Car making in the UK

Not exactly local but Penyffordd people do work at Vauxhalls, Ellesmere Port. Toyota are looking for 750 redundancies in Derbyshire from a work force of 4000. If Toyota who make perhaps the most reliable cars in the world are making cut backs what's in store for the rest of British auto plants? There has been over capacity for quite a few years in the global auto industry. More pain to follow?

Link The FT

Proposed Penyffordd and District Ward Boundary Changes

Hawarden, Penyffordd and Higher Kinnerton would be combined.

Link  
The Leader
Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales Proposals for Flintshire (pdf)

Highlights

4. REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED PRIOR TO DRAFT PROPOSALS
4.1 We received representations from the following town and community councils:
Bagillt Community Council; Broughton and Bretton Community Council; Buckley
Town Council; Caerwys Quay Town Council; Connah’s Quay Town Council; Flint
Town Council; Gwernymynydd Community Council; Halkyn Community Council;
Holywell Town Council; Holywell Town Council; Hope Community Council;
Leeswood Community Council; Llanasa Community Council; Llanfynydd
Community Council; Mold Town Council; Nercwys Community Council; Northop
Community Council; Pen-y-Ffordd Community Council; Saltney Town Council;
Treuddyn Community Council

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hawarden, Higher Kinnerton and Pen-y-ffordd
5.48 The existing Hawarden electoral division consists of the Hawarden ward of the
Community of Hawarden with 1,512 electors (1,598 projected) represented by one
councillor which is 8% below the current county average of 1,650 electors per
councillor. The Higher Kinnerton electoral division consists of the Community of
Higher Kinnerton with 1,286 electors (1,334 projected) represented by one
councillor which is 22% below the current county average of 1,650 electors per
councillor.

The existing Pen-y-ffordd electoral division consists of the Community of

Pen-y-ffordd with 2,949 electors (3,587 projected) represented by two councillors.

This gives a level of representation of 1,475 electors per councillor which is 11%

below the current county average of 1,650 electors per councillor and is 16% below

1,750 electors per councillor.

The existing Mancot electoral division consists of the
Mancot ward of the Community of Hawarden with 2,645 electors (2,861 projected)
represented by two councillors. This gives a level of representation of 1,323
electors per councillor which is 20% below the current county average of 1,650
electors per councillor and is 24% below 1,750 electors per councillor.
- 17 -
5.49 We noted the representation from Councillor Carver (Hawarden) who considers that
Hawarden’s boundary does not encompass the entire Hawarden village. A realignment
of this boundary together with reference to future developments indicates
that there need be no further changes to electoral arrangements in the area.

Councillor Williams (Pen-y-Ffordd) made a similar suggestion and provided

mapping in support. We have also noted the representation from Pen-y-Ffordd

Community Council suggesting changes to the community ward boundaries and

suggesting that the projected increase in the number of electors would imply that no

changes are necessary. As we have explained in paragraphs 5.1 to 5.4 we are

unable to consider such changes as part of this review. We have, however, noted

the existing levels of electoral parity in the area and are of the view that it would be

desirable to make changes to the electoral arrangements in this area in order to

achieve improvements in that electoral parity.

5.50 Combining the Hawarden and Mancot wards of the Community of Hawarden with
the Community of Higher Kinnerton, and the Community of Pen-y-ffordd would form
an electoral division with 8,392 electors (9,380 projected) which, if represented by
four councillors, would have a level of representation of 2,098 electors per
councillor which is 9% above the proposed county average of 1,924 electors per
councillor. It was noted that the divisions adjoin each other and are connected by
the A55 offering good links between them. This amalgamation would result in a

reduction of two councillors representing the area but it will improve the electoral

parity. We put this forward as a proposal. We have given the proposed electoral
division a working name of Llys Edwin. We would welcome any suggestions for
alternative names.

Penyffordd Community Council Website progress

Cllr David Williams has been busy. One hopes he allows content from all political parties. Even me from the Penyffordd Environment Party? Que!

