Plaid Cymru - Virtual Conference 2020

 

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOUSING?

For the life of me, I cannot see any positives for Cymru / Wales simply being a simple adjunct to England, or Newport being a simple dormitory town for Bristol. I have never, and never will subscribe to the Severnside agenda, no matter how many times it gets rebranded and relaunched. In our south east, along the coastal belt and in and around Newport and Torfaen (not to mention around Cardiff and Caerphilly) and across Monmouthshire the last thirty years we have seen a significant if not spectacular growth in the amount of housing, a significant percentage of which of late has never quite been aimed to fulfil local housing needs. 

The recent explosion in housing and commercial developments around our cities, small towns and villages across Cymru / Wales over the last 40 years - often with little provision for public transport or alternative ways for potential residents to get around beyond using their cars - has flagged up the rapid loss of green spaces in and around our urban and not so urban areas - and has done little to provide affordable let alone reasonably priced housing for local residents. 

Affordable housing?

As a result of this excessive overdevelopment the infrastructure along the coastal belt between Chepstow, Caldicot, Rogiet and Magor which struggles to cope with existing developments is beginning to creak and this is well before the projected expansion of housing on and around the former Llanwern site (where the proposed railway station was recently cancelled) really kicks in.

Northern Newport has been linked to the south Cwmbran - something that has brought little material benefit to the residents of either urban area but has contributed much to traffic congestion. Similarly linking Cwmbran with Sebastopol will bring scant real benefit to local residents - when the housing development is complete - just exactly how much of it will be affordable to local residents remains to be seen?

Factor in the removal of the Severn Bridge tolls resulted (as expected) in a bump in house prices as people living in and around Bristol moved to cash in on cheaper housing over here.  This development has understandably impacted on both affordable and available housing, developers will no doubt pitch their developments accordingly to cash in on perceived higher wages in the Bristol area and perceived cheaper housing over here (and no doubt our local authorities will fall over themselves to accommodate the developers wishes regardless how local people feel).

We have all seen the consequences and the impact of purchasing power, between areas of relative affluence and areas that are less affluent in various parts of Wales, particularly if those areas happen to be desirable places to retire too or move to, this problem is not confined to Wales, if affects places as diverse and distant as Cumbria, Cornwall, Friesland (in both Holland and Denmark. 

Once the tolls went house prices continued to rise and the pressure to build new houses to deal with the demand for cheaper housing from across the bridge has grown. Simply building houses in south Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen in an effort to cash in on the projected housing shortage in the Bristol area is not acceptable - we need a sensible longer term strategic plan with primarily focuses on local housing needs.

The, then, National Assembly (now Senedd)  should have known better and acted accordingly, the institution when established was supposed to have sustainability enshrined in its actions, but, at times you really have to wonder, especially when it comes to the impact of some of the proposed developments on our communities, whether it does or not. The Senedd still can, if it chooses too, focus on developing affordable housing within and around our communities and to prioritise local housing needs.

We need to bin the fundamentally flawed UDP process and make our local government structure fit for the 21st century rather than the 19th century and accommodate re realities of devolved government. As it should be pretty clear by now to even the most dispassionate of observers that in Wales, we lack a coherent national strategic development plan for Wales judging by the half-baked way local unitary development plans have been put together over the years.

We need to look at championing the development of new homes in small-scale housing developments in both rural and urban areas. We should focus o ‘exception sites’, where land plots, not covered by general planning permission, will be capped at an affordable price designed to benefit those in local housing need with family and work ties to the area, and whose sale will be conditional on these houses continuing in local ownership in perpetuity. We should also favour small development companies rather than the bigger firms.

What’s left of our social housing stock that remains under the control of the housing associations needs to remain intact in order to meet the demand for homes. Where practical strategic planning should favour smaller scale more integrated housing developments - thrust are an integral part of our communities rather than oversized bolt on developments that fundamentally change the nature of the communities they are dropped onto. 

Along with developing social housing stock there is a need to introduce a more rigorous system in the allocation of social housing to give priority to those in local housing need. Part of the problem is that our planning system, along with our almost nineteenth century local government setup is not designed to coexist with devolution or for that matter to deliver planning decisions with real and lasting benefits for local people and local communities. 

Our current planning system remains far too focused on railroading through large housing / commercial developments, that often bring little benefits for local people and local communities and often fail to resolve real and pressing local housing needs. 

