October can be a bit of a strange one in the life of an MP. Having returned to Parliament from the long summer recess, (not break! I promise you) of visits, surgeries and many shows, you are back on recess again for party conferences, writes Fay Jones MP.

My conference was last week and it was really good to champion Brecon and Radnorshire at every turn, especially our farmers at the Countryside Alliance event I spoke at.

On that note, something that will have been noted across Brecon and Radnorshire over the past weeks is the decision by Natural Resources Wales to drop the decision to license the release of gamebirds. 

Such a change would have meant that shoots would have needed permission from Natural Resources Wales and ultimately an anti-shooting Welsh Government to operate, posing a risk to this vital part of Brecon and Radnorshire’s economy and to the rural way of life for many here.

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Welcome news then but I am sure that the Welsh Labour Government and local Liberal Democrats who “support proposals for a licencing scheme”, will continue to push for this change, so one to keep an eye on certainly.

Another issue has been the imposition now of 20mph restrictions across Wales.

As I outlined in my Evening Standard article, I am sure most people would agree that 20mph zones around schools is sensible, and even in certain areas where our rural villages with their wonky roads don’t lend themselves well to cruising in fourth gear. 


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But this is a policy right across Wales in all residential and built-up areas, unless local authorities have opted certain areas out — and, for the most part, they haven’t. Speeding is a blight almost everywhere. 

But as someone whose inbox is full of complaints, I know they aren’t complaining about people driving at 27mph.

Instead, it’s about boy racers travelling at 50 in a 30mph limit, and the nuisance of noisy motorbikes howling through the countryside, with my appeals to the Welsh Government to impose lower restrictions on some of these A and B roads falling on deaf ears. 

I will be meeting with Dyfed-Powys Police to discuss this matter again in the next weeks.

Finally, it was good to get to the Greyhound Hotel last week, where it was clear that communities remain dead against the Nant Mithel proposals for more pylons and turbines. I promised to continue to push on this ahead of the next public consultation.