Cash Machine Back

 Someone said on Facebook that the cash machine in the craft centre is working again, so I checked this morning, and it is.  The toilets are still closed, however.

According to the Powys County Times, NoteMachine, the owners of the cash machine, had to order a new security door for the machine - and it took between six to eight weeks to be delivered! 

Crime in the Craft Centre

 

This is the first time I've had a chance to get up to the Craft Centre, where someone tried to break into the ATM on Sunday.  They failed, but damaged the wall inside the building badly enough that the toilets have had to be closed until further notice, until the damage can be repaired.  Obviously, the ATM isn't working either, but cash can be obtained from the Post Office across the road.

The miscreants have not been caught yet. 

Craft Centre Toilets

 When I went up to use the cash machine yesterday, I was pleased to see that the public toilets in the Craft Centre have re-opened.

I hope they don't get vandalised this time.

Craft Centre Toilets

 Sadly, the decision has been made to close the public toilets at the Craft Centre.  I'm not sure whether this is intended to be permanent.  Apparently there has been a long term problem with vandalism, and the damage has been severe enough to need engineers (and presumably plunbers) to put right.  Also, the cost of running the toilets is higher than the takings from them, and since the Town Council makes up the shortfall in funds, this means there is less money available for other projects around Hay.

 

The rather tatty little sign visible in the picture has more information:

 The lower note, in a different hand, says: "There's also free toilets available at the Castle, through the gift shop, 1 at Cinema Bookshop, 1 at Richard Booths bookshop, or go into any cafe, honestly the locals are nice enough, don't care."

The unisex toilet on the other side of the block is still open (opposite the St Michael's Hospice shop) and the toilets by the Clock Tower are still open. 

Gradually Locking Down

The chip shop is open, but customers are being asked to shout out their orders from the doorway, and the staff will bring them out.
Up at one end of town, the Blue Boar has closed, and down at the other end of town, so has the Globe.
Booth's Cinema is also closed for the duration.
All the schools in Wales are closing on Friday, so that's Hay and Clyro locally, and English schools are closing too, basically extending the Easter holidays.
Meanwhile, Powys County Council have been asked if they will be re-opening or funding public toilets - they say they won't, but Public Health Wales can provide posters reminding people to wash their hands!
As far as I know at the moment, most of the bookshops are staying open - but the Poetry Bookshop is closed.
Cartref is restricting visitors to safeguard the elderly residents there.
Hay Market is going on as usual tomorrow, but I think the Antique Market on Friday is cancelled.
Lots of local shops are offering a delivery service.

I'm feeling very grateful to my Young Man for bringing me an excellent bottle of whisky when he came up - I think I'm going to need it!

Public Meeting about County Council Cuts - Here We Go Again!

The school hall was full when I got there - several of us latecomers ended up on a low bench by the wall. Most of the Town Council were there, along with Gareth Ratcliffe, James Gibson-Watt, and another local County Councillor who is also on the Cabinet - he's the one who was recently involved in a bit of controversy because he was in New Zealand, but he's back now.
There was a bit of faffing around to start with, because the tech didn't work, so they couldn't show the presentation they'd put together. Instead it was Mayor Trudy Stedman with a sheaf of notes and a microphone in her hand.

And here's a plea from someone who has been in many public meetings - if there is a microphone, USE THE MICROPHONE! And don't just hold it, bring it up to your mouth, and speak loudly as well, so that those of us at the back or with less than perfect hearing can follow what's being said!

So, Trudy introduced the County and Town councillors, and gave a brief run down of the story so far.
Starting around 2015, the Town Council spent two years negotiating with the County Council to save the public toilets and other public assets for the town. This involved the County Council giving the Town 20% of the car park takings, on the strength of which the Town Council took out a £70,000 loan to improve the toilets, which they took over the running of.
Then there was an election in May 2017, and the new Cabinet refused to honour that agreement.
In the September, Hay Town Council had a meeting with the new Cabinet which was described as "acrimonious". They could not come to a new agreement.
In December 2018 the Cabinet finally got round to discussing the matter at County Hall. The Town councillors watched the live webcast of the meeting, which is the only way they found out what decisions the Cabinet had made - there has still not been an official letter telling them the outcome.
The Cabinet decided that Hay would have no car park income.
The County Council would write off the £70,000 loan, which the Town Council were supposed to be paying back at £10,000 a year (no money has yet changed hands).
This looked at first sight to be a good deal, until the Town Council worked out that, under the original agreement, they should have had £95,000, and repaid £45,000 by now, so the Town Council would lose out. They have taken legal advice and been told that they have a strong case against the County Council, as the original agreement has been operational, so the County Council should give Hay the money they originally agreed. However, the cost of mounting a legal action against the County Council has to be considered.

The County Council has given Hay two options about the toilets (at the Clock Tower and Craft Centre). The first is that the Town Council continues to run them, and the second is to give them back to the County Council, but with no guarantee that the County Council would keep them open. Currently the County Council only directly run two sets of toilets - the ones in Brecon and the ones at Ystradgynlais bus station. All the other toilets in the county have been hived off to be run by smaller councils and groups of volunteers.
The toilets cost £30,000 a year to run, and bring in an income of £18,000. This is 90,000 people paying 20p a time (slightly more people than that used the toilets last year, but that's how many paid for it).

This was the first appeal to the public - should the Town Council fight to keep the toilets open?
Alistair Shaw (who didn't need a microphone!) said that a town with no public toilets was crazy - Hay would lose all the tourists who come here.
Trudy also said that the Town Council had considered raising the precept to cover the cost (this is the amount of money Hay Town Council gets to run the town, presently £42,000 a year), but they thought this would be unfair, as it is visitors who use the toilets, not locals.
Sean O'Donaghue asked if there was a Disability Rights issue here? There is legislation to say that a town needs to have a toilet for the disabled, with level access for wheelchairs.
The Deputy Chair of the Chamber of Commerce was also present, and he said that the Chamber of Commerce has no income, apart from a small amount of membership fees, and that most of the money they raise goes towards the Christmas Lights, so they can't really help.

