South

Excellent relationship between town's university and hospital

Madam,

Dr H K Little, in her letter to the Cambrian News (5 January 2012), describes the importance of Bronglais Hospital and calls on the university to demonstrate its support.

Even in my short time here, it is clear that Bronglais plays a key role within the fabric of the town of Aberystwyth and the county of Ceredigion; and we extend our admiration and gratitude to the staff for the excellent support they provide to students and staff.

For a university town, with a student population of nearly 12,000, it is reassuring to witness at first hand the excellent relationships in place between the university and the dedicated medical and support staff at Bronglais; relationships that have grown and matured over many years.

Recently, Aberystwyth University and the Hywel Dda Health Board have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will pave the way for greater collaboration in areas of research, continuing professional development and provision of shared services. Together, we are also working towards establishing a Professorial Chair in areas of mutual interest, such as how people in rural areas access health services and support, and general health and well-being.

We look forward to the continuance of our excellent relationships and to future joint developments. Readers of the Cambrian News will understand that it would be inappropriate for one public sector organisation to comment on the future of another – especially when consultation is still under way. Nonetheless, we feel these positive steps will make it much more likely that the university can be involved in future discussions with and about our local hospital, in a constructive spirit.

The first day at my new home and my fridge is nicked!

Madam,

I lived for four years near Tregaron in a remote cottage that didn’t have a lock on the door, and nothing was ever taken.

In my six-and-a-half years at Nanteos, although the mansion was a security nightmare, with random tourists turning up at 2am, digging for treasure, trying to photograph the ghosts, only one thing went missing: a carved wooden bear during a wedding in 2006. (If you’ve finished with it, Shane would like it back. Sentimental value, you understand.)

Last Saturday I finally squeezed most of my stuff into my tiny new, post-Nantean home in town, only to have my fridge stolen almost immediately from where I’d parked it by the front door, intending to make space for it indoors (they kindly put back the trolley it was standing on); silly me, it’s been a while since I lived in a deprived area. I put up a notice asking for it back and someone promptly nicked the notice. There’s a paper shortage, too?

As it happens, I’d gone out for the evening to see The Iron Lady, the gruelling Thatcher bio-saga. Talk about irony! The serial entrepreneur who liberated the aforesaid appliance, worth all of ten quid on ebay, must understandably have felt unfairly victimised, disempowered by my relative affluence. They couldn’t care less that I haven’t got a job to go to either, as long as I’d got a fridge… capitalist swine, how dare I enjoy cold milk?

No such thing as society, innit?

Big shops will threaten local traders, farmers and jobs

Madam,

A packed meeting was held in the Morlan Centre, Aberyst-wyth, on 26 January to allow people with concerns about the Mill Street development in the town to address councillors.

I want to reiterate some points, and make some more.

A local business-owner pointed out that fuel prices will keep rising and soon people will not be able to afford to go far. She asked where the people being attracted to the town are going to come from, then?

By law, Tesco and Marks and Spencer (like all corporations) have to make money for their shareholders. They will take money out of the area. This development is motivated by corporate greed.

More supermarkets in Aberystwyth will affect small shops, farmers, businesses and thus communities throughout north Ceredigion. How many of these ‘big’ stores will stock produce from local farmers and suppliers?

Some want more competition for Morrisons (it is already coming with the Aldi store planned for Park Avenue).

Increased competition between supermarkets will undercut small local enterprises. This will threaten shops in a wide area and, in turn, threaten the local producers who supply them. How many jobs will be lost?

Aberystwyth is being saturated with supermarkets. Competition between them will mean some close. Again jobs will be lost.

Empty shops and brown field sites in Aberystwyth are not being developed or used because of the economic climate. The Mill Street development may start, but what guarantee is there that it will ever be finished?

The impression is given that the views of the Chamber of Commerce reflect all small businesses in Aberystwyth, but they do not. They certainly do not represent those out of town.

Finally, no planning application has been made. It is not a done deal.

Look to future but respect the past

Madam,

Re: Aberystwyth Mill Street development proposal. When we add to our environment – we can enhance/reshape and pass it on to those who follow after us.

Why then have many of Aberystwyth’s more notable buildings been allowed to decay or been demolished - buildings that have formed and defined our town?

