GWENT politicians and businesses have criticised the extension of an agreement that allows a private company to run the two Severn crossings until 2018. The Welsh Secretary, Cheryl Gillan told a committee of MPs on Tuesday that the forecast end of
CHEPSTOW traders have welcomed the news that a UK engineering firm is to create 200 jobs, some of which will be based at its plant in the town. Mabey Bridge, a British engineering firm that specialises in building and erecting bridges worldwide
A SCHEME which helps Monmouthshire residents overcome social isolation and loneliness has had to make cutbacks. The community connections befriending scheme, which was rolled out across the county at the start of the year with £585,000 from
BLAENAU Gwent council has pledged to continue to support young people when a project finishes at the end of the month. The three-year PreVENT project was funded by the European Social Fund and local authorities taking part in it. Blaenau Gwent
AROUND 500 schoolchildren tried their hand at Olympic sports ranging from fencing to wheelchair basketball as part of a two-day festival. The children from ten primary schools in the Abergavenny area in years three and four spent a day at the
PONTYPOOL AND WALES legend, Bobby Windsor, said he feared for his old club after their relegation from the Premiership on what he called a "tragic day for Gwent rugby." Windsor, who was capped 28 times by Wales and five times for the British
5.08pm A PREGNANT woman was taken to hospital following the crash this afternoon as a precaution. She was not seriously injured. 4.10pm A BUS has collided with a car in Caerleon this afternoon. The incident happened on College
WALES' First Minister Carwyn Jones is to urge fellow leaders in the UK to sit down and discuss the nation's constitution before it is too late. Mr Jones will set out his vision of a "new" United Kingdom when he addresses an audience in Westminster
O2 said it believed it has restored full service to all customers as thoughts turned to compensation among the hundreds of thousands affected by the disruption. O2 tweeted: "Our tests show that 2G and 3G services are now back for all affected
NAMED after the head of the Anglican Church, a Portskewett school has a strong Christian ethos – and its green-fingered youngsters are blooming. CATHERINE COOK reports. ARCHBISHOP Rowan Williams Church in Wales Voluntary Aided Primary School
TO THE families who have lost their children to the Afghanistan war that is not ours, my heart goes out. Every time I see a coffin carried through an airport, I cry and cannot stop. Bring our babies home. Let the Afghans sort out their own
I AM appalled by the potential environmental impact and £830 million cost of building a new relief road to the south of Newport. There is already a dual carriageway, the Southern Distributor Road, along which serious congestion is rare, though
I WONDER if your readers can help me please. I have been searching for a friend I was in the army with back in 1963. We were both stationed in Aldershot at the time, she as a driver and myself with the Royal Signals. I believe she came from
I SHARE Norman Plaisted’s concerns about the implications for parents and teachers should marriage be redefined (Letters, July 5). Not so long ago, the very idea of same sex marriage and the country’s Prime Minister lending support to it would
SHAUN McGuire took the words out of my mouth in his recent letter. Rosemary Butler is asking for opinions on the opt out organ donating system being brought in in Wales shortly. For a long time, I’ve been waiting for something that gives people
THE amalgamation of three bus services into one, the 13 and 14, into an already existing number 30 has meant chaos for people who rely on public transport in Torfaen to and from Newport. Travellers along the line from Brynmawr to Newport have
A FEW weeks ago, I was criticised by another letter writer for not supporting extra taxes to fund the health service in Wales. I said that the existing monies were enough and should be more fairly redistributed. Recently, BBC Wales has been running
AS THE final preparations are made for the ‘greatest show on earth’, it has certainly fired the imagination of Welsh politicians and public as to whether the Olympic Games will be embraced by the nation. Whether you see the Olympics as an
HAS there ever been a more pointless set of elections than the ones facing the electorate in November? If you didn’t know (and it’s no badge of shame to be ignorant of this) on November 15 we get to vote for Gwent’s first Police and Crime Commissioner
A MONMOUTHSHIRE couple battled fierce weather but completed the gruelling ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Richard and Tracey Shaw from Caldicot set off on June 22 to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and St Anne’s Hospice, Newport
RODNEY the Dragon met a SuperDragon at Wales’ newest school last week. The Newport Gwent Dragons mascot was on hand at the new Llanwern High School’s integration day for Year 6 primary school pupils heading to the school in September.