Other areas of concern include the Sports Pavilion. Here there is qualified good news - the town has been offered a 99 year lease of the building, and the bowls club have been given permission to build the pavilion they want. However, without the income from the car park, the Town Council cannot give as much money as they would like to the running of the sports facilities, so the sports clubs have to do more fund raising.

The Council Chambers were also discussed at the Cabinet meeting in December, where it was decided that the Town Council would be given 12 months notice to leave the premises. The County Council were apparently surprised to discover that the Town Council has tenants in the building (from whom they gain income for the town), including Dial a Ride. Apparently someone at the Cabinet meeting said that "We will make sure the tenants are okay," but the Town Council has no idea what they mean by this. They also don't know when the 12 months notice starts from, because the County Council have not contacted them officially yet. Trudy was asked where the Council would meet when they lost the building, and answered: "No idea!"

The Library is also under threat - again, along with the 9 other rural libraries that were threatened last time. However, the big libraries in the county, such as Brecon and Newtown, are not being asked to find savings, even though it is the rural areas that need libraries more. Gareth has asked questions at County Hall about this.

Another loss to the town will be the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths. At present they only come (and use an office in the Council Chambers) for two days a week, and this will cease. In future people will have to go to Brecon for this service. The Registrar is also being withdrawn from Builth Wells, Knighton and Llanidloes.

Tomorrow, I'll cover the questions from the floor....

Toilets for Timbuktu

Some good news from Hay2Timbuktu, as seen in this month's WyeLocal!
They have been collecting funds to build new toilet blocks at three high schools in Timbuktu, and have reached the target!
Work will be carried out over the schools' summer break, and next term the girls will be able to go to the toilet in privacy, and will not have to miss school at "that time of the month" as they had to before.
Meanwhile the Medics for Timbuktu have been supporting two girls going through midwifery training, and there is a bursary project which helps girls to stay in school as well. The present project finishes this summer but they think that they will be able to get funding for two more years to help girls at Alkaya Yehia and Fondogoumo schools, and to develop the project in Alpha Daouna school.
One of the teachers involved in the project, Ali Sidi, who teaches English at Alkaya Yehia, has secured a place on a teacher training course at Bamako University to further his English studies - and he's also just got married (his fiancée is a midwife).

Council Meeting - Water, Bench, Floral Displays, Toilets and The Car Park

So this Monday I headed down to the Sports Pavilion, which turns out to be a pretty decent place to hold a meeting apart from the noisy heater (which was essential, because it was bitterly cold outside).
When I arrived, the Council was talking about the legal requirement to test the water in the public toilets and the sports pavilion (I think for Legionnaires Disease), and how Healthmatic, who run the toilets, had failed to do the test so far - so they won't be asked to do the sports pavilion. The Council are looking for someone who will do the tests.

And there's a new bench opposite the Cinema Bookshop! This one has a wooden seat and wrought iron ends. The Agincourt bench has been taken away to be spruced up a bit, and it will be sited on Hay Bridge, and the bench there will be moved (I didn't catch where it was going to). So the Council can finally get in touch with the lady who was driving the car that ran into the original bench, as she said she would pay for the damage. Gareth Ratcliffe has the brass plaque that was fixed to the original bench, in memory of Arnold Wesker, so that can now be put on the new bench.
The Council will now go ahead with getting a bench for Bell Bank, now they know how much it costs (installation was only £55) and how easy it is.

The EU auditor has been, looking into the records of the Two Towns One World project that the Council had to take over to bring to completion - and he's mostly happy, apart from querying the fact that rent was charged for the room that the project co-ordinator was using. There was paperwork spread all over the office, apparently, but they managed to find every detail that was needed!

There will be celebrations of Hay's independence again this year, around the 1st April, and the Council will be taking part. They will be awarding the Citizen of the Year Award - there have been several nominations already - and also doing at least one workshop on making hanging baskets in the Parish Hall, as part of Hay in Bloom. They're hoping to get donations of plants and other supplies for this, and they're hoping to encourage local businesses to take part and brighten up the shop fronts.
There was also talk of a planter to be put at one of the entrances to Hay, possibly in the shape of a pile of books.
They also wondered if there was any way of linking the floral displays with the World War One commemorations later in the year.

And negotiations with the County Council about the revenue from the car park are continuing. After the County Council said that they would not honour the agreement made with the previous Cabinet, by which Hay Council would receive a percentage of money from the car park to pay for the extra responsibilities they have taken on, such as the toilets, there seems to be a bit of a change of mind. A report will now be put before the new Cabinet, with all the correspondence that passed between Hay and the County Council for the original agreement, and Gareth, as county councillor for Hay, will be asking questions of the Cabinet on behalf of the town council.
This is also linked to all the asset transfers that are supposed to be going on, with the town council taking over responsibilities from the County Council, and the outcome of the negotiations has major implications for the working of the town council.
The main problem is the public toilets. 80,000 people a year use them, and if there were no public toilets, tourism to the town would decrease. The town council took over the running of the toilets, and took out a loan to pay for the refurbishment, on the understanding that they would be able to pay the loan back with the revenue from the car park. If the money is not forthcoming, the town council may not be able to afford to continue the contract with Healthmatic.
The councillors were sure that the County Council would argue that Hay was asking for too much, since there are also ongoing negotiations about the new cemetery and community centre provision, and that other towns in Powys would think that Hay was getting something they weren't.
But Hay is only trying to hang on to the assets they have - the town council isn't asking for anything extra.
There will be a meeting soon with Liam Fitzpatrick from the County Council, and the councillors will be making sure that they have definite figures on how much they need to run the services in Hay.
There's also the principle at stake that the County Council can't make an agreement and then refuse to honour it just because there's been an election.

