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Monday, February 28, 2011

Welsh Assembly Greater Powers Referendum 2011


The vote is on Thursday. I'm not voting. I'm going to Lidl for one of their special offers. The WAG planned and constructed the A55 Warren Bank exits knowing Chester Rd would get extra traffic and it does. The WAG have shafted Chester Rd with increased traffic. I've said to wifey I will drive her to the polling station but she too says she will decline. I'm saving my main fire power until the first week in May.

postscript: changed my mind.............

Link: The badgers revenge

Cllr David Williams in the Leader

More carnage on the roads. Condolences to family and friends.
Links
The Leader.
Daily Post
The Flintshire Chronicle

I am not on my own

As the daily rat run flies through the village I read the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond suggested that in some towns speed limits could be reduced from 30mph to 20mph, on both environmental and safety grounds.


In The Independent


The only problem being Penyffordd transport policy is decided in Wales.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

An email from Cllr David Williams re village developments


I am indebted to David for keeping me informed. I have made a few comments which I hope he and other councillors will find helpful.
To: Colin Hughes ; Cindy Hinds ; Cllr Linda Vidamour
Cc: Arnold_Woolley@flintshire.gov.uk ; Cllr Robin Baker ; Mold Cllr Chris Bithell ; Cllr Clive Carver ; Elwyn Davies ; Cllr Glenys Diskin ; ERDirector@flintshire.gov.uk  ; Cllr Robin Guest (Mold) ; David Hanson MP ; Patrick Heesom ; Nick Herbert MP ; Mark Isherwood AM ; Hilary Isherwood ; Carwyn Jones AM ; Cllr Chris Jones ; Cllr Stella Jones ; Cllr Tom Jones ; Ieuan Wyn Jones ; Cllr Colin Legg ; Cllr Nancy Mathews ; Rt Hon Theresa May ; Clllr David McFarlane ; Jim Moore ; Cllr Tim Newhouse ; NWPA ; North Wales Police ; Chf Supt Ruth Purdie ; Go Safe ; Carl Sargeant AM ; Cllr Tony Sharps ; Aaron Shotton Cllr ; Mark Tami MP ; Cllr Carolyn Thomas ; PC 1469 Howie Williams



postscript: I don't send emails to the above over such parochial matters as lorries using the village instead of the bypass. The above list was most probably emailed over the continued downplaying ( I say lying) by North Wales Police about speeding in the village in the Flintshire Chronicle.
 
Subject: Re: Lorries - Penyffordd Bypass - A reply to Colin

All Recipients

Sorry for sending you all this e-mail as it is a reply to all recipients of Colin Hughes nonsense. If you are not interested please just delete it.

Hello Colin,

Thank you for your recent e-mails. Insults and nastiness obviously back on your agenda, but given the fact that they have not been directly aimed at me personally recently, I considered it only fair for me to put you right on a few points. I have therefore itemised the efforts that the Community Council, Howie Cindy and I are making with regards to road safety in the ward.

Measures to reduce the problem of speeding.

The week before Christmas, Cindy arranged a site meeting with Highways to discuss the entrance to the proposed Woodlane development that is causing us a great deal of concern. Assurances have been given that suitable arrangements will be made and we will keep a close eye on any proposals that are made.
With regards developments there was a letter in The Flintshire Chronicle last week where a complainant from St Mary's Park, Mold stated that using TRICS methods and data ( it looks complicated to me)
it was possible to prove that an extra 50 dwellings can generate up to 400 vehicle movements a day.
Wood Lane of course will have more than 50 houses. Who would want to live next to a bypass is a constant mystery to me. lol

Wishes of myself and the Community Council over road safety measures

Whilst on their visit I took advantage and took them around all the problem areas of the village with regards to road safety. They were again given a copy of my suggested improvements that have been endorsed by the Community Council. A copy of these wishes and our conclusions are attached with my monthly report with the minutes from January in the Post Office. Thank you.

Penymynydd Road

A warden is periodically employed by the Community Council to monitor and if necessary book motorists using the access only along Penymynydd road. On his last ‘tour of duty’ he booked 15 motorists! He will be employed again from time to time and we are now public enemy number one of people living in the Well House and Hazel Drive
It's used for the same reasons drivers use Chester Rd as a short cut.
It is still regularly used, I walk the dog along there. Sometimes you have to be unpopular to guard people and children's safety.

School Crossing Patrol – Institute.

Following an advertising campaign from September that I instigated, applications for the post were finally received at the start of the New Year. Interviews were completed the week before last and an appointment was expect last week. Hopefully the new officer will be in place soon after half term. Well done, lets hope he is a part deterrent to those that hammer up Chester Rd every morning. Can we have a speed camera in his lolipop please?

Criticism of Howie

Howie has worked very hard on all issues in the village including speeding. With the reopening of the Warren I contacted Howie to ask him to get the gun on Chester road and Hawarden road. To my knowledge he has done this on at least three occasions. On Chester road improvements, it was Howies suggestion to set back the 30 mph sign which was pursued by myself and the Community Council. He has also dealt with numerous other issues efficiently and effectively. It is a fact that over a 1000+ vehicles speed through Chester Rd everyday. 5.30 - 6.00 am shift workers. 7.00 am onwards, the morning rat run. You could do no better than ask Flintshire Gosafe to do an audit then Howie would know exactly where to use his time efficiently. Its time Gosafe started working for communities instead of hiding data. ( I am on my way to the Information Commissioner to force their hand) Talking of Gosafe can we have them here again in Chester Rd they know when the speeding happens they've got the data. They have even done Bretton at 5.30 am in the morning !

HGVs using the village.