THE tourist industry in Monmouthshire is being devastated by the dire weather according to county businesses and tourist organisations. Jenny Taylor, owner of the Guest House, Oxford Street, Abergavenny, says businesses are struggling following
WE READ with interest the recommendation to set up two city regions in Wales. A panel of experts chaired by Dr Elizabeth Haywood, the former head of the CBI in Wales, says city regions are needed as economic drivers for the whole country.
Most of the best performing cities today had residents with above average skills at the turn of the century, according to a new study. The Centre for Cities think tank said skill levels in 1901 is mirrored in the economic strength of areas today. The
DOG OWNERS can ‘poop-a-scoop’ a prize if they pick up after their dogs in Magor and Undy. The community council has come up with the unusual approach to tackling the problem of dog fouling in the villages by entering those seen to be responsible
ACTORS, musicians, sports stars and even a Hollywood actor will arrive in Newport on Saturday for a star-studded charity dinner at the Celtic Manor. The Gareth Thomas Foundation dinner will raise money to provide young people with access to
TRIBUTES have been paid to a hugely popular 21-year-old who died just hours after collapsing in an Abertillery street. Rhys Sterry had been out for a drink with his uncle, Ryan Sterry, and friends in the town on Sunday when he collapsed on
NEWPORT Gwent Dragons must have been tempted to take a leaf out of Mario Ballotelli's book this week and have T-shirts printed asking ‘Why always us?’ The region was singled out as being in the mire because of their £2.4million debt and £272,141 loss
THE expletives flew from Bradley Wiggins' mouth like bullets from a Tommy Gun on Sunday evening in response to suggestions that his success was down to doping. No doubt his reaction to the news that Cofidis had suspended rider Remy di Gregorio on Tuesday
BRITISH super-featherweight champion Gary Buckland has a new opponent for his homecoming fight at the Newport Centre on July 21. The St Josephs fighter was due to take on Albanian Ibrar Riyaz in his first bout on home soil in nearly three years but will
NEWPORT and Valleys communities should come together with Cardiff to form a Cardiff City Region to boost the economy, says a report The Welsh government report calls for a region to be formed that stretches from Bridgend to Pontypool and covers
NEWPORT is bucking the national trend of declining visitors after experiencing one of UK’s biggest year-on-year increases last month. The city saw a 7.6 per cent rise in the number of city centre visitors during the wettest June on record, compared
NEWPORT County’s management team are clear on their transfer targets for the new season but must get the seal of approval from the Exiles board before proceeding. Manager Justin Edinburgh and director of football Tim Harris met yesterday to finalise
A £120,000 project to restore one of Pontypool Park's major attractions has been completed. The work to restore the impressive Nant-y-Gollen ponds was carried out after Torfaen council managed to secure £70,000 of Tidy Towns funding in 2011. Torfaen
JASON Tovey has admitted he went off the boil with Newport Gwent Dragons as he prepares for life with the Cardiff Blues, writes Chris Kirwan. The 23-year-old fly-half from Cwmcarn left Rodney Parade this summer after coming through the Dragons academy
WAS the truth out there on a lonely Gwent road 15 years ago? It's like something straight out of the X-Files, but in 1997 a Gwent man claimed he had a close encounter of the third kind. According to archives from the Ministry of Defence's(MoD
PONTYPOOL RFC rise this morning faced not only with the stark reality of having been dropped out of the Premiership but also by the daunting prospect of a mammoth rebuilding job. Yesterday’s courtroom decision that backed the Welsh Rugby Union’s restructuring
