Madam,

Once again I am forced to write to object to the way in which Harlech and its ratepayers are treated by Gwynedd Council.

As I have pointed out before Harlech is used as a ‘cash cow’ by GC, we have the highest parking charges in the county whilst also ‘enjoying’ the lowest level of support from GC.

The Upper Bron Y Graig car park is a disgrace, dangerously slippery for pedestrians crossing it on their way to the High Street. It’s littered with leaves and there is the merest outline of car parking spaces where the lines have faded. Impossible to see where you are supposed to park once darkness has fallen and not much easier during the day.

Also the number of visitors I come across who, when finding they cannot pay the parking charges by phone and have no change then leave Harlech and go and spend their money elsewhere.

On the subject of parking charges, why can’t the council’s machines be reprogrammed so they can issue a countywide day ticket?

I know that a lot of visitors would be happy to pay for a day ticket if it meant they could use it all over Gwynedd. It would also keep them in the locality for longer instead of leaving after two or three hours because their parking ticket was about to run out.

The yellow lines in the High Street and again in Bron Y Graig are so faded that if you were to try to collect fines from anyone who was issued with a ticket whilst parking on them you would be hard pressed to prove where the lines were.

There is a particular patch of yellow lines in Bron Y Graig (opposite Nos 7 and 8) that was dug up over 10 years ago and has still not been repainted. Odd when you consider that, when the Council decided that Harlech needed even less parking than it already has, by the addition of extra yellow lines in Parc Bron Y Graig, time and paint was quickly found for that!

On to the swimming pool. I have no objection whatsoever to paying an extra sum to keep our leisure centre open. I do, however, object to my council tax then being used to keep other people’s leisure centres open to the detriment of our own.

Gwynedd Council cut Harlech pool adrift some time ago, following which a band of dedicated volunteers (I am not involved in case you wondered but do contribute) have fought to keep it going for the good of the community, and have done so against all the odds.

Now GC have decided it is a good idea to set up a separate company to manage the remaining leisure centres which will be paid for out of ratepayers money, and Harlech isn’t being included!

This beggars belief. First we are told that Harlech Leisure Centre has to close because it will cost too much to keep it open, then, when it does succeed against all odds, instead of using it as a template for all other leisure centres in the county to follow, and really making the savings the council says are necessary, it is decided that Harlech Leisure Centre does not qualify to come under the new section’s umbrella - a victim of its own success. But Harlech ratepayers can still contribute to all the other leisure centres in the county.

We have lost our theatre, we have lost our college, our High Street is struggling and Gwynedd Council does nothing. Indeed I have come to the conclusion that the only time anyone on the council realises Harlech exists is when it is time to issue the exorbitant rate increases in April. No wonder then that the GC refers to this area as the Ardudwy Desert.

Is it true that Gwynedd Council is going to hand all the public toilets over to the communities? If it is I bet Harlech is the first community to ‘benefit’ from this new cost cutting enterprise.

Some things the council does really well. Its recycling centre in Harlech is probably the best arranged, looked after and managed I have come across.

Likewise the attention to gritting is exemplary and I am most impressed by the way the council runs the archives in Dolgellau.

So, council, please stop treating Harlech as a cash cow, work with the community instead of against us and we will all benefit.

Yours etc,

Jan Cole, Stryd Fawr, Harlech.

Have your say on the local issues affecting you - email [email protected] or join in the conversation on our Facebook page