Llanharan Community Council Llanharan Recreation Trust Chairman's Report December 2013

Senior Citizens Christmas Lunch MY APOLOGIES, THE WRONG DATES WERE PRINTED IN LAST MONTHS DIARY, THE CORRECT DATES ARE AS BELOW SORRY FOR ANY CONFUSION Forms for this year’s lunch are available at your local Post Office. The dates are Llanharan 12th December, and Brynna 5th December at Llanharan Rugby Club - for further information contact Mrs Gill Richards 01443 222053

Remembrance Services It was a great privilege to attend the Royal British Legion Remembrance Service at Llanharan Rugby Club on Friday 8th November. Janice Gregory AM and her husband Cllr Mike Gregory, Borough Cllrs Geraint Hopkins, Barry Stephens and his wife Barbara ,Community Councillors Chris Parker, Jeff Williams, Emrys Evans and Pam Marsh were also in attendance. I am pleased to say that the hall was packed with members of the British Legion, residents and the Army Cadet Corp who were presented with a certificate from the British Legion for their tremendous efforts in helping throughout the run up to Remembrance Day, they are a credit to their parents and the Officer in Charge, Rhys Worgan. After the service we had a full evening’s entertainment from the Llanharan Songsters and the first class musical comedy duo Laing and David. A big thank you to all concerned in organizing this vital evening in the Llanharan calendar, and to Llanharan Rugby Club for providing the free use of the club’s facilities. On Sunday 10th November a remembrance service was held at the War Memorials at Llanharan, and Brynna followed by a Church service. Both services were very well attended with wreaths laid by many organizations from the area, and the Armed Forces

Llanharan Fireworks Display After a short absence it was great to see the return of the community firework display. A great turn out from the residents showed how much this was missed. The night was organized by the committee, volunteers and staff of the Drop-in Centre, Llanharan, and I must warmly commend them on providing such a fabulous display. A lot of work went into it, no less than on the night itself when so many of the Drop-in staff, volunteers, and committee turned up to marshall the event and didn’t we look good in our florescent bibs. Next year’s event will be held in Brynna and I wish them every success. The night was financially supported by means of a grant from the Community Council for which Sian Davies on behalf of the Drop-in expressed her thanks

Llanharan Songsters It was with great sadness that I heard Llanharan Songsters announce at the Remembrance Concert that this may well be their last performance, as their numbers have been dwindling of late. They have done so much for the profile of the village and raised much money for local charities over the years, turning up whenever requested to give of their time freely. Unfortunately, even in their position they could not countenance my voice. They are a great bunch of men who do so much it would be a disaster if we lost them. If you have ever thought of joining a choir or even if you haven’t, now is an ideal time to give it a go, I promise you will enjoy it Please contact Emrys Evans on 01443 226554 or myself for further information Llanharan Medical Centre Update A short update on the meeting that took place on Friday 8th November with members of Cwm Taf Community Health Council and Cwm Taf Primary Care, covering responses from them and RCT to questions we put on your behalf

1) Can you explain the present funding of Llanharan Medical Centre? Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Trust (ABMU), fund Pencoed Medical Centre (PMC) including the Llanharan Medical Centre (LMC). This is historic and brought about prior to boundary changes. Cwm Taf Health Board fund services accessed in the area e.g. Royal Glamorgan Hospital

2) I believe that there are more patients on LMCs list than are on PMCs if this is the case why have the hours been reduced at LMC rather than at PMC, is this due to the funding coming from ABMU which is Bridgend? It is felt by some residents that this is a political decision, in that economically there was a need to reduce opening hours across the two surgeries, and the decision to close LMC of an afternoon rather than PMC was due to the fact that PMC is funded by AMBU? Cwm Taf Health Board are committed to assisting the practice in providing as good a service at Llanharan surgery as possible. Both Cwm Taf and PMC will review the impact of the recent changes and will discuss the possibility of reversing the decision. If this is not possible then Cwm Taf will justify to the community that it represents the reasons for this decision

3) Is it possible to split the practice into two separate practices with LMC funded by Cwm Taf? No, not at this stage

4) Is it possible for Cwm Taf to fund the operation of an afternoon surgery five days a week plus possibly Saturday morning? They will take this suggestion away and discuss with the Chief Executive, as they do have salaried GPs, but there is a demand for this service