We need a fundamental change in planning culture to encourage appropriate and sustainable smaller scale housing developments, which are based on good design and actively promote energy efficiency and good environmental standards and that puts our communities first. The current housing strategy fundamentally fails to solve the problems of local housing shortage and demonstrates the need for a genuinely balanced new all Wales housing plan. 

Locally one consequence of the demise of the tolls has been the  speeding up the on-going process by which local residents continue to be priced out of the market and their own communties. We have already seen this happen along the coastal belt of Gwent between eastern Newport and Chepstow and around Abergavenny. This has happened partially because some actual and proposed houses have been priced to maximise profits and new housing has been effectively marketed and sold in Bristol ('Get your free bridge tag for 18 months, etc').

Cymru / Wales needs to have substantially more affordable housing otherwise an entire generation will miss out on the reasonable expectation of having a decent affordable home. The supply of more affordable housing should be met through a combination of bringing empty properties back into use, and new developments of mixed housing in the social and private sectors, but only, when local needs and environmental sustainability have been taken into account.

Our country would be well served by the establishment of a National Housing Company, which could borrow against rents to build a new generation of public rental housing in Wales limited in number only by demand. Whatever Government holds power in Cardiff Bay should support Local Authorities that wish to build new Council Housing. We need to revisit and repurpose the housing associations that have proliferated across Wales since housing was transferred from local authority control to the housing associations. 

Local Authorities should be expected to agree targets for supplying affordable housing, including new social housing, with the Welsh Government, but should be given the flexibility to decide how they would achieve this based upon the needs of their area. Local Authorities will be able to develop joint long term plans with neighbouring local authorities, or work through housing associations or the National Housing Company, if they believed this was the best way to meet the needs of their areas.

We also need to look at championing the development of new homes in small-scale housing developments in both rural and urban Wales on ‘exception sites’, where land plots, not covered by general planning permission, will be capped at an affordable price designed to benefit those in local housing need with family and work ties to the area, and whose sale will be conditional on these houses continuing in local ownership in perpetuity.

This problem has been aggravated because  during the last few decades (on Conservative, Labour and Conservative- Liberal Democrat government) local democracy has been consistently undermined, as developers (and here we are not just talking about housing) simply appear to carry on appealing until they get their way or get their development retrospectively approved at a higher level. Or the process of land acquisition literally begins long before the proposal even goes to inquiry almost as if the decision has already been made (this happens at both local, national and a Westminster level). 

Local government officers will (and do) advise local councillors not to turn down developments (whatever the grounds) because the developers will simply appeal until the cows come home and that local government just does not have the finances to cope with this situation. My own father (who served as a City councillor in Newport from 1999 until 2012) observed the development of this practice while sitting on Newport city council. 

Part of the problem is that our planning system, along with our almost nineteenth century local government setup is not designed to coexist with devolution or for that matter to deliver planning decisions with real and lasting benefits for local people and local communities. There is a real need for root and branch reform and reorganisation of our planning system; the Welsh Government’s simply decided to tinker and tweak with existing out-dated legislation rather than reform it.

Our current planning system remains far too focused on railroading through large housing developments that bring little benefits for local people and local communities and often fail to resolve real and pressing local housing needs. We need a fundamental change in planning culture to encourage appropriate and sustainable smaller scale housing developments, which are based on good design and actively promote energy efficiency and good environmental standards.

Our planning system and planning processes are too slow, too bureaucratic and too unresponsive to real local needs and local opinions. The current system is based on the post-war Town and Country Planning Act from 1947 and is simply out-dated; our country needs a modern planning system that meets the needs of modern Welsh society. In line with the realities of devolution our country needs an independent Planning inspectorate for Wales as the old single planning inspectorate for England and Wales is increasingly unsustainable.

It has to be unacceptable for young people in our own communities to be in a situation where they cannot afford to buy a house in the communities in which they grew up. That's simply cannot be right. It weakens community cohesion and shatters the social fabric of our society - which has gone through so much over the years.  So much that was done to us, rather than done for us. 

What we desperately need is a sensible properly planned housing strategy, not just for our south east, or for Monmouthshire, the rest of the former county of Gwent and Cardiff, but for all of our country. When it comes to large-scale housing developments, based on previous observations, we can pretty much predict what happens next - in terms of crumbling infrastructure, more congestion, more pollution and a poor quality of life in our own communties. 

