Part Three of the Council Meeting

The next topic for discussion was the O2 Mast - and in this case, all the councillors felt that they had done all that it was possible for them to do as a council. After all, they had made their feelings known when the planning application went through (they were all against it). Any further protests or campaigning, they felt, should be left to those members of the public who feel passionately about it.

One of those is Peter Limbrick, who is planning a Health Survey with the help of Prof. Chris Busby of Green Audit. The idea is that they measure the health of the town now, and come back again in a year or so to see if there have been any changes. This will cost around £500 and they are asking for help with donations and to get the survey forms out to residents, and collecting them back.

In general discussion of the topic, it was mentioned that the UK regulations on phone masts are actually more stringent than those in Italy and Switzerland, which had been held up as the best in Europe. Apparently, staff at Hay School don't have the wifi switched on all the time, either - when they don't need it during the day, it is switched off.

Ellie Spencer went to the stakeholder's meeting on Bronllys Hospital recently.
One of the topics of discussion there was the move of the stroke unit from Bronllys to Brecon, and she felt there was a need for an explanation of the clinical necessity for the move (rather than a move designed to save money or to run down the services at Bronllys). The people at the meeting were talking of Bronllys as a "mixed use site" rather than as a hospital, with a vision of some sort of care home, out patient services, and offices.
Roger Williams, MP, commented that they had made their decisions before the consultation took place, and Kirsty Williams, AM, asked where people were supposed to go for treatment as beds closed. Meanwhile, building work is going on at Brecon hospital to remove asbestos.
During the meeting, the people in charge changed their minds several times about whether members of the public would be allowed to speak, and in the end decided that they wouldn't.
The next meeting of Bronllys Hospital League of Friends will be on 13th February at 10.30am at the hospital, and they are holding their AGM on Wednesday 20th March.

The council then got on to reading through the letters they had received since the last meeting.
One of these was from a fast food business called Big Pan. They used to have a stall in the Honesty Gardens during Hay Festival until last year, when Elizabeth Haycox changed all the stalls there. They have asked if they could set up their Big Pan on the grass in front of the Council Chambers for the Festival - and then added that they would need electricity, and water, and toilets, and access to a room to lock their stuff up at nights.
The request was denied - the Council, they felt, is there to look after local businesses. They didn't mind food stalls being set up around town for the Festival - there is clearly a need, and the local cafes and take aways can't cope with all the demand - but it shouldn't be in front of the Council Chambers. (Gareth Ratcliffe went and made himself a cup of tea while this was discussed, as the owner of a take away business himself).

The Fair on the Square have also made a request for financial assistance over the Festival, as they felt they couldn't ask local businesses for as much this year. Any money they raise during their weekend will be going towards the Cheesemarket Restoration. Since the Council has a tiny budget anyway, they felt they couldn't help - and if they did want to help, it would make more sense to give the money direct to the Cheesemarket rather than to Fair on the Square.

The Beacons Bus was also making a request for funds, as they're having their funding cut this year.

Finally, before I crept away, there was news of a proposed media/arts project centred around the Castle. As far as I can make out, they are talking about a new opera, based on the Mabinogion, to be performed in the Castle in 2014 during Hay Festival, with a DVD, with a theme of what it is like to live in a Border town. Elizabeth Haycox and Peter Florence both support this. I'm not a great fan of opera, but it does sound like a lot of fun!