5) Planning permission for Parc Llanilid was given many years ago, can we see a copy of the ‘primary health impact assessment’ that was carried out to cover the interim period between the first houses being purchased and the opening of Llanilid Medical Centre? There would appear to have been a breakdown in communication over this. Cwm Taf development managers will urgently pursue this matter as it is now felt that the planned Parc Llanilid Medical Centre may be too small to meet the future needs of the Parc Llanilid community. A request has been made to RCT Planning for evidence that the PMC was consulted, and had made a submission over the proposed Llanilid Medical Centre during the planning process, as there appears to be some confusion over this

6) What is the projected timescale for the opening of Llanilid Medical Centre? In March 2011, RCT’s Local Development Plan was officially adopted after a rigorous scrutiny process carried out by the Welsh Government Inspectorate. The plan covers the period 2006-2021 and they clearly identified the need for a Primary Care Centre (of about 600/800 square metres in size), with the building of the proposed large housing development to the west of Bryncae on the Llanilid opencast site, and land to the north of the A473. Since the adoption of this plan, RCT’s planning department has received an application for some 1800 homes on this strategic site. The Council’s Planning Committee granted approval, with conditions over 2 years ago however, to date, the legal agreement associated with the planning permission has not been completed, and therefore the development has not received the Council’s full approval for commencement of work. If the legal agreement was to be completed, lets say early in the new year, it is not anticipated that the Primary Care Centre would be built in the next 5 years of development (at a target point of 75% of total housing). This answer was provided by a RCT representative 7) PMC have expressed an interest in managing the new Medical Centre, is this a good idea in light of the present difficulties of managing centres spanning two trusts? Any new Medical Centre would be totally funded by and responsible to Cwm Taf even if managed by PMC

8) There are other smaller developments in the pipeline in our community, some of which may include provision for retail units which would be rented to bring about an income for the developer. Would it be possible for Cwm Taf to approach them to discuss the possibility of renting this space for a new surgery? We recognise the need for a larger surgery or second surgery for Llanharan/Parc Llanilid and have been carrying out detailed work on the subject. As demand for GPs services are increasing day by day there is a definite need to do something now. One way would be to approach new housing providers in the area to see if there is a possibility of providing a doctors surgery on their site or maybe looking at a suitable vacant properties in the locality to house these much needed services (This is dependent on the practice’s decision to invest in a self-build or join a third-party agreement to rent)

A detailed report is to be prepared for us covering all of the above topics and more, and then reconvene a meeting with us within six weeks to update us on their progress

Bryncae Community Centre Last year’s pantomime Alladin which was held mid week was such a success that they were inundated with requests to hold this year’s pantomime Cinderella at the weekend in order that more families could attend, without the concern of the children having to be up early the next morning for school. They have listened to those requests and this year it is to be held on Friday the 13th December at 7:00pm. £5/adult, £3/child or £10/family (1 adult and 2 children) Don’t miss out, order your tickets early by contacting Nathan Hughes on 01443 229420

Community Council Small Grants

Brynna Methodist Church Youth Club

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year May I take this opportunity on behalf of the Council and the Clerk of wishing you all a very happy Christmas, and all you wish for yourself in the New Year

Brynna FC, Gentlemen’s Evening - 28th February 2014 This year’s guest speaker will be Barry Fry former player, manager, chairman, and star of the TV show “The Posh”, along with top comedian Tank Sherman. To be held at Pontyclun Athletic Club Fri 28th February. Tickets £35 per person or £300 per table of ten, to include a 3 course meal and a Sports Memorabilia Auction. For tickets or further information contact Club Secretary Ray Slade on mobile No 7899924956 or email [email protected] Future Meetings The next Community Council meeting will be held at The Drop In Centre on Thursday 19th December at 7:00pm A reminder that the minutes of Council meetings can be found at our office at The Drop-in Centre, at Post Offices and on our website www.llanharancc.co.uk or www.llanharan.webs.com for mobile operating systems

Cllr John Bowman Chairman Llanharan Community Council Vice Chairman Llanharan Recreation Ground Trust Email [email protected] Tel: 01443 222135