Link Penyffordd Community Council

Postscript: A quick look through the website deems my enquiries to be so.

Our magical planet

ss

Link Daily Mail

Is Chief Constable Mark Polin really Walter Mitty?

Chris Pollard from Abergele is mad and I can see why.

Links

Pensioner looses stolen antiques - Abergele

Police stance is worrying

Wikipedia Walter Mitty

Treating us like Morons

Click to enlarge

Myself and Penyffordd Councillors have a few issues with Flintshire County Council too.

c

Do you want to be a member of the Great and the Good?

note: Cllr Ian Roberts head of North Wales Police Authority has currently blocked my email address. So much for communication and accountability. It seems NWPA have given up traffic policing just like North Wales Police. Are North Wales Police Authority just an anachronism?

Traffic calming and 20 mph zones

in The MailOnline

You of course have the continuing argument by police that traffic is not policeable.
It is if you try and have a strategy.
NWP currently have no interest in traffic policing whatsoever.

Castle Cement admit fallout charges

In The Daily Post

Computers

do my head in. I had two motherboards, one gig of ram, two cases with power supplies. To save money as I need another computer I have spent two week trying to make one up. I nearly got there. Emergency boot disk ran on computer but the operating system would not. I have given up. Today Dell have sent me an email saying they can do me a new one for £430 plus gordon brown (vat). I await a Dell £55 (inc post) bargain bought on Ebay......

Penyffordd News in brief
It's raining and will do most of the day.
We have to take the dog for a walk in the rain.
He doesn't like it neither do we.

Further benefits of Ads by Google

Not only am I 38p in pocket from my Google advertising revenue. I have also had an indignant email from my County Councillor David Williams. David has not replied or sent an email to me for about 2 years. This is partly my fault as I told him off for not doing his job.

Anyway David is incandescent that I am advertising lawyers who get you off speeding fines. I also see I get the ambulance chasing brigade. The other side of the coin is that NWP  are spending serious money on Google advertising " Balance your Bobby".

I have no control over Google ads at all. I talk protest over speeding on the blog, I get the ads mentioned.

As David had copied his email to the great and the good I of course had to do the same. After half a bottle of wine my answer a little more free than normal.

Someone has been spying upon me

It would appear I am drinking 37 bottles of vodka a year.

The Daily Post

There must be lots of people out there drinking an awful lot to get the average to 37 bottles.

Balance your Bobby South Flintshire - Inspector Martin Best writes....

http://www.balanceyourbobbies.com/results.aspx?wardid=171&respid=1296

The District of South Flintshire
Following the launch of Balance Your Bobbies , I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have already identified their policing priorities and In response I would like to provide an update regarding the points raised. You Said….. Generally speaking the most prominent issue highlighted for the residents of South Flintshire is that of the need for an increased visible policing presence. This has always been a priority for your South Flintshire team and we have made some real progress recently in ensuring that in particular your Neighbourhood Policing Team is visible and accessible in the community. We did The latest figures that I have show that PCSO's are spending just under 80% of their time out and about in the community, your Community Beat Managers are spending just under 70% of their time out and about and we are actively looking at ways to increase these further. 

You Said Another issue raised by residents across the district is that of speeding and anti social driving. We did This has long been held as a priority right across North Wales and a number of years ago whilst working with the Eastern Roads Policing Unit I had the opportunity to develop The Roads Policing Community Sergeants role . I was initially tasked with integrating Neighbourhood Policing into the daily business of what is now our Protective Services Division and co-ordinating a roads policing response to address significant community concern regarding Road Safety. Concern was evidenced by statistical data from the Neighbourhood Policing Management Database.. I initially developed a “Structure” for solving community problems The structure defined the roles of those involved and ensured a multi-agency response placing emphasis on quality of service, identification of issues and feedback to the community. 

