Council Meeting - Traffic and Roads, Floods and Bethesda Chapel

I've been a bit slow about getting round to writing this up - I've been going out in the evenings quite a bit in the last week.

I came into the meeting a bit late, to find a discussion about the lane beside the proposed development next to Gypsy Castle in progress. They were talking about upgrading it in some way. The fire alarm was beeping at intervals - apparently someone was supposed to come earlier in the day to fix it, but they hadn't turned up.
The National Parks are still deliberating about the planning application for the 80 houses. One of the most important things for them to consider will be the drainage problems of the site. Rob Golesworthy said that he'd spoken with the developers and is now satisfied with their ideas for the pond they want to build as part of the flood defences for the area, but traffic calming still needs to be looked at. The Highways Department can't put down speed bumps around Gypsy Castle, and a chicane would cost around £10,000, and is not a priority for the County. A 20 mile an hour limit would be good, but the Welsh Assembly only want to have 20 mile an hour areas around schools. Another problem comes where the road narrows by the church - there were suggestions that a one way system would ease matters, but this would have to be worked out between Persimmon, the County Council and the landowners.
There are also difficulties with the Powys Local Development Plan, including an access road.
There have been problems with speeding on Newport Street, but the police are aware of it. This is another place where better signage might make a difference. One of the councillors suggested that someone from the Highways Department should be invited to speak to the council to explain what the criteria are for this sort of thing.
The car park on the Gliss had some flooding at the beginning of the month - further up the Wye there was a lot of flooding at Builth Wells. Apparently the police said that someone from the County Council was supposed to be coming down with sand bags, but nobody saw any signs of them.
Welsh Water want to move the gate to the water treatment works down there, to make it easier for their tanker to come in and out, and it was suggested that this would be a good opportunity to clarify the ownership of the land between them and the Council.

On a happier note, Bethesda Evangelical Church has re-opened after a long period of rebuilding work. Alan Powell went along to the opening service and met the new young pastor. They will be having a Christmas service at 10.30am on 20th December.