I recently received a call from a resident of Chester road who advised me that the problem of HGVs seemed to have eased with very few instances of hill starts outside his house. That is correct. The main problem of HGVs was the fact that Pen-y-ffordd is one of the set test routes. The reduction was hopefully a result of my request to the DSA in Newcastle, from which test routes were previously issued and controlled, to ask them to reconsider the test routes and stop using Pen-y-ffordd. They contacted the test centre manager in Wrexham and the request was made to avoid Pen-y-ffordd as much as possible. Sods law though, last Wednesday I spoke to the gentleman who phoned me and he told me that since his call he had seen two more HGVs doing the hill starts. I will therefore get back to the DSA to repeat my request. There has been a big local HGV contract going on the last 10 days with maybe 50 extra lorries each day they have top soil on board

Warren Hall.

I am working closely with the Broughton action group whose main member is one of my Coalition colleagues. I am monitoring the situation to establish how great a role people of Pen-y-ffordd need to play, and given your interest in this and the fact that you had not attacked me for a while, I asked if I could involve you in the group. Unfortunately though, I was told that you would not be welcome because you would be too much of a liability! Lots of laughs. Broughton has gained environmentally we suffer extra traffic. Perhaps time to get Highways to measure how much extra traffic is coming through the village? Sometimes its in the region of 15 to 20 vehicles a minute.

Alan Skips.
There was a problem with a while ago with their the lorries using the village, and in February 2009 I asked Neil Hassal politely to see what he could do. He responded positively and there has not been the same level of problem until recently. I will therefore ask Neil again politely to see what he can do and I am sure he will react positively again. To insult and abuse him and his work force the way that you do is totally out of order.
If its the Neil I met and talked to at their Bretton headquarters you can be sure he is not a person to abuse. I am of the opinion he might not work for the company any longer. As you say Alan Skips have not been using the village this last year. This however changed last week when I saw at least 6 ASK lorries coming through the village with many others.

As you know, I have no problem whatsoever with what you are looking for and fully support your ideals. The problem I have though is your methods, and although I appreciate the lack of action is very frustrating, your manner and behaviour at times is disgraceful. It gets very frustrating when traffic in large volumes hammer through the village every day.

The fact that you claim to represent Chester road is also of concern, as knowing most of the residents along there myself, I would be very surprised if any of them would want to be associated with the disgusting things you come out with, especially calling hard working HGV drivers scum bags and idiots! 
HGV drivers who hammer through the village are a danger to our community.
You ask George or Mr Davies over the road or ask Alf who walks a white labrador. Speeding is well over a 1000 everyday. You could get Gosafe to prove me right or wrong with an unedited set of speed traffic data. They can even tell what make of car goes along roads by the distance between the wheels !
Chester Rd is mainly commercial. The point is its a major route to school and we live in a village with a bypass.
I would therefore be grateful of you letting me know the names of the residents who are part of your campaign, but would be very surprised if you could name three. I really do doubt though, that any more than three people on Chester road would give you the time of day, let alone allow you to represent them!

Unfortunately you are talking nonsense in most of your e-mails and your abusive tactics are unnecessarily offensive and counterproductive. I do not intend getting embroiled in more e-mail exchanges with you but will continue to work for my community in as conscientious and effective a manner as I am able.

Regards,
David Williams

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Flintshire Hanson cement plant health probe continues

in The Daily Post.

Trouble at County Hall

The Alliance playing into Labours' hands. Aaron has a plan. I think he needed to have a word with Gordon Brown and Ed Balls ten years ago when they set in play plans to bankrupt this country. ( or should I say they tried to use our money to make any party except for Labour unelectable )
Anyway he leads the opposition doing what he should.
in The Daily Post

IT manager for the day

I hate computers when they go wrong. I spent a month at Xmas trying to get a machine to work which ended in failure. We have three networked computers plus a blackberry for on the move. Lisa's went tits up two days. It's a Dell. You press the start button it goes orange then refuses to start. In the old days having one machine that went wrong with no internet was a nightmare and costly.
If you go to PC World the queue for things gone wrong is always bigger than the sale queue.
Computers are not yet white goods.

A little research on Google reveals the GX 270 has issues with a row of capacitors on the motherboard. Ten minutes to learn how to open the machine up ( no screws) reveals about 4 of the capacitors are burnt out.

This makes the motherboard toast. So we have what many go through. A computer dead with no backup of important files. We thought we had backup but its incomplete.

I removed the hard drive and tried getting it to work as a slave on another machine which has Windows 98. The computer recognises the different hard drive. Windows however refuses to cooperate. We are 4 hours into this and its grinding to a halt.

I come across Pc File recovery by accident, its also free. Surprise surprise it works. Most of the files are there but some are still missing. Anyway I now have a way at looking at dead machine hard drives.

Link http://www.pcinspector.de/FSGuard/info.htm?language=1

Its in German but has an English translation.

Chester Rd traffic further

I unfortunately had to witness traffic volumes and densities yesterday. Was traffic coming through at 10 cars a minute or was it nearer 20 at times? We in Chester Rd have been betrayed by the Welsh Assembly Government and Flintshire County Council and our village elders.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Climate change uncomfortable truths



 A clever man speaks. Professor Freeman Dyson in The Independent

Traffic levels in Penyffordd pre and post A55 Warren Hall exits construction

There seems to be an increase in traffic through Chester Rd. It's irritating, it's no good for village environment, we have a bypass for through traffic. Problem is its faster through the village than to use the bypass. Who sat on his hands whilst whilst A55 Warren Hall was planned. I think Tom Jones and Colin Bithell. Perhaps someone will tell me if I'm wrong.

There's an interesting full letters page in The Flintshire Chronicle. A community at the back of Mold called St Mary's Park are up in arms because more houses are planned using their roads for access. These people are really switched on about traffic which can't be said for our village elders in Penyffordd. They quote TRICS Data. They say that 50 dwellings generates 400 daily movements. So Mr Hewitt's land when built on will generate a lot of extra traffic for Chester Rd.

