Bethan Jenkins AC/AM South Wales West

Bridgend based Sports Media Services Ltd has secured a major international broadcasting contract in Eastern Europe to compliment their domestic production portfolio.

The company – situated at Pencoed Technology Centre – has won a five year contract with SMP Georgia to produce exclusive coverage of the Georgian domestic League and Cup competitions. Each weekend of the season a live match and a “Match of the Day” highlights programme will be produced.

Bethan Jenkins, Plaid AM for South Wales West ( which includes the Pencoed area) has congratulated SMS on their success.

Bethan Jenkins AM said:

“SMS has made a name for itself in the sports broadcasting market. I am pleased that Ieuan Wyn Jones, Plaid Cymru Minister for the Economy and Transport, has supported them in winning such an important long term contract.

“The creative industries are a key sector in Wales, employing 18,000 people. As a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member, I am keen to see the Welsh economy prosper, and compete on an International level. This contract shows the success of the Welsh economy, and is an example of how Plaid Cymru is delivering in Government.”

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Notes to Editors

The contract to broadcast Georgia’s 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign has also been secured with group games including Italy and Ireland. Investment in Georgia has consisted of an Outside Broadcast Unit; a “live” studio set

Plaid Cymru’s Bethan Jenkins AM will on Monday (28th of April) open Ty Cwm Rhondda, an Independent Hospital in Ystrad providing low secure mental health services.

Speaking today, Ms Jenkins said:

“I am delighted to have been invited to unveil the plaque at the new hospital. The cross party group on eating disorders at the Assembly has ambitious plans to improve the provision of community-based care throughout Wales. The facilities at Ty Cwm Rhondda will prove invaluable to the local community and is a big step forward for improving the capacity of care in the area.”

ENDS

For Further information please contact Steffan Lewis on 01639 643549

Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for South Wales West, Bethan Jenkins has today called for the unjust council tax to be replaced by a fairer local income tax.

During a debate in the Senedd, Ms Jenkins said:

“Central to the issue of high council tax levels is the way in which the block grant is allocated to Wales. Last year Wales received the lowest Comprehensive Spending Review settlement since devolution from the Westminster Government, losing out on £200 million. The Barnett formula is inadequate and does not provide Wales with a fair share of the UK budget. Plaid will continue to campaign for the scrapping of the Barnett Formula and replace it with a funding system based on need rather than population.”

Ms Jenkins added:

“In Neath Port Talbot, the council tax increased by 100% in the decade following local government reorganisation. Many saw their council tax contributions double although inflation rose by less than 15%.

“Plaid is committed to replacing council tax with a fairer local income tax, where the amount taken from each person would be calculated in the same way as general income tax is assessed. Such a move would directly benefit people on low incomes, with many older people not paying anything at all.”

Editor,

I would like to inform your readers that I have written to the Chief Executive of Bridgend County Borough Council to raise concerns about the relocation of Bridgend Football Club to fields in Lockes Lane, Porthcawl. I have requested a meeting to discuss the concerns of residents, specifically regarding access to the car park through already limited narrow roads, and the fact that cars are parking on the kerbs outside their homes. There has been a sharp rise in traffic in the area, and residents have raised concerns over access and safety, as well as the fact that the development has taken away much of the local common land.

I will inform local residents of the response of the Chief Executive of Bridgend County Borough Council as soon as I have convened the meeting.

Bethan Jenkins Plaid AM South Wales West

Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Bethan Jenkins will address the Spring Conference of campaign group Republic at the National Assembly on Saturday.

The republican Assembly Member for South Wales West, who boycotted the Royal opening of the Assembly last May, will address the conference as Republic continue their campaign to abolish the Oath of Allegiance to the Monarch.

Speaking from the Senedd, Ms Jenkins said:

“We have been reminded in recent months of the refusal of many in the Establishment, to accept that no aspect of public life should be reserved for those of wealth or privilege and that no position of power should be reserved for those on the basis of the family in which they were born.

When former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith recently recommended the introduction of a mandatory oath of allegiance for school pupils we were all made aware of the determination that remains in some quarters to uphold the archaic and immoral supremacy of an unelected head of state.”

The Conference will also hear contributions from Plaid AM Leanne Wood, and Labour republican John Griffiths AM.

Ms Jenkins added:

“I am delighted that Republic is holding its Spring Conference in Cardiff this year.

How apt, that a movement for an elected head of state is coming to Wales, a country rich in republican history.”

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Notes to editors

For further information contact Steffan Lewis on 02920 898 713 / 07961 732405

Assembly Members will debate a change in the law that could mean that Ysgol Rhydfelen’s name could be retained.

The law would let schools, rather than local authorities, make the final decision on their name. The proposal, to be discussed in the Assembly’s education committee follows the petition presented by school campaigners, to the Assembly’s petitions committee.

Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood, who has helped present the school’s case to the committee, commented:

“I welcome the news that the education committee is to examine the law. The school has fought very hard to keep its name. It is disappointing that the local authority has sought to force the school to change its name and is ignoring the people who have worked hard to support it over the years. It seems that only a change in the law will protect the school against the actions of the Labour-run council.”

Plaid’s Bethan Jenkins, a former Ysgol Rhydfelen pupil and member of the petitions committee, added:

“I hope that the committee can reverse the local authority’s nonsensical decision to get rid of the school’s historic name. It should be kept for future generations. Parents, teachers and pupils from the school are quite right to want to keep the name of their school. We should celebrate it as part of the history of the resurgence of the Welsh language in the south of the country.”

The school was the first Welsh-medium secondary school to established in south Wales in 1962.

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Notes to Editors

For further information contact Colin Nosworthy on 07971 339542