Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

The first electric taxi in Carmarthenshire has been licensed. Andrew Paul Morgans of AJ’s Taxis, Park View, Llanelli, has been granted a licence for a Nissan Leaf Electric Car. Mr Morgans asked today’s meeting of the county council’s licensing committee to grant him an exemption from the licensing condition that says that a hackney carriage vehicle must have an engine capacity of at least 1200cc. A report by senior licensing officer Justin Power said: “This vehicle features an advanced 24kwh or 30kwh rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack designed to provide clean, reliable power and therefore does not meet the current Engine Capacity Licence Condition. “This vehicle is fully compliant with all other conditions of licence for hackney carriage vehicles.” Mr Morgans told the committee: “We were looking for the most economical and environmentally-friendly car and this came on top. There are taxi companies across the UK using this car successfully. We would be the first down here.” Executiv...

The latest Clay Shaw Butler Money Matters column from the Carmarthenshire Herald. By Mark Jones, director of Carmarthen-based Clay Shaw Butler chartered accountants and business consultants. Our review of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first (and last) Autumn Statement started last week with personal taxation changes. We dealt with some of the issues about personal allowances and tax bands. This week, we continue to focus on the changes to personal taxation, before we launch into the business tax issues next week. Tax on savings income: Savings income is income such as bank and building society interest. Some individuals qualify for a 0% starting rate of tax on savings income up to £5,000. However, the rate is not available if taxable non-savings income (broadly earnings, pensions, trading profits and property income) exceeds the starting rate limit. In addition, from 2016/17 the Savings Allowance (SA) applies to savings income. Income within the SA is taxed at 0% (the 'savings nil ...

The work of Carmarthenshire Trading Standards to support the wellbeing of vulnerable people has been recognised with a national public health award. A poster illustrating the team’s innovative Financial Exploitation Safeguarding Scheme (FESS) won the top award at the Wales Public Health Conference earlier this month. FESS works not only to prevent fraud and identify victims but also protects them from further exploitation by putting a range of measures in place from social care and housing teams. It also forms part of an academic research project undertaken with Cardiff University to evaluate Trading Standards Interventions from a health and social care perspective. Evidence has already linked the experience or threat of fraud to ill health – in particular mental health, with many older victims suffering from emotional, social and medical stresses. Left unattended, this can often lead to increased burdens on health and social care services. The Carmarthenshire Trading Standards team ...

The latest 'On Song' column (about the choral scene in and around West Wales) from the Carmarthen Journal and the Llanelli Star newspapers - It’ll be all eyes on Burry Port this weekend as there’s a Christmas treat being served up by the award-winning Burry Port Town Band. The band’s annual Christmas Gala Concert will take place on Saturday, December 10, featuring award winning guests Côr Aelwyd Y Waun Ddyfal and the Burry Port Junior Band. It will be a relaxed show of Christmas classics, with cabaret-style seating and bar. Côr Aelwyd y Waun Ddyfal is a youth choir from Cardiff. In 2013, they won the very competitive junior choir competition Côr Ieuenctid Côr Cymru. They have been successful in several other competitions, including Eisteddfod yr Urdd, the National Eisteddfod and also reached the semi-finals of Côr Cymru in 2009. The choir was established in 2005 to satisfy the need for more youth organisations in Cardiff and its success is obvious as it has provided a home for ...

The latest Phil Evans column from the South Wales Evening Post. Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. www.philevans.co.uk ................................ How do we cope with all this? We live in a time where Donald Trump is about to become the most powerful man in the world, vegans want to scrap the new five pound notes because they contain tiny traces of animal fats (why not just ask for five one-pound coins instead?) and millions of TV viewers enjoy watching minor celebrities chewing on a dead kangaroo’s you-know-what, while locked inside a box of snakes. Some readers wonder why I get annoyed with people so dim I’m astonished they can find their way out of their own front doors to wander aimlessly along while texting on their stupid...err...smart phones, oblivious that pavements might just occasionally be used by other pedestrians. In my defence, there are weeks when I relate happy experiences I’ve enjoyed, recall the wo...

Statement from Hywel Dda University Health Board regarding Andrews Medical Practice, Llanelli -  Rosedale Medical Group are returning the General Medical Services contract to Hywel Dda University Health Board in April 2017due to difficulties in recruiting permanent GPs. The decision was not taken lightly by the Practice but was made to ensure the best interest of the patients remain paramount. The continued sustainability of General Medical Services for the population is a priority for the Health Board and we will develop a robust plan over the next 3 months to secure a brighter and stronger future. Elaine Lorton, Assistant Director of Primary Care at the Health Board said: “We accept that this may concern the community and I wish to reassure patients of Andrews Medical Practice, Llanelli that they can still access GP services locally at the surgery’s premises. “I am pleased that the Rosedale Medical Group have committed to work with us to ensure that patient services are provid...

Aberystwyth University is launching a new strategy and vision for its Welsh medium provision. The Welsh Medium Academic Plan will be launched at 6pm tonight, Monday 5 December 2016 in Medrus, Penbryn, at the start of the annual Pantycelyn Christmas Dinner for Welsh students. It’s the most comprehensive strategy of its kind to be drawn up by any university in Wales. It lists in a single document the University's priorities for its Welsh medium provision, and reinforces Aberystwyth’s commitment to promoting the language and culture. As part of the plan, the University will hand out pledge cards to all students who choose to study through the medium of Welsh. The pledges highlight what’s special about Aberystwyth and how the University can offer a complete Welsh experience, including: • Flexible opportunities to study in Welsh in each Institute • Guaranteed Welsh-speaking personal tutor • Bilingual work experience • Guaranteed Welsh medium accommodation • ...

Children developing colour concepts have ‘blindness to background’ as they struggle to identify colour existing independently of objects, new research has revealed. Experts at Aberystwyth University and Newcastle University have looked at the way pre-school children identify colours. A research study conducted by Dr Catherine O’Hanlon, Lecturer in Developmental and Neurodevelopmental Psychology at Aberystwyth University, is shortly to be published in the scientific journal Developmental Science. Despite colour being an important aspect of human visual experience, it often takes toddlers many months of teaching and reinforcing before they learn to apply colour words correctly and consistently. “When it comes to colour, two to four year old children really struggle” explains Dr O’Hanlon from the University’s Department of Psychology. “The words are learned relatively late and the concepts developed even later.” Professor Jenny Read, Professor of Vision Science at the Institute of Neur...

The changing faces of radicalism in Wales will be examined as part of a new research project at Aberystwyth University. The study will examine the different approaches taken by three nationalist organisations - the Free Wales Army, Meibion Glyndŵr and Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society). The aim is to look at civil participation on society’s fringes and analyse why certain forms of citizen engagement are viewed as being more socially acceptable than others. Hosted by the University’s Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and funded by the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre for Wales, the study covers the 30 years from 1962 to 1992, widely seen as a tumultuous period in modern Welsh history. A unique feature of the project will be the close collaboration between the University and the Welsh Political Archive at the National Library of Wales. It is hoped the findings will also form part of an exhibition in 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the invest...