Celebrating Ten Years of Hay Being Twinned with Timbuktu!

I looked back through my blog - and the first post I ever wrote about Timbuktu was on 7th January, 2007!
Back then, Ann Brichto had entered Hay in a competition to become twinned with Timbuktu - the other finalists were York and Glastonbury - and the Malians were preparing to come to the UK to visit each town and decide who they liked the best.
So that was the start of it, and things were very different in 2007. Mali was a poor country, but mostly stable, and Timbuktu was encouraging tourism for its history (it was a great centre of learning in the middle ages, with thousands of manuscripts), interesting mud architecture, and the Festival in the Desert. The idea of the twinning originally was that the people of Timbuktu had a lot to offer the outside world, and Hay could support them in that.
And then came 2012, and civil war, and everything changed. A lot of the aid agencies moved out because it was too dangerous to continue. The Islamist insurgents attempted to destroy the priceless manuscripts - some were saved by local people, who took them out to the desert to hide them.

Charlie English has written a book about this, called The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu, and he'll be talking about it at Booths Bookshop on 7th November at 7pm. There will also be a three course dinner, costing £20, with the proceeds going to Hay2Timbuktu's new project sponsoring two young women through their midwife training in Timbuktu. Tickets are available from Eighteen Rabbit.

Alongside Hay2Timbuktu, HayMedics4Timbuktu became involved early on in the twinning relationship, with some medics going to Timbuktu to discuss projects they could help with. One of those projects was for antenatal health, so there's been a long relationship with the midwives there. At one point, a group of midwives came to Hay, to look at midwifery practice in the local area - and all the time they were here, not a single baby was born!
Money was also raised for a motorbike ambulance - fortunately, when it was sent over, it was held up in customs, so when the trouble started in Timbuktu, it was safe - and was eventually delivered to the clinic about two years later.
At the same time, Jump4Timbuktu began as a group mainly concerned with the artisans of Timbuktu. The Hay Makers Gallery is still selling Tuareg silver work and leather work, in a direct relationship with the artisans in Timbuktu.

There's also been a long relationship with three schools in Timbuktu, especially focussing on the education of girls. This was disrupted by the troubles there, but in 2011 a Girls Bursary Pilot project was launched, supporting 50 girls from poor families to go to school. This scheme is drawing to a close now, and seems to have been a great success. Short videos were shown of the mayor, and some of the teachers in the schools talking about the project and how it had helped, and there was one interview with one of the girls, now married with a small child, who said she was now a "very happy wife" thanks to the project. One of the trustees of Hay2Timbuktu is in weekly contact with one of the English teachers, who was seen on one of the videos. The sound wasn't great, but they are going to do what they can with the videos, which were taken on a phone and then emailed - internet access is very difficult from Mali - and will put them up on the Hay2Timbuktu website shortly.
Someone asked how the girls were chosen for the project, and it seems there was a committee of mothers who made the choice, along with teachers who knew which girls were likely to benefit most. The girls also had to come from a family where they had lost one or both parents - and some of them belonged to families where there were 18 children - so the parents were unlikely to be able to afford to educate all of them.
Most of the girls have gone on to college or the local lycee, and some have done nursing training, so the project really has made a big difference to their lives.

There have been other projects, too - three girls from the top class in Hay School decided they wanted to raise money to provide electricity for a school in Timbuktu - and they did it! Sadly, the insurgents destroyed all that good work.
Hay2Timbuktu has also sent out equipment for schools, and laptops (with the aid of Computers4Africa) and, in the worst times when Hay was one of the few links with the outside world that Timbuktu had, food aid.

Hay's Mayor Trudi Stedman also stood up to say a few words. She wasn't in Hay at the beginning of the twinning process, but she had been reading up about it, and listening to Ann Brichto relating her memories of the beginnings of Hay2Timbuktu, and she looked forward to the Town Council supporting Hay2Timbuktu in the future.
One idea was that short videos should be sent back to Timbuktu, including one from Hay's mayor to Timbuktu's mayor.

So that's the story so far - what about the future?
Well, it's Toilets for Timbuktu!
One of the problems with keeping girls in education is the difficulty of going to the loo. The toilet blocks at the schools are ancient, and mostly girls go home to go to the toilet, which means they miss classes (the boys can always manage somehow!). Girls having periods also have difficulties and many have to stay at home while they are bleeding, which means they miss 2 to 5 days of schooling every month. Also, the girls don't want to use the same toilets as the boys. New toilets with separate areas for boys, girls and the teachers, would help enormously.
Hay2Timbuktu are already involved with three schools in Timbuktu, and the plans are to build two toilet blocks, and refurbish a third. One of the problems with this scheme is that two of the major water aid agencies no longer operate in the north of Mali because it is still very dangerous there.
Donations to Toilets4Timbuktu can be made by visiting the hay2Timbuktu website or texting TMBK02 followed by the donation sum to 70070 - local donors can pop into Eighteen Rabbit.

As part of the AGM portion of the evening, three new trustees were brought onto the committee, one of whom was Louise Davies of Eighteen Rabbit. She's been a trustee before, so she knows what it's all about.

And finally, the Co-op provided the wine and crisps. A lady called Barbara is the new liason from the Co-op, and she said that her job was to link up with local charities and groups, as the Co-op wanted to get back to their original ethos of helping local communities. They have a scheme on their members card where the member can donate to a local cause. Members get 5% back on all Co-op products they buy, and can then give 1% of that to the local cause.

