DECEMBER 2009

LAST SHIFT AT EATON FACTORY - The final phase of about 90 redundancies is taking place at Eaton Electrical with the closure of production at Holyhead. An after-market service operation continues, employing about 40. Dec09

PARC CYBI OFFICES AND WAREHOUSES PLANNED - The Conygar Investment Company has made a planning application to build a number of properties at Parc Cybi. These include three two-storey prestige office buildings near the park entrance, and four industrial warehousing/ distribution units totalling 110,000 sqft next to the A55, aimed at transport and logistics companies seeking locations close to the port. Dec09

NOVEMBER

MAJOR SEAFRONT PLANS PUT FORWARD - Conygar Stena Line has made a scoping request to Anglesey County Council asking for the planning authority's views on what factors need to be considered when planning their development for part of the outer harbour area. The development is envisaged to include a new pontoon marina for some 500 boats protected by a breakwater, a new hotel, leisure/retail units, a new sailing club, boat storage and maintenance facilities, around 400 new residential units, car parking, landscaping, and related infrastructure. Related proposals include an enlarged maritime museum and visitor railway. A formal planning application is expected to be made in 2010. Nov09.

NUCLEAR POWER STATION - Following the UK government's announcement about 10 sites for new stations, RWE npower is inviting communities across Anglesey to find more about its proposals for a new nuclear power station at Wylfa. The Holyhead exhibition will be on Monday 30th November at the Ucheldre Centre between 2-8pm. 

PLAN FOR 140 NEW HOUSES - The Welsh Assembly Government has applied for outline planning permission to build about 140 houses on a site of 3.9 hectares to the north of Parc Cybi, next to A55 junction 2.

OCTOBER

OYSTER FESTIVAL 2009 - The annual oyster festival for 2009 was a great success, featuring local food and drink produce, with a focus on seafood. It was held on the 10th/11th October at the Trearddur Bay Hotel.

CHAPEL DEMOLITION - Local residents have expressed dismay at the demolition of Capel Disgwylfa on London Road, saying it is the loss of yet another historic landmark. Anglesey CC have confirmed that it was not a listed building. It is believed that owners Gwynedd Shipping cleared the site due to fears about safety and allowing expansion of their depot.

END OF SMELTING OPERATIONS ? - Anglesey Aluminium have stopped smelting and are mothballing the facilities for possible future restart. Aluminium "remelt" operations will continue. Total employment at the plant is expected to fall to about 80 by January 2010. About 450 staff are being made redundant, of which about 140 are voluntary. Job Centre Plus are operating a special redundancy suite in Llangefni during the first fortnight in October to cope with the demand.

SEPTEMBER

GREEN LIGHT FOR HISTORIC TOWN SCHEME - Anglesey County Council's cabinet have agreed to accept a Heritage Lottery Grant and proceed with a £3m+ Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) scheme for improving and promoting the historic core of the town.

STENA STAFF SHARE LOTTERY WIN - A syndicate of Stena staff are said to have won c£2.2m on the lottery and are each reputedly sharing about £70,000

AUGUST

PLAN FOR MARKET HALL - A planning application has been made to refurbish the historic Market Hall into an indoor children's play centre together with other uses.

ALUMINIUM REDUNDANCIES CONFIRMED - Anglesey Aluminium has confirmed that it will be implementing 140 voluntary redundancies and c 250 compulsory redundancies, most to take place in early October, leaving some 80 employees to run a "re-melt" facility. Last minute talks regarding government funding for continud operations did not result in agreement. Local agencies have been working with the company to agree how to respond and assist and advise affected staff.

EATON AFTERMARKET JOBS SECURED - Up to 40 jobs will be saved at Eaton Electrical after a Welsh Assembly grant was awarded, helping to persuade Eaton to retain its aftermarket servicing facility in Anglesey, rather than transferring it to Eaton's UK headquarters in Birmingham. About 100 redundancies are expected to happen by the end of 2009 with the closure of the production facility in Holyhead.

JULY

GOVERNMENT OFFER TO SAVE SMELTER - Media reports suggest that a financial package worth £48M has been offered to Anglesey Aluminium in order to safeguard jobs at the Holyhead plant, but that this was not considered sufficient by the company to allow it to viably continue its existing operations. Jul09

BARONESS KINNOCK OF HOLYHEAD - Glenys Kinnock who is originally from Holyhead, has been appointed to the UK government cabinet as Europe Minister. She has received a seat in the House of Lords to allow this, and chose a title reflecting her home town. We wish her well in her new role.

