You can download a printable copy of the colour poster below in English or in Welsh . Or you can download a printable black and white flyer.

Congratulations all those who voted to nominate our playground. We have now been short listed in the competition to receive the £10,000 grant to refurbish a needy playground. Even if you have already voted to nominate our playground, please vote for us again in the main competition starting Tuesday May 6th.

The winner will be the playground with the most votes, so the Action Group and King George V Playing Fields Committee are urging as many people as possible to vote for our playground by following the link below and clicking the link showing the percentage total for our site. You will need to register with the website in order to vote.

www.mygoodyear.co.uk/buddyZone/

Posters asking people to vote for our park are being put up around town. If you would like to display one or put one up at work, please email Fiona White at nce.actiongroup@btinternet.com

Please get your family to vote too, or send your friends our
special electronic postcard with pictures of the playground and a request to vote.

Thanks!

For late breaking news, please go to the comments section at the foot of this page.

Photos of the play area

The articles were written following ill-tempered exchanges between Town Councillors at their monthly meeting last week. The Councillors were not aware of the good progress being made by the Action Group and Playing Fields Committee and some made very negative comments. The Tivyside newspaper did not contact the organizers to ask for a campaign update before publication of its article.

Sue Tabbitt

Sue Tabbitt of the Action Group explained to Newcastle-emlyn.com that:

“The Action Group is now working closely and proactively with the King George V Playing Fields Committee (of which I am a member), to ensure that we are all working together for a rapid resolution to this ongoing problem of a lack of decent outdoor play facilities for the children of this town.

“Members of the Action Group have now joined the Playing Fields Committee and Fiona White, now a Town Councillor, now attends meetings and is working closely with us on tracking down new grants to apply for, and on filling in the forms very comprehensively.

“We had a very successful Bingo Night at the local sports club earlier this month (early April) which was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and more are planned.

“The Fun Day** will make full use of the Playing Fields and aims to make a big splash, with bouncy castles, an auction of promises, and loads of child-oriented activities (face painting, crafts, etc). A big feature of the day is that Playworld UK, a firm which makes and fits playground equipment, is coming down, free of charge, with laptops and images, so that the town’s children (of all ages) can participate proactively in designing their own ideal playground, to make them feel more involved, and so that the town can see what the new playground could look like if the funds come in this year.

“We urge everyone to support come and support the event, and this important cause.”

Sue Tabbitt has written to the Tivyside newspaper to correct their article.

**The Fun Day referred to above will take place on Saturday 31st May, between 10am and 4pm, at the current playground site in Newcastle Emlyn on the King George V playing fields, next to the central car park. All are welcome; there will be activities for all. All funds raised go directly towards the new playground.

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Click for larger image

They are also involved in the campaign to make their town a plastic bag free zone. The grant from Action Earth was to help them improve their surroundings with sustainable, natural play equipment. Year 6B had already built a willow dome and the tunnel is a fantastic addition. The tunnel was planted and woven by a team of volunteers. The Eco Committee would like to thank everyone who helped and particularly Action Earth and Morrisons for their support.

A group of mothers of young children have called for urgent improvements to the play area in Newcastle Emlyn’s “King George V Playing Fields”. They have described the play equipment as “unsafe, and a disgrace to the town” and plan to take their children to a play area in Llandysul (8 miles away), if Newcastle Emlyn’s facilities are not upgraded by the summer.

Fiona White, a spokeswoman for the group, said:

“The equipment doesn’t meet with safety regulations. It is broken and dangerous. How the Town Council website can say, under amenities, it “boasts” a children’s play park is a wonder to me! It’s not something I would boast about!

“The slow rate at which the playing fields committee has raised funds over its 28 year history has simply not been sufficient to maintain or replace the equipment. The situation is now desperate and a lump sum is needed to make real improvements.

“We feel that the community which pays already through Council Tax together with the revenue the car park must generate, should not be chased year after year to buy raffle tickets, when the target amount to be raised is so far beyond our reach. After 28 years, the community is naturally very disheartened and sceptical about whether anything will change if things continue to be tackled as they are. Having a decent, safe play area for the town’s children is a basic right, yet in Newcastle Emlyn it is simply not being met. With Government targets to tackle obesity and the sedentary lifestyle many families slip into, surely this is the perfect opportunity to make a difference in our town.

