Press Statement from Horizon Nuclear Power

Horizon Nuclear Power, the joint venture between RWE Npower and E.on which is developing Wylfa B has released the below press statement with reference the problems at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan:

Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, our heart-felt sympathy goes out to all those who have been affected. 

It would not be appropriate for us to comment on the nuclear incidents which are currently taking place in Japan, given that we do not have first hand involvement. 

However we welcome the statement made on Sunday by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, announcing that the Chief Nuclear Inspector, Dr Mike Weightman, has been asked to prepare a report on the implications and lessons learned from the situation in Japan.  

UK nuclear installations are built with a wealth of safety measures in place to ensure that they can withstand a range of natural disasters and avoid causing harm to the public or to the environment. These installations are assessed extremely thoroughly by the regulators to ensure that containment remains effective even in the most extreme circumstances, and the design that Horizon selects for its proposed installations will also go through this thorough assessment. 

The results of Dr Weightman's analysis will clearly provide an important check on the UK's standards for nuclear installations.

An Audit Report without recommendations, a Recovery Board which doesn't know what Recovery looks like.

The BBC are reporting that the recently completed (but still top secret) emergency Auditor's report into Anglesey County Council does not contain any recommendations. In which case what is the point of it?

We have had over a year and a half of WAG intervention, featuring the highest paid Civil Servant in Wales in addition to regular monitoring by a mini-Quango in the shape of the Recovery Board. Both report back to WAG Local Government Minister Carl Sargeant on a regular basis — why therefore was there a need to carry out an emergency audit too, especially if it does not contain any recommendations? Surely the problems at the council could have been adequately ascertained by simply asking the current well paid overseers?

An Audit without any recommendations reminds me of a snippet from a Recovery Board report from last April. After six (yes, six!) meetings, the Recovery Board basically admitted that they didn't know "what is a successful recovery". In retrospect the consequences of those tasked with solving the problem not knowing what the solution looks like explains pretty well why the problems at the council have got worse rather than better over the last year and a half of WAG intervention.

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On a personal note I am deeply saddened by the devastation and huge loss of life in Japan following the 8.9 richter scale earthquake and tsunami. I spent six happy years living and working in Tokyo and Osaka when younger and still regard Japan as my second home after Wales. I myself experienced many earth tremors (indeed, they happened every day) but they rarely last longer than a few seconds — the latest earthquake lasted much, much longer and must have been quite terrifying. It is a testament to Japanese construction techniques that the quake itself caused so little structural damage; it was the tsunami and the brute force of the ocean which has caused the majority of the devastation we have witnessed on our TVs — and put our own problems into stark contrast.

The irony.

At this evening's Wylfa B Project Liaison Group meeting, Ieuan Wyn Jones was at pains to press Horizon representatives -- in front of the assembled audience -- to ensure that local Welsh companies are able to compete and tender for multi-sized parcels of work.

I completely agree.

But considering Ieuan's desire to see local companies getting a fair bite of the procurement cherry...

• ...why was the construction of WAG's Llandudno Office for instance awarded to a non-local company?
• ...and why have local Welsh construction firms been excluded from tendering on numerous North Wales school building projects?

Don't do as I do. Do as I say.

Incidentally, by way of comparison, the Coalition Government has introduced measures which would ensure that SMEs get at least 25% of government contracts. I would like to see WAG introduce similar procurement rules here in Wales.

Struck by Lightning...

Over the last couple of years I wonder how many electric car makers have come specifically to Anglesey wanting to set up a manufacturing plant in Holyhead, potentially employing up to 400 people?

There must have been a great many because apparently our AM, Ieuan Wyn Jones, can't remember having met with one in September 2009 -- just as Anglesey Aluminium finally closed its gates with a loss of 450 jobs and three months before Holyhead's Eaton Electric also closed losing another 240 jobs. I would have thought that at a time of huge job losses in one of the poorest parts of Ynys Môn a clean tech, cutting edge company wanting to set up in Holyhead would have been welcomed with open arms by the Island's AM. Instead he is quoted in today's Holyhead and Anglesey Mail as saying, "I don't really remember the meeting"...