The late Derek Darlington said may be 8 or 10 years ago that A55 Warren Hall exits would have a big effect on the village. What was done after that by our councillors? It appears nothing.

Cllr David Williams and Cindy Hinds are left to try and salvage an environment for the village. We are currently a giant short cut courtesy of Flintshire County Council and the Welsh Assembly government.

Our AM Carl Sargeant and Mark Tami MP are saying nothing. How the Labour led WAG think they can stitch Penyffordd up with regards extra traffic and come looking for votes in May is beyond me. All it took was a fraction of a tenth of a percent of the A55 Warren Hall money to slow down traffic and it make it awkward. But no they decided that Chester Rd was going to be fine as a spare trunk road. So much for community environment WAG.

‘Get behind us’ pleads Penyffordd TV dance finalist

in The Leader

Traitors on the council?


An email to Carl Sargeant AM

cc Chief Constable Mark Polin, Minister for Policing, Home Secretary, IWJ, Carwyn Jones

Morning Carl

Just been given the finger by a lorry driver hammering through the village. I'd take the reg but my confidence in NWP is in the gutter. They are nothing but scum. (that's the lorry drivers)

A police sargeant warned me about lorry drivers he said they carried knifes and iron bars. They should be using the bypass but we have traitors on the council in the pay of the local lorry firms or are they just plain incompetent?

I've had my FOIE back from NWP which I asked Insp Best to explain the lies he told to The Chronicle with regards speeding traffic in Chester Rd.

I can't understand police. Do they think we are all thick?

They get a CBM to stand there with a high res coat on with a speed gun at the quietest part of the day. Everyone warns one another. He manages to stop one or two unlucky ones who get a telling off.

What's the problem they say? Don't they realise we actually live here?

A good example of pretend policing

They then think that's the end of the matter when there is over a 1000 speeders coming through the village every day.

The proper way to do it is for Gosafe to do an audit. Then the police, councillors and residents to be given unedited copied of the data for study on their computers

Advice and or enforcement follows then another audit is carried out and data is shared amongst various interested parties to see whether further action if any is needed.

Of course we can't be doing that can we as there is a precise measure of the effect or non effect of police or Gosafe action.

My councillors should be pressing for this. Why am I having to do it?  It's 4 years now.

It's about safety and environment for the village for God's sake.

Have a good weekend

Colin

Penyffordd District

ps I see the natives are getting restless in St Mary's Park, Mold over traffic

copied to blog.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Door to door salesman on the loose in Penyffordd

A gang of 4. Most probably doors and windows. I hate them. I have no problems with firms or individuals doing leaflet drops. The other day I saw two 6 foot glass patio door windows next to a skip that would come in handy for a green house project. I left a note in their letter box with a phone number saying I would take them away. They phoned later on and we took them away job done, no invasion of privacy. Our friend calls us skip rats.

Door to door salesman should be banned, nobody likes them. There are already canvas free zones, what about the rest of us? Our politicians a waste of space as usual.

Penymynydd pupil Alex wins stained glass window design competition

in The Flintshire Chronicle.

Spring has sprung

Do winters seem to get longer as you get older? Newts are in the pond, they use water for courtship and mating. There is frog spawn in the ponds already. Snowdrops have been out for ages. The sun gets warmer.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Alison Blogs

Highly informative on matters Flintshire. I always know when Alison has a blog because the Welsh Ombudsman's office appears in my blog log.

1. Dog poo
2. Klaus in his yellow shorts ( no photo)
3. Arnold Woolley
4. Sphereing
5. Developers pulling flankers
6. Patrick Heesom ( he of three quarters of a million in costs)
7. Envirowatch
8. Cllr Carolyn Thomas, Treuddyn

Link Alison Halford

Lorries - Penyffordd Bypass - Speeding and in Flintshire

An email to Cllrs Cindy Hinds, Linda Vidamour, David Williams ( the rest who have email addresses hide them)

cc Chief Constable

Morning Penyffordd Councillors,

Just seen a 20 ton lorry hammering through the village centre
Amongst many other vehicles I may add
One would have thought our wise old men would have
pressed for no lorries when the new bypass was built.
Asking a bit much on that ( average age 75)

So what's the current state of play?
Must be still over a 1000 vehicles a day
speeding through Penyffordd.

Penyffordd Cllrs will not press North Wales Police to do their job

Gosafe ( formerly Arrive Alive) will not release three sets of data
recorded for Chester Rd. They say its vexatious to persist.
You of course back Gosafe by your silence

Mark Tami MP is silent

Carl Sargeant MP is silent

Chief Constable Mark Polin is silent

Flintshire County Council are not interested

The Welsh Assembly back the refusal of Gosafe to hand over data that affects
Penyffordd Village centre environment.

Never mind the Middle East there needs to be a revolution closer to home.

This stonewalling, hiding of incompetence needs to end.
Is this sort of thing endemic in local government?

Or am I wrong to want to live in a village environment with a bypass?

Colin Hughes
Penyffordd District

There is a rotteness here that starts at community council level all the way up to first minister.
More powers? You don't deal with your current powers in a proper manner.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Hughes family Greek contingent in Thessaloniki


A birthday for nephew the precocious Gregory (in green) aged 6 going on 30, fluent in English and Greek. I suppose it happens when you have a school teacher as a parent. On the left Gregory's grandad holding nephew Derek who we met a my brother's wedding one of those Greek affairs.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Gosafe

have decided my request for traffic speed data for Chester Rd is vexatious, its only vexatious because they do not want to answer the questions I have asked for 4 years. I can go through their complaints procedure and if there is still no joy (which there will not be) I can go to see the Wizard of Oz , the Information Commissioner.

The bottom line being that an unaccountable quango ( Gosafe) refuses to hand over three sets of traffic speed data for Chester Rd, Penyffordd which shows the true nature of our dangerous daily rat run and environmental noise damage to our community which the refuse to do anything about.