This has to change - We need a simple all Cymru / Wales Housing Policy that deals with the problems of young and not so young people being priced out of their own communties when it comes to housing . This something that affects almost every community in Cymru / Wales, whether in the SE. NE or the N + W. And is a real pressing concern. We need to reform the planning system, replacing the planning inspectorate and tackling second homes and unaffordable overdevelopment. 

One key all Cymru / Wales issue is that people feel powerless to stop any development they do not want. People feel that they can sometimes get a result by overturning a decision at local level. Only for that decision to be overturned by 'the assembly' (minister in charge). We need a policy that actually empowers local communities while encouraging new affordable accommodation, rather than removing people from the process or keeping them at arms length.  We need to rebalanced the system so that it answers the needs of the community, not the shareholders of major developers. 

If we can do this, and therein no reason why we in Cymru / Wales cannot, then, we will have a housing policy and strategy that is fit for purpose and fit for the 21st century rather than the mid 20th century. Now the above suggestions are something we are never going to get from a Labour in Wales government, it’s time to change Cymru / Wales, with a Plaid Cymru government in 2021, for unlike Labour, Plaid actually believes that Wales can.  

UNMEASURABLE SUCCESS ?

Newport’s 19th century Market which has served the city well, through good and bad times and two world wars, is to undergo yet another redevelopment. 

This redevelopment may be the final blow, as most to the remaining stallholders are in the process of moving out and the builders will soon  begin work to transform the market into a multi-million pound, multi-purpose centre.

Some of the market stalls will remain but the redeveloped market will include apartments, offices, a food court with pop-up units and a performance space. 

Newport city council has described the redevelopment as “potentially the largest market redevelopment in the UK” and it says it will create a “24-hour working/living space”.

This all sounds good, but, the poor old market has been managed to death by the City / Town Council who could never leave it alone. 

Years of faffing about with the buses / bus routes near the site of the market has not helped. That it managed to survive so long is close to miraculous.

If you live in various parts of Gwent or are intimately familiar with your home community, then over the years you will have noticed that redevelopment / regeneration comes and goes in phases, in any particular community or town.

Regeneration schemes will have cleaned areas up, built in cycle routes, created transport plans, pedestrianised streets, reopened them to traffic, re-pedestrianised them and (as is the case in Newport and no doubt elsewhere) made certain streets shared space with both cars and pedestrians (this is not as crazy an idea as it sounds, and it actually works) and so on. 

Parking has been restricted, created and removed, made it free and charged for it, bus lanes have been created, removed and the hours when bus lanes operate varied. 

Now this is all well and good and may reflect the latest trend in regeneration and development, but at the end of the day has it made the places where we live, work and shop any better? 

The one question that tends not to be asked, and hence not answered is: Has the regeneration process or scheme increased or generated wealth in our communities or provided people with the opportunities to get jobs, to go into business for themselves or generate wealth? 

One of the unintended features of redevelopment is that quite often it is (or is perceived as being) driven from the top down i.e. by elected bodies whether they be Town or County Councils or the Senedd. 

Regeneration is a process that merely consults, usually after the plans have been drawn up rather than before, during and after - any process run this way runs the real risk of becoming deeply flawed. 

Local communities and towns and cities of South Wales have over the years has been the recipient of much grant aid, development and redevelopment schemes and initiatives - how can we measure success? 

Measuring a regeneration schemes success should be a key factor in any regeneration scheme. 

This is the key question that needs to be asked - after the cement and the paint has dried, after the development / redevelopment / regeneration professionals have banked the cheque and moved on - have the various schemes made a difference. 

I mean beyond any immediate physical improvements to the environment, have they made a real difference when it comes to wealth generation in the area affected by the regeneration scheme and can the people who live here actually see and benefit from the change? 

If the end result is in reality a makeover, and the targeted community is no better off, save for being bereft of the 'regeneration funds' that have been effectively hoovered up by professional regeneration companies - some of whom make a good living out of regeneration - then we should ask is this success? 

How do you make regeneration projects work beyond the tick box list of the regeneration schemes managers? 

One key component that is often ignored or marginalised during the regeneration process is the communities greatest resource - its people.

