APPEALS FOR CALM ON COUNCIL
The fierce arguments between members of Caldicot town council continued. So disturbed was Pastor Jim Davies of Elim Pentacostal Church, a visitor to the town council meeting, by the bad atmosphere that he intervened to call for calm, calling upon councillors to “work together for the good of the town”. At the meeting, the mayor, Councillor David Ashwin, refused to apologise for comments he had allegedly made to Mike Rice of the Caldicot Chamber of Commerce (See January 2008). He had previously rejected calls for his resignation. In later developments, Labour Councillor John Marshall made an official complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman about the mayor’s behaviour and Mr Rice resigned as events organiser for Caldicot Chamber of Commerce, allegedly after he was criticised by some of his own members for his handling of the disagreements with the town council.

SCHOOL WINS PRAISE FROM INSPECTORS
Caldicot Comprehensive School was praised following the publication of the report carried out by Estyn in November. The report stated that the school had made “outstanding progress” over the last six years. It went on to identify a number of praiseworthy features, including “dynamic leadership”, “high quality support for pupils” and the international links programme. 78% of lessons were graded one or two on a five point scale –well above the national average. Overall Caldicot was judged to be “a great school with many outstanding features”.

DEATH OF FORMER MAYOR
Elaine Davies, former mayor of Caldicot, died of cancer at the age of 54. A member of the Labour Party, she represented the West End ward for 12 years.

IMPROVED ACCESS AT SEVERN TUNNEL
The government announced that Severn Tunnel Junction will be amongst the stations to be included in a programme of improvements under the Access to All scheme. The improvements will mainly be directed at making the platforms more accessible to passengers, particularly the disabled and parents with pushchairs.

HOUSE PRICE WATCH
As last month, the cheapest property advertised in the local press for sale in Caldicot at the end of February 2008 was a two-bedroom flat in Norman Court at £104,950 and the cheapest house was a three-bedroom semi-detached in Oakley Way at £124,000. The most expensive property was a five-bedroom detached property in Chepstow Road at £299,950.

<< January 2008
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