People in Conwy say what matters to them ahead of National Assembly elections

Apr 21 2011 by Rayyan Parry, North Wales Weekly News

With the National Assembly election just around the corner, Rayyan Sabet-Parry asks what matters to the people of Conwy

Dorothy Davis, 60, Abergele

“We want to have more say in what happens in Wales rather than the English government telling us what to do. Education and health are big issues. Where I live we only have one infant school, so they have to take the overspill from other schools. We have classes of 35, how can you possibly teach that?

“I also think we need a children’s hospital in North Wales, because if you have a sick child, Cardiff is a long way to go to get them treated.”

David Lloyd, 46, Llandudno

“What matters to me are council services for the elderly, children and the disabled and things like the cleansing department for bins, and crime in Conwy county.

“I look after an elderly person, and care plays an awful big part where I live. There’s also a lot of single mums with children, a lot of them are worried about childcare and what’s going to happen with that.

“I think what’s happening in England, Scotland and Wales with the budget cuts is a big worry. The public services being reduced is the really big problem.”

Ray Saleem, 36, Llandudno

“The price of everything is going up, but the cost of living’s getting more expensive. Living is becoming harder. I go to the supermarket for bargains and they’ve all gone up. What used to be 99p is now £1.39.

“It’s hard to find jobs. They need to do something about the wages, because the cost of living has gone up. If they improve that then more people are going to want to work, it’ll bring more people back to the area.

“It’s a case of improving help for people and helping them with the cost of things.”

Adam Gill, 20, Eglwysbach

“We need more things for young people, more entertainment. Where we live young people are doing nothing, hanging round the streets and drinking. Youngsters are all going to jail these days for doing stupid things. It’s boredom. There should be more youth clubs and I think we need more parks for the young ones and something for the older ones like a pool club.”

Jean Jones, 65, Llandudno

“The hospital is on everybody’s mind. I’ve got very bad arthritis and I’ve been waiting for 36 weeks for an appointment, it’s ridiculous.

“I know there’s people much worse off than I am, but at the end of the day, I’m in constant pain. Many National Health waiting times are way too long.

“Housing is also an issue, they’re giving housing to the wrong people, people who don’t deserve it are claiming wrongly. There’s a lot of it going on and people don’t know about it.

Eric Green, 65, Llandudno

“My concerns are that Llandudno is not effective in attracting business. I think the old traditional county councillors running the place don’t have the vision or the sufficient drive to do it.

“They need to be more aggressive with attracting more businesses.”