Anglesey - Island of Opportunity?

Wind turbine plant proposed for Anglesey - but where?

Readers will have read about the "Strategic Mess" that WAG and Anglesey Council have got themselves into regarding:

1. Securing permission for B1/B2/B8 at Parc Cybi

2. Proposing "housing" at Parc Cybi and ignoring the Planning Inspectors' UDP advice

3. Inviting "The Ministry of Justice" to include Parc Cybi as a potential prison site.

Therefore were does the "potential wind turbine manufacturing plant" get built? Where is this site? I'm pointing out the obvious but so many uses and only one site in Holyhead......!

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Anglesey Council's five aims - off target?

Anglesey Council's Managing Director, David Bowles has announced (5th March 2010) five new Council aims that are noteworthy by the absence of "substance."

These are:

Strategic Priority 1: - Enhance the reputation of the Council and Island

Strategic Priority 2: - Protect and develop the Island's economy

Strategic Priority 3: - Build and support sustainable communities

Strategic Priority 4: - Promote healthy, safe and fair communities

Strategic Priority 5: - Businesslike and affordable services

See the Councils press release here

"Planning and Strategy" is absent and this is the core of the Councils problems along with "entrenched" ideas held by some long serving Council employees who refuse to modernise.

Return here to see what happened next......if anything...!

Indecision and dither - Anglesey Council's shameful record in development and regeneration

Readers have become accustomed to reading of misdemeanours at Anglesey of which the majority are emanating from Anglesey Council.

The Council has 3,400 employees and a Managing Director who was installed by The Welsh Audit Office replacing the previous MD Derrick Jones who left the Council, apparently by mutual agreement. Nevertheless it would seem that David Bowles is MD but not as everyone would know it. So what is meant by this statement? Well, a Managing Director is meant to take decisions across the board, getting hands dirty and sometimes making unpopular decisions , that's the MD's job, to manage and "to provide excellent public administration" as a primary goal. Nevertheless, it would seem that the MD is "cherry picking" issues that he wishes to deal with and leaving "extremely awkward decisions" to corporate heads who as readers have read before are tarnished with a previous administration as being complicit in colluding to block certain individuals progress in business on Anglesey. "Welcome to Anglesey - Croeso to Anglesey" seems so appealing to those in love with the countryside or passing through however dangers are abundant, particularly for the businessman / investor.

One needs to examine the record of business in Anglesey to appreciate the shabby history of business success, or should I say failure.

Anglesey Council are routinely blocking business or development ideas rather than embracing a concept and establishing how it could be made to work. Why is everything so negative and rubbish?

The Council needs to establish an "A Team" of people to include developers to make things happen as clearly Anglesey is becoming a basket case.

Decisions are taking far too long in everything and officers are far too concerned with box ticking and covering rear ends, especially those coasting into retirement,

It can't be right that Anglesey despite its tranquillity and beauty is a crap place akin to Ukraine and Belarus to do business because the administration is "complete rubbish and tinged with self-interest"

The Welsh Audit Office have installed a political puppet MD who cherry picks issues and does not want to get his hands dirty. How can Anglesey hope to move forward without real decisions being made?

5 steps forward and 20 back.....

I would urge islanders to vote for "Anthony Ridge Newman" in the general election because he is well connected and offers Anglesey new hope. If the Conservatives were in power they would compel Anglesey Council via WAG to make positive and necessary changes so that democracy lives and officers are servants of the people with elected members calling the shots.

Time for a change folks .....12 years of Labour and 12 years of zero progress. Albert Owen "the undertaker" only seems to appear at the burial of companies where there are significant job losses. What has Albert Owen done for Anglesey? .....precisely a big fat ZERO!

Change is in your hands ....make the change, vote Albert out.

Stay tuned.!

Wylfa and Rhosgoch - would both lead to traffic chaos?

Readers will be aware that after twelve years of Government we are no wiser in knowing if Wylfa B, C and D NPP's are proceeding.

Although the Horizon consortia have purchased land, no decision will be made by the government until after the election - why?

Imagine a prison also being located on the former Shell site at Rhosgoch which has a 1in 7chance of happening. These are long build projects and Wylfa alone will at it's peak generate 10,000 jobs. The prison build contract could take 3 years and 500 men.

Has Anglesey Council examined the highways issues and traffic generation, particularly the conflict between local residents and workers getting to and from both sites?

Traffic generation and traffic chaos is a factor that ought to be considered as part of a prison site selection process.

Rhosgoch is unsuitable because of .the above and poor quality infrastructure to the locality from the A55.

The foregoing problems rule out the Council owned former Shell Rhosgoch site.

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Blog posted here.

Parc Cybi - WAG housing proposal to be scrapped?

Good news travels fast in Anglesey and the latest word on the street seems to suggest our friends, the men in grey suits at WAG are flip flopping again.

No prizes for guessing, however the word is that WAG is to withdraw it's planning application ( on Anglesey Aluminium's land ) for 200 houses at Parc Cybi in what appears to be another humiliating climbdown.

