The number of subscribers to the community pressure group Cymuned’s weekly e-mail have risen sharply in the last six months, reaching 1200 this week. The e-mail has only been available for a year, which means that the growth is every bit as startling as the numbers who joined the group in 2001/2.

‘This is the end result of a great deal of re-structuring work,’ says Aran Jones, Cymuned’s Chief Executive, ‘and shows that our determination to use new methods of communication and campaigning are beginning to bear very impressive fruit. More new people are getting involved with our work than I’ve ever seen before, and an increasing number of them are Welsh people who do not speak the language.’

The group are promoting what they call ‘the 5 Minute Revolution’. Through websites such as Homes4Locals.com, Shops4Locals.com, Tax200.com and Gweithio.com, new supporters are able to sign up for the weekly e-mail, which then presents them with a wide range of quick and simple ideas that they can implement in less than five minutes a day.

‘We feel that people have to get used to the idea that you need five minutes a day to make a real difference to the future of our communities and our language,’ says Aran Jones, ‘and we’ve been working very hard to present creative new ideas that make it possible for anyone to make a measurable impact in only a few minutes. The ability to communicate regularly and quickly with high numbers of supports opens all kinds of new, exciting doors for us, and we are looking forward enormously to events in 2007.’

For more details, contact Cymuned’s office on 01758-612712.

Tax200.com, with its utterly reasonable call for a 200% council tax on holiday homes, is a widely popular campaign – but no-one has yet volunteered to take on responsibility for running it, and it will be six to eight months before our central office is in a position to focus on this campaign (our current priorities are Cartrefi.com, Homes4Locals.com and Shops4Locals.com).

We’ll continue to talk to potential project leaders, but in the meantime, if anyone is willing to contribute to this campaign (on whatever scale, from stickers to marching on Whitehall…;-)) please get in touch – it is always much easier to find project leaders when there are already volunteers taking practical action, and this campaign very much deserves that kind of support.

If you’d like some ideas for practical actions, have a look at www.cymuned.net/ymlaen/dewisant – don’t worry, it’s in English…;-)

The Bathhouse development situation in Aberteifi continues to stir up local feelings – the Assembly put a temporary freeze on the decision (to allow planning for a superstore twice the size of the current Tescos for which the development company appear to be intending to try and create a bidding war) – this made it look as though they intended (quite properly) to call it in, but Carwyn Jones has now announced that he will not be doing so.

The Town Council voted against this development (with one abstention, and no votes in favour) – and the County Council have overturned their decision. What price local democracy? Perhaps the Town Council should now be looking at requesting a judicial enquiry…

If you’ve got chain store predation threatening your area, get in touch with us, so that we can offer our range of tactics and tools for organising an effective local response.

Key figures in the Homes4Locals.com campaign in the North-East were over in Gwynedd last weekend to discuss how the Cartrefi.com (the Welsh version of the site) campaign is developing, and to share ideas for the next steps in the North-East.

A range of key actions is now under discussion with regards to the next six months in the North-East, starting with the possible purchase of a professional banner sign to promote the site, and covering a number of stunts designed for traditional and new media outlets.

We’re hoping to have an outline timetable by the end of November – in the meantime, if you’re interested in getting involved with this campaign either in the North-East (that’s the North-East of Wales, by the way!) or anywhere else (from Land’s End to John O’Groats!) just e-mail us at cymuned[at]cymuned.org (remember to put @ instead of [at]!) – or, alternatively, use one of the contact forms on this site…:-)

We’re continuing to put businesses that we’ve already promoted into this new system, so here we are re-introducing Kathy Gittins to you…:-)

Kathy comes from Trefaldwyn, but has now settled in Pwllheli – a decision inspired by her desire to live in a completely Welsh-speaking atmosphere, and a decision which has taken Pwllheli another step towards becoming the unofficial art capital of Cymru…;-)

You can see Kathy’s work at www.kathygittins.com – and if you buy one of her wonderful pictures, remember to let her know that you were directed to her site from Cymuned!

The communities pressure group Cymuned has condemned the Environment Minister Lord Rooker for his ridiculous declaration that people should move to Wales in order to get water.