To support this “Structure” and to ensure that officers had the ability to undertake the tasks training was delivered to Community Beat Managers and Police Community Support Officers on Road Safety issues. As a result in area's of concerns Action Plans are raised, ensuring a coordinated response from the police, our partner agencies, and the public. So what have been doing to tackle speeding and anti social driving today? Enforcement Speed gun regularly deployed on roads which are identified by officers and the public as suffering from speeding vehicles. Section 59 notices issued to people driving in an anti social manner. These notices allow officers to seize vehicles from them should they do it again. This has been very effective in dealing with off road motor bikes and mini motos. Untaxed vehicles have been seized. We have been targeting persons using mobile telephones whilst driving and those not wearing seatbelts. Deployment of our Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) team to area's of concern. But this only forms one element of a wider education campaign aimed to improve road safety of pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and other road users in South Flintshire . Other measures are designed to improve safety of our most vulnerable groups including children and the elderly. Education 

Visits to vulnerable young offending drivers offering advice and support to beak the chain of offending. A “pimp your ride” training unit which is deployed to locations where young people/drivers from across the County meet up. This allows officers to interact with young people and educate them as to the dangers of speed and advise them as to sensible driving. Working with schools and the Local Authority to introduce and maintain a "safer routes to schools plan" Engineering joint community meetings with Flintshire County Council highways Authority to identify long term engineering solutions to area's of concern. Please continue to utilise this excellent system to highlight your priorities and I will ensure regular feedback on action taken. Kindest Regards Martin Best

For more information on your Policing Team, please visit your Neighbourhood Team page on the
North Wales Police Website
Should you have any information related to a crime that you wish to impart anonymously,
please visit the Crime Stoppers website - www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Postscript.  Chester Rd residents hope that traffic policing of Chester Rd will become a reality

Keywords. Inspector Martin Best

Beauty and the Beast

Click on image to read all details

Penyffordd Panto 2010 on

Friday 5th February at 7 pm

Saturday 6th February at 1.30pm

Also Saturday 6th February at 7pm

Sunday 7th February at 2 pm

Tickets at Penyffordd Post Office - Telephone Number 01244 550462

A new blog The Druid Angelsey.

New to me anyway. North Wales is short of political blogs.

New Blog - The Slog

Some profanity

New Blog - Anna Raccoon

This lady is good

.http://www.annaraccoon.com/

I am to become a Google millionaire

The other day I signed up for Google Adsense. I have made 30p which is somewhat below the minimum wage.
I have made 1912 entries. There is also the research and photo manipulation  that is required for the entries. So if we say I took 10 minutes to write each one that would be 19120 minutes (13 days non stop) . This is 318.6 hours which is perhaps understated because of the research factor. Never the less this is a good start 30 p for 318.6 hours work.

The future's bright the future is Google.

Sir Norman Tebbit starts to blog

The comments section lively......................

Link The Telegraph

Computer blues continued

On the 28th of December I said I had a few motherboards and hard drives that required turning into computers. You will note that it is now the 14th (nearly) of January and there is still NOT that welcoming Windows screen.
You might ask why I have a few motherboards floating around. Soon after the last local election my computer, pocket computer and camera all went "tits up". Computer wouldn't start, pocket pc said it needed a new battery and the zoom lens on the camera would not work.

I opined it was the work of the police, I feel Microsoft have given them ways to mess with protester's computers. The link was that all items were joined to the internet. Someone else opined that a councillor's wife had put a hex on me.

So I had kit worth nearly a £1000 not working.

1. I decided to buy an upgrade for the computer. New motherboard with processor and ram. Could never get it to work (my fault)
2. Bought a new battery for pocket computer then the old battery decided to work.
3. The camera zoom lens system and special settings messed around for a fortnight then the issues went away.

The end result is I had two motherboards of a good specification that would not work.
Zoom forward two years to now. I have swapped MB's, ram, hard drives and power supplies about 36 times. The many failures recorded are:

1. NTLDR is missing - I say FB 30 times.
2. txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing - another 30 Fb's

and I tell you I have Google'd............................................................

So grasping at straws I downloaded what was supposed to be a boot disk for £4  which resulted in failure. The boot cd did bugger all.
On Ebay I spied another boot disk to start the computer. Looked at the detail with great scrutiny as I was getting fed up of being stitched up. The boot cd seemed to be the bees knees.

