First of all, I have to correct a correction. In my last article an incorrect correction was put in. The Rural Council voted to support City Status. There were some councillors who disagreed but the majority won. The councillors who disagreed cannot then say that the Rural Council voted against city status.
I’ll give an example. When we had to vote whether to remain in Europe or not, I voted to remain in Europe because I knew that Brexit would damage our country forever. I particularly knew that Wales would suffer. I also did not think that people would actually believe Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Wales did not pay very much money into Europe each year because we did not have the money. Westminster paid our membership. The European Government recognised that Wales is a poor country and we had received millions of pounds from Europe. If you look at most schools you will see the Europe sign because they received funding from Europe. All that has gone. We are now suffering.
So when Wales voted for Brexit, I was devastated, but I HAD TO ACCEPT IT. It is called DEMOCRACY. When we were forced to come out of Europe, I wept. It was a horror for me. I could do nothing about it and I had to live with it.
So the Rural Council did vote for City Status. The majority vote had to be accepted.
Now I will move on to what we are doing to try for City Status. In the application form, we have to provide 50 photographs of Llanelli. There is a wonderful Facebook page called Beautiful Llanelli. I went to them for advice and they were amazing. They either took photos for me or sent me loads and loads of suggestions. I had no idea how truly beautiful Llanelli is. I have already taken 32 so only 18 left to go and there will be no problem with getting them. Open up that great Facebook page, Beautiful Llanelli. It is truly worth a good look.
There are also beautiful green areas like the Wetlands and the many parks and the Welsh countryside. A friend was driving to my house for the first time and after she arrived she said how breathtaking the drive was with the magnificent countryside en route. I am extremely proud of where I live.
When I talk about how wonderful Llanelli is I still get the smirks from local people. It is shocking.
We are going to try for City Status because of that pride. We now have the support of local businesses,local councils, Our Health Board, Our college, and many others. The launch on the 30th March is just the start. It will not happen overnight.
As I said before it took Wrexham four goes and 2 movie stars to eventually get it.
We want to be the 8th City of Wales and the 1st city of Carmarthenshire. If we fail the first time when we eventually put our application in, that is not an issue. We will try again and that will be easier the next time around because we will have already done the research. There is a great deal of work to do but we are happy to do it. It means a great deal to us.
I am not someone who just goes to meetings. I like to get things done and this is a very exciting prospect . The more we talk to people the more we change their minds
We are the largest area in Carmarthenshire . We are not just the town centre. 15 million pounds is coming to us to work on the Town Centre from Levelling up money from central government.
This is a short article today because we are still working very hard on the development.
Do not just look at the Town Centre. Work will be done on the town centre so do not worry about that. Nothing will happen immediately but things are happening and things will change.
Give us the chance and support us. Be proud of Llanelli. It’s a town that needs your support.
Don’t make us a laughing stock by applying