NIGHTCLUB INVESTMENT - A Holyhead nightclub is due to reopen after a £375k investment. The former Hibernian club has received an extensive refit and has been rebranded as "Piranha". The new club is due to open on July 17th. Jul09

JUNE

PORTS REVIEW - Welsh MP's are carrying out a review of issues impacting on ports in Wales, and how their economic contribution can be increased. The Welsh Affairs Committee have visited Holyhead, and have received evidence about various Holyhead issues and opportunities, including the proposed new port access link, cruise ship terminal, and the need for a lorry park. Jun09

CRUISE SHIP MARKETING PROJECT - Funding for the Celtic Wave project has been approved - a £1m EU Interreg funded scheme to attract more cruise ships to visit Holyhead and five other ports in the Irish Sea. It is hoped to attract 30 cruise ships a year to Holyhead by 2013. Jun09

HOLYHEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL OPTIONS - A report outlining Holyhead primary school rationalisation options has been published by the Education Authority. Five of the town's seven primary schools have empty spaces, totalling 300. One option is to build two new modern schools in their place.

NEW INITIATIVE TO REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT - The UK government has awarded funding of £380k over two years for a new initiative to reduce economic inactivity in Communities First wards in Anglesey and North Gwynedd, including four in Holyhead. The initiative will be led by former Holyhead regeneration officer Elizabeth White

MAY

POWER STATION PLAN - Anglesey Aluminium are proposing to develop a renewable energy power station at their site in Holyhead. A public exhibition of the plans was held on th 16th & 17th June in Holyhead Town Hall. The proposed £600m power station would be fuelled by wood chips, and would create around 100 permanent jobs. May09.

TOWN CENTRE £4M BOOST - Holyhead town centre will receive a £4m share of a £37m regeneration package for seven North Wales towns announced by the Welsh Assembly on the 9th May. The four year package is funded by the EU Convergence programme and other sources. It will include targeted property improvements, urban realm upgrades, better signage, a heritage initiative, and town centre management.

STEAM EXCURSIONS SEASON STARTS - The first of seven tourist steam train excursions from England to Holyhead in 2009 will take place on Saturday the 10th May

CRUISE SHIP BOOKINGS UP - A successful marketing drive and provision for direct berthing at the aluminium jetty has resulted in 10 cruise ship bookings for 2010. Five cruise ships are booked in 2009, with the first on Sunday May 11th.

APRIL

HOLYHEAD ECONOMIC SUMMIT - Holyhead Town Council and Holyhead Forward hosted an econmic summit for the town on Friday the 24th April, 2009 in Holyhead Town Hall. Over 40 delegates from the public, business, and community organizations met and discussed how Holyhead should respond to the current economic challenges facing the town. April 09 B

OARD CHAIR RETIRES - Steve Jones' term of office as Independent Chair of the Holyhead Forward Board has ended. He was publicly thanked for his service to the town during the Holyhead Economic Summit. Steve Jones has been appointed to the post of Chief Executive of the new Tai Ceredigion housing association, and we wish him well in his new job. April 09

SMELTER FUTURE TALKS - Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy has held talks with UK and Welsh Assembly Government ministers and officials in London to discuss a possible way forward for the extension of Anglesey Aluminium's electricity supply contract after 30th September 2009. A 180-day consultation period for possible redundancies was started on the 3rd April.

HOLYHEAD GETS BIGGER - The Welsh Assembly has confirmed an order extending the administrative boundaries of Holyhead to include the Penrhos area, which was previously part of Trearddur Community. The area transferred includes Anglesey Aluminium, Penrhos Retail Park, Penrhos Country Park, and the Parc Cybi Business Park. 1/4/09

MARCH

£2M FOR COMMUNITIES FIRST - Holyhead's three Communities First partnerships have been awarded three year funding until March 2012 by the Welsh Assembly Government. The awards include £1,022k for Plas Cybi, £598k for Morlo, and £471k for Porthyfelin. Plas Cybi's funding includes a team of environmental workers for the town.

TESCO PLAN STORE EXTENSION - Tesco have applied for permission to roughly double the size of their Holyhead superstore. The scheme would include a decked car park, mezzanine floor cafe, and large extension.

KINGSLAND CENTRE BOOST - The planned new £1.5m community and childcare centre in Kingsland is a step nearer, thanks to an award of £200k from the Welsh Assembly's Community Facilities Grant.

FEBRUARY

TREARDDUR BAY NEW SEA WALL - Welsh Assembly Minister for the Environment Jane Davidson AM has officially opened a £1.9m new sea defence wall at Trearddur Bay. The scheme was jointly funded by the Assembly and the County Council, being designed to minimize the risk of sea flooding to property in the village. Feb09

LEISURE CENTRE TO BE IMPROVED - The County Council cabinet have agreed to pursue the option of improving and extending the existing Leisure Centre, to include facilities for the local weightlifting and boxing clubs.Feb09

£1M FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING SCHEME - A scheme of 16 new affordable houses for a brownfield site on Turkeyshore Road will go ahead thanks to a £1.1M grant from the Welsh Assembly. The project is a joint venture between the County Council's Housing Service, Housing Association Tai Eryri, and developers Watkin Jones.