If we truly want to build and develop strong sustainable communities, then any regeneration scheme should from the start and at every stage of the process. We don’t need regeneration professionals coming into an area and engaging in a largely token consultation process. 

They should directly talk to local people (who are an asset to the process) rather than at them, and actually find out what they would like to be done, what they actually want for their community and their town.

If you are reusing or renovating old buildings then any regeneration scheme needs to ensure that old buildings can make a sustainable contribution after the regeneration scheme is finished. 

If we do this rather than merely making a token gesture towards public consultation, then any regeneration schemes will, with hard work, really begin to deliver tangible benefits to our communities. 

Regeneration schemes and projects should be bottom up rather than the top down. 

The bottom line should be when spending public money, work it extra hard and squeeze out every single possible benefit and maximise the impact locally of the regeneration process and make every effort to build in local benefits into the tendering process - whether by employing local people, using local resources, local skills and local input. 

Now a plea for a more people focused and community driven regeneration is not driven by nostalgia or about living the past - we have to re-image our urban spaces for the 21st century - but not at the expense of the people who live and make their living within them. 

 

As had been said elsewhere, regeneration should be a process rather than a cash extracting event, that delivers unmeasurable success. 

NOT ANGRY, JUST DISAPPOINTED

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price challenged the Labour party's record in Wales ahead of the Channel 4 election debate yesterday.

Writing in the New Statesman Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said that Labour had been in government in Wales for twenty years but had failed to deliver 'real change'. Citing worse A&E waiting times than England, rising homelessness and a decline in life expectancy, Mr Price said that Labour was "not part of the solution in Wales" but rather the "source of the problem".

Noting that Labour had voted against banning zero hour contracts 'seven times'  and had invited more privatisation in Welsh rail, Mr Price said that Labour's record in Wales "bears little resemblance to their promises".

The Plaid Cymru Leader said that change would only come for Wales "when we change the way we vote" and that the choice wasn't binary but rather a choice to send Labour and Tory MPs to Westminster to "fight each other" or send Plaid Cymru MPs to "fight for Wales".

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said,

"In Wales, Labour has had twenty years in government to deliver 'real change', but barely any change has been realised. They should have a record to champion, but instead they find themselves defending worse A&E times than England, rising homelessness and declining life expectancy.

"Labour are not part of the solution in Wales, they are a source of the problem.  From voting against a ban on zero-hour contracts (seven times), to inviting more privatisation into Welsh rail, Labour's record in Wales bears little resemblance to their promises.

"When politics is changing so rapidly beneath our feet, the Labour party in Wales has stood still. And when you stand still in politics, you are going backwards. To vote Labour in Wales would not be a change, it would be more of that same managed decline.

"Change will only come for Wales when we change the way we vote.

"This election is not just about who has the keys to 10 Downing Street, but what we hope for as a small nation on this island.  As much as the Boris Johnson vs. Jeremy Corbyn debates make it look like you face a binary option, you won't be casting a vote for them, you will be electing a Member of Parliament in a few days' time to represent you and your community. 

"Your choice will be to either send Labour and Tory MPs to Westminster to fight each other, or send Plaid Cymru MPs there to fight for Wales.

ENDS

OUR MANAGED DECLINE

As Jeremy Corbyn comes to Wales, Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts, has challenged the Labour leader to defend his Welsh Government's record of "managed decline". 

Liz Saville Roberts said:

"Worse A&E waiting times than England, homelessness rising and child poverty at sickening levels, that is the record of the Labour Government in Wales.

"In the TV debates, Labour Shadow Ministers couldn't defend their record to Adam Price, how can Jeremy Corbyn defend it now?

"The question is, who is more embarrassed of who - Jeremy Corbyn of Labour's record, or Labour in Wales of Corbyn's weak leadership?

"The only way we will get 'real change' in Wales is if we change the way we vote. Plaid Cymru will make Wales matter to Westminster. Make our nation's voice heard on December 12th." 

ENDS

PLAID’S PLEDGES TO NEWPORT

We want to see a Wales with a better sustainable democratic future – its time to change Newport and change Wales.

Newport must directly benefit from the green energy revolution, with its deep water port and highly skilled and experienced workers - our city should be at the forefront of the development of off-shore wind, tidal lagoons, tidal turbines and a revisited Usk river barrage. 