Council Meeting - Timbuktu and Tim the Gardener

The visitors from Timbuktu had a meeting with councillors to discuss the present situation in Timbuktu (still unsettled, with French peace keepers on the streets) and the projects that groups in Hay support in Timbuktu. They were also comparing the councils in Hay and Timbuktu, coming to the conclusion that Timbuktu council is more like Powys County Council in responsibility and powers. They are grateful that Hay has continued to support them through a difficult time - other twin towns seem to have lost touch with them, whereas Hay has maintained a constant line of communication.
One of the projects supported by Hay is building toilet blocks at schools, so that families have no excuse to keep their daughters at home, saying there are no facilities for them. Just doing that has improved girls' education in Timbuktu.
There was a suggestion that a week's taking from the Hay public toilets might be donated to this project, which would also create good publicity for Hay. (There have been a few problems with the toilets in Hay - the regular cleaners are great, but the weekend cleaners have been less good recently. Healthmatic are dealing with this, and also with the problem that some of the "validators" in the coin machines broke, despite the equipment being still quite new.)
There was also a suggestion that it might be a good idea for Hay councillors to visit Timbuktu, when the situation there is safer. The Mayor of Timbuktu would like to visit Hay, as well.
On April 1st next year, Hay will be celebrating 40 years of Independence, and ten years of twinning with Timbuktu through the Hay2Timbuktu group.

Some of the signs that were put up for the Timbuktu Trail around town need replacing, and councillors are going to contact Christina Wright, who painted them originally.

Thirteen people turned up for the defibrillator training course, which lasts about two hours, and is apparently very good. There is a defibrillator by the Clock Tower now.
The day after the course, Tim the Gardener collapsed in the car park, and there were people on the scene who knew exactly what to do because they had been to the course the previous evening! They certainly saved Tim's life. This has resulted in more enthusiasm for training, and another course will be arranged soon.
Tim spent ten days in hospital in Cardiff, but he is now back in Hay. I saw him yesterday, and though he says he has to take things slowly, he seems very well, considering. He's even been re-arranging his books at his shelves at Tinto House, bringing new stock down in his wheelbarrow.

Council Meeting - Schools, Town Plan, Toilets, British Legion and more

At the time of the Council meeting, around 500 tickets had been issued for the public meeting at Gwernyfed School on 20th April to discuss the closure of the school and the amalgamation with Brecon High School. The last I heard, somewhere around a thousand tickets had been issued!
Meanwhile a pamphlet has been given out at Hay School with details of Powys County Council's plans - Lizzie Harper did a precis of this which I blogged about a few days ago. Gareth Ratcliffe has been trying to get the County Council to debate the future of the secondary schools in full Council, rather than in the Cabinet - and the Council have taken legal advice on preventing this!
The Cabinet members claim that the changes to the secondary schools are all about improving educational standards - but Gwernyfed is doing well. In fact, Gareth got the Cabinet to commend Gwernyfed on it's high educational standards when he was allowed to ask a question.

Meanwhile, there's Hay School, and a contractor has been chosen to build the new school building - Wilmot Dixon. They will be consulting shortly on the design stage. Which will bear no resemblance to the previous consultations and plans that were available for a new school building.
There were ten applicants for the post of Head Teacher at Hay School, and interviewing will begin soon.
Rob Golesworthy also reported that the school swimming pool had been heavily used over the Easter holidays.

And on 21st April, there will be a meeting about the Hay Town Plan. The question now is, how to share the Plan with Hay residents? The National Parks press officer is using the computer game Minecraft as part of the planning consultation process, as things can be built in the game and changed around to see what they'll look like. Hay Scribblers are building a virtual Hay in Minecraft at the moment for planning discussions.
Hay Council AGM is next month, and at that point councillors will be asked to champion different parts of the Town Plan to take it forward. Transition Hay and the Affordable Housing group are also very interested in taking part.

Dial-a-Ride have asked if they can have a stall on the front lawn of the Council Chambers during the Festival - there was no objection to this, as long as they have public liability insurance and do a risk assessment (in case of people falling off the edge of the lawn - it's quite a steep drop in parts).

The British Legion are starting to think about commemorating the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and are planning an event by the War Memorial for 7th August. This will mean closing the car park, and could possibly be combined with the Food Festival, or celebrations for the Queen's 90th birthday. However, nobody really seemed to know what to do about the Queen's birthday.

They have, however, been thinking about getting the rates bill for the public toilets dropped. Apparently there is some mechanism whereby the County Council sends the bill out, but then negates it, so nothing is paid. There were several comments about the County Council failing to support local councils with all the extra responsibilities that the local councils have had to take on.
There was an attempted break in at the toilets by the Clock Tower, but Healthmatic have repaired the damaged door at no charge.

Mention was made of the field opposite the Co-op, which has planning permission for 26 new houses, 12 of which should be affordable (and which is just in Herefordshire). Apparently no housing associations in Herefordshire are interested in taking on housing there, because it's too far from their centre of operations, so it's possible that Wales and West Housing Association will be involved.

And finally, there has been a planning application from the Conservative Club to paint an oak tree on the side of the building - which apparently hasn't gone down very well with the National Parks. An artist's impression of what it would look like was passed round (personally, I think it would brighten the place up!), and no-one seemed to have any objections to it - but Rob Golesworthy declined to take part in a vote on the grounds that he's a member of the Conservative Party, and Gareth declined to vote because he drinks at the Con Club.

Council Meeting - Transfer of Assets and Funding

The Annual Christmas Party for the older residents of Hay will be held on 12th January at the Masonic Hall, at a price of £6.50, with the help of many local volunteers. Invitations should be going out now.
And also on a Christmas theme, comments have been made about there being no lights on Broad Street this year. Rob Golesworthy said that his shop would be prepared to put lights in the nearby trees, as long as they are pollarded, which will extend the lighting a little further.

Powys County Council seem to have gone very quiet about the Transfer of Assets to the local council. They were very keen to offload the responsibilities (such as the public toilets and the playing fields), but Hay Council hasn't seen any money yet from the car park, which was promised - this may be payable in April, and needs to be chased up so that someone at the County Council can give a definite answer.
And regarding the toilets - Rob Golesworthy has been keeping an eye on the ones by the Clock Tower, and has already fixed a couple of blockages. Local opinion seems to be along the lines of: "It's a pity we have to charge, but what an improvement!" The local person who cleans the toilets was praised - they're looking very good at the moment.

