Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Communities First department is holding a consultation on how it can improve services to help people give up smoking.
To take part in the consultation fill in a survey here or visit or go to www.caerphillyasks.org.uk.
Link to survey does not work……aren’t there more important things to do first like help unemployed find work, help people eat a healthier diet, help people to budget properly or learn how to cook. The Welsh Assembly will one day ban smoking altogether just so they can be the first to do it.
Agreed, but I ask myself is it the councils business whether people smoke, drink, eat the wrong food or do not exercise? The answer is no, it is not the council’s business and they should stop poking their nose into things that do not concern them.
The council should concentrate on roads, rubbish collection, street lighting, librararies and all the other things that do concern them.
Here is the survey:
https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/surveylogin.asp?k=144180472517
Here it is
https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/surveylogin.asp?k=144180472517
Nothing wrong with the Caerphilly Council having a narrative on any subject which effects peoples health and well being, not just the people who smoke, but those who dont who can be effected by it. But, Councillor Richard Williams will agree that the most disgraceful example of a ` failure` by the Council do anything about is the Cancergenic, Dangerous, and health effecting air quality in and around Caerphilly.
The other very important thing which is being missed in respect to this Article is that it is NOT Caerphilly Council who are suggesting or promoting ANYTHING in respect to this survey, it is, in fact, AN OFFICER INSPIRED process. It is also an initiative inspired by officers who are paid for by Grants from the Welsh Assembly, money, which is intended must be used on initiatives in the Community which increase employment opportunities through training and other project based activities, decrease the levels of Child Poverty, education and other, individual, training initiatives. etc. etc.
Could it be that the Community First Project Staff are devoid of inspirational ideas on which to spend Welsh Assembly Money, money which is diverted to the Council, for specific purposes, ring fenced for specific measurable purposes, but then spent on such brain numbing ` consultation` as smoking, which will do nothing for tackling Child Poverty in the Borough, it will do nothing to encourage employers to employ better trained local people, it will do nothing to help provide training for local people, it will do nothing to inprove the local environment and communities, it will do nothing to provide local amenities for residents or help local people play an active part in improving their own environment. Which are the specific issues the jobs of Community First Staff are created for, thata why the jobs are funded by the Welsh Assembly.
Lets see projects which will improve the disgraceful situation of the highest level of poverty ( including Child Poverty) in the Country, here in Caerphilly.
Lets see some initiatives which create employment training places for local people, see other projects which inspire local residents to improve the general environment of their communities, Community First Staff being engaging and accountable to local communities encouraging residents to play a `from the bottom up`, and not, `from the top down` set of projects and initiatives designed to involve everyone who wants to be involved.
So, Rich, I dont think this is a Council, inspirational way, of interferring with personal choice, it appear to be an Officer Inspired Initiative?.
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A very interesting and informative comment, I missed that this was a ‘Communities First’ inspired piece of nonsense. It really does seem that this department, funded from taxes we pay to the useless Welsh Assembly, have indeed run out of ideas to combat what they should be doing, child poverty, employment training, etc as you mention.
Around six or seven years ago environmental health had deduced through measurement that areas of the town were polluted by toxic traffic fumes at higher levels than those permitted by legislation. I know this as I was a member of the AQMA (Air Quality Management Area) panel. This was way before I was elected town councillor and I was there as a resident.
So far as I know nothing has been done and the panel has been quietly disbanded. If ‘Communities First’ have suddenly decided that the quality of the air we breath needs attention they should perhaps address the major pollution problems in Caerffili and the Borough, detected by scientific measurement, rather than ask smoking addicts what would help them give up. That, though, would be a real challenge and not as attractive a proposition as an easily produced nosey parker’s survey.
I smoke and I want to give up. That’s my problem and no one else should poke their nose into it or pay for it.