Highlights from your

Safety Appeal to Prevent Flooding from Maes Ysgawen Park

We all love to see and hear children playing outdoors, particularly when they are being creative and adventurous. Recently they have been throwing tree branches and logs into the stream running along the boundary between the park and the playing field and building dams to stem the flow of water – great fun for them! At the moment water levels in the stream are low and their playing has only caused minor flooding so no harm done. However, when it rains, the stream becomes a torrent of fast flowing water with a very real risk of major flooding both in the park and onto Cae Gwen road and the property opposite. So without being a ‘kill joy,’ can you PLEASE, PLEASE ask your children to take care not to block the water flow in order to reduce the risk of flooding.

New Councillor Dawn Skelhorn

The Council welcomed Dawn Skelhorn as a community councillor in May taking the number of councillor members to seven out of a compliment of nine. Dawn is a keen advocate of setting up a community garden in Maes Ysgawen park to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers. You can join the Community Garden Facebook page group to just follow the feed or add your views to the discussion.

Opportunities for Young People

The Council is running an advertising campaign aimed at young people aged between 15 and 26 years old encouraging them have their say in what they would like to see within the community. Working alongside Councillors, this will provide individuals with valuable career building skills and experience – always a useful addition to a CV.

If you or anyone you know is interested in this new initiative, please contact the Clerk on 01352 810735 or email Clerk. llanferres@gmail.com

Maes Ysgawen Park

Improvements

Plans to improve Maes Ysgawen park are progressing well with the committee having obtained quotes from landscape architects to produce drawings and material specifications. A grant application has been submitted to AONB’s Sustainable Development Fund to part fund the cost of the professional fees associated with this development and further grant applications will be submitted in due course to various other grant providers to cover capital costs. It will be at least 16 weeks before we know if the applications have been successful and the Council can move on to the next stage.

There is still time to voice your views and opinions on the planned improvements through contacting the Clerk, attending sub-committee meetings and joining the Community Garden Group Facebook page.

Darren Millar, Member of Welsh Parliament for Clwyd West

The Council welcomed Darren Millar to its general meeting on 8th June who answered many questions from the general public and Councillors. It was most interesting to lean that: He is still lobbying government to take steps to reduce speeding along the A494 through Loggerheads and he is as frustrated as the community is on the length of time it is taking to see any progress. But perhaps of more important note, is the introduction of the new Clean Air Act which makes provision for Councils to introduce charges for using Welsh trunk roads. The A55 has already been identified as a potential candidate for tolls but plans could drift onto other roads such as the A494. Members of all political parties are concerned that this will push traffic onto unsuitable routes and are lobbying Welsh Government to consider the adverse effects of such action. This, along with the introduction of the 20-mph speed limit in September makes for some costly and uncomfortable travelling in Wales.

Removal of Dead and Overhanging Trees

The tree brought down by heavy snow along the boundary of Maes Ysgawen park and the playing field earlier in the year, has been removed and some of the logs used to build a woodpile for wildlife habitat in the boggy area at the back of the park. It will be interesting to see what takes up residence.

A tree surgeon has been employed to remove some branches along this same boundary overhanging play equipment in Llanferres playing field and further work is planned in the autumn to remove more dead trees that are in danger of falling over, and prune back overgrown hedges and shrubs in anticipation of being able to improve the park.

Burley Hill Quarry Update

There does not appear to have been any further developments since the last report or date set for the full committee meeting.

Keeping Track

If you want to keep track of progress relating to any of the items above you can do so by attending council meetings, either in person or by TEAMS video conference link, by reading the minutes of each meeting published on the Council’s website llanferrescommunitycouncil. org or contacting the council by email clerk.llanferres@ gmail.com