The lease for the playing fields has been agreed by the councillors, and was declared ready to pass back to HADSCAL for approval, so soon that should be resolved - apart from the part Powys County Council have to play. Once again, they haven't done anything that they were supposed to do. The various sports associations will have to see a copy of the new, improved lease as well.

There's another plea for new councillors! Two are needed to make up the numbers.

A Circus troupe would like to visit Hay next summer and have written ahead to ask about suitable places for them to pitch their tents.

The Council agreed to give £1,000 to Dial a Ride for 2016. They have also been asked for a contribution to the Hay Ho Sunday bus. Steve Like wanted to see figures for the year they have been running already, when they apparently made a loss - but someone did the maths and reckoned that, if they raised the fare by £1.50, they could cover their costs. Steve was also anxious to find out if other local councils along the bus route were being approached for money - which they are. I think Madley were the only ones who refused last year. Fiona Howard gave a grant to them when they started from the Mayor's Discresionary Fund.
They have also been asked for money from the Food Fair, and it was established that the Council usually give £250. One of the councillors said that they'd been to the Food Fair at Kington, and it was much better than the one in Hay! They suggested that the lighting in the marquee could be improved, and that they should remember that they fund this when they are thinking of how much precept to charge (that's the local part of Council Tax).

October Council Meeting - Planning, Gwernyfed School, Toilets, and Dog Poo

First of all, good wishes go to Nigel, the Town Clerk, who was rushed to hospital a few days ago.
Unfortunately for the Council, he was in the middle of doing several things that only he knew the details of - however, Heather stepped in as deputy Clerk for the evening.
One of these things was the electricity contract for the Council Chambers, which has been proving to be a nightmare to sort out. Apparently the Cheesemarket has been having similar problems with Ecotricity about their electricity contract, too.

The application for planning permission for the eighty houses on the edge of Hay has now been put in and the Council have 21 days to read through a document that's about four inches thick and make comments on the plan. It's very comprehensive, apparently, even including things like a dormouse survey. One of the councillors has been reading it online, from the Powys planning department. There will also be a public meeting shortly to discuss the plans.
Of particular interest to the Council was the "easement" that the developers had asked for, in order to drain the site across land owned by the Council. They could charge quite a substantial sum of money for this, though they still need to discuss it fully in the sub-committee meeting next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Steve Like is concerned about the sports and leisure facilities at Gwernyfed School. Last year he went to meetings where it was agreed to transfer the leisure facilities on the school property into the control of the school - and if the school closes, then the community facilities would close too. There has been no information at all from the County Council on this, though.

This year's Christmas Party for local old people will probably not be at the Swan this year. The hotel has been taken over by Llangoed Hall, and prices have risen somewhat. However, Picadilly Caterers from The Strand at Talgarth have given a much more reasonable quote, as long as the Council can find a hall to hold the party in. A few years ago, they tried the Masonic Hall, but there are problems of access there for disabled party goers. Picadilly Caterers are the ones who have the contract for the monthly luncheon club in Hay.

The Council website is almost ready to go! Giles just needs to do a bit of training with the people who will be updating the site.

A coin sorter has arrived, to count money from the turnstiles on the toilets - but Rob Golesworthy has tried it and can't get it to work for him. Heather will give it a trial run shortly. Fiona Howard suggested that a sign should be put up - "it only has to be laminated" - to explain why the toilets now have to charge 20p. She said that, when people are aware of the reasons, they are usually okay with it. However, there was a recent school trip that had problems because they weren't aware of the charges, and there weren't enough 20p pieces in the party to get them all into the toilets.
The Council have signed the loan agreement for the toilets, and the next step is to pay the contractor who did the upgrading work on them. Most comments about the toilets have been positive, praising the cleanliness (the cleaner is local).

Dog fouling remains a problem though - not quite so much with dog poo being left on paths, but with dog poo being picked up in plastic bags which are then flung into the bushes. More than one councillor has been round collecting them from the riverside path. At this point in the meeting, the lady sitting next to me in the public seats murmured that we should say that the riverbank is an SSSI, and maybe that would deter the dog poo flingers. In fact, the riverbank really is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), so she has a point.

Council Meeting - Toilets, Gwernyfed School, British Legion

The Town Council are advertising for an admin assistant to work for ten hours a week - they're pretty flexible about which ten hours, though the successful applicant would need to be on hand to take minutes at some evening meetings. They haven't had any actual applications yet, but a couple of people have made enquiries. The closing date for applications is next Monday.
Meanwhile, the new arrangements for the toilets at the craft centre seem to be going reasonably well. There have been a few complaints - there have been a couple of blockages which need to be sorted out, which appears to be Welsh Water's responsibility. The Tourist Information office have been given a contact phone number because they're the ones who seem to be getting people coming in if they have complaints.
A group from Ceredigion Council will be coming to Hay shortly to look at the toilets and see if they want to hire the company which did the work for their own toilets.
The work on the toilets by the Clock Tower is continuing, and should be finished in another two weeks (much to the relief of the bookshops on the other side of Broad Street - people haven't been going in to them because they can't be seen from the Pavement at the moment).

There was a meeting at Gwernyfed School a couple of weeks ago, attended by representatives of all the local councils in the area. There was lots of support for the school at the meeting - nobody wants it to close.
So the next step should be a public meeting, possibly at Hay School, to let everyone know what's happening so far. Rev. Charlesworth, the head of the school governors, would be available to speak at the meeting.
Steve Like suggested that, if there's going to be a meeting about schools, it should include the latest information about Hay School. And it would be useful to be able to get someone from the County Council to come down to explain what they're doing.
It was decided, after much debate, that it would be too confusing to have one meeting about both schools. One issue is a school being threatened with closure, and the other issue is a new school building, and they should be kept separate.

