In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
I wrote to the Transport Minister Edwina Hart about the possibility of re-opening the railway line between Bedwas and Newport.
The Minister explained that she had set up a South Wales Metro implementation group to bring forward proposals to the delivery stage.
That group will consider the potential for re-opening the link between Bedwas and Newport.
Given the increasing demand for rail travel we need to explore all options to make railways accessible to more people.
Certainly, the re-opening of lines like the Ebbw Valley has been a huge success and taken people off the roads.
Silk Commission
The recommendations of the Silk Commission were published this week.
I accept given the tough economic times that we all live in, that extra powers for the National Assembly are not top of most people’s agenda.
On the face of it this may appear to be a constitutional matter but the powers proposed by Silk are important if Wales is to build its economy and create work, which is Plaid Cymru’s priority.
I also can’t see why policing shouldn’t be devolved as a first step to devolution of the criminal justice system.
Our police forces already work closely with public bodies in Wales and it is important that they are directly accountable to the people through the National Assembly.
Council Cuts
I was disappointed that Labour-controlled Caerphilly council pressed ahead with some aspects of its spending cuts for the next financial year.
The council has pulled £6,000 funding from the Aber Valley Splash Pad despite massive opposition from the public.
I was present when the water feature for children was installed a few years ago following a great deal of hard work by local people. They raised a lot of money and won the People’s Millions Competition to secure the funding for this much used facility.
In addition, the decision to close the popular café at Caerphilly Leisure Centre was short-sighted. Why didn’t the council look at options such as perhaps offering young people on catering courses at Ystrad Mynach college the opportunity to run it or perhaps invite interest from the local community?
Is Lindsay Whittle sure that he was present at the Council meeting when this decision was taken? All Plaid members slinked off before the end of the meeting so I wouldn't be sure of this. Can he inform us what he says is correct?
Can I suggest that Arthur checks with his Labour Party colleagues. But the decision on both the items mentioned had already been taken by the council before Plaid members left the meeting. Labour voted to withdraw funding from the Splash Pad and close the leisure centre cafe – and that's a fact.
Can I suggest that Coun Whittle answers for himself instead of instructing others to answer for him.
He's certainly not instructed me. He doesn't need to answer because those were the decisions – if you don't accept that then check with your Labour mates.
Phil, you should know if you follow the 'Comments' in this publication that Arthur appears to be a bitter old cynic.
I agree with Lindsay on railways; we need more routes though I doubt that the Bedwas – Newport route is viable due to building on the track bed.
I totally disagree with him regarding the police. The last thing I want is a police force controlled, or even influenced by, members of the Assembly. There is, or should be, already public accountability within the police through the office of the elected police commissioner. He or she can be directly elected, or unelected, by the voters. The Assembly is entirely comprised of party political people.
These were mostly elected because of the party they belonged to rather than any merit they have as governers. Some members were not elected by anyone, they were selected to be put on a list for services to their party. Most voters do not belong to political parties so why should their police force be controlled according party politics?
With regard to the council budget cuts I have made my view clear on this. The Plaid Cymru members should have stayed to argue on behalf of the people of their wards. A walk out was petulant and did not best serve those voters who wish to see the cuts, proposed by Labour, opposed. This episode has backfired on Plaid Cymru. At least Labour came up with a financial policy, a responsible opposition should have stood their ground on the parts they disagreed with, rather than walking out to get a headline in the newspapers.
The walk out is interesting. We all know the number of Labour councillors outnumber the number of councillors from other parties. Also, we all know the way councillors part of a party (especially Labour) will vote in such meets because, as Richard has correctly pointed out, they may be rewarded in the future for services to their party.
Even if the Plaid councillors did remain and put forward excellent arguments opposing Labour's plans, no difference would have been made as Labour councillors knew what they wanted to do in the first place and knew which way they would vote. The majority of the meetings that take place are pointless as decisions are not made but formalised. Any debating that takes place is for show.
Non-Labour councillors were wasting their time at the meeting as Labour already knew what they wanted. Plaid saw this and decided to waste their time away in the comfort of their own homes. Of course, the principle of it is different as public servants should be at meeting to serve.
Sadly, this is the state of British politics on a local level and a national level. Many politicians are too busy looking after their career and securing a promotion than they are debating issues and making decisions that best suit the communities and the country.
In reply to Dean's view that "Non Labour councillors were wasting their time at the meeting as Labour already knew what they wanted", this seems self evident, at first glance. However the voters do expect the opposition to oppose and make amendments. Sometimes these are successfully passed instead of the motion, this is because some elected members of the ruling party are persuaded that the amendment has merit.
The other important question is how does the opposition show its intent if given the opportunity to govern at the next election if it childishly refused to debate? As a voter myself who has voted for both Labour and Plaid Cymru in the past, a walk out does not inspire me to vote for that party. A willingness to debate every point does impress me. As a non party person all I see is a Labour administration who did at least have a point of view and a so-called opposition who ran away from the debate.
I accept your point when it come to looking ahead at the next election, unfortunately the council in Caerphilly will nearly always be Labour with some Plaid bursts in between. The people vote for parties without really knowing what they stand for. Labour's attitude of manipulating all members to vote with the party and Plaid's attitude of throwing toys out of the pram put me off voting for them. They will still get votes though. I feel sorry for those people who convince themselves their party is perfect and does now wrong. The people who say they agree 100% with their party 100% of the time either have no opinions of their own or fail to understand things.
Dean, I can do nought but agree. I am a democrat to the core and would love to see real debate, real engagement with voters and a plethora of opinions expressed and debated. Unfortunately we in Wales are stuck with a sterile choice of Labour or Nationalist. In the bigger picture we are stuck with Tory and Labour.
A brief examination reveals that all these ‘choices’ are for basically the same policies. Forty years ago there were real divisions between parties, today there is nothing. There are major flaws in the Labour financial plan for this borough. Instead of providing counter argument, scrutiny of the detail and a generally robust opposition to Labour proposals the Nationalists decided, pre-planned in my view, to walk out of the debate. What did this achieve? Nothing at all, I hope every one of them takes a hard look at what they did and next time do the right thing and represent those whose ward they were elected to serve.