Letter to the Editor: The recent large volume of letters from Aberystwyth residents, about the state of the town, must surely break the hearts of anyone who claims to love it. You only have to look around to see that this is true.It’s not just litter, but painting benches, cleaning hardened mess off the pavements, and fixing things (like a certain bridge in the castle). None of these can be done by residents, that’s the council’s job.

It’s easy to blame the chief executive and civil servants — how many of us have heard grumbling about pay rises and empty offices?

But, why does no one hold to account the people we elected just a few months ago about why they are allowing this to happen? They are the people that abdicated responsibility to the much-maligned Gold Command, they were the people who left that Covid emergency response in place for far longer than many other places, and they are the people who, in May, celebrated taking over the running of the council. When I stood— and was absolutely pasted, say no more! — I had many people say on the doorstep that our plan for ‘Cleaning Up Ceredigion’ was a good one and much needed. But they would either not vote or would support their existing councillors, usually Plaid.

Ben Lake and Elin Jones’ popularity counted for much, though neither have been particularly vocal about what their party colleagues have allowed to happen.

Turnout was low and some areas were shamefully deprived of a choice because no one would contend with the entrenched councillors. The result was Plaid took control of the council, effectively by solidifying their position rather than making major advances, and we ended up with the same faces who got us to this point. It’s not a party-political point, but we needed new blood in the council in May. Instead, we got more of the same people passing the buck.

People who have been comfortably in post for far longer than is good for our town. We’ve ended up with the ludicrous position of the mayor saying ‘It’s not Aber, it’s the county council...’ (Cambrian News, 28 September), as though the county councillors aren’t in his party. And some are even also on his town council! Was any of this mess on Plaid’s election leaflets?

Ewan Lawry

Deputy Chairman Ceredigion Conservative Association,

Aberystwyth