The British Legion are holding an event on the Town Square on 2nd August:

The councillors are invited, and it was suggested that the Recycling Fund could pay for the reception. The Town Square will be closed for the ceremony, which normally costs £260, but the County Council will be approached to waive the charge on this occasion, as it's a national event.

Council Meeting - Festival Buses and Toilets

So, the first part of the meeting was taken up with finding out where we were with ongoing projects. The transfer of land from Welsh Water, down at the Gliss, is still dragging on, mainly because the solicitor doesn't seem to have done anything about the record search. However, since the Council have been maintaining the land for years, it should be fairly easy to claim ownership.
Meanwhile there are still discussions going on about the information boards that the Council wants to put up there.
And someone along Gypsy Castle has put slabs down on Council ground that now need repair - the Council would be liable if anyone was injured and so they want them to be removed, just as the steps down the bank onto the railway line walk had to be removed, when someone put them in from the back of their garden a few years ago. On the way into the Warren there are more steps in the bank, but there it might be better for the Woodland Group to put proper steps in, because the short cut will carry on being used regardless.
Meanwhile Rob Golesworthy and Alan Powell have been repairing the Council Offices roof, but they need to put scaffolding up around the back to reach the wobbly guttering and fascia board. As this is a big job which would take three to four days, they will have to put it out to tender.
The website still isn't ready. The problem at the moment seems to be some work that has to be done by Giles' brother....

The shuttle bus for the Festival will not be going along Heol y Dwr this year. Instead, it will be going from the overflow car park in Clyro via Glasbury to the Festival site, and thus not going through the town at all. The Festival will be selling parking tickets along with event tickets this year, to minimise parking problems. There were problems with the corner by the Globe last year, with a lot of loading and unloading going on.
Steve Like wasn't happy that neither the Festival nor the Globe seems to have contacted the Council officially about their plans, though they do both seem to have spoken to Gareth Ratcliffe, who wasn't at the meeting.
It was also noted, with disapproval, that the metal frame for the staging by the side of the Globe has gone up again. If this is a temporary structure, though, there is nothing to be done about it except to make sure they take it down again when the Festival is over.

Money is being shuffled around the various Council accounts to pay for the renovation of the toilets, and the Council are also looking for a new part time admin assistant to cope with the extra work that the transfer of assets from the County Council will involve. This will be a 10 hours a week post (including some evening work) at £4,500 a year.
Healthmatic are the company chosen to do the work on the toilets, and they are looking for local contractors where possible. Two builders and an electrician have already shown an interest, and an advert has been put in Totally Locally. The Oxford Road toilets should be refurbished before the Festival, possibly even before May Bank Holiday, with the Clock Tower toilets due to be done in June.
The Clock Tower toilets will be changed from Ladies and Gents to one disabled toilet and one unisex toilet. It was decided that the radar key that wheelchair users can have will not be used with the disabled toilet - they will have to pay 20p to get in.
The plans for the changes seem to show a lot of unused space, and it was suggested that the market stalls could be stored there. However, some space is needed for maintenance, and there would not be enough room. At the moment, the Market has had to buy a vehicle and trailer (now that the space at the Cheesemarket is being used for other purposes) and are storing the stalls over in Clyro.

Council Meeting - Serious Financial Discussions About Toilets, Playing Fields and a Community Centre

I arrived just after seven, and the meeting had already started, so I missed the introduction of the new lady councillor. I should think that they also had a moment's silence in memory of Nigel Birch, who died in Bronllys just before Christmas after a short illness.
This means, of course, that they need to find another councillor to fill his place.

One of the main topics of the evening was the public toilets. The Council have had a quote of £80,000, which the company involved said was needed to refurbish the toilets. They haven't looked at any other quotes yet, though. They thought it might be possible to look at what needed to be done and use local contractors, who would probably be cheaper. The figures were £35,000 for the toilets at the craft centre and £45,000 for the ones at the Clock tower, which have not been refurbished as recently as the craft centre ones. This would be separate from the running costs, for which the County Council is now willing to provide a grant of £6,500 a year for five years if a town wishes to refurbish their toilets.
Crickhowell has recently had their toilets re-furbished in an eco-friendly way, but they may have got a grant to do it because they are on a trunk road. Nigel the town clerk is going to write and ask.

One option would be to close one set of toilets, at the craft centre, since the ones by the Clock tower have asbestos in the building.
Another option would be to charge for the toilets at the craft centre and keep the ones by the Clock tower free.

So how would the Council afford this? "Have we got any assets to sell?" one councillor asked, and the only suggestion that came up was the fishing rights, though no-one was sure who would want to buy them.

There is, of course, £200,000 sitting in a bank account which the Council cannot use - though one suggestion was to draw out £30,000 from that account, and get the County Council to pay in the £6,500 a year to top it back up, so they would have a lump sum to play with. The £200,000 was originally meant to be for a new community centre that never happened.

The Welsh Assembly say that councils must provide toilets - so do they have any grants available to make it possible? Kirsty Williams the AM will be asked about this.

The Town Council will also be meeting with Jeremy Patterson from the County Council soon to discuss what to do.

The County Council will also shortly be devolving the maintenance of the playing fields and pavilion onto the Town Council, at a cost of £8 - 9,000 a year.
There was a suggestion that the Pavilion, which includes the changing rooms for sporting activities, could be combined with a new community centre to save money (though this was one of the suggestions when there were plans to build a new community centre for the millennium, and it was a non-starter because community and sporting facilities needed different rules and the grants were different, so they had to be separate buildings). If the Town Council built their own community centre, rather than waiting for the combined school/community centre/library to be built, they could use the £200,000 on that. The land that they wanted to build the community centre on fifteen years ago is still available, near the doctors' surgery.

In Talgarth, a sports association have taken over the running of the facilities rather than the Town Council.

