Here's the latest Argus column by Caerphilly AM Hefin David:

THE long-running investigation into Anthony O’Sullivan, the former chief executive officer of Caerphilly County Borough Council, has been brought to an end with his dismissal.

This should have been resolved long ago but senior officer employment rules prevented it.

The rules required a long independently led investigation.

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They were brought in across the UK to prevent councillors from dismissing a chief executive whose impartial advice they didn’t like.

They were not designed for this extraordinary scenario, which, together with an abandoned court case taking two years, prolonged the process.

The Welsh Government will now change these rules to prevent this happening again.

It was a mistake for Plaid Cymru to have ringfenced the original appointment process for Mr O’Sullivan to two senior internal staff.

They should have had a full competition for the post, which Labour pushed for in June 2010.

As Plaid were in charge, this did not happen.

Plaid Cymru are now, extraordinarily, calling for Caerphilly Council to be run by auditors rather than elected members, known as ‘special measures’.

They know that this will lead to a radical cut back in services and we could then see the council stripped to the bare bones.

Plaid would secretly welcome this in order to try and turn it to their advantage. It is frankly disgraceful behaviour and I am not afraid to call them out for it.

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- I’ve had a vast amount of letters, emails and phone calls about Stagecoach’s decision to terminate the number 25 bus service from Caerphilly to the Heath Hospital, Cardiff.

Wayne David MP and I met with the managing director of Stagecoach and presented him with four petitions.

We kept in contact with residents and I’m happy to say that Stagecoach have now announced they will reinstate the number 25.

The proposal is for an hourly service that will replicate the previous number 25 route from January 2020.

The bus route will also include a stop at Thornhill Crematorium, which is not served by the current number 86 service.

The journey times to the hospital will be dramatically reduced with the changes as the service will avoid the Lisvane and Thornhill detour.

We are informed that the service is being provided on a six month trial basis.

We ask that passengers use the service to ensure Stagecoach maintain it in the future.