Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

At the end of the week, I will be heading off to my favourite town by the sea, Aberystwyth, for Plaid conference. It’s an important conference in so much as that we now need to prepare for next year’s Assembly election, and the referendum on more powers for Wales. It is going to be a busy year, that’s for sure.

I am particularly looking forward to hearing a key note speech from the Plaid candidate for Neath, Alun Llewelyn. The Plaid team in Neath have worked so hard over the years, and so well together, and I am sure that we will hear about this dedication in his speech.

Not wishing to pre-empt what he will say too much, I do hope that he will talk about how we need to win more seats on the Council so that Plaid can take over the running of a tired, Labour-run Council, whose officials had the absurd idea of making Council staff members re-apply for their positions in a bid to cut costs.

I’ve written an article on this matter for the Evening Post, noting that I cannot see in these plans any suggestion of top managerial staff having to re-apply for their jobs. Talk about double standards. We need a breath of fresh air in the area, and I hope that Alun will work hard to win Neath next year, so that this can build momentum for the Council elections in 2012. I find it very difficult to progress local concerns and issues with Neath Port Talbot Council at the moment, especially in corresponding with it regarding school closures and public sector pay. Labour need to realise that they can’t take people for granted and that they need to take on board concerns from ALL elected representatives in the area- not just from Labour representatives.

I’ve put forward three motions via the Neath Plaid Cymru branch that are being discussed at the Plaid Conference. One is on social care – initiated as a result of our campaign in Glyn Neath against the closure of Trem y Glyn care home. I also put forward a motion on the future of the media in Wales as a result of the serious lack of plurality in news in South Wales West, and the attempts by a new local social enterprise in the Port Talbot-Neath area to provide more local based news. I also introduced a motion on pensions investment- specifically due to the work that I have carried out in the Swansea area to support the former Visteon pensioners who are now taking legal action against Ford for misselling pensions.

All in all, it should be an interesting conference. In the meantime, I am progressing work on my consultation response to Neath Port Talbot’s Local Development Plan. I will blog further on this matter, but last week I organised a public meeting, which was packed, alongside Plaid activists in Aberdulais who are very concerned about large scale plans for the area that may affect the woodland of the village, the traffic, the wildlife, and the amenities in the village if the plans are accepted as part of the LDP. A local group of people are now setting up a stakeholder group to put forward their views to the council formally, and if you want to get involved in this group, then please just get in touch with me.