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Peredur Owen Griffiths, who represents Plaid Cymru, is one of four regional Senedd Members serving the South Wales East region.

It was pleasing to see Caerphilly County Borough Council see sense and revisit their proposals to hike pitch hire fees by 75%.

This extortionate levy was coming on the back of two inflation busting pitch fee hire increases in recent years. Most sports clubs would not be able to absorb those kind of price increases, meaning they would have to pass the costs onto players or parents of players in the form of subs.

This would lead to a situation whereby the poorest families would be unable to participate in sport. Apart from being a grave injustice, how much young talent would be lost to sports like football and rugby because of this?

I am pleased the public rose up against this, particularly with a petition organised by a concerned parent which garnered over 5,000 signatures around the time the Labour cabinet performed their U-turn.

Earlier that week I mentioned the issue in the Senedd during my questions to the local government minister. I told her: “This proposal, if enacted, will ravage grassroots teams at all ages across a wide range of sports.”

I have no doubt in my mind that without people power the council would not be reconsidering their decision. Plaid Cymru will now be watching closely what the Labour council do on this matter and spring into action if the extreme pitch hire increase is revisited.

We will do everything we can to make sure that grassroots sports remain as accessible as it can be in the county borough. 

Since my last column, Plaid Cymru has held its annual conference in Llandudno. As well as taking part in several panel fringe events, I also got the chance to make a speech on the main stage.

In this speech I outlined Plaid Cymru’s vision for improved and affordable public transport links connecting the whole of our country from north to south and east to west. I also said we would revisit reform of council tax to make it make it more progressive and fairer on poor families after the Labour Government lost their nerve and scuppered this element of the co-operative agreement.

All-in-all, the conference was upbeat, invigorating and thoroughly enjoyable. It bodes well for a good showing in next year’s Senedd elections if the community work we have been doing all year round since my election continues.

Finally, I want to say something about the spate of grassfires we have seen in recent weeks.

While some can start accidentally, the majority will have been set deliberately. Not only is this disastrous to local wildlife and our countryside, but it is also a huge drain on the resources of the fire brigade whose lives are also endangered. Their time would be much better spent elsewhere.

To those people deliberately setting these fires, I pose this question: How would you feel if a loved one is involved in a car accident and is unable to be freed quickly because firefighters have been diverted to a remote mountainside to deal with a grassfire?

I am sure there would be remorse and guilt, so please bear this in mind next time you are tempted to set a grassfire as you never know when you or someone you love will need the fastest possible response from the emergency services.