So the disk turned up today and it works. Images appear on the screen. I can look at what's on the hard drive. I think the disk loads the Linux operating system. The designer of this disk should be made a saint.

I have now found out why the MS operating system would not load. I was trying to load win2k over Windows XP but MS will not tell you up front.
I say a pox to Microsoft and hope Google blast you off the planet with their free Chrome operating system.

Still haven't got it working though lol.
I do however have access to the computer and can copy files and format hard drive for a new operating system.

Link BartPE

Postscript:: After having one computer for years that occasionally gave me great grief because it would not connect to the internet ( you will have been there perhaps) I now have six.
You may say overkill but there is safety in numbers.
I have a great project that requires a million records (public domain), this will take sometime to download, so the more slaves the better. Computers do not need tea breaks either.

Lisa's Kitchen Cod in Beer Batter

With dauphinois potatoes, glazed carrots and pan fried sprouts with chilli

Crash A55 Dobshill

Link The Leader

I'm to become very rich

I have signed up for Google Adsense. In future the blog will display adverts at Google's discretion. With my 5 readers I'm expecting to make at least 5p a week. It takes about 48 hours to kick in.
On a more serious note Google has various free options that have the ability to make serious money.

FOI fines up to £500000 for destroying data

FOI  Law gets serious. Well done the government.

Link BBC News

Powercut in Penyffordd and Hope

in The Leader

Alison Halford Blog January 2010

Tony hides the gritting salt from Bernie. A speed protester bites the dust. RIP John Edwards.

Link http://www.alisonhalford.co.uk/2010/01/councillor-capers-jan-2010/

An email to Mark Tami MP

I have asked Mark if he will make representations to the Chief Constable Mark Polin and
Jim Moore, Head of The All Wales Safety Partnership over speeding in Chester Rd, Penyffordd.

I have asked Mark what intentions NWP have with regards speeding on Chester Rd in 2010.

I have also asked Mark to ask Jim Moore why AWSP do not come to Chester Rd and why they will not hand over raw traffic data recorded on Chester Rd for May 2007 and June 2008.

Mark has kindly agreed the above.

Forecasts for the next decade from Penyffordd District

1. We will have a level of inflation that will be painful for a considerable period.
2. Food and energy prices will rise considerably.
3. VAT will go up to 20%
4. House prices? May stay constant instead of falling due to a severe shortage of housing stock.
5. The above items may lead to social unrest.
6. Crime will rise.
7. Public services will have to be cut. Private industry is taking double digit reductions in profits year on year. The golden goose is laying less eggs to pay for public services which have not contracted yet.
8. Company and personal bankruptcies will increase in 2010.
9. Britain will become less of an economic force in the world.
10. China will become the most powerful country in the world.
11. North Wales which is part of the poorest country in the United Kingdom will struggle with employment.
12. The Internet will continue it's vast change to the commercial and community life in villages, towns and cities.
Many business types will continue to dissappear very quickly.

Lets hope I am wrong.


Actions to be taken at Penyffordd district to counteract the above

1. Super insulation of home as we have solid walls.
2. Fix the roof lol.
3. Expand year on year garden for vegetable and fruit growing.
I have found out how to build a large polytunnel for £80
4. Invest in solar electric and solar water (DIY).
5. Use solar and wood for space heating.
6. Finish using mains gas unless we can find a company who allow low connection fees.
7. Find partners for food swaps.
8. Find as many legal ways as possible to avoid paying tax increases either green or otherwise to
pay for the £Trillion of debt this government have built up over the last 14 years. It has been estimated by the Ratepayers Alliance that us in Flintshire are already paying £500 per year extra for so called greenhouse gas taxes.

Links about the above

Further on Global Warming

Acording to Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times, The Met Office have still got us down for a mild winter. They use statistics to bend the reality. Similar to Arrive Alive traffic data for Chester Rd, Penyffordd.