Link http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/request_traffic_speed_data_for_c#incoming-152551

Here continues a record of public servants refusing to be transparent and accountable whether they work for Flintshire County Council, North Wales Police or Gosafe. You may ask where my elected representatives are....................................



keyword: Geraint Evans, data manager, Jim Moore, Inspector Martin Best

Local Council Jobs

Future shape programme manager on £70,189 per annum.
Bouncy castle attendant on a salary of £13,000 at Angus council
Cheerleading development officer in Falkirk.


£5 million on 141 jobs for political advisers
£6 million on 183 European officer posts
£10 million on 350 climate change officers


in The Telegraph


Councils wasting our money.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

An email from the Direct Communications Unit at the Home Office

Dear Mr Hughes,

Thank you for your e-mail of 20/01/2011 11:36:09 AM about the Government’s intentions to replace police authorities with directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). As you will appreciate, the Policing Minister has a vast amount of correspondence to deal with, and his office has asked the Police Reform Unit to respond to your letter. Whilst I am not in a position to comment on the local issues you raised I can comment on PCCs.

We welcome your support with the introduction of the PCCs. Police authorities are invisible and unaccountable to the public, whilst exercising significant powers relating to force budgets and strategic control.  The Government is committed to replacing bureaucratic accountability with democratic accountability.  The introduction of Commissioners will mean for the first time the public will be able to directly vote for an individual to represent their community’s policing needs – in this sense, Commissioners are far removed from the current system.  That elected individual will be directly accountable to the public in a way that police authorities are not.  Whilst the Home Office has considered alternative models, including strengthening the current system, Commissioners will be a significantly more visible and able advocate of the public voice as well as representing better value for money than their overly bureaucratic counterpart currently in place.

For more details of the role of Policing and Crime Commissioners please see our website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/


Postscript: I agree with the above. I do not care for the relationship that Penyffordd cllrs have with North Wales Police over the interest of Chester Rd either. This can be looked at next election if the current situation with regards speeding traffic continues.

Thank you Flintshire Chronicle for publishing this below


Dear Flintshire Chronicle

A Letter for consideration

I note with interest that my elected representative Mark Tami MP has been busy asking questions in the House of Commons with regards crayfish, red squirrels and damsons. I wonder if Mark could move up the food chain a little and ask the Police Minister why N. Wales Chief Constable Mark Polin continues to be a partner in the down playing of speeding through communities. This takes the form of Gosafe (formerly Arrive Alive) measuring speeding traffic then refusing to show the data which can be shown  on any computer. With communities in the dark this then allows county highways and N Wales police officers to downplay speeding to councillors when residents know very different.

Colin Hughes
Penyffordd District

postscript. Gosafe have now said they will release three sets of traffic speed data taken on Chester Rd in May 2007, June 2008 and Dec 2010. Penyffordd councillors will be tripping over themselves for copies of the data NOT.

If I didn't stand up for Chester Rd they would be more than happy. 

pps. I don't spend all day waiting for Mark to make statements in the House of Commons, I get an automatic email whenever he asks a question or makes a statement.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

North Wales Cancer Data missing

Below is a text that appears on http://timmytruth.blogspot.com/
I have copied it and cleaned it up of extraneous characters that appear if you copy stuff from something such as a word processor without washing it first of it's underlying formatting. I use Notepad to do it.

I have copied it in full as I presume the writer wants this important subject discussed widely.

Timmy Truth leaves no email address or method of contact but I suppose if you wanted to contact Timmy you could try leaving a comment on HIS blog (above) .

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

EPIDEMIOLOGIST SPEAKS OUT
Public Health Wales are supposed to be collecting cancer information from the rest of the NHS in Wales and feeding into a database which  gives us data on cancer rates, incidence and prevalence.

For some years the system for collecting death certificates has not been working properly so this has not been recorded on the database. The 'flagging' system has not been done properly either so does not follow people when they move between NHS areas, so records are not updated if that person dies from cancer or not. If you look at the reports that are published then rest of UK does prevalence and incident but Public Health Wales is under instruction to avoid doing incidence so that they do not have to admit that the data is not all there.

The official line for any query on prevalence rates that are missing is to try to persuade the person asking for the information that they do not fully understand statistics and as the experts in public health recommendincidence instead of prevalence then that is probably what they really want.

Hanson Investigation Sham
What this ultimately means is that the data that would be needed to do a proper health study in North Wales is not there. Mr Andrew Jones has known this all along and Edwina Hart knows it too so why are they leading the people of North Wales on?

Mr Jones promised that Public Health Wales were going to do a proper review of cancer rates after complaints that previous studies avoided looking in to the real problem. How can they make this promise when they know the data is not there? Well there are a few tactics in hand to try to keep it covered up. Mr Andrew Jones had chaired a lot of meetings with us and said it was to 'fully understand concerns' before deciding what data would be looked at.

In reality he knows the data is not there and he has chosen to try to persuade North Wales people that they really want something other than the cancer study and the meetings and press releases are designed to steer our attention on to environmental concerns instead.

The other con trick is that he is writing the Terms of Reference and any proper study into cancer rates is not going to be on there so that if we complain at the end then he can say ‘We just followed the terms of reference which everyone agreed.’ The plan is to make the terms of reference so limited that no studies will make it on there that need the missing data. That means the cancer studies. Or, to limit to restricted types of cancer is very specific locations where they happen to have a little bit of data even if it is not of central relevance.

The other plan is to run sessions with the people of North Wales to 'help them understand what public health does and how it can analyse information.’ The word ‘expert’ will be used a lot here. The purpose is to make anyone who thinks there should be some straight forward analysis of cancer rates see the error of their stupid ways when the experts explain why information completely unrelated is what they really want.

