The communities pressure group Cymuned have announced a date for their public meeting about the proposed new village by the National Trust in Rhostyllen. The meeting will now take place on Wednesday 4th July , 7.30pm at The Old Court House, High Street, Ruabon.

This announcement comes after the group were banned on three separate occasions from using facilities in Rhostyllen (and also Bersham) by the community council, even though the National Trust had previously held meetings at the same venue to promote the development at Erddig. The reason the council gave for allowing the National Trust to use the premises was that they were staging a presentation as opposed to a public meeting. The National Trust themselves state in their own consultation documents that they have indeed used the hall for a public meeting.

County Councillor for Rhostyllen, Mr Mark Pritchard, said ‘If Cymuned wish to use the hall for a display, we would welcome them with open arms.’ The group decided to take Mr Pritchard up on this offer and prepared a display to use. After approaching Rhostyllen community council to finalise the details, the group were then told, for the second time, that permission to use the hall had been refused.

Local organiser Carrie Harper says, ‘I believe this shows that the community council are not acting in good faith. They have made an offer and then retracted it. We were happy to stage a display for local residents as was offered, only to find the Council actually had no intention of honouring the offer.’

Chief Executive of Cymuned Aran Jones says, ‘The council’s undemocratic behaviour during this whole process has been quite astonishing. Local people are being denied the right to meet and discuss this issue openly. This has unpleasant implications for the process of democracy in Rhostyllen.’

A local businessman from Ruabon has kindly donated a room for the group to use. The public meeting will go ahead on Wednesday 4th July , 7.30pm at The Old Court House, High Street, Ruabon. Rhostyllen residents committee member Cathy Roberts says, ‘We are disappointed not to have the meeting in our own village. I think it is disgraceful that we are being barred from using our own facilities by our own community council. It is a serious breach of our democratic rights. We are just grateful that they haven’t been able to stop the meeting from taking place.’

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

Representatives of Cymuned, the communities pressure group, will be attending a number of meetings in the Assembly this Wednesday (13/06/07), with Ieuan Wyn Jones, Nick Bourne, Mark Isherwood and Rhodri Glyn Thomas, in order to discuss the Housing Measure for Wales that the Labour Party have committed to preparing.

‘This is a golden opportunity to put positive, forward-thinking policies into place that will make a real difference to the people of Wales,’ says Aran Jones, Cymuned’s Chief Executive. ‘We are extremely pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the future of this Measure with the leaders of Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives, and are looking forward to hearing the response of the Labour party and the Liberal-Democrats to our request for the opportunity to discuss this matter with them as well.’

Cymuned believes that there is an urgent need for wide-ranging discussion on the principle of establishing a local and sustainable housing market, instead of over-focusing on affordable housing in a way which shows signs of creating unnecessary complications for both buyers and sellers.

‘The principle of a local and sustainable housing market has already been established in places like Yorkshire and the Channel Islands,’ says Iestyn ap Dafydd of Caerffili, ‘and we now hope earnestly that the politicians of Wales will provide a similar system in order to win a genuinely sustainable future for the communities of Wales.’

Cymuned believe that the establishment of a sustainable local housing market would prevent the current disintegration of communities throughout Wales, and provide a solid basis for the vital work of strengthening local economies in order to create a better future for the entire country. The group runs the Homes4Locals.com campaign to encourage people to get involved in their own communities and make a difference at grass-roots level.

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