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Opinion: Powys County Council to blame for school's woes

Opinion: Powys County Council to blame for school's woes

It's summer! School holidays, seaside day trips, harvest time and of course a local show every weekend for everyone to enjoy.
Local shows do offer an affordable family day out in comparison to the Royal Welsh Show, but the Royal Welsh is like no other show, Wales at its best, and it plays a huge role in the promotion of the farming and food sector in Wales.
For those that attend, they would not have been left in any doubt about the quality of food and drink produced here in Wales.
Every farmer I speak to, their number one priority is to produce food for our nation, but it is getting more difficult every day, UK and Welsh governments appear to have different priorities.
The long awaited 'new' sustainable farming scheme still forces farmers to plant trees; it will lead to real terms cuts in funding and there was not one mention of food security in the latest draft of this policy.
Welsh Government through legislation distort priorities, it adds to red tape that will see food production fall here in Wales, we will become ever more reliant on imports at a time when the cost of feeding our families is increasing, and I haven't even mentioned UK Labour's Government Family Farm Tax.
Farmers want to farm, they love their farms but are seeing their business suffocated by Welsh Government, the same is true for many small businesses across mid Wales they want the freedom to do what they do best. Small and medium sized business are the backbone to the local economy.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in County Hall, the wheels are falling off the Liberal Democrat/Labour run Council.
The Cabinet's incoherent transformation programme and refusal to properly fund education has led to one of the best schools going into special measures.
However, there is a little bit of good news, the Cabinet conceded that their home to school transport policy is simply not good enough and needs to be changed, but Welsh Government legislation makes the process of change slow.
Therefore, I was pleased to gain a commitment to help support parental choice through the appeals process, to over come the difficulties of the Council's newly introduced Home to School transport policy.
Hopefully readers will be able to attend their local show.
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