The councillors decided that an urgent meeting was needed with all the different sports clubs - tennis, bowls, football, rugby, cricket, and anyone else, as well as HADSCO, Hay's sports association. The children's play grounds will also be affected, mainly for the grass cutting through the year.

But we're not getting a reduction in rates while these responsibilities are devolved. In fact, there will be a four and a half per cent increase. However, it was pointed out that, as the County Council are devolving responsibilities down to Town Councils, so Central Government are devolving some of their responsibilities, in the area of social security, for example, to County Councils, so the financial burden on the County Council will not be reduced.
So one suggestion was that the Town Council itself tried to devolve responsibilities - for instance getting the newer housing estates to take responsibility for cutting their own lawns - "or they could have wild flower gardens instead - that would look nice!"

The Council Chambers was the next item to be discussed, and it all relates together, as the County Council wants to sell the building in order to pay for part of the building of the new school, which will also be replacing the community centre and library - but the Town Council don't want to move out if they are only being offered half an office for the Town Clerk to share with the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths, and the council meetings would have to be booked in the same room that all the community groups, competing for time with the WI and the cubs and so on.
On the other hand, the roof needs serious attention, which will be expensive. The lease has now run out on the building, so technically the Town Council and their tenants in the offices are squatting! However, as sitting tenants it will be hard for the County Council to remove them, especially as it was their fault that the lease ran out without an new arrangement being sorted out. So the Town Council are in quite a strong negotiating position. During this discussion, Rob Golesworthy described the Council Chambers as "a millstone with an income stream", because they do get an income from the tenants of the offices. If the Town Council offered to buy the building themselves, and later sold it, if they made any profit on the deal the County Council would demand the difference, so they don't want to do that - it would be nice, they mused, if the County Council just gave them the building - but then they would have the expense of fixing the roof....

Fairtrade Christmas Fair

It was a cold and frosty day, even in the Buttermarket, so the mulled wine and mince pies were most welcome, provided by the Fairtrade committee. I think just about every stall there had been before - Love Zimbabwe with their pottery and metal garden ornaments and printed fabrics, Zimele with felt Christmas tree decorations and finger puppets, the two Timbuktu twinning stalls with silver jewellery and leather boxes, and make your own lavender bags with local lavender and African printed cotton, and there were handbags and felted slippers and hats and mittens and gloves and wallets made out of re-cycled car tyres, and lots more.
Rob Golesworthy, who is Deputy Mayor this year, officially opened the Fair (sadly, George the Town Cryer couldn't manage to be there), and after his short speech he got chatting about some of the problems Hay faces in the future. To be specific - toilets.
"How much do you think a toilet door costs?" he asked. They have come to the conclusion that the Council will have to charge for use of the toilets in future, 20p seems to be the usual sum to "spend a penny" now, so they have been looking at exterior doors with a coin slot - and they cost £6,500! And they need four of them.
Jo was also keen to promote next year's Borderlines Film Festival, which she is involved in. The first weekend of the festival will be taking over the Festival of British Cinema, which started off as the brainchild of the Hay Film Society, and ran very successfully. Joining up with Borderlines takes it to the next level, and means they can do more, and get more publicity. For instance, Ken Loach has chosen the three films which most influenced his work, one of which is Brief Encounter.

December Council Meeting - Transfer of Assets

Members of the Council have been meeting with people from the County Council to sort out the details of taking over various "assets" and running them for the town. These are things that have been the responsibility of the County Council, but which they are now off-loading to save money. Most important among these are the toilets and the playing fields.
Over the course of several meetings, the County Council have apparently become much more reasonable. One of the newer councillors said that she'd been to one meeting, and then missed a couple, and when she attended the next, it was as if the people from the County Council were speaking a different language! All the local councils have been applying pressure for the best deal they can get, and the County Council seem to have realised that they have to work with the local councils if they want their plans to succeed.
Llandrindod Wells local council have been talking to contractors, according to the Mayor of Builth (so the various small councils have been talking to each other) to get quotes for cleaning contracts and so on. It might be possible for a group of small councils to band together to get a better deal (though if they have to band together to get something done - isn't that what the County Council is for?)
So Hay's councillors are moving ahead with a business plan for the toilets, even though the County Council haven't been able to supply them with accurate figures for the running costs. The trouble is, the County Council's bill is for a group of toilets, and it's almost impossible to break it down to individual toilet blocks. They will also be looking at the grass cutting costs for the playing fields.
However, one point that came up was - how will the County Council know if Hay is making a saving on the costs that they have been paying, if they don't know accurately how much those costs are?
And if Hay is running the toilets and playing fields, will Hay own the toilets and playing fields? Some of them were originally owned by Hay anyway, and given over to the County Council in the 1970s (it seemed like a good idea at the time). Talgarth Council have taken back their playing fields.
It's always best to go to the people who actually do the work to find out what's really happening, so Alan Powell is going to have a word with Mac, who services the toilets (amongst other things) at the moment. (Mac was the local celebrity who turned on the Christmas Lights last year!)

And on the subject of Christmas lights, there has been a gradual changeover from the old incandescent bulbs to new LED lights (which are much cheaper to run) over the last few years. The display costs about £4,000, shared between the Council and the Chamber of Commerce, and there needs to be a discussion between the two about how much each side will pay next year.
The street lights on Castle Street were dark for a few nights before the lights were switched on this year. I thought that they might have been switched off, to make the Christmas lights look more impressive when they came on - but it seems that they're actually broken, and the County Council haven't sent anyone to mend them yet, despite several complaints. The light by the school is still broken, too, and the school and the youth club have been asking for that to be fixed for months.
One of the new councillors asked about the lights that hadn't been put up this year, and at the end of the meeting I left them waiting for Nigel the Town Clerk to get the key so they could go down to the cellar to look.

