Newcastle Emlyn and Adpar / Castell Newydd Emlyn ac Adpar

Mayor of Newcastle Emlyn Cllr Maureen Webley called a special meeting of the Town Council last night – Tuesday 5th May 2009 – to discuss developments on the Supermarket planning application by Eiddo Davies Properties Ltd (Cawdor Cars).

This report is by Richard Vale who attended the meeting:

“At the special Council meeting held last night, the Town Council took another look at the plans. The meeting was well attended, and there was an interesting discussion. As an observer, it was clear what a difficult job the council faces with this application, which is almost certainly the most complex and controversial one they have ever had to deal with, and they certainly have not been helped by the poor information provided to them by the applicant and Carmarthenshire County Council.

“As quite a few people suspected, the applicant’s analysis of the commercial impact of the new supermarket was a very flawed document. The council now has access to two other reports, one from Lidl and the other produced by an independent group. These show that Cawdor’s figures are way, way out of line with what other specialists believe.

“Second, the Highways Department appears not yet to have reported on the plans, although they did carry out a traffic census on a single day back in January. The impression I gained, especially after impressive contributions from Councillor Fiona White and others, was that, all other considerations aside, the application should fail on the grounds of road safety and the devastating impact it will have on traffic in town.

“One important piece of information to come out of last night’s meeting was that this is a full planning application. This means that if the application succeeds, there will be no going back and neither the council nor anyone else will have any more say in the matter. Given that nobody, apart from Cawdor, knows which supermarket chain is likely to move in, the town and county councils are in effect being asked to sign a blank cheque.

“It is probably safe to assume that we are not about to get a branch of Harrods, and that the likely suspects will be Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons, Asda or Co-op. All of these companies (except for Co-op), and Tesco especially, are extremely successful at pushing through planning applications in the teeth of often overwhelming local opposition, and they certainly have far more experience and expertise to bring to bear than our local authorities. This means that opponents of the scheme can expect a very tough battle indeed over the next few months. Perhaps they should look at the handful of other small towns which have successfully kept Tesco out and see what we can learn from them.

“Another important step would be for the council to look at holding a local referendum on the plans. That would certainly be a powerful and democratic way of making the community’s views known loud and clear.

“In the meantime, I am sure that that everybody who is worried about the future of the town will be grateful to Councillor Webley for the honest and courageous way she went about making the council take another look at the plans.”

At their monthly meeting on Thursday 19th March 2009, Newcastle Emlyn town councillors heard that the much heralded Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) project begun in 2007 had run into technical problems and that it had been ineffective in curbing anti-social behaviour by youths in the town.

In a private meeting held with the police before the council meeting councillors heard that there were serious problems with the CCTV system. The CCTV installation contractor is not taking or returning any calls. A police technical advisor has agreed to reset the cameras.

Because of the “escalating problems with youths in Newcastle Emlyn” the police presence in the town is to be increased. A new neighbourhood watch scheme is being set up covering the park, car park and surrounding area; the police are looking for co-coordinators to cover other areas.

Sergeant Sion Richards has moved office back to Newcastle Emlyn and is to take a hard line with the towns problems.

A creative relationship was forged between Teatro do Elefante of Setubal in Portugal and Heart of the Dragon of Newcastle Emlyn when the two groups met on a European Culture Exchange organized by Growteska Theatre Company of Krakow in Poland.

Sharing a common interest in community theatre, street theatre, circus skills and storytelling with local mythology, Teatro do Elefante participated in Heart of the Dragons two day Festival in Newcastle Emlyn in 2007.

The Portuguese company, led by Rita Sales and Fernando Casaca, promised to return an invitation to the Baby Dragon with its team of local professional performers including Debbie Howlett, Pamela Gaunt and Jenny Hanrahan.
The two companies have just completed a tour of schools, colleges, parks in the Setubal area, where Portuguese children between ages of 3-17 watched a performance of two languages and two cultures telling the World Dragon Creation Story with storytelling, mime, physical theatre, circus and magic.

Sebutals mayor offered an official welcome to the artists, and the group were shown many local cultural events, including visiting ‘Queima do Judas’ (a traditional Easter Fire festival in Palmela) and watching Teatro do Elefantes Baby Theatre in Sebutal and Abrantes.

Storyteller Pamela Gaunt said “We were delighted to tell our towns unique story of the Last Dragon of Wales and then introduce our First NewBorn Baby Dragon…. Portugal has many water dragon stories because of its close connection to the sea, and Teatro do Elefante introduced us to their work here. It is so important for young people to see how different countries can collaborate and work together, as Baby Dragon needs a global community to grow up safely.”

Debbie Howlett added “We were given wonderful hospitality and the trip was such a success that we all feel inspired to see our truly international cultural collaboration grow and develop’’

It was the first trip overseas for the Dragon, since it travelled in its giant egg (before its hatching) to Ireland and Poland.

Many children from the three countries have now painted European Dragon Flags which will be on display at the next Heart of the Dragon Festival at Newcastle Emlyns castle on Saturday July 4th.The festival is part funded by Awards For All and in partnership with Carmarthen County Council and will include medieval fayre, battle reenactments, dragon procession, the return of Owain Glandwr and a Naming Ceremony to give Baby its name!

Anyone interested in participating in Heart of the Dragon Festival should contact 01559 371427