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Post by Arthur Figgis on Oct 24, 2016 15:00:49 GMT
Whilst on the whole I don't think it really matters too much where a country's capital city/seat of government is located, if the Welsh Assembly were to convene in Aberystwyth then perhaps the Welsh government might be more inclined to pay more attention to the North (though having the D.P.O. and three cabinet ministers coming from Northern seats is something of start, it still feels like this area gets unduly overlooked for most part). I quite often find myself in Cardiganshire, and I'm always taken aback by how difficult it is to get from Welshpool to Aberystwyth and beyond by car, let alone anything else. It seems like there's little political will to fix things like that. What should be done to fix this- HS3 to Llandcwyn, with a branch to Sugar Loaf? And a new motorway that follows the path of the A44? |
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Georg Ebner
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Post by Georg Ebner on Oct 24, 2016 16:21:04 GMT
392.0 NE (Wrexham) 309.4 NW (ConwyCay) idealiter with a boundary from PointOfAyr onwards 134.6 ME/Powys idealiter less Ystradgynlais 389.3 MW/Dyfed idealiter less Llanelli 529.4 SW/WGlam. (Swansea) idealiter with Llanelli&Ystradgynlais 424.9+ SM/EGlam. (Cardiff) plus RhymneyValley 366.8 CardiffCity 404.0+ SE/Gwent (Newport) plus Islwyn Bridgend could be made independent (stretching from Afan to BrekseaPoint) Proposals: - only merging:  - merging and breaking up:  |
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Oct 24, 2016 17:06:28 GMT
I quite often find myself in Cardiganshire, and I'm always taken aback by how difficult it is to get from Welshpool to Aberystwyth and beyond by car, let alone anything else. It seems like there's little political will to fix things like that. What should be done to fix this- HS3 to Llandcwyn, with a branch to Sugar Loaf? And a new motorway that follows the path of the A44? Dual everything that isn't in Snowdonia or another national park. Especially between Oswestry and Newtown. |
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Post by afleitch on Oct 24, 2016 17:32:47 GMT
I'd go for a 4 region model North Welsh Wales North English Wales South Welsh Wales South English Wales  |
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Sibboleth
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Post by Sibboleth on Oct 24, 2016 17:39:46 GMT
Aber is basically the hardest place in Wales to get to from more or less anywhere else in Wales. As a suggestion that kind of thing often feels more like 'fyck you South Wales' than anything constructive.
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Eastwood
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Post by Eastwood on Oct 24, 2016 20:26:05 GMT
Aber is basically the hardest place in Wales to get to from more or less anywhere else in Wales. As a suggestion that kind of thing often feels more like 'fyck you South Wales' than anything constructive. If you wanted to make a symbolic seat of government somewhere a bit outside the south east but still reasonably accessible then you could do a lot worse than Carmarthen. Rail and motorway access to the south east but also good connections to the north. Big enough to have a decent nightlife but small enough to have a different feel to the place. Admittedly I may be biased from memories of nights out when my cousin was a student there but I think it would work well. |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Oct 24, 2016 21:25:15 GMT
Aber is basically the hardest place in Wales to get to from more or less anywhere else in Wales. As a suggestion that kind of thing often feels more like 'fyck you South Wales' than anything constructive. If you wanted to make a symbolic seat of government somewhere a bit outside the south east but still reasonably accessible then you could do a lot worse than Carmarthen. Rail and motorway access to the south east but also good connections to the north. Big enough to have a decent nightlife but small enough to have a different feel to the place. Admittedly I may be biased from memories of nights out when my cousin was a student there but I think it would work well. Is there a lap-dancing club ?.. |
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Sibboleth
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Post by Sibboleth on Oct 24, 2016 21:51:23 GMT
If you wanted to make a symbolic seat of government somewhere a bit outside the south east but still reasonably accessible then you could do a lot worse than Carmarthen. Yes but why would you want to? Two thirds of the population live in South Wales and it isn't as though the rest of the country forms some sort of unified block. The parochialist whinging (I lived for many years in North Wales and my Taid's family can probably found in the fossil record so I can say that) wouldn't stop just because you moved the capital (and at what sort of insane cost?) a few stops further west along the railway. Cardiff also has the advantage of being a proper city. You don't want to create s some kind of absurd toytown for bureaucrats do you? |
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Eastwood
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Post by Eastwood on Oct 24, 2016 23:05:12 GMT
If you wanted to make a symbolic seat of government somewhere a bit outside the south east but still reasonably accessible then you could do a lot worse than Carmarthen. Yes but why would you want to? Two thirds of the population live in South Wales and it isn't as though the rest of the country forms some sort of unified block. The parochialist whinging (I lived for many years in North Wales and my Taid's family can probably found in the fossil record so I can say that) wouldn't stop just because you moved the capital (and at what sort of insane cost?) a few stops further west along the railway. Cardiff also has the advantage of being a proper city. You don't want to create s some kind of absurd toytown for bureaucrats do you? I didn't say I wanted to. I just said Carmarthen would be better than Aber. There are some decent arguments for decentralising bureaucracies and arguably to make that work you need to include politicians and not just civil servants. On the other hand duplicating all the exiting facilities is pointless. The time to do it was 20 years ago, not now. |
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Eastwood
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Post by Eastwood on Oct 24, 2016 23:06:45 GMT
If you wanted to make a symbolic seat of government somewhere a bit outside the south east but still reasonably accessible then you could do a lot worse than Carmarthen. Rail and motorway access to the south east but also good connections to the north. Big enough to have a decent nightlife but small enough to have a different feel to the place. Admittedly I may be biased from memories of nights out when my cousin was a student there but I think it would work well. Is there a lap-dancing club ?.. It's basically a town full of theology and primary teaching students... So not so much lap dancing demand. |
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The Bishop
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Post by The Bishop on Oct 25, 2016 10:10:04 GMT
Carmarthen of course has a wider resonance for the cause of Welsh autonomy (not least the 1966 by-election and 1997 referendum)
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cibwr
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Post by cibwr on Oct 25, 2016 17:06:32 GMT
I quite like the idea that the National Assembly should meet for a week in a different city in rotation every three months... not quite the extent of the European Parliament but just the legislators and support staff, the civil servants can remain in the various offices as at present.