Council Finances, and Matters Arising

No rest for the wicked! The latest Council meeting was straight after the end of the Festival. The new councillor, Belinda, was there, and they are still in the process of looking for another councillor to make up the full numbers. No-one has answered their advert so far.
From the last meeting, Gareth had discovered that the Highways department of the County Council were responsible for the cenotaph and the cleaning thereof, though he'll be going to do extra cleaning in time for the anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, and he'll also give them a push to apply for the grant that's available to repair the monument.
The Town Council have also contacted a Mr Lewis at Herefordshire County Council to request a meeting about the Sunday bus service, though there has been no response from him so far.
The rubbish left around the Gliss was moved, with the help of the owner, and the yellow car is supposed to be moved shortly.
Three fruit trees, recently planted, have been pinched. They're going to try to find replacements.
The website is nearly ready to go, and the councillors will be getting new email addresses shortly, too (apart from Nigel Birch, who doesn't have a computer - and therefore doesn't need to worry about the viruses that are going round at the moment, either).
And the gents' toilets by the clocktower have been fixed by the County Council!!!!
Rob Golesworthy was at another meeting where the question of keeping toilets open was raised, and there are some moves afoot in the Welsh Assembly to make toilets part of the public health portfolio, and to declare access to toilets as a Human Right, so that the provision of toilets by county councils becomes statutory rather than optional - but at the moment, all they have is a "strategy", which can easily be ignored.

There was quite a bit of discussion about finance, including the Mayor's allowance, which I'd never heard of before. Each Mayor gets £600 to spend as they see fit over the year of their term of office, which is supposed to cover out of pocket expenses. Apparently it hasn't gone up for years, though once it was £1,000. Gareth and Rob both said that they had spent more than that during their time as Mayor, though it seems that no-one ever checks up on what it has been spent on. The Finance sub-committee is going to look at other councils of similar size to find out what their Mayors get, and report back.
One of the other members of the public, who had come along for the first time that evening, was chatting to me later, and was quite concerned about the lack of scrutiny - after all, any allowances the councillors get (and they also get 30p a mile travel expenses, as long as they are going to a meeting that the whole council has agreed is necessary) come from taxpayers' money.
They are still pursuing the matter of unpaid rent on one of the offices in the building, too - and the new councillor has some experience with the Small Claims Court so said she would take it forward, this being cheaper than hiring Williams Beales solicitors to do the work. Meanwhile the top office in the building will be vacated this weekend, and they are looking for a new tenant there.
The lease for the Council Chambers itself was discussed too - Sarah Jowett of the County Council has offered two months more than the original offer, which they were distinctly unimpressed by, and said that the Powys Regeneration Team could help to find short term tenants. Gareth said that they haven't met for months, which casts some doubt on how useful they would actually be.

The original United Hay town plan has been unearthed, which should be useful as a basis of a new Town Plan - the next step is to get all the "stakeholders" together at the end of June. It'll be interesting too, to see what was proposed in the United Hay plan (from well over ten years ago now) and how much of it actually happened. One of the councillors, Helen, will be in Cardiff on a day when a free event is taking place about putting town plans together, so she'll go along to find out more.

Council Meeting - Toilets and Car Park, and the Return of the Fire Engine

Last week being a Bank Holiday, there wasn't a Council meeting, so it happened last night instead. And it turned out to be one of the shortest Council meetings I've ever been to - we were out by 20 to 10!
When I arrived, Fiona Howard had just been elected the new Mayor, and voting was going on for the deputy - Rob Golesworthy this year. Then they went over all the sub-committees and looked at how many vacancies needed to be filled and whether anyone wanted to move around between them.

The question from the public (only three of us there this time) was about Mike Bullock's warehouse on the edge of Gypsy Castle, and the work he's been doing there without planning permission. The last thing anyone knew was that retrospective planning permission was going to be applied for, but the deadline for that has passed with no action. So it will be chased up with yet another letter to Powys County Council which they will no doubt ignore like all the other communications from the town council.
There was a lot of unhappiness around the table about the way that Powys County Council keep dragging things out and not doing anything when they're contacted, time and time again.

On a happier note, although the horse-drawn fire engine turned out to be not the one they thought it was, and though it's in much worse condition than they thought it would be, they will still be bringing it home to Hay. For the moment it will go in Rob Golesworthy's spare garage, but they want to put it on a rolling chassis and place it in the middle of the Buttermarket, to add a bit of interest and to start collecting for a fund to restore it. It's not all that big, so the market stalls on Thursdays would be able to work round it.

In preparation for the Festival, Rob is prepared to do a deep clean of the public toilets by the Clock Tower. It's the County Council's responsibility, but the staff they send to do the cleaning are not given enough time to do more than a lick and a promise.
The town council are still debating what to do next year when Powys wants to give up responsibility for the public toilets. Brecon are going to refuse to take over, but are determined that they'll stay open - they've already lost some public toilets around the town. One Voice Wales are advising local councils to oppose the move to push responsibility onto them.
The Welsh Assembly are putting out a white paper, with a section on "building community assets for health" in which they argue that public toilets are a public health matter and that they must be provided across Wales. Powys are going to be reminded that the town council wants to talk to them.

The County Council solicitor is going to be tracked down to his lair, after he told the town council that he didn't have time to produce the information that they requested - which was something that he really should have done (I think it's a statutory duty). They want to know the details of the handover of assets in 1974, when Hay gave things like the car park to the county council to run, so that everyone is clear just exactly who owns what and who has responsibility for what. As Fiona said - how can Powys prove that they own the car park? It might still belong to Hay, in which case Hay should get the revenues from it.
There's also the matter of the school, which was built in 1972 on land which had belonged to Jack Like, and there are rumours of a covenant on the land to ensure that it was always used for educational purposes. It would be useful to find a piece of paper recording that, if it's true. So two councillors are going to check the Land Registry and go to Llandrindod Wells to see the solicitor - or his boss.
Meanwhile, the request about adding a surcharge to the car park fees to cover the extra cost has met with the usual silence.