Newport needs decent affordable public transport. A well-planned Metro is the only realistic option, which will save our environment, our time, and our money. 

We need a new railway station at Caerleon and revived direct hourly rail service from Ebbw Vale via Rogerstone into Newport.

We need new railway stations at Llanwern and Magor and better local rail services to Cardiff and Bristol.

Wales needs major investment in environmentally sustainable affordable homes and to bring in rent relief for people who pay more than 30% of their income on rent.

We must reverse the tide on rough sleeping in our city, not by punishing the vulnerable as Labour and the Tories wish to continue to do, but by providing safe, accessible, and supportive services for everyone who need them. 

Plaid aims to create a Welsh justice system, devolve policing and create a new crime prevention fund to recruit 1600 extra police officers, that being at least 2 for every community in Wales, to keep us safer.

We face a double problem, a Labour dominated national assembly that’s bereft of ambition, ideas and the tools to do the job. We also have an increasingly dysfunctional Westminster that is simply not interested in Wales and Newport.

If it is not us, then it’s no one - Wales it’s us!

TIME TO DEVOLVE POLICE AND JUSTICE

It’s time to devolve control of Police and Justice to Wales as the powers are unsafe in the hands of any Westminster government and our communities will be put further at risk.  Back in 2017 Plaid Cymru called a vote on devolving policing during the passing of the Wales Bill through the Houses of Parliament. People should remember that given the choice of devolving Policing to Wales, the Conservatives voted it down and the Labour Party abstained - so much for standing up for our communities interests in Westminster.

It has to be unacceptable that Wales is the only nation in these islands without powers over its policing and justice policies – Northern Ireland, Scotland and even England do – but Wales doesn’t have control over Policing and Justice. Plaid Cymru is committed to the devolution of policing and justice to Wales to empower us to implement and pursue policies that serve the interests of our citizens and communities.

While Teresa May was perhaps too busy creating her hostile environment, Police numbers in Wales and England have been cut by some 19,704 police officers n since the Tories (and their eager Liberal Democrat’s coat holders) took office in 2010. Police budgets have been slashed, putting far fewer officers on the street. Welsh forces have been hit harder than those in the rest of the UK, due to an unfair funding formula. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of police officers in Wales decreased by 9%.

Plaid Cymru will recruit an extra 1,600 police officers – two for each community – to keep us safe. This would mean that our officers will be better rooted in our communities, instead of being stretched to cover large geographical areas with fewer resources. This would give the police the ability to focus on the priorities they need to keep us safe.

As argued by the Thomas Commission on Justice in Wales, we need to create integrated people-centred services – from prisons to counselling to housing – to undo the damage done by Cameron and May and to replace the present callous approach that prioritises targets over people’s needs. The extra police officers will help facilitate community engagement in which the police and the community can relay issues of mutual concern with targeted, community based problem-solving approaches to improve crime reduction and rehabilitation.

NEWPORT AND THE GREEN ENERGY REVOLUTION

Newport needs to directly benefit from the green energy revolution, with our deep water port and our highly skilled,  experienced and adaptable workers, we have massive advantages.  Thats why our city should be at the forefront of the development of off-shore wind, tidal lagoons, tidal turbines and a revisited Usk river barrage. 

It’s been almost 24  years ago the proposed Usk barrage was rejected by, then Welsh Secretary and later Conservative leader, William Hague, our city needs a second chance by making good use of its natural position and its skills to thrive and prosper. Since then our city has largely been neglected and ignored by government at all levels - it’s time for change. 

Newport as a port city, lies the river Usk, a river with the third highest rise and fall of tide in Wales, with its history of manufacturing and heavy industry, should be well placed to benefit for the development of tidal lagoons to the west and the east of the city and the harnessing of some of the tide energy potential of the Severn estuary - with a combination of tidal turbines, waves power, off shore wind, and an Usk river barrage to harness our rivers energy potential and to focus redevelopment on our city’s river.

The concept of Green Jobs and the economic contribution that they can make to our communities and to the Welsh economy is now well recognised by most people. Our coastline and our maritime and energy resources will remain a largely untapped resource for the foreseeable future.  The prototype tidal lagoon should have been a first step towards making Wales a world leader in a new and innovative technology with the potential to power our future. 