“The Chairman of the Playing Fields Committee has told us that an application has been made to the National Lottery Fund, but a successful outcome cannot guaranteed so we have written to Carmarthenshire County Council asking for support. They have been helpful but say it is not their responsibility and pointed us towards “Fields In Trust” for ideas.

“We have decided to try and move things forward by starting an action group and organising a petition. This will show any funding body that the strength of community feeling on the issue. I encourage everyone to sign the petition and give us their thoughts on how to proceed.”

Downloaded the petition for printing

• Download petition in Acrobat (PDF) format
• Download petition in Word (DOC) format

The action group can be contacted at nce.actiongroup@btinternet.com

Photos of the play area

Many of the guests were photographed as they entered. Their photographs can be viewed below.

“Apologies to anyone I photographed but their pic doesn’t appear. The lighting was very poor and I had to rely on slow exposures, which meant that some were blurred.” - Jeremy Clulow

Click image below to view gallery in pop-up window
Close window to return to this page

A YouTube preview of the film will soon be available along with details of how you can buy it on DVD.

Here are a few other pictures of the event.

Plaid Member of Parliament for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (which includes Newcastle Emlyn) Adam Price has won the British Computer Society’s first award for the best Parliamentary website.

Adam’s bilingual website was selected as overall winner and considered to be “an outstanding example” of the very best incorporation of the three qualities:

• Design
• Engagement
• Accessibility

Judging of all MP websites was undertaken by BCS President Professor Nigel Shadbolt and key political journalists including Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail, Patrick Wintour of the Guardian, Michael Kallenbach of UK Press Gazette and - to ensure broad appeal to all ages - Matthew Darroch Thompson (aka Webster) of The Oldie Magazine.

Click to visit website

Because accessibility is vital in engaging people with disabilities, all sites were also appraised by AbilityNet, the national charity that helps disabled adults and children use computers and the internet by adapting and adjusting their technology.

In response to the award Adam commented:

“I am delighted to have won this. I am very proud that the efforts we have made to ensure that I am accessible to my constituents have been recognised. In today’s digital age people want to be able to raise their concerns in many different ways. We have two full time offices that anyone can just pop in or phone and the next step was to allow people to use the internet. It has been a fantastic way of interacting with people and has really helped me tackle some of the major issues in Carmarthenshire.”

See also item on CCTV in Newcastle Emlyn.

Anyone who has seen the film Hot Fuzz will remember the small fictional town of Sandford in Gloucestershire to which police sergeant Nicholas Angel is exiled by the Metropolitan Police force because he is just too good at his job and shows up his colleagues.

Sandford has a Neighborhood Watch Association (NWA) which through it’s CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) system manned by volunteers, holds the town in its claustrophobic grip, viewing everything outside its comfort zone of white, middle aged and middle class with suspicion and hostility.

Sergeant Angel eventually discovers that anyone seen as threatening the rural status quo is being systematically liquidated for what the NWA sees as “the greater good”. The film ends in an exhilerating Hollywood style shootout. (Contains strong language).

Cut to the UK. We have more CCTV cameras (5 million) per head of population (60 million) than any other nation. We have 1% of the World’s population, but 20% of its video cameras and are the most “observed” country in the World.

Cut to Newcastle Emlyn West Wales, population 1,000 where the Town Council is keen to see the installation of 9 CCTV cameras costing £19,000 in order to observe the comings and goings of it’s inhabitants (although the TC would argue, just the unruly ones). Is this a legitimate response to an increase in vandalism and unruly behaviour, or simply overkill given the nature of the problem? Are there local police crime statistics to support the CCTV proposal?

The main dilemma regarding the use of CCTV is explained by Jonathan Bamford, assistant commissioner at the Information Commissioner’s Office:

“It is clear that use of CCTV enjoys a lot of public support and can have benefits such as helping with the detection of crime, however, it can be extremely intrusive, putting law abiding people under surveillance. It is essential that the public is confident that CCTV is being used responsibly and for a proper purpose.”

Some CCTV operators have even begun to include audio in their CCTV use. Some local authorities have begun fitting speakers beside cameras so that operators can admonish wrongdoers observed on camera in real-time.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned that CCTV must not be used to record conversations. The Commissioner has proposed a new Code of Practice on the use of CCTV to replace the current code adopted in 2000.

