CITY RETIREMENT FLATS SET FOR REFUSAL

Plans for more than 50 retirement apartments funded by Newport Housing Trust are being recommended for refusal by city planners.

As previously reported Newport Housing Trust submitted an application for 52 apartments and communal support facilities at Treberth Crescent.

A project worth over £8 million it would provide facilities such as a restaurant, fitness suite and hairdresser on the site.

However, Newport council received objections from local residents that properties in nearby Nelson Drive would be overshadowed by the three and four storey building.

They were "appalled" that a green site was being built on.

Planning officers suggested reducing the development to two storeys but the trust refused saying cutting the number of apartments would reduce the amount of capital available to finance the whole scheme, making in not viable.

The application is recommended for refusal by planning officers on the grounds that the scale of the development will result in loss of privacy for residents in Nelson Drive and because there has been no agreement to pay £126,284 towards building a community facility at the site under a Section 106 agreement.

The application will be discussed at a planning committee meeting on January 13.

SCHOOL CLOSURES FOR JANUARY 6TH

The following schools are closed (as at 9.15am)

Alway Day Nursery

Alway Primary School

Bassaleg School

Brynglas Primary School

Caerleon High School

Caerleon Endowned Primary School

Caerleon Lodge Hill Junior School

Caerleon Lodge Infants School

Crindau Primary School

Cylch Meithrin Nursery, Baneswell

Clytha Primary School

Don Close Nursery School

Duffryn Infants School

Duffryn Junior School

Duffryn High School

Eveswell Primary School

Fairoak Nursery School

Glan Usk Primary School

Gaer Junior School

Hartridge High School

High Cross Primary School

Kimberley Nursery School

Langstone Primary School

Llanmartin Primary School

Lliswerry High School

Lliswerry Primary School

Maes Ebbw School

Maesglas Primary School

Maindee Primary

Malpas Park Primary

Malpas Church in Wales Junior School

Malpas Church in Wales Infants School

Malpas Court Primary School

Marshfield Primary School

Millbrook Primary School

Milton Junior School

Milton Infants School

Monnow Primary School

Mount Pleasant Primary School

Newport High School

Pentrepoeth Primary School

Pillgwenlly Primary School

Queens Hill Education Centre

Ringland Primary School

Rogerstone Primary School

Somerton Primary School

St Andrew’s Junior School

St Andrew’s Infants School

St David's RC Primary School

St Gabriels RC Primary School

St Joseph’s RC Primary School

St Joseph’s RC High School

St Julians Primary School

St Julian’s School

St Mary’s RC Primary School

St Michael’s RC Primary School

St Patrick’s RC Primary School

Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd

Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael

FURTHER APPEAL FOR MISSING WOMAN

Police have issued a photograph of the hire car driven by a 26-year-old woman who disappeared before Christmas.

Gemma Garn, from St Dials, Cwmbran, Torfaen had been out with friends in Pontnewydd and was last seen during the early hours of Saturday, 19 December.

Detectives hope the picture of the black Kia Rio car, which was found on the Second Severn Crossing, may jog people's memories.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gwent

Police on 101.

A Gwent Police spokesperson said: "We are trying to target people who used the bridge to see if anyone remembers the car or seeing her [Ms Garn].

"We're also trying to piece together her journey from Pontnewydd, where she was out with friends, to the bridge.

"Someone may have seen her car, or perhaps saw her or served her in a shop en route from Pontnewydd."

The hire car was found on the bridge at about 1150 GMT on 19 December, about six hours after it was believed to have been left there.

Police and Ms Garn's family said at the time they were concerned for her safety

because she had never gone missing before.

Ms Garn - who graduated from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff in 2006 - is white, about 5ft 6in, with short dark hair with blonde highlights, blue/green eyes and a fair complexion.

She was last known to be wearing a black polo neck top underneath a black and white patterned dress, a brown casual jacket, black tights and black high-heeled shoes.