The ongoing failure to start work on the Swansea Tidal lagoon is a perfect demonstration of why Wales needs to gain greater control over its own future. We can no longer not afford the luxury of Westminster continuing to hold back our country’s potential for developing renewable sustainable energy sector and the related skills that could make Wales a world leader. 

Westminster has consistently denied fair funding and the tools (the powers) to reshape and reboot our economy, which would have enabled a government in Cardiff to invest to create well-paid jobs in Wales. Renewable energy development (and green collar jobs that should come with it) has the  potential to create renewable and sustainable non nuclear energy supply, which can bootstrap our economy, cut carbon emissions and also development energy supplies  that are not dependent on imported oil and gas from the unstable Middle East and the Persian gulf and Russia.

We have a double problem, firstly we have a Labour dominated national assembly that’s benefit of ambition, ideas and the tools to do the job, and secondly Westminster is just simply not interested in making Wales thrive, or allowing Wales to acquire the powers that could make Wales a world-leader in the development of renewable energy technologies and also to generate the technologies and jobs that go with it. If we can do this then we can have a New Newport and a New Wales. 

PLAID'S MANIFESTO FOR WESTMINSTER 2019

Plaid Cymru's passionate, detailed and ambitious manifesto was launched at Coleg y Cymoedd in Nantgarw on Friday (22nd November 2019). 

The Party of Wales will enter this election with one purpose; to build a better future for Wales. 

We want to see a Wales that is just, safe, equal, open, and above all sustainable. 

Plaid Cymru is ready to make the 2020s a decade of three zeroes; 0 carbon, 0 waste, and 0 poverty. Our five key priorities are:

1) A WELSH GREEN JOBS REVOLUTION

We will create tens of thousands of new jobs throughout Wales by kick-starting a multi-billion investment programme in renewable energy, transport infrastructure and digital technology, with the goal of making Wales a carbon and single-use plastic free nation by 2030.

2) CARING FOR EVERYONE

We will guarantee free social care for the elderly and other vulnerable citizens through a new National Health and Social Care Service, with an additional 1000 new doctors, 5000 new nurses, and 100 new NHS dentists offering seamless access to health care for everyone throughout Wales.

3) A FAIR DEAL FOR FAMILIES

We will introduce universal free childcare for 40 hours a week, and a new £35 a week payment for every child in low income families, lifting 50,000 children in Wales out of poverty, plus £300 million extra for schools and colleges to give our children the best start in life.

4) ACTION ON HOUSING

We will make major investment in environmentally sustainable affordable homes and bring in rent relief for people who pay more than 30% of their income on rent.

5) COMBATING CRIME

We will create a Welsh justice system, devolve policing and create a new crime prevention fund to recruit 1600 extra police officers, that being at least 2 for every community in Wales, to keep us safe.

Plaid Cymru is serious about the climate crisis. 

Plaid Cymru is serious about people's wellbeing. 

Plaid Cymru is serious about our children's future. 

Plaid Cymru is serious about the housing crisis. 

Plaid Cymru is serious about crime.

Are you?

Wales; it's us.

Vote for the Party of Wales on December 12th.

A QUESTION OF NUMBERS...

One of Boris’s promises to the electorate (repeated in a recent letter to Newport West residents) is that a Conservative government would increase the number of police officers in Wales and England by 20,000. 

While many of our hard pressed communities would happily welcome any increase the number of Police officers, in the face of rising crime following period when there has been a persistent thinning of police numbers.

It is perhaps worth remembering that we are some 19,704 police officers in Wales and England down since the Tories (and their eager Liberal Democrat’s coat holders) took office in 2010. 

Perhaps Teresa May, the former Prime Minster and former Home Secretary, was too busy creating hostile climate, to actually oversea the ill thought out reduction in Police numbers. 

It’s also worth noting that these figures apply to Wales and England only, as the Scottish police force has been exempt from Tory cuts due to the fact that control of policing is devolved to Scotland, unlike in Cymru / Wales.

Devolving policing powers would increase the accountability of the Welsh Government; strengthen the democratic process by allowing decisions, which directly impact on the Welsh people to be made, reviewed, revised and changed here in Wales. 

At the end of the day, the Welsh people have a simple democratic right to have a greater say in something so fundamental to civilised community life as policing. This is already the case in Scotland, Northern Ireland, London and Manchester. 

