Plaid Cymru lodge complaint which is political spin

I Just read the article in the Guardian, where one of Plaid Cymru’s Assembly members has made an application for a complaint to the public Ombudsman

http://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/news/4435710.Plaid_lodge_complaint_against_Kevin_Madge/?ref=mr

Plaid lodge complaint against Kevin Madge

1:18pm Friday 12^th June 2009

“

KEVIN Madge, deputy leader of Carmarthenshire county council and leader of the Labour party, has been reported to the Public Service Ombudsman over alleged "misleading and inaccurate accusations" relating to the work of AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas.

The complaint, lodged by Plaid, claims Cllr Madge has made several public statements and written letters to local newspapers, attacking Mr Thomas for doing nothing on the issue of European Convergence Funding for Carmarthenshire, even though he has been well aware of the extensive work undertaken by the AM.

"In spite being well aware of evidence to the contrary Cllr Madge has been happy to make defamatory statements in the press which are wildly inaccurate in a bid to damage the well respected reputation of a fellow politician, in what is quite a cynical and cheap political point scoring exercise," said a Plaid spokesperson.

Mr Thomas said he was "disappointed" such a complaint had to be made, but insisted he was the subject of false allegations.

Cllr Madge was unavailable for comment.

“

"This is just another attempt by Plaid Cymru to stifle the legitimate concerns that have been raised in the county council chamber.

The county council had seen unacceptable long delays in getting convergence money through to projects across Carmarthenshire and as one of the local AM’s and a former Assembly Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas had a duty to do something about this.

We are already two and a half years into the six year Convergence programme,   (the funding was announced that it was coming to wales in october 2006 when Rhodri was a minister)

Yet in February of this year no projects in Carmarthenshire had actually received any funding. 

The clock was ticking and Rhodri Glyn Thomas had only recently woken up to this issue, thanks to the fact Kevin Madge raised it after concerns were raised In the chamber of county hall on February 11th. 2009

http://online.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/agendas/eng/COCO20090211/MINUTES.HTM

Quote taken from above link MINUTES OF FULL COUNCILL

"(Update on the EU Convergence Programme), a question was asked as to whether there was any progress with the release of funding? The Chief Executive replied that unfortunately, the WAG had still not released funding to enable the payment of grants to the various approved projects to commence. Council was informed that representations had been made to the WAG, including Ministers and individual AMs, and to the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) regarding the difficulties caused as a result of the delay in release of funding and urging the release of funding as this was now the third year of the programme.

In response to a question as to the reasons for the delay in release of funding, the Chief Executive was of the view that this was partly attributable to the more strategic approach adopted by the WAG. This meant that fewer schemes would be approved than under Objective 1, as the type of projects invited to bid for convergence funding were large regional projects, rather than individual bids. He stated that the WAG regulations governing collaborative projects of this nature were extremely complex and this had created a great deal of confusion, both within WAG and with partners.

It was proposed that the Local and Regional AMs, together with representatives of WEFO, be invited to attend a meeting or seminar to discuss the Convergence Programme and the delays in issuing funding to enable projects to proceed. In response to a suggestion that the AMs and WEFO representatives should be invited to attend a Council meeting, it was suggested that another option might be to organise a meeting of the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee and that any member wishing to do so could attend the meeting of the Committee.

" end quote

The most important thing in all of this now, is to clear the blockages in the system and get this Assembly led convergence funding flowing down to these projects in Carmarthenshire. but Plaid choose to channel their efforts into time waisting with this application to the ombudsman.

If Plaid Cymru were serious about this then they should be spending their time on getting this money through, rather than wasting their time and the Ombudsman's time in a blatant attempt to stifle legitimate political debate.

All they seem to have done prior to concerns being raised in the chamber was very little in fact one Plaid member was quoted in the press as stating I have offered help there is a big difference between offering and taking action and doing something,

And in fact when all the Assembly members from across all political parties representing Carmarthenshire were invited to attend a meeting with full council to explain why funding had not been released, after almost two and half years one of the Plaid’s AM went on record in the Evening post that they would not attend any meeting and stated that quote from article

"It is not the role of councillors to scrutinise AMs, and that she would not be accepting any invitation to attend council, any more than she would expect members of the executive board to appear before a meeting of the Assembly"

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Assembly-slammed-cash-holdup/article-728055-detail/article.html

I am wondering will PLAID be releasing a public apology to Councillor Kevin Madge If the Ombudsman decides there is no case to answer "   

The EVENING POST link above is pasted below

Assembly slammed over cash holdup

Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 16:30

Comment on this story

UP to 27 projects are being held up in Carmarthenshire because European money meant for regeneration is in Assembly bank accounts, according to council bosses.

Carmarthenshire Council has invited Assembly bosses to come to County Hall to explain why none of the grant cash handed to Wales to help deprived communities and create jobs has yet reached Carmarthenshire. As the recession tightens its grip, they branded the situation scandalous and demanded answers.

Council chief executive Mark James said: "The scheme has been going for more than three years and not a penny of convergence money has been spent in Carmarthenshire, despite 27 applications being submitted."

Convergence funding is worth around £1.4 billion to West Wales and the valleys.

All eight AMs from the region and representatives from the Wales European Funding Office (Wefo) are being invited to a full council meeting to explain what has happened to it.

Councillor Clive Scourfield said: "It's extremely devious for the Wefo to say it is expert at distributing money — it is not.

"Lord help us in 2015, when this money has to be spent by. I'd hate to think we will carry any blame for non-distribution."

Deputy leader Kevin Madge said: "This money could be used to save a lot of jobs. We need to arrange a special meeting, a bit like the House of Commons did with the banks, and get them to appologise to the electorate and explain why they're not delivering."

Anthony Jones, chairman of the regeneration and leisure scrutiny committee, said: "For some strange reason, they feel the money is better in their bank accounts than being used to better the economy in Wales, not just Carmarthenshire."

However, the town's Plaid AM Helen Mary Jones said: "I have repeatedly offered the local authorities my support to ensure that convergence funding bids and any other bids to the Assembly Government are dealt with as quickly as possible.

"However, I have also made it clear that in order for me to be able to do this effectively, I need to be informed of all the details of each bid so that I know which ministers and officials to approach. On the occasion where the information has been forthcoming, I have been able to assist in getting a speedy decision. My offer of help stands.

"It is not the role of councillors to scrutinise AMs, and I will not be accepting any invitation to attend council, any more than I would expect members of the executive board to appear before a meeting of the Assembly."

Carmarthenshire Council officials were unable to give the Post any further details about the applications submitted to the Wefo for convergence funding. No-one at the Wefo was available for comment.

 On a final note and thought, in the article Helen Mary stated she had assisted in getting a speedy decision  if no money had materialised as at February of this year, what speedy decision had she achieved,