Now the Drill Hall and dwellings of Glyndwr Road face demolition. These are buildings that trace the development of our town, and are an irreplacable legacy that ours and past generations may leave to future generations. If those involved cared truly about Aberystwyth beyond the immediate, and considered for a moment its longer-term future with a degree of imagination, such buildings would not only be saved and used, but sympathetically integrated into a contemporary development proposal, celebrated and enjoyed for centuries. Think Yr Hen Ysgol (Llanilar), highlighting sympathetic re-use of a redundant school while retaining human scale and local materials. Or visit nearby Nanteos Mansion constructed circa 1738, almost 300 years ago, and now undergoing conservation and sympathetic conversion to breathe a new life for perhaps another 300 years.

Where is the imagination and skill to look beyond the limited bubble that the current Mill Street design proposals appear to exhibit? Respect the past while looking to the future. They are not mutually exclusive. These few remaining historic parts of Aberystwyth should not be destroyed or insulted through sidelining.

Is it too much to ask that developers and designers be briefed to respect the town we love? Does it take too much effort to take stock and consider the real issues? Oh yes – and putting the forgotten elderly into a basement. Rising 80 years and perhaps wheelchair-bound - how would we feel to be shoved aside in the name of progress? To its users, the Park Avenue Day Centre is a gem, cherished by many for its location and facilities and therefore is of significant value.

It is not rocket science that traditional buildings may be effectively insulated and heated to 21st century expectations, and that any ‘green’ arguments for their replacement are now considered out-of-date views. Older buildings should not be frozen in time. They should not be considered museum-pieces. In order to survive, the majority of buildings must serve a purpose. Every building has in some way been adapted to suit successive user needs, be it a lick of paint or a new storey. Carried out in a managed and sympathetic way, change or evolution should be considered perfectly acceptable. It is inappropriate to advocate that old buildings are past their sell by date and are of no further use, incapable of adaptation. Some of our most interesting modern design is in the context of historic reuse.

So - development, progress, certainly, but see and understand the resources already available and work with them. Do not destroy them, please.

Do your homework before paying fines

Madam,

How refreshing to have confirmation from Nev Metson (Letters, 19 January) about the irksome behaviour of the car parking companies operating in Aberystwyth. A while ago now my wife received a similar demand for £50 (along with all the threats of punitive action if she didn’t pay promptly) for overstaying the 8pm deadline and causing no harm or obstruction to anybody. She went online and learned that there is no legal basis for these demands and the parking company has no legal authority to empower bailiff or any other action. They can take civil action through the courts to recover this “debt”, but I have yet to hear of any motorist successfully sued in this way.

As a result, she ignored all correspondence from Parking Eye, and didn’t respond in any way. Eventually the matter just faded away.I don’t know where my wife went online to obtain her advice, but I had a brief look yesterday and came up with two very informative sites: what astate.org.uk and AppealNow.com. I am sure there must be other equally helpful sites for an aggrieved motorist to research.

I am not legally qualified in any way to dish out advice to others, but I would certainly recommend doing a bit of investigation before entering any dialogue with these companies, and certainly before handing over any money.

In these straitened financial times, when Aberystwyth needs to encourage, rather than harass, all visitors and shoppers, the behaviour of these pestilential car parking companies should be investigated, controlled and adapted to better suit the prevailing situation.

Unanswered questions about sorry plans

Madam,

Through your pages can I pose the following unanswered questions in the sorry tale of Aberystwyth’s Day Centre?

How much will remedial work to the drains and rendering of the building cost? Will there be air conditioning? How many staff will be on hand to help the elderly navigate the ramps and will this deflect from their responsibilities? Will other voluntary groups have access to the new facility? Critically important is how we have got to a position - when some years ago the centre was supporting 100 people - that there are places for just 35. Above all else, what happened to the commitment of like for like? What is the criteria for referral by Social Services, and how it has changed?

I want to thank those involved in the Save Park Avenue Day Centre, the 6,000 people who signed the petition and those who attend our vigils. We are not opposed to change. Change is inevitable, but should proceed on the back of consultation.

The sorry attempts to shut Bodlondeb, and move our day centre illustrate an unhealthy unwillingness by Social Services to listen.

We’re not averse to change

Madam,

Cllr Keith Evans is quoted in last week’s Cambrian News saying “People in Aberystwyth often want things… but when it comes to changes, they don’t want to see things happen.” It appears that Cllr Evans subscribes to the East German version of democracy – in the words of Betholt Brecht, leaders of that oppressive régime wished to “dissolve the people and elect a more satisfactory one”.