Questions now need to be raised regarding the following:

1. What has been the financial cost of the withdrawn planning application?

2. What deal terms were brokered between WAG and Anglesey Aluminium?

3. If WAG are seeing to attract a prison to Parc Cybi , where will the existing permission for B1/B2/B8 and manufacturing uses be relocated?

Will Dafarn Newydd, Llangefni a proposed North Wales prison site be lucky site 7?

StMalo (www.stmalo.co.uk) have put their LDP candidate site for employment in Llangefni, Anglesey forward as a potential site for a new 1500 inmate prison.

Details are to follow however please refer to the Daily Post article here Dafarn Newydd - site no 7!

Parc Cybi - Strategic Mixed Use Development Site or Strategic Mess?

Readers will by now have grasped that Parc Cybi in Holyhead is fast becoming the butt of jokes because WAG do not seem to be able to get anything right.

First there is the overspend in consultancy fees in bringing the site forward over a long time period a general abuse of taxpayers funds. Then there is the attempt to obtain housing on part (200 units) where The UDP inspector said "only employment was appropriate." Then there is the inability to get the network power upgrades via Scottish Power the local electricity provider. The inability to plan a semi-orbital road to the Marina side of Holyhead. The word "strategic" should be used advisedly by WAG because there does not seem to be any strategy whatsoever. How can there be a strategy to acquire land, obtain permission for B1/B2/B8 uses, build infrastructure and sit back to await those office, industrial, manufacturing, warehouse distribution uses .....only then to "u-turn" bottle and beg The Judiciary to site a 1500 man (750 jobs) prison on the same site. Where will those B1/B2/B8 uses be located? Where is that "ready to go" alternative site.....there is'nt one!

Anglesey Council is accused of being in a mess.....look further up the chain because WAG are even more in a pickle.

Llangefni would be a better location, at least it is central and is not land owned or controlled by WAG who have a massive conflict of interest.

Welsh Assembly Government proposes new prison on own land

The Daily Post has today reported that Ty Mawr, Llanfairpwll is the latest site to be proposed for a prison in Anglesey. To date we have the following sites proposed:

1. Parc Cybi , Ty Mawr, Holyhead

- Part owned by WAG
- Allocated for B1/B2/B8 uses
- departure application by WAG on part (owned by WAG) for housing (previously rejected by Planning Inspector in 2005 UDP)
- proposed by WAG as a new prison site
- No imagination, what happened to manufacturing?

2. Former Shell site in Rhosgoch

- owned by Anglesey Council
- site has a long and complicated history

3. Ty Mawr, Llanfairpwll

- privately owned and WAG have an option
- proposed by WAG as a new prison site

4. Gaerwen site 1 (awaiting details)

5. Gaerwen site 2 (awaiting details)

It seems WAG has proposed "its own" two sites that the Welsh Development Agency (it's own agency) acquired using public money and created an overspend in taking the sites forward to planning.

We have the following job losses in Anglesey in 24 months:

a) 550 - by Anglesey Aluminium, Holyhead

b) 300 - Welsh Country Foods,

c) 200 - Eaton Electronics, Holyhead

d) 50 - Cig Mon, Llangefni

Public funds have been used by WAG to promote it's 130 acre empty site at Parc Cybi, Holyhead and the disaster site under option by WAG at Ty Mawr, Llanfairpwll. Incidentally, where is the logic in not gaving a site for employment in Llangefni?

......moving swiftly on....

If Anglesey was a company in which you had invested and therefore a shareholder... and Albert was the Managing Director, would you give him yet another chance?

Time for a change folks, Albert's had 12 years!

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Parc Cybi, Holyhead - SP Networks unable to provide electricity "for years"

We are currently researching a local rumour which is that " there in not sufficient capacity in the local power network to supply Parc Cybi electricity without a major upgrade which will take many years."

The site was allocated in the 2005 UDP for B1/B2/B8 uses. The portion of site closer to the port is currenly the subject of a contencious planning application for housing.

Stay tuned.

Absence of LDP "damaging" Anglesey

Without a plan, or strategy you cannot hope to make a success of any business venture - we all know this fundamental principle.

Anglesey Council's governing party has inherited a poisonous legacy that is so toxic and corrosive it continues to cause influence in political thinking and it needs to end.

Jobs and homes continue to dominate the news but how can you plan for jobs and homes if the Council have no strategy in place because it lacks the planning policy manpower?

Development proposals on private and public land for housing schemes, office park schemes, mixed-use leisure schemes, green power generation including nuclear power station schemes and even potentially a new 750 inmate prison seem to never move forward or materialise.

There is a common theme emerging which is that schemes on private land by private companies are considered less favourable than proposals on land controlled on Council or WAG owned / controlled land.

Anglesey is lacking public investment because the cupboard is bare and private investment is reluctant because when dealing with the Council it always gets "the rough end of the pineapple."

It is time Anglesey Council recognises that to move forward an LDP is required and changes needed so that planning applications are welcomed and considered favourably and that assistance should be given to see how planning permission could be awarded not refused.

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