‘This absurd idea shows that the Minister hasn’t the faintest idea how communities work,’ says Aran Jones, Cymuned’s Chief Executive. ‘What he’s suggesting would cause dangerous tension and conflict in rural communities, and his statement makes it very clear what a risky game politicians play when they make sweeping statements about matters they simply don’t understand.’

Cymuned believes that water should not be taken from mid-Wales to England unless the Assembly decides both to allow it and to set a fair price which can be passed on to the people of Wales.

‘It is utterly unacceptable that Westminster have refused to give our Assembly the right to decide what happens to Welsh water, and it makes it perfectly clear that they have every intention of stealing the natural resources of our country once again,’ says Aran Jones. ‘Crazy ideas like this one from Lord Rooker could do untold damage to rural housing markets, and it is becoming all the more urgent for the county councils of Wales to follow the lead of Yorkshire (see www.Homes4Locals.com) as quickly as possible.’

For more details, contact Cymuned’s office on 01758-612712.

We’ve already drawn the attention of our newsletter readers to GwinGar.co.uk, a local quality wine merchants for West Wales – but we wanted to give them another mention as part of this new blog-driven section for our website, so that their details will remain available.

They’ve got interesting family connections with France, a real love for wine, and are very much worth a look: click here.

After last week’s lively burst of new subscribers to the e-mail, things have been a bit slower this week – so please, those of you who are reading this, remember that one of the most powerful ways we can build real momentum for this campaign is for you to keep on passing details of the Tax200.com website on to your friends, as well as to your local press.

We’re still discussing an alternative, catchier name for the site – Tax-Holiday-Homes.com is looking favourite at the moment – what’s your opinion? Let us know…:-)

We are planning to start promoting this campaign more consistently in South Wales as our initial target (we’re already running Cartrefi.com in the North-West and Homes4Locals.com in the North-East). If you’d like to get involved, just drop us an e-mail at cymuned[at]cymuned.org and we’ll get straight back to you…:-)

Things have been getting a bit ugly down in Aberteifi, with smear campaigns in the local press trying to harass town councillors who were principled enough to vote against the giant development planned for the Bathhouse area – it shows how effective chain stores are when it comes to dirty tactics, in particular they way they always tie in some kind of bribe to the local area (in this case, money to keep the local cottage hospital open – shouldn’t the council pay for that?) and manage to blind the not-so-bright (you can almost see the shiny pound signs lighting up their eyes!).

One thing is quite clear – chain stores should not be allowed to make public bribes. They’re always short term fixes – the ‘new’ primary school that was promised to Porthmadog for being insane enough to let Tescos kill off a wide range of local shops turns out to be of very questionable quality, and many of the teachers feel they should have stayed where they were.

Only genuinely local businesses contribute to the local community year in, year out – studies show that where 50-70% of money spent with local businesses recircles in the community, as low as 15% is the more usual figure for chain stores.

Spread the word about Shops4Locals.com – get in touch with us for stickers or posters – we have GOT to get the message clearly understood: Chain Stores Kill Communities. E-mail me at llion[at]shops4locals.com to ask for stickers or posters or to offer campaign ideas…:-)

Hi everyone!

I’m Richard Evans from Llanllyfni, Dyffryn Nantlle near Caernarfon. I’ve agreed to be the co-ordinator for Homes4Locals.com, the English language version of Cymuned’s Cartrefi.com campaign and website. The website’s name explains itself – its aim is to campaign not just in the Fro Gymraeg, but anywhere people are worried about their community.

With the recent go-aheads for large housing developments in Sir Ddinbych, there couldn’t be a better time for launching the campaign than the present, so let’s get ideas rolling on how and where to get things on the road. Please e-mail me at richard[at]homes4locals.com with any suggestions you have for the campaign, and in particular let me know if you’d be interested in getting involved with writing letters to your local council.

We’re still working on the posters – early drafts look very impressive, and we’re sure they’re going to be an important addition to our collection of ways to spread the word.

And remember, if you haven’t yet done anything else, the first and most important thing you can do is send an e-mail to everyone you know telling them about Homes4Locals.com…;-)