SCHOOL RATIONALISATION RETURNS - Holyhead primary schools will be reviewed, with a view to potential rationalisation.

FREQUENT FERRY SERVICES RETURN - Irish Ferries have announced that twice-daily Swift fast ferry servics between Holyhead and Dublin Port will return on the 27th February.

CRUISE TERMINAL PLANS - Engineering design company Hyder have been appointed by the Welsh Assembly Govenment to draw up detailed plans for the new North Wales Cruise Terminal in Holyhead.

SMALL SHOPS TO BENEFIT FROM EU GRANT - A regulation blocking small shops from receiving local business grants has been withdrawn, and small retail businesses will now be eligible to apply for a new grant scheme due to start in April 2009.

EATON PROTEST MARCH - A protest march paraded though Holyhead on Saturday 14th February to call for the saving of some of the 265 factory jobs due to be lost during 2009. The march arranged by trade union Unite ended with a rally meeting in the Town Hall. Feb09

FERRY INVESTMENT CREATES JOBS - Stena have invested £3m in upgrading their two large ferry vessels, the Adventurer and the Nordica. The Adventurer fastcraft has returned to service after its refit, and will be departing daily to Dun Laoghaire at 10:30am and returning to Holyhead at 1:30pm. The Nordica will in future be carrying tourists as well as freight, and this is expected to create an extra 50 jobs. Feb09

CLEANEST STREETS IN WALES - Anglesey has been given the best score in Wales for street cleansing by Keep Wales Tidy inspectors. The County Council's street cleansing contractor is Verdant Group. Feb09

TESCO WIND TURBINES PLAN - Tesco plc have applied for planning permission to site two 10.6m high wind turbines at their Holyhead superstore. Feb09

TOWN CENTRE SURVEY RESULTS - A survey of town centre area commercial premises in Holyhead in February 2009 has been carried out. It counted 211 commercial premises, of which 177 were occupied, and 34 vacant. The commercial property vacancy rate was 16%, compared with a UK average of about 11%.  Of the vacant premises, 3 were being refurbished, and five had proposed occupiers. Feb09

JANUARY

NEW POWER STATION MOVES CLOSER - The NDA has named Wylfa near Holyhead as one of four UK sites where it wishes to see new nuclear power stations built. This could see a £2bn investment with an estimated 10,000 construction jobs, and 1,000 permanent jobs. Jan09

WORK STARTS ON £25M HANGAR - Construction Group Morgan Sindall has started work on a new fast flying training centre at RAF Valley near Holyhead, a contract worth £25M.

PASSPORTS TO TRAVEL TO IRELAND - Ferry passengers travelling between Wales and Ireland will face routine passport checks under new legislation designed to boost border controls. Jan09

TOWN TOPS VACANCY FLOORSPACE SURVEY - Retail analysts Experian have identified part of Holyhead town centre as having the second highest retail floorspace vacancy rate in the UK, at 27%. This compares with a units vacancy rate in Holyhead town centre of around 16%. Three large empty units accounted for much of the vacant space, namely the historic Market Hall, Kwik Save, and Empire Bingo Hall properties. The Experian survey covered Market Street and Stanley Street only. Jan09.

ANGLESEY ALUMINIUM TO END SMELTING ? - Anglesey Aluminium, has announced that it "expects to end smelting operations in September 2009" as it has not yet been unable to reach a feasible solution to extend the existing power contract beyond September 2009. It says that consultations with employess and unions will now start, but that it will also evaluate alternative operating activities, including the continuation of certain existing industrial operations. The plant now employs over 500. The press release appears on www.riotinto.com and there is an announcement also on www.kaiseraluminium.com (under Investors). 15.1.09

PRINCE WILLIAM TO TRAIN AT RAF VALLEY - It has been announced that Prince William, to be known as Training Flt.Lt.Wales, is to spend time training as a pilot in Sea King search and rescue helicopters at RAF Valley. Holyhead harbour is regularly used for helicopter rescue training by the RAF.

EATON FACTORY CLOSURE CONFIRMED - Some 265 jobs will be lost at electrical components manufacturer Eaton Electrical. Staff have now been told that the Holyhead factory will close during 2009, starting with some job losses in March. Eaton plan to focus component production operations with a German company Moeller on mainland Europe. A Community Action Group was formed in October to co-ordinate a local response to the proposed closure. Jan09

BEST GREEN SPACE IN WALES - Holyhead Breakwater Park has been named by the Times newspaper as on of the four Best Open Spaces in Britain. See www.timesonline.co.uk under Travel > 2008 Green Spaces Travel Award. Jan09