SCHOOL CLOSURES UPDATE DUE TO FROSTY WEATHER CONDITIONS

Due to the snow, and icey weather today there have been school closures all across the Newport area. The followings schools have been affectes:

• Queens Hill Education Centre closed all day due to a heating problem.
• Marshfield Primary School is closing due to a low number of teachers who have now been sent home due to the snow
• Maes Ebbw School will close at 1.30pm due to the weather.
• Millbrook Primary School will now close this afternoon
• Hartridge High School will close at 1pm
• Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael will close this afternoon
• Langstone Primary School will also be closed
• Monnow Primary School in Newport will close this afternoon
• Don Close Nursery is closed this afternoon (5 January 2010)
• Llanmartin School
• Bassaleg School
• Caerleon Comprehensive School
• Gaer Infants School
• Kimberley Nursery School

We will continue to update you, as and when we get the information.

HELP FOR HOMELESS EXTENDED

Whilst we're contemplating how to best deal with the snow and ice outside of a morning, it's worth sparing a thought for those who do not have a roof over their head at this time of year.

It's something Newport Night Shelter have been doing, and have put into practice, in the first project of it's kind in Wales.

Their scheme, which started before christmas, planned to give 12 homeless people a warm place to sleep in one of seven churches throughout Newport, every night between November 30 and January 31.

But organisers Newport Teen Challenge say the project has been such a success they will continue providing beds through to March 31.

Night Shelter co-ordinator Jade Holtham was inspired to set up the scheme after working with the city's homeless in freezing temperatures last year.

After raising £4,000 through volunteers spending a sponsored night on the streets, as well as donations from Gwent police and the Bishop of Monmouth, each church now opens its doors at 7.30pm, providing a hot evening meal and a good breakfast before sleepers leave the shelter at 8.30am.

The scheme is staffed by volunteers from more than 30 churches, as well as Newport Teen Challenge.

Ms Holtham, told the south wales argus that homeless people are 'often treated like they're nobody' and that this scheme makes all the difference.

CANNABIS FARM CRACKDOWN THANKS TO TIP OFFS

Members of Newport communities are helping increase the number of cannabis factories discovered over the past year according to Gwent Police’s drugs squad.

Between January and October last year 40 cannabis farms were found by Gwent Police - 33 more than they found during the whole of 2008.

18 factories were found in Newport thanks to tip offs from the public - nearly half of all found in the Gwent Police area.

Detective Inspector Paul Evans, who heads up Gwent Police’s drugs squad, put the increase in discoveries down to members of the public taking ownership of their community.

He said: "We are grateful for their assistance in helping to tackle this criminality.

When drug criminals operate out of residential properties, neighbourhoods suffer.

General property values can be affected, particularly when illegal activity begins affecting the reputation of the neighbourhood."

He asked people to look out for the signs of cannabis farms, including blacked out windows, curtains and blinds drawn throughout the day, smells and large amounts of soil, plant pots, cables and electrical transformers being taken into houses.

Anyone who suspects drug activity can call Gwent Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

CHANGES FOR NEWPORT RAILWAY STATION

Major improvement works have been carried out in the 3rd busiest railway station in Wales over the Christmas and New Year periods to change and improve the rail landscape and infrastructure in Gwent.

More than 400 engineers, working round the clock, putting in almost 100,000 man hours of work over the festive season, have enabled a major part of the new Newport station - its 71-tonne footbridge - to be lifted into place, while a key track laying and signalling project at Severn Tunnel Junction has been almost completed.

The footbridge is a vital part of the new Newport station complex which Network Rail aims to have ready in time for the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort in October. It will provide a new link for passengers and pedestrians as part of a multi-million pound project.

While the engineers were using an eight-day window of opportunity over the festive season to get the footbridge in place with a minimum of disruption to services, colleagues several miles down the line to the east were completing two thirds of the installation of nearly four miles (6.3 kilometres) of new track and 16 sets of points.

The project, equivalent to relaying the approach to a major rail terminal like Euston in London, is part of a £150 million investment to improve rail performance in the Newport area and to enable more trains to run.

Engineers are now busy testing and commissioning the upgraded signalling equipment and infrastructure between Pilning (Bristol) and East Usk (Newport).