The other tactic is to 'put it in the wider health context of Wales' and this gives a chance to blind the village idiots of North Wales with hundreds of overly complex statistics and graphs showing every factor and trend line under sun apart from straight forward cancer rates. Anyone who spots that the emporer has no clothes on will be corrected by an ‘expert’. There are proper public health doctors out there with too much integrity to see this happen and this brings shame on the medical profession who should be honest and not side with the politicians in a game of cover up.

Another tactic is the 'Can't commit to a timescale in the interests of the North Wales Residents having a proper chance to meet with Mr Jones and his team a number of times' this is a delaying tactic that relies on the residents getting bored with the substance less waffle in the meetings and tune out until the report findings are published and when they complain that cancer statistics aren’t in there they will be told that everything was completed as per terms of reference (no mention that these were terms of reference not shared with or agreed by North Wales residents). Then we will have to wait another 5-10 years before we can persuade anyone to do another investigation.

If people were really getting cancer, and other awful diseases from the cement work emissions, why would any government be saying 'we have to take our time and do the analysis slowly' unless there is something to hide. The longer it goes on the more people could be getting cancer, if the information was really being collected as it should have been then the information could be produced in a couple of weeks maximum, and any unnessary cancer deaths could be prevented. It’s a disgrace if people are willing to let this happen rather than own up to management mistakes. We are being conned and bare faced lied to at these meetings.

Another tactic to watch out for is the diversion. This works by publishing whatever cancer statistics are available, even when they are not relevant to the investigation, and then claiming cancer issues are dealt with and it is time to move on to the environmental issues. Of course, the right cancer statistics were not published but they are hoping no-one will notice as they herd us like sheep into the ‘time to talk about environment’ pen.

Maybe there is something even bigger behind this. Its worth asking who set the emission rate for the cement factory in the first place and therefore would be liable to public outcry and huge compensation claims if they had to admit it was too low. Now was that public health or environmental health, or both? Perhaps Mr Jones could explain given that he worked in the environment agency at the time.

Well people of North Wales its time to wake up to how we are having the wool pooled over our eyes at these meetings and Mr Jones and Edwina Hart have known it all along. This is about our families and our community. It’s about our loved ones getting cancer and the tragedy of experiencing needless suffering and death. We deserve honest and genuine answers and not this political spin and cover up. They have known all along that they can’t do the cancer studies we want done but they are willing to cover it up. They would rather hide their own mistakes and even if it means letting the cancer continue.

Get coordinated people!
The final, and probably biggest tactics that will be used are the ones we have handed on a plate ourselves:
We have got a good sense of community and proper moral values. We are not used to politics and deviousness of this scale so we naturally trust the investigation team. Big mistake.
We do not have a single campaign group so our voices are diluted. Part of their plan will be to meet with us on an individual basis in a divide and conquer approach so that we never group together and find out everyone-else feels conned too.
If we had a co-ordinated group, we could insist on more power rather than being passive residents letting ‘experts’ take control.
We must insist on agreeing the terms of reference. We must make it public now that the terms of reference will be rejected by residents if it is a white wash. This is currently their master key and its one they have played hundreds of times in other political white washes and people fall for it every time.

We need to record every commitment they make as they will rely on us not having any evidence that promises were made and not fulfilled.
Can we get together one central website so that we can coordinate our power and passion in one place?
We need to meet as a group and agree a ‘list of demands’ based on the precise investigations we want done and not let ‘experts’ roll over us. If the issue is about expertise, then let’s get some independent people on our side.
By inviting separate submissions, they have control over what they report the key concerns of residents to be. So we need to make sure we can list as much of it as possible in case they conclude most people are more interested in things other than cancer!

Keep an eye on dates and deadlines. This can be used to limit our influence.

Insist on a copy of all documents otherwise ‘decisions’ will be recorded in documents we don’t see.

Ask Mr Jones why he has refused Freedom of Information act requests on cancer data?

Ask the Office of National Statistics to confirm what is missing from the Welsh submission as they will not be over-ruled by Mr Jones’ cover-up team.

Do freedom of information requests on how many information governance incidents there have been in last two years at Public Health Wales.

This will prove they know about the data problem.
There is a deliberately plan to push us towards thinking that we want environmental factors looked at and not cancer. This would be done by setting the agenda of meetings, by ‘closing that phase’, by bringing specific experts, by pretending it is what we asked for. If this happens, and it already has, and it does not get challenged, then we will be seen as agreeing implicitly. We need to talk up at the time.
There are many public health consultants and statisticians with real morals who would not lie and cover up at the meetings. That is why they are not there. That doesn’t mean we can’t invite them to meet with us so we can talk this through and see honestly and openly what can be done from the information that is there. It is not part of medical ethics to lead people on and leave their communities with cancer just for political gain. This is negligence beyond words as he is willing to let people go on dying just to cover up for Edwina Hart. This is corruption on its grandest scale. Many doctors and statisticians in Public Health Wales would break silence if we could speak to them directly.

A visit to Utopia away from the damp and the cold

Lord Howe Island where everyone knows everyone and everyone says hello to one another. They can ditch the compulsory cycle helmets though. A good job for Howie.



Links
Lord Howe Island
Google Maps

Cease Fire

Gosafe have said they will answer my FOIE with regards speeding in Chester Rd. They hold three lots of data for May 2007, June 2008 and December 2010.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Penyffordd Post Office

The state of play between main post offices and sub post offices such as Penyffordd run as a business.


Amad3us
Today 06:26 PM


To give the readers' an overview:


Out of 11500 post offices across the country, 400 are company operated also known as crown network. The rest are owned and operated by private individuals also known as Sub-office network.


The private investors have brought in £3billion worth of their own life savings into the company.


400 Crown Offices lose to the tune of £55 million every year and generate only 10% of the company income. Compare that with the fact that the Sub-office network generates 90% of the company income.


The sub-office network, by CWU's own admission, has had a pay cut for the last 4 years. And CWU is moaning about a pay freeze for one year?!?!