He also discusses the continuing export of Britain's heavy industry abroad. How long before Corus Shotton goes the same way?
Link
Times Online
The Met Office Prediction for 2010

Houses sold in December 2009

in Penyffordd district.

• 7, Fammau View Drive, Penyffordd, CH4 0JQ - Sold for £100,000 on 20-11-2009
• Jesmond Dene, Wrexham Road, Penyffordd, CH4 0HU - Sold for £75,000 on 27-09-2009
You can view all previous sales information by visiting OurProperty.co.uk.

We have a new neighbour

moving from Perth in Australia I kid you not. He has relations in the village. Our previous neighbours have slunk off with no goodbye, a strange couple, socially crippled, by parents? who knows.
I had just one meaningful conversation with wifey over the height of hedges, because they were selling it turned out. They usually went in the garden about three times a year. You think I joke?
I used to cut their side of the hedge for them.
They would avoid conversation like the plague.

One of the last couple's who moved in to the row were "put right" about me. Lets hope I can get to him first. Although anyone of substance will make their own minds up.

Realities and Statistics

Earlier this week I went to Shire Hall at the invitation of Council Leader Arnold Woolley. I have had an occasional email exchange with Arnold after I went "Nuclear" over my FOIE for traffic data for Chester Rd chucked in the bin for the 5th time. I emailed every county councillor and county council boss whose email's I had stored up to say they were breaking FOIE law.

Thursday's meeting was frustrating for me. For one thing Arnold plays Devil's Advocate asking searching questions to both sides. On the other side you get an FCC officer quoting daily average speeds of 28mph for Chester Rd. Saying that Chester Rd is no different to many other roads in Flintshire. Lisa was very good, I feel she will make a good councillor. Lisa asked very pertinent to the point questions.

One of the statistics is that Chester Rd has over 800 vehicles each day that are doing more than 30 mph. For me increasing speed as vehicles put their foot down starting at the Post Office towards the limit is one of the main issues. It cuts like a knife, so I stay away from the road.

The statistics and the actuality in my opinion differ greatly.

Some Penyffordd councillors have some sympathies towards the predicament of myself and others in Chester Rd. Others take the attitude that we should just go away.

There is perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel. There is possibility of extending the 30 mph. As we have a bypass I can't see why we can't be allowed to follow the model of Rossett village centre. Compulsory 20mph with road bumps. That however is another matter.

This does not I think go along with Derek Kirby's plan for Chester Rd. Derek is Head of Strategy for Flintshire roads. There are I think maybe one or two councillors in Penyffordd who are aware of what I perceive to be Derek's plans. That Chester Rd should remain an unofficial trunk road. Traffic leaving the new A55 Warren Bank exit will be heading straight through the middle of the village instead of using the bypass.

Now that I have FCC woken up on FOIE's perhaps a few more need to be made.

Lots vehicle from North of Chester to John O'Groats in Scotland who wishes to visit or return from Mid Wales will be looking to use Chester Rd/Corwen Rd as a short cut.

Vauxhall's turn off gas so householder supplies remain secure

Vauxhall's car plant at Ellesmere Port on Merseyside and British Sugar's refineries at Bury St Edmunds and Newark are among nearly 100 factories that have had their gas cut as Britain's energy infrastructure creaks under the strain of the great freeze.

Link The Guardian

Shire Hall supplemental

Whilst Lisa and myself were waiting to see Council Leader Arnold Woolley I spied Cllr Bernie Attridge, Flintshire County Council Member for Connah's Quay Central. So I introduced myself and Lisa to him. Good to see the face behind the letters in The Leader he said. We had a few minutes conversation about his extra duties as a county councillor before being ushered upstairs. Bernie is a regular in the Leader due to his position as deputy opposition leader and head of Licensing.