Following some leads I discovered through an FoI request that in September 2009 Ieuan Wyn Jones AM met with the management of Lightning Car Company together with senior councillors and officers from the economic development unit and Brynle Williams, "on the topic of startup electric car business on the island". According to Cllr Bryan Owen, who attended the meeting and was then the Economic Development portfolio holder, "They [Lightning] were very impressed with the port and road infrastructure. They were keen to move forward and it was left to the Assembly Government to come up with some funding and that's where it died a death as far as I'm aware".

Manufacturing opportunities need to be grasped with both hands when they come along. They provide the kind of mass work we need on this island, and they also require a mix of skilled, semi-skilled and low-skilled workers thus providing job opportunities across the board. Furthermore Electric cars may still be niche currently but they are undoubtedly the future of motoring and the sector will grow and grow from now on -- particularly considering the effect on oil prices due to the current turmoil in the Middle East. Imagine the symbolism of manufacturing electric cars on the 'Energy Island' -- it would have been a tremendous boost to the standing of Ynys Môn.

The final point to mention is that this company wanted to set up at Parc Cybi industrial estate (also known as Tŷ Mawr) just off junction 2 of the A55 in Holyhead. WAG poured millions of pounds into setting up the site, buying the land, connecting it with a fibre-optic internet connection, funding an (ongoing) archeological survey of the land, and putting in the road infrastructure to serve it. Yet several years after completion it is still completely empty; not a single company has set up there and the land is now only used for grazing. Parc Cybi is in effect the most expensive sheep grazing land in the whole of North Wales, and those sheep enjoy a better internet connection than 99% of the human inhabitants of this island!

IWJ: Words versus Deeds

Tucked away on page 20 of yesterday's Daily Post was a (somewhat long) Op Ed by Ieuan Wyn Jones setting out his position on the future of Anglesey County Council. I welcome that in response to some prodding in the press he has finally come out and explained his position, the essence if it being that although he feels "further intervention in the workings of the council is ... inevitable", he does not believe that "we have yet reached the position that the best interests of the council or the people of Anglesey would be served by the complete withdrawal of powers from elected councillors and the appointment of commissioners". However most importantly Ieuan Wyn Jones unequivocally states that he does "oppose a merger between Ynys Môn and Gwynedd, since it would not be in the best interests of either council". He has been very clear in words, but lets see if he will also follow through with action.

As it happens the new report on Anglesey Council by the Auditor General will be completed shortly and passed to WAG Local Government minister, Carl Sargeant. We don't know what it will say, but its possible that it could recommend that the problems at Ynys Môn are so intractable that a merger with a neighbouring authority should be looked into. That would be convenient for Sargeant as just next week the WAG Local Government Measure -- which currently includes the controversial powers to forcefully amalgamate local authorities -- will be debated by AMs again. An independent report from the Auditor General recommending the merging of Ynys Môn and Gwynedd would be useful ammunition for Carl Sargeant. The Conservatives and Lib Dems however are pledged to oppose the powers which would allow WAG to force council mergers -- therefore Carl Sargeant will only be able to get it passed if Plaid Cymru AMs support it.

If Ieuan Wyn Jones truly believes that Ynys Môn and Gwynedd should not be merged, will he instruct his AMs not to support this part of the Measure? That will be the true test of his commitment to preserve Ynys Môn.

£128,466.59 (updated)

According to this FOI request, that's how much in total the Anglesey Recovery Board has cost the public purse to date.

What have we had in return for £128,466.59?

Well, we've got the seven reports from the Recovery Board to the WAG Local Government Minister which they have made public here. That works out at just under £20K a report then.