About time these crown offices are shut and this money down the drain saved.


Link Telegraph

Making Chester Rd less attractive to through rat run traffic

I came across the following links by accident. It's a response to a traffic calming evaluation FOIE in area of Rhondda Cynan Taff council.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/traffic_calming_evaluation#incoming-25554
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/9666/response/25554/attach/html/4/Table%202.doc.html

Cllr Cindy Hinds and Cllr David Williams are currently in discussions with Flintshire County Council.

Gosafe add Chester Rd to their duty roster again

http://www.gosafe.org/en/cameras/Details.aspx?ID=462&UAID=17&UA=Flintshire

If you look here
http://www.gosafe.org/en/cameras/Details.aspx?ID=462&UAID=17&UA=Flintshire#details

It all looks dinky fine, average speed of traffic 28 mph, what's that idiot blathering on about. I consider Gosafe to be the propaganda arm of the Welsh Assembly Government. They are just the paper over the cracks. Over 600 N Wales communities want their services. Their system of which tiny minority get the services is neither fair nor transparent. A unaccountable Welsh quango.

One figure partly gives the game away the 34% of vehicles exceeding 30 mph.

The other figure of interest is the traffic flow of 2489 a day.

Any councillor worth their salt would be pushing Gosafe for the full data and a new analysis now A55 Warren Hall exits are open.
They should be asking how many HGV's take a short cut, how many vehicles come through the village each day? how many vehicles use the village as a short cut?

Gosafe has equipment that can count HGV's, motorbikes, buses etc. The equipment just has to be set up proper. They can even work our car types by measuring the distance between the front and back wheels as the vehicle goes past as well as the speed.

Links

Alyn and Deeside Conservative Welsh Assembly candidate unveiled

the story in the Flintshire Chronicle. Would John Bell be any better than Carl Sargeant for Chester Rd, Penyffordd?

keywords: conservative, Will Gallagher, Clwyd South, Councillor Paul Rodgers, Chancellor George Osborne, Mark Isherwood.

Rant at Councillors



Last night I went out for a drink. It's best to stay away from emails after a drink but I didn't. So I launched into a " if you were proper cllrs " against Cllrs Cindy Hinds, David Williams, Linda Vidamour. I'd have included the other councillors but they hide their email addresses from me. Yes that's right elected representatives hiding email addresses.

I expected better from Linda as council chairman this year but she has gone along with the non action by North Wales Police and Gosafe removing Chester Rd from their road for concerns database.

It's 4 years now and traffic still hammers through the village every morning. We have had Howie finally out with his speed gun. He was there at 2.30 in the afternoon possibly the quietest time of the day for speeding traffic.

I am told by Cindy that she and David have approached highways there is no excuse however for not having our CBM out and about during the rat run.

There may be two, three hundred cars that speed past each morning. Our road was measured in December for traffic speeds FCC who have a Gosafe Safety Officer say they have not got the data, just more stonewalling. There are three sets of speed data for Chester Rd that I know of. May 2007, June 2008 and December 2010.

You would think any councillor with any idea would be demanding this data. Well you can think again they are like a row of ostriches with their heads in the sand. I am of the opinion that there are still over a 1000 vehicles who speed each day through the village from a high of 2000 in 2007. I have a new FOIE with Gosafe in place which they are currently ignoring and I will be going all the way to the Information Commissioner's office to force their hand over it. They are just an unaccountable Quango. Carl Sargeant AM knows the score but just sits on his hands.

I can only assume that votes take priority over village environment and safety.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The member for crayfish, red squirrels and damsons asks

Written Answers - Environment Food and Rural Affairs: Shellfish (9 Feb 2011)
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-02-09a.38065.h&s=speaker%3A11267#g38065.q0
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs what progress her Department has made in reducing the incidence
of crayfish plague.

Written Answers - Environment Food and Rural Affairs: Squirrels (9 Feb 2011)
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-02-09a.39113.h&s=speaker%3A11267#g39113.q0
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs what estimate she has made of the size of the red squirrel
population for each of the last five years.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Future Penyffordd housing developments

I read here that Broughton community are to receive about £500k when Broughton Park residential area for 260 houses is developed. The money is supposed to be for education but why the narrow strictures, schools are closing?

Does that mean with the White Lion and Mr Hewitt's land being developed in Penyffordd in the near future that Penyffordd district will benefit by a sum somewhere near 500k ?

I don't think we should have any further developments and I think a lot of other people in Flintshire communities think similar. Perhaps we should tell those in power ( EU) to bugger off.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Waste collection changes



1. Weekly Kerbside recycling collections
2. Weekly food waste collection
3. Fortnightly non recyclable waste
4. Fortnightly garden waste.

On the day containers must be placed out by 7 am for collection.............or else !
It's getting more like a communist, dictatorship council everyday.

An email to Chief Constable Mark Polin with regards hiding of traffic data to North Wales communities

cc Home Secretary, Minister for Policing.


Good Evening Chief Constable

The wind at last has died down, I've put my slates back on the roof. You should be careful of those that advise that I too have a few missing.

It doesn't seem 5 minutes but it must be over three years that Charles Hughes, Head of Engineering of Flintshire County Council sat opposite me at a meeting to discuss speeding traffic knowing full well that 2000 vehicles a day  were breaking our village speed limit. He decided that this information was not relevant to the meeting

Then we had a surprise visit from your predecessor former Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom who managed a village audit that was 2 inches thick in pages without going near the thorny issue for Chester Rd of 2000 vehicles speeding each day.

Then we had Inspector Martin Best playing down traffic volumes and speeding in the village in The Chronicle last week.
I say playing down but really I mean misinforming, lying.
CBM Howie Williams our local bobby told our community council that speeding through the village was 5 % for June 2008 when he really should have said it was 34%. His apology is minuted, it only happened because my wife noticed the falsehood.