Policing is only one side of the coin, to make devolved policing work, there is also a need to devolve control of criminal justice. I have been long convinced that now is the time is right to devolve policing powers to the Welsh Government in Cardiff. 

Fundamentally policing decisions in Wales need to reflect the needs and concerns of our communities, not simply the on-going cost cutting agenda driven by previous Conservative Prime Minister’s (and a former Home Secretary) and the Ministry of Criminal Justice in London. 

Plaid Cymru has long campaigned rightly to “stop the thin blue line from breaking” and to boost funding for the Welsh police forces. 

The full devolution of policing would have meant the Welsh police forces would have been exempt from the Tories’ planned £32 million cut to their budgets and would have benefitted from an additional £25 million through being funded through the Barnett formula meaning a total difference in Welsh police budgets of £57 million between Plaid Cymru and Conservative policy. 

Back in 2017 Plaid Cymru called a vote on devolving policing during the passing of the Wales Bill through the Houses of Parliament. 

We should remember that given the choice of devolving Policing to Wales, the Conservatives voted it down and the Labour Party abstained - so much for standing up for Wales.

JONATHAN T CLARK FOR NEWPORT WEST

Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales, has confirmed Jonathan T Clark as its candidate for the Newport West constituency for the forthcoming Westminster Parliamentary Elections.  

Jonathan  T Clark said:

"I am pleased to have been re-selected to contest Newport West constituency at the Westminster Parliamentary Elections. For far too long the people of Newport West have suffered from the fact that whoever is in power in Westminster, or Cardiff Bay, they all of whom have failed to consider the economic and social needs of the people of this constituency.“

He said:

“The people of Newport West need an MP who will actually put the real concerns of the electors of Newport to the forefront rather than party interests. Wales needs more Plaid MPs in Westminster to work with the Plaid AMs in Cardiff to deliver for the people of Wales. The only way to get a government that will always put Wales at the centre of its policies is to vote Plaid Cymru at the next Westminster Parliamentary Elections".

Jonathan continued:

‘We still need to take No Deal of the table. A realistic deal needs good will on both sides. The alarming combination of half-threat, half-promise approach to the Brexit negotiations still remains shocking.  We will soon be nearly three years and a half years down the line and appear no closer to deciding on the detail of what we want or how to get it - an extension to the process would be a good place to start - so we don’t end up with a disastrous damaging no deal.’

He concluded:

“I would hope to bring a combination of curiosity, stubbornness, tenacity and a real desire to seek the truth combined the skills acquired working as a journalist, in public relations for the police, in public sector education and recruitment. I have the ability to seek the truth and an understanding as to where it can be concealed which would be useful while working as a parliamentary representative in Westminster.”

DIWEDD / ENDS

Notes to Editors

Candidates Biography:

Jonathan T Clark, is married and lives in Newport, the city of his birth. Born (in 1966) and brought up in Newport and educated at St Julian’s Comprehensive School, Newport, the University of Wales, Lampeter (BA (Hons) History), the University of Wales, Newport (MA Celto-Roman Studies) and an MPhil in Roman Archaeology from Cardiff University.

Jonathan has been actively involved in every Plaid campaign in South East Wales since 1998, he is prospective parliamentary candidate for Newport West. He was the Plaid candidate in the recent Newport West by-election in April 2019 and previously contested Monmouth constituency in the Westminster Elections (2005, 2010 and 2015), the National Assembly Election's (2007 and 2016) and was on Plaid's SE Regional List (2011 and 2016).

Jonathan has a passing interest in the consequences of peak everything and is interested in social justice, the growing problem of affords housing, energy independence, land tenure, public access, policing, equal pay, integrated public transport, our economy and the consequences of the former war on terror and enduring threats to civil liberties. He is a keen hill walker and longtime supporter of Newport County Football Club (since 1978/79), The Newport Gwent Dragons and has a keen interest in archaeology, politics and history. 

Since 2016, Jonathan works in recruitment in Cardiff, previously working in Marketing and IT at the former University of Newport (from 1998 until 2015) before its demise.  Before that he worked for the Metropolitan Police Service press office - the Directorate of Public Affairs and Internal Communication, living and working in London between 1990 and 1998. He worked as a trainee journalist at the Pontypool Free Press before moving to London for work.