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Harry Hayfield
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Post by Harry Hayfield on Oct 26, 2016 9:31:26 GMT
I seem to recall that at a meeting of the Welsh Community and Town Council Association (known as "One Voice Wales") the Local Government Secretary gave a speech that I got the impression from was calling for the introduction of "Cantrefi" (i.e clusters of smaller community councils) on the same lines as the aborted merger of unitary councils. Does anyone know if anything more came from that?
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cefin
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Post by cefin on Oct 26, 2016 9:42:14 GMT
I quite like the idea that the National Assembly should meet for a week in a different city in rotation every three months... not quite the extent of the European Parliament but just the legislators and support staff, the civil servants can remain in the various offices as at present. To be honest i generally think that would be just a show pony type of exercise. Politicians making a big PR play of how they're reaching out to communities and areas all over Wales. Whereas it really means a bunch of 3rd rate nobodies holding a meeting in a room that none of the public attend in Aberystwyth or Wrexham or Newtown rather than holding a meeting in Cardiff Bay which none of the public attend. It would be a pointless expensive exercise that means very little if anything to Joe Public. |
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Post by Penddu on Oct 26, 2016 11:32:22 GMT
I seem to recall that at a meeting of the Welsh Community and Town Council Association (known as "One Voice Wales") the Local Government Secretary gave a speech that I got the impression from was calling for the introduction of "Cantrefi" (i.e clusters of smaller community councils) on the same lines as the aborted merger of unitary councils. Does anyone know if anything more came from that? It makes a lot of sense....assuming it is natural communities which would be of widely varying sizes...for example, the 5 wards of Porthcawl would form a new Town Council; Pyle, Cornelly and Cefn Cribwr would form Cynffig, etc. |
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Georg Ebner
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Post by Georg Ebner on Nov 2, 2016 18:48:31 GMT
9 regions, with the actual electorates: - moderate version:  - radical version:  |
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Post by Penddu on Nov 5, 2016 13:13:10 GMT
As much as I love Bridgend, it is not worthy of being a region... (even if seems to have gained Margam), and belongs in East Glamorgan.
And placing northern urban Denbighshire with Gwynedd, while southern Denbighshire with Flintshire just seems back to front.
And i would suggest adding Penarth and Dinas Powys to Cardiff.
Ps....i am not sure your micro-region next to Merthyr (Dowlais?) is viable...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2016 16:33:00 GMT
Any chance of sharing functions with some authorities cross border?
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Nov 5, 2016 17:07:20 GMT
Ps....i am not sure your micro-region next to Merthyr (Dowlais?) is viable... I was assuming this was to honour its special place in history as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. |
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Georg Ebner
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Post by Georg Ebner on Nov 5, 2016 20:36:48 GMT
As much as I love Bridgend, it is not worthy of being a region... (even if seems to have gained Margam), and belongs in East Glamorgan. And placing northern urban Denbighshire with Gwynedd, while southern Denbighshire with Flintshire just seems back to front. And i would suggest adding Penarth and Dinas Powys to Cardiff. Ps....i am not sure your micro-region next to Merthyr (Dowlais?) is viable... Yes, I also had in mind to transfer Penarth+Llandough+DinasPowysNE+SullyE to CardiffCity, didn't do it, because as the capital will be further growing, a line must be drawn somewhere and quieta non movere. The border through Denbighs is roughly the one between Wrexham and ColwynBay, uniting the tourist/retired-resorts along the coast and additionally the line from PointOfAyr SW-wards is sparsely settled. Bridgend is a problem, indeed!: it's quite between Cardiff and Swansea, what means, that the impact of the bigger capital is larger, but adding it to GlamorganEast would make the latter too populous (500.000/2.100.000 electors!). |
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