You can see the pattern here of course.  Hide the data, tell falsehoods, put communities at risk, ignore their environments.
How far does this falsehood go to? The Home Office, The Welsh Assembly government?

Last night I put in two Freedom of Information requests, one to you ( NWP) which you replied to and another to that bunch of spiv management Gosafe ( The All Wales Safety Partnership) which has not been replied to as yet. I can imagine them in a meeting discussing ways that the data I have asked for can be denied yet again.

My question is. Are you comfortable with your partners Flintshire County Council and Gosafe hiding traffic speed data from communities such as Chester Rd, Penyffordd?

I hope you will take the time to consider this which is an issue in over 600 North Wales communities.


Colin Hughes
Chester Rd
Penyffordd


copied to blog as a matter of public record

Peace in Penyffordd after the storm


This is the damage to a neighbour. Many fence panels in other neighbours gardens have been ripped out. The wind perhaps from an unusual direction with severe gusts.  My stuff just about repaired, slates back on the roof. Design modifications needed in case any of this stuff passes again.

Monday, February 07, 2011

Houses for sale Penyffordd

Link Rightmove

An email to Carl Sargeant AM - Local Government Corruption


Morning Carl
Another windy one my shed roof's blown away, it's all down to this global warming we need to pay more tax! Big mess in Anglesey must be taking up all your time. Your oppo Eric the Pickles continues to play a blinder. Now I read councils are going to have to publish local government salaries over £58k.
From my and other Chester Rd residents point of view  there's a rather large stink closer to home ( Sharpie's dept) . Last week we had North Wales Police in The Chronicle playing down speeding (lieing)  in Chester Rd with the full collusion of Flintshire County Council ( Highways and Road Safety) . The proof being they continue to hide the speed traffic data recorded on our road. I live here I see it I know the truth.
Your chance Carl. Are you a man of the people or are you just like "them" ?
Colin Hughes
Penyffordd
copied to blog
ps. I can't currently see why anyone in Penyffordd or for that matter N Wales should vote in the upcoming Welsh elections

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Recent house sales in Penyffordd district

4 Hulleys Close £180,000
Penymynydd, CH4 0YX 6th December 2010

4 Orchard Place £277,500
Penyffordd, CH4 0GY 8th December 2010

3 Westfield Drive £173,000
Penyffordd, CH4 0HY 1st December 2010

2 Westfield Drive £80,000
Penyffordd, CH4 0HY 19th November 2010

You can search all these sales totally free of charge by going to OurProperty.co.uk

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Erddig Fruit Trees


1. Upton Pyne
2. Twenty Ounce
3. Gascoynes Scarlet
4. Millicent Barnes
1903 - Chester - Scarlet flushed Sharp crisp juicy -  P-Sept - R-Oct/Nov
5. Golden Pippin
6. Cockpit Improved
7. Emperor Alexander
8. Lewis' Incomparable
9. Kidd's Orange Red
10. Crispin
11. Howgate Wonder
12. Adam's Pearmain
13. Wormsley Pippin
14. Margil
15. Hambledon Deux Ans
16. Orleans Reinette 
17. Wyken Pippin
18. King Charles Pearmain
19. Lord Lambourne
20. Costard


The following fruit trees of Erddig are mentioned in "The Servants Hall " by Merlin Waterson. There were various alterations to the walled garden so the position of trees mentioned below my not be correct. The book as a history of Erddig is recommended, the Marquis of Anglesey's foreword I particularly liked, perhaps without the Marquis' persistence Erddig may have been lost to the nation.
It is out of print but can be bought online.

South Wall
Kanatian Peach
Old Newington (peach)
Fruit, large, roundish, marked with a shallow suture. Skin, pale yellow in the shade, and fine red, marked with still darker red, on the side next the sun. Flesh, yellowish white, deep red at the stone, to which it adheres; of a juicy, rich, and very vinous flavour. Flowers, large, Leaves, without glands. Ripe in the middle of September.

White Magdalen
A tolerably large, round peach, of a yellowish-white, but of a lively red on the south side: its pulp is mellow, and very grateful to the palate; of a rose-red tint about the stone, and yielding a sweet juice : it is eatable about the middle of September.


Burden Peach


Blew Peralrigou Plumb
Scarlett Newington Nectorn
The Virginall Plumb

East Wall
Queen Mother
Robin Pare  (robin pear)
Lemon Pare
Bury Pare
Virh Long Pare
Jargonell Do  ( jargonelle )
Virtlong
Jesus Coll Warden
Rhine Clan Plumb
Orange Apricock

(Early Orange; Persian; Royal Persian; Royal George; Royal Orange)
Fruit, above medium size, roundish, one side swelling more than the other. Skin, pale orange in the shade; deep orange, tinged with red, next the sun. Suture, well defined, deep towards the stalk. Flesh, deep orange, firm, and adhering to the stone, which is small, smooth, thick, and impervious. Kernel, sweet. Ripe in the middle of August.


West Wall
Gross Blanquett Pare
White Mogull Plumb

White Magnum Bonum (Askew's Golden Egg; Bonum Magnum; Dame Aubert; Dame Aubert Blanche; Egg Plum; Grosse Luisante; ImpeHale Blanche; White Mogul; Yellow Magnum Bonum)
Fruit, of the largest size; oval, with a rather deep suture extending the whole length on one side. Skin, thick and membranous, and adhering to the flesh, deep yellow, and covered with thin white bloom. Stalk, an inch long, and inserted without depression. Flesh, yellow, firm, coarse-grained, with a brisk subacid flavour, and adhering to the stone.
A culinary plum highly esteemed for preserving; ripe in September. The young shoots are smooth. The tree is a strong and vigorous grower and bears well either as a standard or an espalier, and when grown against a south wall the fruit is considerably improved both in size and flavour.


