It has always been difficult to point out the dangers of Retirees and Second Home owners , without emitting a whiff of racism.
The fact that it's a problem not just in Y Fro Cymraeg , however adds weoght to concerns and the Lake District in England have expressed similar worries
The percentage of second homes should not be more than 20 per cent as this appears to affect the sustainability of any village. (An Effective way to sustain our rural communities, Blenkinship and Gibbons, 2003)
In the letter to First Mark Drakeford, Plaid Cymru leader AdamPrice called for action, echoing calls from other politicians and GPs.Travel is one of many restrictions in place since the coronavirus outbreak.
The Welsh Government has warned second-home owners and caravanners they could face action by ignoring advice not to travel unnecessarily.
Mr Price said concerns had been raised about "a large scale population shift" into generally rural areas. His letter added: "I am asking that you now take urgent steps to avoid unnecessary additional pressure on our health and social care system at this difficult time." Calls have previously been made for people not to come to Gwynedd, which has more second homes than any other county in Wales. The closing of Schools has probably intensified the problem with people seemingly treating it as a long Bank Holiday.Image Copyright @vineyser@VINEYSERReport But now neighbouring Anglesey council has told all tourists to stay away from the island until the outbreak is over. The main concern is putting extra pressure on health services. "There's clear advice for people to avoid unnecessary travel and going to your caravan on the weekend doesn't strike me as necessary travel," Health Minister Vaughan Gething said. "We're asking people to be responsible. And I really hope we take that advice seriously because I certainly don't want our healthcare system in any part of Wales or indeed the UK to be overwhelmed by people moving around. "And that's something that of course is within Wales as well. There are plenty of people who have caravans and second homes in some of our coastal areas. "We are of course taking it seriously and if we need to act, we are prepared to use the powers that we have, as we already demonstrated last night with the measures we took." On Saturday, there were reports of social gatherings at Pen Y Fan in Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia in Gwynedd, and seaside resorts around Wales. Anglesey council leader Llinos Medi said she was left with "no other option but to urge visitors and tourists, including those who own second homes, to stay away". She added: "We have seen a recent influx of visitors coming to stay in caravans or second homes on Anglesey.
This is a #pandemic not a Bank Holiday. What bit of non-essential travel means coming from across the UK, potentially with CV, to climb Snowdon; strip local shops of food; put Mountain Rescue at risk at least twice today & pressure on a limited NHS; & ignoring social distancing?
Simiar complaints have been made over mass gathering on Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons and it is likely these are Welsh People rather than English Holidaymakers
It is clear that it is not where you are coming from , but you are coming..
"They will undoubtedly put an immense extra strain on essential public services, including the NHS, which are already under tremendous pressure. "They must consider the implications of their actions on the people of Anglesey." The calls have been echoed by Tories Ynys Mon MP Virginia Crosbie and Clwyd West AM Darren Millar.
Ms Crosbie who won Ynys Mon for the Tories last December said: "After several discussions with ministers yesterday, today I wrote to the prime minister asking him to re-affirm to the people of the UK that non-essential travel includes taking unnecessary holidays during a time of national crisis." Darren Cornish, a lead GP at Criccieth, Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog surgeries, wants to see holiday parks closed. "I don't think people understand the gravity of the situation," he said.
"If people do travel, a number will be bringing the virus with them and expediting the process. "We need to close these campsites." Meanwhile, Chris Lloyd, from North Wales Mountain Rescue Association said people were being "irresponsible" going up mountains during the coronavirus outbreak. "We clearly weren't expecting a flood of people on Snowdonia today because we are actually trying to reduce the risk of team members having to deal with people who are possibly infected. "The message is simple - don't go on the mountains if you have the virus or have been self-isolating because if you need to be rescued, mountain rescue may not be able to help."
A man has been criticised online after threatening to visit his caravan in the north of Wales to “cough on everyone I see and lick every door handle”.The man from Greater Manchester was responding to criticism on Facebook of people deciding to self-isolate in holiday homes and caravan parks in Wales.“I’m coming on Saturday to my caravan,” he said. “And I’m going to cough on everyone and lick every door handle.“I an others, and I’ll use my caravan as much or as little as I like.”The man later removed his Facebook account from public access after receiving a barrage of criticism in response to his message.
