Backlash after well-to-do resident’s get council grant for party to mark the Queen’s jubilee
Richard Evans, local democracy reporter
A council grant of £150 which was given to “one of the wealthiest roads” in Deganwy to help them “party all day” to mark the Queen’s jubilee will now not be claimed.
It follows complaints from critics who said residents should pay for the celebrations themselves.
Residents of Marine Crescent in Deganwy are planning a private street party for the jubilee on 5 June and had applied to Conwy County Council to close the road for the celebrations.
Town councillor Vicky Macdonald also successfully applied for a grant of £150 from Conwy Town Council to pay for road closure signs and third-party insurance.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has been informed that the grant was voted for by members of Conwy Town Council, which is yet to reply to questions.
The town council’s recent minutes don’t appear to be available on the website.
Flyers
Flyers were handed out to residents living on the street, advertising the event and suggesting residents could “party all day”. But not all Deganwy residents were happy with the plans.
One angry resident contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service, criticising residents for accepting the £150 grant and claiming they should pay for the celebrations themselves.
They said: “Marine Crescent is one of the wealthiest roads in Deganwy, consisting of approximately 30 houses. Several properties on the road have sold this year for between £500,000 and £700,000. I object to residents living on a road using council funds so they can ‘party all day’.
“I’m quite comfortable financially, but I know people working every hour God sends to keep their children in food and clothing.
“I know this is a grant, but personally I would rather give that money to charity. The wealthy residents of Marine Crescent could most certainly pay for the event and its ancillary costs out of their own pockets.”
Cllr MacDonald said: “Quite legally, I applied to Conwy Town Council for the small grant they were offering to local groups for street parties, which was voted for (by the town council), and I got it. I will, however, not be claiming it, and we will pay for the road closure ourselves.”
Conwy Town Council were approached for comment.
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I’m loving the work of ‘angry resident’ here. I’ve lived in the area concerned so I know the road in question. How many of these £150 grants are being made available at a time of such hardship? Feel free to ‘party all day’ if you are subservient to the Queen but leave the rest of us in peace and above all, have some basic human respect for those who are living on the edge and we’re denied the promised prosperity touted by the elite.
You need to lose the apostrophe in “resident’s” in the headline. It’s pretty cringeworthy to be publishing news articles and not knowing where apostrophes should and should not go.
Not a bad attempt by Nation Cymru, considering they are publishing in a foreign language.
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Beat me to it. Then I checked the headline again so had to edit… It’s a plural, not a possessive case so no apostrophe.
Suspect you’re far too late. Shame.
What a sickness, even more we fund tyranny, while people starve
I wonder if I can get a grant for my battle of Hyddgen party in June, that should also qualify as a national holiday and be commerorated, at least it is our history and people who I will be celebrating.
Why is this being allowed?? If you want a party, fund it yourself. There are children going hungry for heaven’s sakes
What a waste of money it would have been, nothing to celebrate about the monarchy anyway
Yesterday I helped out at my local Foodbank. I heard some horrific tales and saw a lot of desperate people. Meanwhile, some folks wish to celebrate an unelected, horse-worshiping Head of State, who is the latest to preside over centuries of Imperialism and inequality. Sickening!
Although I am a republican, and will not be participating in the jubilee Hillsboro,the residents have done nothing wrong , these funds are available to most community groups under section 137 of the 1972 local government act, community councils are capped to spend no more than £8.32 per elector on activities outside their statutory responsibilities, many councils use this power to fund Youth clubs etc. Also most community councils have a grant scheme for groups / organisations to utilise, ring the town clerk for details, the main criteria usually that a project has to benefit some or all residents in… Read more »
Apologies, should be ‘jubilee hullabaloos ‘