Perhaps another member of Ceredigion County Council shows greater understanding when he remarks that “Bodlondeb and the Day Centre form a pattern where the general public wouldn’t accept that consultation is something the authority does well”.

As a long-standing resident of the town, it seems to me that Aberystwyth people are not especially averse to change, but as an intelligent group of human beings do not accept that ‘change’ is good in itself: if, for example, the ‘change’ in question means attracting a fifth or sixth supermarket to the town to put further pressure on valuable and valued local traders and destroy shops in the traditional shopping streets. And when we add that the further effects of this development are to make a botch of the long-awaited relocation of the town’s public library; to destroy valuable housing stock and eject the residents; to annihilate the Drill Hall: and to destroy the excellent Day Centre which is such a valued resource for the older people of the area, can Cllr Evans really be surprised that there is opposition?

I am pleased to learn that a group of concerned local people has organised a meeting for this Thursday, 26 January, to examine the proposals for Mill Street. It is in the Morlan Centre, and will start at 7pm, and a number of elected representatives will be present. If you have any concerns about this development, or indeed if you are an enthusiastic supporter of it, why not go along?

Travel adds to stress

Madam,

I feel I must put pen to paper to suport Bronglais. I have had three major operations, one in Swansea and two at Bronglais. Although the care received in Swansea is not in question, the added stress of my recovery was the worry of my husband having to travel in the snow.

In Bronglais the care was excellent and my recovery was aided because my family and friends could visit me regularly, even some travelling on the bus.

Don't take away distinctive character

Madam,

In May 2010 I participated in a ‘Sense of Place’ workshop, that was funded by Visit Wales, in Llantwit Major. The event was facilitated in an excellent manner by Angharad Wynne, who guided the participants towards a realisation of the distinctive and attractive features of Llantwit Major. May I recommend that decision-makers who affect Aberystwyth town arrange such an event for themselves? In Aberystwyth, the bandstand on the promenade is unique. I have not seen one in active use, on a seafront location, anywhere else. The public shelters, dating from the 1920s, are also very distinctive features.

The suggestions for regenerating the promenade include: designated parking bays, seating, and areas for eating and drinking. These are already sufficiently provided for and I see little need or scope for improvement in the overall public open space. I remember when extensive work on re-paving, providing street furniture and construction of the paddling pool was undertaken and this is still in good repair.

Aberystwyth promenade is only partially urban, as a large part of the coastline of Wales and an extensive seascape influence the overall character. The suggested proposals could have been more appropriate for their setting.

While a reduction in parking would be a local improvement, it would merely push the problem elsewhere and there does not seem to be any overall parking strategy for the town. The provision of parking is probably going to be quite helpful if the aim is to encour-age more visitors.My suggestions for regeneration in Aberystwyth would include;i) Appropriate repair and restoration of the public shelter near Siop Y Prom,ii) Restoration of Côr y Cas-tell - this is the sheltered area underneath the castle where I remember seeing choral singing every Sunday,iii) An Area Renewal Scheme for the Victorian buildings along the promenade and elsewhere in the town. In Penarth, which is also a seaside town, Victorian terraces of houses have been vastly improved by such as scheme.

Aberystwyth is in a beautiful location and has a distinctive character. Regarding the Mill Street development, my view is that the purpose-built day centre, the row of houses and the Drill Hall should not be destroyed as there are empty retail units on Park Avenue. If the town loses its character it may well become less attractive as a visitor destination and how will that help regeneration?

Practise what you preach

Madam,

First it was county councillor Robert Gorman parking illegally and exposed by the Cambrian News.

The failure to prosecute him must have been the green light for all and sundry to park illegally and irresponsibly.

I was in Baker Street today (Thursday, 12 January) and saw Borth community councillor Bryn Jones parked in an almost identical position.

As Communities First Co-ordinator and former chair of said council, Bryn Jones was repeating the offence.I have often heard him say councillors are the exemplars of the community and we must follow their example and be good law-abiding citizens.

Hypocrisy looms large as they are the first to condemn others. Maybe they should come clean and own up to the offence instead of proffering pathetic implausible excuses that further devalues their integrity and credibility.