Link Cllr Bernie Attridge

To Shire Hall

To meet Flintshire's representative of Arrive Alive now called Go Safe. The meeting was to discuss my request under FOI law for electronic traffic data recorded at Chester Rd, Penyffordd stored by Arrive Alive. The meeting lasted an hour. I came away from the meeting without the data.
I was shown the database and requests were invited for me to question the databases reporting system.
There was however possible light with regards slowing traffic in Chester Rd, Penyffordd. Still over 800 vehicles speeding in Chester Rd.
Many thanks to Council Leader Cllr Arnold Woolley for making yesterday's meeting in this office possible and for his valued comments and suggestions.

Lead up to yesterdays meeting.

Traffic measurement by FCC of Chester Rd by FCC April 2007
Traffic measurement by FCC of Chester Rd by FCC June 2008
FOIE that just got "lost" by FCC
FOIE R001967 got through, well sort of.
The above FOIE not answered within the legal time limit
The FOIE eventually avoided.
My legal right to an explanation for the refusal to supply data ignored.
Cllr Arnold Woolley gets involved.
Meeting yesterday where it was admitted that April 2007 data may be "lost"
Continued refusal to hand over base data.
The FOI officer involved is looking into the export of data further.

Links
Geograph.org.uk

keywords   gosafe.org 

Alun Pugh a man with vision for North Wales

Presently the Director of Snowdonia Society/Cymdeithas Eryri, Mr Pugh, of Gellifor, Ruthin, said: "I would like to see the speed reduced to 20mph in residential and urban areas such as Bethesda and from 60 to 50mph in areas such as outside Llanberis for example. Knocking off 10mph would be a big incentive for foreign truckers to use the A55 instead of the A5 and A470.

"I am reflecting the opinion of many people fed up with high-speed motor-bikes racing around Snowdonia and lorries speeding through Bethesda to catch the ferry."

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said: "Increasing the use of 20mph limits is a One Wales commitment. Currently there are 481 20mph limits in Wales."

Link
The Daily Post
The Snowdonia Society

Snow Chaos

Yesterday the A55 between Ewloe and Holyhead a disaster. Big trouble getting school children home. Airbus sent their workers home.
There have been numerous accidents everywhere mostly minor. Looking out the window one still sees muppets pushing other cars to go faster. The amount of thick people in this country amazes. I suppose they will learn the hard way.
We have to go to New Broughton near Wrexham this morning..........................

Penyffordd seems to be ok today with regards more snow. The same cannot be said for Mid and South Wales.

Link The Daily Post

Gas and Salt

Current heavy snow freeze weather is supposed to be ongoing for the next 14 days. here

The Conservatives say we have 8 days of gas left here

Cllr Tony Sharps says we have 7 days of salt left. here

Not quite enough?

postscript: You find folks that live in the hills have more than one heating medium.
We have gas and will have wood burning for next winter.

link: 1 day of grit left

Penyffordd Community Council January Meeting

Tomorrow night at 6.30 pm in the back room at The Penyffordd Institute. All are welcome to attend although you normally cannot speak Usually finishes before 8.30 pm.

Snow stops school

So you are Head of a school in Penyffordd district, you live near Nannerch. You leave your car in Nannerch and it is a three mile walk from your house to Nannerch as the road is unpassable with the snow. Three miles takes nearly two hours so you have leave two hours early. You get to school and over half of the staff have not turned up so you have to close the school..........................

Link School closures in The Leader

Meadowslea Siteplan

keywords: Elan Homes

Llandegla to Moel Fammau

Getting the weather and global warming wrong

It has a gigantic supercomputer, 1,500 staff and a £170m-a-year budget. So why does the Met Office get it so wrong?

The Mailonline

Samizdata Blog

A blog for people with a critically rational individualist perspective. We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR
[Russ.,= self-publishing house]

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/

Just to balance the blog.

keywords: Karl Popper

A new blog Left Foot Forward

http://www.leftfootforward.org/

It is for me anyway.
I'm not party politics motivated just environment motivated. Here is a blog that is admired by quite a few of the good political blogs, even the great Guido says its good. Cllr David Williams thinks I am a left wing sympathiser, this not is the case, its issues not political parties David.

If you are Labour motivated the above site is good.