Help needed to establish right-of-way in Skewen

Arthur Davies, Labour councillor for Coedffranc Central, has asked for help in registering a long-used railway crossing as a right-of-way. This is a matter which transcends party political differences, and I am happy to give this part of his newsletter wider publicity. There may well be former residents of Skewen reading this who have the requisite evidence.

He writes that: some five years ago, Network Rail fenced off the railway that runs south of Skewen, apparently for reasons of safety. By closing off the Cardonnel Halt crossing*, this effectively removed direct access to the Tennant Canal from Skewen.

At that time, Arthur contacted a number of people who, he knew, used the crossing regularly. They submitted a request via Coedffranc Community Council to make the crossing a registered right of way. This would open up the towpath going west from the former Johnson's Yard to the Red Jacket Pill and from there on to Jersey Marine. Network Rail contested the application, arguing that it is not legally possible to register a right of way over a railway line.

The legal team acting on behalf of the County Borough have now come back asking for more evidence. They would like details of the industries that were in the vicinity and when they were active. They also asked for names of those who had used the crossing, for example to gain access to the canal. The barrister representing the council also asked if there were any local history books, railway listing publications or photographs of the site. He also sought the assistance of local historians.

If you have used Cardonnel Halt crossing or have relevant information, please tell Cllr Arthur Davies on 01792 814910 or Mike Workman on 01792 636008. Alternatively, email the author of this blog, and I will pass the details on.

*The crossing is between the lane to Wern Andrew farm and Jenkins Road, which runs parallel to the Tennant Canal below the bridge carrying the A465.

Obama: significant appointment of Energy Secretary

Only the BBC's World Service and the Guardian of our news media picked up on possibly the most significant appointment so far by the US President-elect. The energy secretary will be Nobel prize-winning physicist Steve Chu, a committed advocate for action on climate change.

Department for Transport efficiency savings will produce net loss

I think I know what happened. The systems design team in Swansea (or possibly London) worked out how long it would take to implement the new system. They told the management it would be ready in, say, August. The politicians (either within or without the civil service) replied that the date was unacceptable, and the changes must be ready for the start of the financial year. Timetable compressed, testing skimped, "big bang" release, system falls over.

Eventually it will be made to work nine months later than the original estimated date.

Been there. Done that. Got the tee-shirt.

Madoff not the biggest swindler ever

Some people are claiming that Bernard Madoff's "great big lie" was the biggest con ever. Perhaps in terms of the sums involved it may have been (though adjustments have to be made for inflation). However, there was one misdirected genius who bestrode the financial world in the first third of the twentieth century, who negotiated monopoly deals with governments, and who took in the stock markets of the world: Ivar Kreuger, the "match king".

He went out in style, too; not for him throwing himself on the mercy of the finacial authorities like Madoff, but a bullet through the heart in a Paris apartment.

Deal done behind council's back

It's in Scotland, not Wales, and the party which has - quite legally - kept councillors in the dark is not Labour, but otherwise it is a familiar story.

Hello, sailor; hello, boys!

A shipment of 130,000 inflatable breasts has been lost at sea between Beijing and Australia.

Australian men's magazine Ralph intended to include the breasts as a free gift with its January edition. The publisher did float the idea that they had been seized by pirates, but as the organisation is already in debt (according to the Digital Spy report ), one doubts whether it could raise the ransom money.

It is more likely that they are drifting on oceanic currents, which would make them a distinctive successor to the famous plastic ducks as a research tool.

Solictors who exploited sick miners struck off

James Beresford, 58, and Douglas Smith, 52, both from Beresfords Solicitors in Doncaster filed personal injury claims for miners. Unfortunately for the claimants, the firm took up to 30% of the miners' damages in fees, even though the government's coal health compensation scheme already paid for legal assistance. The two were struck off on Thursday.

Sky News reports that the Law Society has already begun investigations into 67 of the firms who charged "success fees" and 25 have been referred to the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority (SRA). About 30 solicitors have been reprimanded.

The good news is that £350,000 compensation has been repayed to miners so far. The bad news is that the recovered payments will have come too late for some miners.

The Beresford Group is still advertising for industrial injury claims business.

The McPound and the cost of borrowing

At the start of official trading in the euro on 4th January 1999, it was worth 71.1 pence. This was to rise slightly in the following week as banks and others built up reserves in the new currency, only to fall back during 1999 to 66p or occasionally less. This encouraged europhobes to dismiss the euro as a failure, but confidence has grown in the currency to the extent that many primary producers have switched from denominating in the dollar to denominating in euros.

BBC "Working Lunch"'s financial page is currently showing the euro as worth 89p. It will be interesting to see where it stands on its tenth anniversary in just over three weeks time. Already some bureaux d'échange are reporting to be selling euros at just above parity with the pound.

During the week, it was revealed that investing in UK government debt is now almost twice as risky as buying burger-chain McDonald's corporate bonds, according to the market in credit default swaps (CDS), which provides insurance for the buyers of such debt.

This is surely worrying for people needing to raise money for public projects in the UK. Financing public housing development has until now been regarded as a very safe investment, but one wonders whether the diminishing status of UK gilts will have an effect here. Perhaps I am naive, but I suspect that it may be increasingly difficult to fund the many large scale transfers (LSVTs) of local authority housing in Wales. It is surely sensible for the Welsh Assembly Government to take the pressure off local authorities to hold ballots on LSVT until the money market stabilises.