The Petit Russell Pare
Blew Mussell Plumb
Green Impardigall Do
Spanish Musk Pare
Burgamy Pare

The above written in Eighteenth century English.

The BBC website mentions two further fruit tree types.

"The park was landscaped by William Eames (1729-1803) between 1768 - 1789. Erddig's walled garden is one of the most important surviving 18th Century gardens in Britain and was planned around a canal, and features a Victorian parterre and yew walk, as well as the National Collection of Ivy. The walled garden has many rare historical varieties of apples, pears, plums and apricots training along its walls, carefully labelled with names like Bon Chrétien d'Hiver (a pear of the late 15th Century) and Edelsborsdorfer (a 16th Century apple)."

1. Bon Chrétien d'Hiver

Winter Bon Chretien (D'Angoisse; Bon Chretien d'Hiver; Bon Chretien d'Auch; Bon Chretien de Tours; De St. Martin)
Fruit, large, and very variable in shape, some irregularly pyriform, and others obovate-turbinate, uneven and bossed in its outline. Skin, dingy yellow, with a tinge of brown next the sun, and strewed with small russety dots. Eye, open, with long segments, and set in a deep basin. Stalk, an inch to an inch and a half long, obliquely inserted in a close cavity. Flesh, white, crisp, juicy, sweet, and perfumed.


A dessert pear; ripe from December to March. The tree is tender, and requires to be grown against a wall, when the fruit is excellent and richly flavoured. In France this was for centuries considered the finest of all winter pears; but of late years, since the introduction of so many superior new varieties, it is only fit to be grown as a standard, and cultivated as a first-rate culinary pear; for this purpose also it is used in France. A French writer of the last century says, "If you are curious in large fruit, plant the Catillac Pound Pears and Double Fleur; but if you want quality, no pear surpasses the Martin Sire and Winter Bon Chrêtien for compotes. The coarse grain of the latter being fined by cooking, its juice becomes a syrup, and contains a perfume and natural sugar which cannot be communicated artificially."


In the Horticultural Society's Catalogue the Bon Chrêtien d'Auch is made synonymous with this variety, and doubtless what was received proved to be so; till February. The tree forms a handsome small pyramid, is quite hardy, and an excellent bearer. As grown at Teddington it is a good pear, but of rather flat flavour. "Not to be compared with Josephine de Malines."


This was raised early in the present century by M. Jean Charles Nélis, of Malines, in Belgium, and was introduced to this country in 1818 by the Horticultural Society of London.



2. Edelsborsdorfer
1544 - Germany - Pinky orange flush over yellow  sweet elderflower scented  firm white flesh - P-Oct - R-Nov thru Jan



Information will be added when found. Please feel free to email ( tresmegistes@gmail.com ) if you anything extra that might be added

The Prime Minister talking sense

France and Germany are taking a similar stance. The Prime Minister in The Telegraph.

It's been a bit windy

Someone on the Leader comment section says I need to take pills, yesterday I would agree. Four slates have come off the roof. I've got what's called lazy nails holding the slates on. Needs roof re doing 5 k.

A bit worse here though.

I hate the wind. I'm not on my own though some winds make you ill. Some evil winds here

Llanfynydd Tourist Attraction

for my mates at The Leader comment section, its been there three weeks so far.
http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/98579/is-this-the-safest-village-in-wales-.aspx





Thursday, February 03, 2011

Carl Sargeant AM is busy

Link The Druid

Next time you are tail gaited

You might like to bear in mind my experience. Pushed along Corwen Rd, Penyffordd. Pulled over for a British School of Motoring Instructor on a 60 plate in a hurry in a 30 mph limit who doesn't know stopping distances. Time 7. 50 pm.

Emailed to British School of Motoring

Link http://www.bsm.co.uk/

keywords:dangerous drivers, no idea, Buckley, Broughton, Chester, Wrexham, Flintshire.

Postscript. I am told BSM Chester or whatever have gone into administration, not surprised.......

Penyffordd Institute Annual General Meeting 2011



PENYFFORDD AND PENYMYNYDD WAR MEMORIAL INSTITUTE


ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING


TUESDAY,  22nd. FEBRUARY, 2011 in  the

COMMITTEE ROOM  of  the  INSTITUTE  at 7pm.


 EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND

Penyffordd and Penymynydd Pantomime in final rehearsals

in The Flintshire Chronicle.

keyword: 2011

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

And finally crime in Penyffordd district

For the month of December 2010 all is quiet well just about. Five crimes reported here.

Former Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom was quoted as saying that speeding was anti social behavior. It would appear this is no longer so.

Further if you zoom in on the google map you can see where the incidents took place. Anti social behavior next to my house, a burglary in Hazel Drive, violent crime in Berwyn Avenue.

The anti social wasn't me.......................

Mark Tami MP has damsons on his mind


Not a lot of people know this but I intend to grow damsons and other fruit trees in test tubes. I have emailed Mark of my new interest. Further on this bizarre political topic on the Hansard link.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Google is watching me

Why do I merit a daily scan from Google headquarters in Mountain View and New York?
The hydrogen peroxide is for gardening guys !

Penyffordd Crime

From today (sort of) it will be possible to see a map of crime levels in England and Wales. The naysayers of course are saying its a map for criminals. It will show the glaring short falls of some police forces if the data is collected properly. North Wales Police for example are very good at taking the bright side of data even though they had little to do with why data shows certain trends such as the lowering of recored crime by 11% recently that had more to do with social change than police management effectiveness.

Here's the link  Its currently not working due to overload, not a good start........................

Postscript: Told you so

Quote by Mark Burns Williamson 'The popularity of crime mapping shows people identify with, and want to influence, their neighbourhood and their district, and that accountability must be accessible.'
I hope Penyffordd Cllrs will read the above and digest.

Last year Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Denis O’Connor, said police had staged a 30-year retreat from the streets, allowing the ‘disease’ of anti-social behaviour to thrive.


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