If this Gentleman was to carry the virus into the community , then he will incur a cost that vastly outstrips £1000s every year into your local economy he claims to put into the community.
The shelves of one of Cardiff's biggest supermarkets have been left completely empty as shoppers stockpile due to coronavirus fears. Wales Online telus. Though of course we already know.
While toilet roll, pasta and paracetamol were some of the first items to be stripped from the shelves - as the government encourage social distancing, supermarkets across Wales are looking increasingly bare.
One customer said that the store was much busier than usual for a weekday lunchtime.
"Although there were plenty of shelves that were well-stocked, others were empty. And different foods were now out of stock than had been running low from last weekend.
"There were no potatoes or onions, while several freezers were entirely empty and many others looked sparse. The meat aisle was almost empty, with no chicken at all.
"As had been the case in the same supermarket on the weekend, there was no pasta, rice or flour."
It is do bad that many supermarkets are following MORRISONS who have pledged to create 3,500 new jobs so that it can expand its delivery services as coronavirus continues to spread throughout the UK.
The supermarket says that it is expanding home delivery with new ways of getting shopping to people and more slots for customers.
Meanwhile those without their own transport who cannot do a Bulk Shop anyway are going to find it difficult to find Public Transport to take to do their weekly shop.
My local Bus Service has been severely curtailed and this van also affect those with jobs who cannot work at home Luckily I have friends and family who are only too willing to help me out if I need , to get anywhere others are not .
This is compared to the normal service If this continues we will find Key Workers having problems getting to work including Supermarket Staff. This is not a compliant, but it show that if people really need to travel , those who would need Public Transport are at a disadvantage and where obviously I like everyone else needs to avoid public contacts as much as possible, i wil need to restock at the very least on a monthly basis and where I can get Bread and Milk locally other foods stuffs really need a visit to a major supermarket. Yes Shop Locally , but can we afford to for a long period?
I don'y think we can object that "New emergency legislation is to give the Welsh Government "draconian" powers to isolate and detain individuals". However we need to be that any are not secretly retained after the emergency
First Minister Mark Drakeford said the law will give ministers powers not normally seen in peacetime.
It will allow senior politicians to prohibit mass gatherings, and close premises where they are happening.Meanwhile the first minister defended the decision to test the health minister, Vaughan Gething.Mr Gething is back at work after a period of self-isolation, after receiving a negative test.
Well I welcome Mr Gething being given the all clear, I am not sure he is the man for the job, he has not been exactly proven to be competent sofar
The new legislation provides sweeping measures, for up to two years, to help UK authorities tackle the coronavirus outbreak.It is a UK government bill, but has been produced in co-operation with the administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.To be introduced to Parliament on Thursday, the law is expected to come into force by the end of the month.
So basically it is a case of the Semedd Rubber Stamping UK legislation and it is highly questionable that they can make any future unilateral changes.
Ministers in Wales will be able to:
take or keep people in quarantine, or direct a person to attend a designated place
restrict or prohibit mass gatherings
close premises
Mr Drakeford told a press conference: “The bill responds to the unprecedented difficulties that we face and is based on the need to reduce the rise in coronavirus on the one hand, and to free up public services... so they can be doing more at the front line. “These are powers to be used if we reach a point where such draconian interventions in the lives of individuals are necessary."
The first minister said the bulk of the powers are focused on freeing up resources so services can "respond more rapidly, more flexibly, to more urgent needs”. Ministers will be able to instruct schools to close, or to remain open. There are powers that would allow the redeployment of teachers to address shortages; to disapply standard ratios of staff to children requirements, and to allow people to return more rapidly to the workplace. In health and social care the bill will allow ministers to state circumstances where DBS criminal record checks can be “disapplied”.
Which is worrying and I hope if it is carried out that it is open and clear.
