Wednesday 3 May 2017

Why I am standing for Bryncoch South tomorrow

I have put up a mini-manifesto on my purely locally-political site. What caused me to throw my hat into the council ring again in this particular ward was anger that a young Labourite had clearly been using Bryncoch South as merely a rung on a ladder of political ambition, and that he had been drawing a councillor salary for the last couple of years on false pretences. To find out more, read the Neath Ferret, or, better still, its most regular contributor, Stan. Search on his web site - http://www.spanglefish.com/stan/news.asp - for "invisible man".

There are other things I want to do if I am elected, like improving cycleways and footpaths in the county borough - easy enough on the old Neath RDC side, where community councils like Blaenhonddan and Dyffryn Clydach are doing a good job, but tricky for the rest. We also need an integrated bus time display system, like Cardiff's. The new indicator boards which have gone up in Victoria Gardens (and, by the way, when is a new bus station with decent access for the disabled to be set up nearer the rail station?) are helpful, but do not take account of late-running buses or cancellations. Nor do they help people waiting in the shiny new bus shelters outside the town centre. They also need maintenance, or they will go the way of the Port Talbot indicator of the 1990s. As one Plaid Cymru activist complained to me the other day, the trouble is that Labour councillors drive everywhere.

We also need to investigate the effectiveness of social services since so much was outsourced, and also how the county borough is fulfilling its duty to looked-after children. I am sure that at least two Liberal Democrat councillors will be elected tomorrow and a further three have excellent chances. I hope that I can be part of a largest-ever LibDem representation on the council.

1 comment:

jeff3 said...

There are other things I want to do if I am elected, like improving cycleways and footpaths in the county borough - easy enough on the old Neath RDC side, where community councils like Blaenhonddan and Dyffryn Clydach are doing a good job, but tricky for the rest. We also need an integrated bus time display system, like Cardiff's. The new indicator boards which have gone up in Victoria Gardens (and, by the way, when is a new bus station with decent access for the disabled to be set up nearer the rail station?) are helpful, but do not take account of late-running buses or cancellations. jeffrey davies sais good one about disabled has alot of people now have the smart phones wouldnt it be in the bus companies interests to use the buses where abouts on where they are to a sight so waiting for that bus is less tedious with technology has it is