I hope that a similar consultation has been taking place in Newcastle Emlyn amongst shopkeepers and residents about the Town Council’s push for CCTV. A public meeting was held on Friday October 12th about the proposals but it was poorly attended, with less than 10 of the 100 town businesses represented and under 30 people, which includes the whole 10 person Town Council. Absence from that meeting however doesn’t imply consent. A proper survey of opinion should be carried out and the results made public. The enthusiasm of a few people for the surveillance society and the silence of the majority cannot be the basis for the installation of cameras in the town.

Those who see technology as the answer to social problems and who wish to covertly observe the lives of the vast majority of non-rowdy, sober and law-abiding citizens must demonstrate an overwhelming case before being allowed to impose their solutions on the rest of us. They must also explain in detail who will have access to recordings or live broadcasts of the comings and goings of towns people. Will everyone having access to the system be Criminal Records Bureau checked? Who will own the recordings? Wireless video systems such as the one being proposed are also vulnerable to their wireless signal being intercepted by hackers working from laptop computers.

It is up to the CCTV enthusiasts to demonstrate that the electronic surveillance approach is vital to keep law and order on Newcastle Emlyn High Street from the Bridge Street to Emlyn Square (for that is the only area of the town which would be covered by the CCTV) and that the thousands of pounds going into the project couldn’t more effectively be spent on other crime prevention measures.

Have your say below and let’s have the debate first, followed by the decision, rather than vice-versa.

The Planning Committee of Carmarthenshire County council have followed the recommendation of their planning department and refused planning permission for a further 3 wind turbines on the 1000ft Moelfra Hill site, two and a half miles south of Newcastle Emlyn.

At their meeting on Thursday 28th September 2007 councillors rejected the planning application by 11 votes to 7, despite strong support for the project from the local Cenarth Community Council and local County Councillors Haydn Jones and John Crossley.

Download the Planning Recommendation as a PDF

Members of the Blaen Bowi Action Group were delighted by the decision, and vowed to continue their campaign in the expectation that the planning applicants would appeal to the National Assembly for Wales.

Download a leaflet summarizing the objectors’ arguments. (PDF Format)

September 24th - Planners recommend refusal of more Blaen Bowi wind turbines

Carmarthenshire County Council Planning Department have recommended that planning permission for a further 3 turbines at Moelfre Hill, known as “Blaen Bowi Wind Farm” outside Newcastle Emlyn be refused.

The final decision will be taken by the 22 member Planning Committee at their meeting on Thursday 27th September 2007 at 10.30am.

The reason for recommending refusal is that the development would, they believe, be contrary to Carmarthenshire’s own policy on wind turbines.

Below is the concluding section of the planning document which can be Downloaded here (Acrobat format).

Jeremy Clulow gets the ball rolling…

The “Heart of the Dragon” Festival this summer was a huge success. The people who made it a reality worked their butts off for two years - first of all developing the concept, then obtaining grant funding and then organizing the weekend of activities and festivities. We are all in their debt for showing true community spirit and commitment to their home town, especially in the face of negativity and skepticism from many people, including the majority of Town Councillors.

Click for larger image

The success of the festival would you might think have buttoned the lip of any residual whingers, but sadly that has not been the case. Someone was ignorant enough to suggest in the Cambrian News that the grant money obtained for the festival would have been better spent on CCTV cameras (Closed Circuit Television) and other projects for the town.

The Dragon Festival Committee took on the task of organizing a Dragon Festival. They donated hundreds of hours of their time to achieve that goal, and they succeeded. Anyone wanting CCTV is free to form a committee, research possible funding, make the application and get the dosh. We would all then applaud them for their hard work and application. What is totally unacceptable is to stand on the sidelines and carp about how other people’s money would have been better spent on your own pet projects.

Anyone who has got time to write to the newspaper to moan, has got time to write for grant application forms. Maybe then, and only then, they will realise how much work is involved, and how stupid - if not illegal - is the notion of spending even one penny of the money, obtained specifically for the Dragon Festival, on anything other than the Dragon Festival.

Below is the very measured and polite response (as always) from Pamela Gaunt of the Festival Committee to the coverage in the Cambrian News.

Pamela Gaunt of the Dragon Festival Committee