(Incidentally, according to its terms of reference the Recovery Board is obliged to produce a report to the Minister after each of its meetings. Why then, you might ask, have no new reports been produced since last July despite the board having met on 15th September, 8th December and most recently on the 31st January? Well, according to this FOI reply, they didn't bother in September as the Minister attended their meeting (therefore there is no need for any public record apparently). They also didn't bother for the December meeting. Why? Because of, and I quote, "the proximity of Christmas"...)

What else have we got? Well apparently not much because, as you know, despite Plaid Cymru and Labour in Cardiff Bay having spent £128K on the Recovery Board and a further £270K a year on an interim MD, the recovery has stalled and the auditors have been sent in, again.

In conclusion: plenty of public money has been spent but we are back to square one. Its like déjà vu all over again.

UPDATE: To further underline the failure of WAG to turn around Anglesey Council, Gwynedd Council have today announced that they are suspending their involvement in the scoping study imposed by Carl Sargeant in December to find areas where Anglesey and Gwynedd councils can cooperate.

Harry Thomas, the Chief Exec of Gwynedd, is quoted in the Daily Post as saying:

“Since Gwynedd Council agreed to the Minister’s request in December 2010, Anglesey Council has experienced considerable political turmoil which has created uncertainty regarding its future political leadership.”
He added: “Such a climate of instability and uncertainty is not conducive to successful large-scale collaboration. Gwynedd Council has consequently had to reconsider its position.
“Despite these developments, Gwynedd Council will continue to work with Anglesey to explore smaller scale, specific collaborative opportunities providing the benefits substantially outweigh the risks.”

Why I will be voting 'Yes' on March 3rd.

As it is St David's Day, today its a pretty good opportunity to explain how I will be voting at the Extra Powers for Wales referendum this Thursday, March 3rd, and why.

I will be voting 'yes' for four main reasons:

1. No matter which party (or parties) are in power in Westminster, UK-wide one-size-fits-all legislation will by definition not be equally optimum for all parts of the United Kingdom. Accordingly the Welsh Assembly is the ideal vehicle for developing and implementing differentiated policies which are specific to the needs of Wales alone. The referendum on March 3rd merely allows for the Assembly to be able to pass laws in the areas it already has competence quicker.
2. I fully subscribe to the principle that laws which exclusively apply to one region should be decided exclusively within that region. During the previous Labour administration in Westminster we all became accustomed to the sight of legislation which exclusively affected England (and in some cases England and Wales) only being passed due to the support of Scottish Labour MPs representing constituencies which would be entirely unaffected by said legislation. Known as the West Lothian Question, it remains a constitutional abomination. Although the situation whereby Measures passed in the Assembly are scrutinised by MPs and Peers in Westminster is not a direct parallel to the West Lothian Question, the principle of those unaffected by the law in question being removed entirely from the lawmaking process is sound.
3. A yes vote on Thursday will merely put Wales on almost equal footing with the other devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which already do not need to have their laws scrutinised by Westminster. As a proud Welshman I personally have never seen any good reason why Wales should be treated any differently from Scotland or Northern Ireland.
4. I instinctively believe in Localism. Political decisions which affect us all, should be taken as closely as possible to us -- not by some overlarge central top-down bureaucracy. This, for example, is why I am so keen to preserve the integrity of Anglesey County Council and not see it submerged within a Greater Gwynedd.

As a final footnote: I personally don't believe that the current Plaid Cymru and Labour coalition in Cardiff Bay has done a particularly good job. Indeed in crucial areas -- Education and Economic Development being just two -- they have failed abysmally and let Wales down. However none of this undermines the case for the Welsh Assembly itself -- it merely underlines the lack of competence and vision of the current crop of AMs from the ruling parties. I fully believe that the nation of Wales' future economic and social success rests entirely upon the Welsh Assembly developing unique and radical policies which differentiate Wales positively from the rest of the UK as both a place to live, work and invest.