Mr Drakeford said it would allow someone who had a DBS check in one setting, to use it in another. The legislation will aim to avoid delays in the recruitment of health or social workers to meet increases in demands, and provide indemnity cover for health workers during the pandemic. Hours of crematoriums may be extended under powers to manage the number of deaths that the virus may cause. The UK government says the measures contained within the coronavirus Bill, which will be examined by MPs on Monday, will only be used when necessary and have a time limit of two years. Labour MPs are calling for a fresh vote on the legislation every six months, while Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said he will try to amend the bill to force parliament to vote every 90 days. He told BBC Wales: "The government undoubtedly needs additional powers to be able to tackle coronavirus both in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland." He added: "I don't think its right they should have those powers for two full years without ever coming back to parliament for further approval." He said he would table an amendment to force the government to come back to the commons ever 90 days "to make sure those powers are still needed and still have the approval of Parliament".
I don't often agree with Chris Bryant a. but his 90 days vote sounds sensible .
The truth is there are some people in the UK government who would dearly love to curtail certain freedoms like demonstrations on a permanent basis.
Amid speculation of further action to restrict movement in London, Mr Drakeford said there were no “imminent” plans for a lockdown in Wales. “The measures we are taking already are the measures we are told that will have the greatest impact in stopping the rapid rise of the disease that otherwise would have taken place,” he said. But he echoed comments from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that further measures are not being ruled out “should the evidence from the experts tell us that we need to do even more to keep the progress down so that the health service is able to cope”. He said the public had been “ahead of the curve” in complying with the social distancing guidance. Mr Drakeford said the volume of cars on the roads in Cardiff was at a “very different order to this time last week”. But he conceded that not everybody was following the messages. “It is really important we go on making it clear to people this is a genuinely serious position,” he added.
Again if it is necessary we need to accept lockdown but itmust if we are to surrender our Freedoms it must surley be that none are not returned as soon as possible.
The Scottish government has confirmed it is no longer planning to hold an independence referendum this year. Constitution Secretary Mike Russell said the plans had been "paused" due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said the move would allow the government to focus all of its resources on the health crisis. In a letter to the UK government, he said: "It follows from this that a referendum will not be held this year." Mr Russell urged the UK government to place a similar pause on the EU/UK
Quite frankly it does seem that this is a decision that had to made . especially in order to combat the dominant Unionist Media was dependent on a mass movement on the streets handing out leaflets and knocking on doors over the next few months.
Scottish Conservative shadow constitution secretary Murdo Fraser said putting the referendum preparations on hold was welcome news and would "come as a relief to workers and businesses alike".
Taking into account that his Tory masters are desperately rewriting advice to everyone , to an extent you can see Prime Mr Johnson establishing an " Orwellian"Ministry Truth" , to make sire that when the crisis is over we do not view his actions as being incoherent and incompetent. Mind you there are already signs BBC Breakfast , this morning are telling us that English Schools are closing on Friday and committing to tell us that the Welsh and Scottish Governments had already stated they were doing it . Westminster looks like it was forced to follow rather than lead.
The letter, which was sent to UK cabinet minister Michael Gove, said: "Because of the crisis, the Scottish government has paused work on preparing for an independence referendum this year. "We have also written to the Electoral Commission to make clear we do not expect it to undertake testing of a referendum question until public health circumstances permit such activity. "That will allow us to focus all available resource on current and future demands in what is an unprecedented set of circumstances. "It follows from this that a referendum will not be held this year." Mr Russell went on to "strongly suggest" that the UK government takes similar action with regard to the Brexit process by pausing negotiations with the UK for at least six months. He said: "It would seem impossible for business and others to cope with the enormous challenge of coronavirus while at the same time preparing for a completely new relationship with the EU in nine months' time." Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie commended Mr Russell for "a very sensible decision in the face of this overwhelming crisis facing us all". The Scottish Greens said it was right that the Scottish government prioritised its resources to deal with the public health crisis that we all face. Earlier this week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged SNP activists to stop campaigning during the coronavirus outbreak, and to instead "focus on looking out for your family, friends and neighbours".
To what extent the current crisis will increase or decrease the Scottish case for Independence will be seen, certainly the Westminster Government failures will not be highlighted by the Unionist "Ministry of Truth" and the argument will be "We survived this together. But that will depend on a swift and consistant , recovery but Brexit may well put a burden on this , and how Europe responds to the aftermath may be crucial.
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