Council Meeting - Signs and Memorials, toilets and speeding cars

There are plans to put up some new fingerpost signs around town - there's a grant for them of £10,000. Gareth has been looking at different designs, in oak and metal. They would point to "Town Centre" and "The Warren" and so on, and would perhaps provide pointers for a circular walk around Hay. He'll be looking for local companies to provide quotes, but brought along some pictures of the sort of thing that could be done.
Meanwhile, down on the Gliss, there are plans for signs too, including interpretative signs, such as showing the different sorts of butterflies that can be seen there. There were several grumpy comments about having to have bilingual signs, and couldn't the Welsh be really small? Another sign to be put up down there would be the Environmental Agency's Code of Conduct.
Down at the picnic area, Alan and Rob noticed how horrible the dog fouling is, and it was suggested that a fence be put up along the edge - so that the dogs that are let off the lead at the top of the path will run straight past the picnic area, and it won't matter so much that their owners aren't picking up the poo. Rob Golesworthy said he could build a fence at cost price.
Just recently, a birch tree blew down around the picnic area. It's been tidied up, but there was a suggestion that a new one should be planted as a memorial to Nigel Birch. He served for 40 years on the council, and they feel that something should be done to mark this. However, it was pointed out that several serving councillors have died over the past few years, and nobody thought of having a memorial to any of them. Other suggestions were a plaque on a bench, or naming a road or area after Nigel. The Nigel Birch Picnic Area has quite a ring to it!
And on the subject of councillors, there is, of course another vacancy for a new one, and there will be an advert going out shortly.

Meanwhile, other matters are dragging along in the usual way - the railings at the end of Castle Street haven't been mended yet. The solicitor at Williams Beales doesn't seem to have done anything about the transfer of land from Welsh Water to the Council, and they're thinking about finding someone else. Giles hasn't done anything about the website yet.
They're still waiting for Powys County Council to respond about the toilets. The company that the Town Council are dealing with to take them over, Healthmatix (?) want another meeting to go into greater detail. There was a suggestion that a percentage of the car park income would be handed to the Town Council to fund the toilets, but it does seem to be very expensive to get everything set up - one person said that hiring portaloos would be cheaper!
The police said they couldn't come to the Council meeting - but they did have a speed trap on Newport Road to see if there was a speeding problem there. However, they did it near the entrance to Hay and Brecon Farmers, so the results could have been skewed by people slowing down to turn in to the gates. So they're going to be asked to do it again, nearer to the steep slope.

And Mac's roadsweeping vehicle has been taken away by the County Council - but he's being expected to do the same work with a broom! This is one of the areas that the County Council want to devolve onto the Town Council, and they wondered about getting a Hay roadsweeping machine, and paying a company to come and clear the drains periodically, because the County Council don't seem to do it with any regularity.