responsible for policing its own markets as well as privately-run markets. There is nevertheless a whiff of rancour given that Trading Standards are able to "obtain" laws passed such as The Local Authority Miscellaneous Act 1982 that empowers Trading Standards to "impose" levies on non-Council run markets. This law coupled with discrimination by Trading Standards amounts to anti-competative behaviour that flouts the spirit of European Union open trading.

We believe that The Council's own Trading Standards Department being trader, lawmaker and the policer and these functions ought to be separated. In essence, Trading Standards should not "dabble" in running markets when its function is policing only.

There are further concerns regarding the modus operandi of Trading Standards and these are subject of a FOI Act request that digs deep into how seizures are catalogued, items retained etc...

Also, questions need to be raised regarding Trading Standards access to legal services, its annual legal bill and in particular the cost of seeking Counsels' opinion with regard to privately run markets.

There appears to be a culture of Trading Standards "helping themselves" to however much legal assistance as it wants regardless of cost.

Senior management and The Leadership at Anglesey Council might question the wisdom of whether "excellent public administration" includes duplicity and anti-competative practice, unlimited legal assistance and for what ,is being anti-competative in the public interest?

The local taxpayer might ask who is policing Anglesey Trading Standards?

Readers are welcome to comment.
------------------

Anglesey - Da Da Da is sweet news for Llangefni

For 18 months the former Anglesey travel unit at 10 Church Street, Llangefni stood vacant, seemingly another casualty of the retail exodus from the County town.

However a local retail entrepreneur, Dilys Owen had plans of her own and last Saturday saw the smartly refitted shop unit open as a bespoke Chocolatier and confectioner namely Da Da Da or "sweets" in Welsh.

The retail offer includes Swiss chocolate, ice cream, sweets weighed directly from large jars and a large selection of other confectionery items. Queues reportedly appeared on the opening day and business since has been very brisk. A superb concept and we throughly recommend a visit.

A fantastic success story for Llangefni in-spite of the recent permission given for a huge retail scheme at Llanfairpwll.

This is just another example of how Llangefni could buck the trend by being "different" choosing not to compete with Bangor and other retail centres (identical multimple retailers) by being bespoke, twee and "country set" in image. We hope further investment will follow to Llangefni.

Readers comments are welcome.

Anglesey - Gordon Brown explains council tax stance.

------------------

Anglesey - Llangefni Town Hall re-opens as market - but why?

Readers are accustomed to the radical decisions of Anglesey Council so what is the latest on the former town hall?

------------------