Senedd21: Sian Caiach | Gwlad | Llanelli

SIAN CAIACH
GWLAD CANDIDATE – LLANELLI

1. Tell us about yourself:

Orthopaedic Surgeon Sian Caiach moved to Carmarthenshire in 1994 , after training in England and Scotland she returned to Wales to raise her family in Llanelli and settle down.

Sian says she she uncovered a private practice scam involving local surgeons, and after reporting this to the authorities was in dispute with her former colleagues, resulting in her not being able to work within the NHS any longer. Instead the GMC supported her returning to working outside the NHS as a police surgeon with South Wales Police, which role she continued in until her retirement.

Sian was instrumental in starting a cross party campaign for the Senedd in 1987 and was a Plaid Cymru member until the election of 2007 after which Plaid refused to govern Wales with a rainbow coalition and supported a Labour government instead

2. What is the most important thing you think the Senedd should do in the next five years?

“At present we are facing several crises in Wales. Covid 19,, which has effected everyone directly or through restrictions, Global climate change, most obvious to those of us who live in the countryside and /or on land prone to flooding, and the economic consequences not only of Covid 19 support funding  but other economic downturns and consequences across the world.

“The Senedd  and its members will have a difficult job, especially as  many of the problems likely to present themselves are new, consequences of previously unforeseen or underestimated events. The most important thing the Senedd will have to do is deal with these crises as best we can, work collaboratively together and put our Nation before our Parties and personal interests.” 

3. What will you do for your constituency/region if elected?

“Firstly, we have dangerously high levels of air pollution in some of our urban residential streets in Llanelli which have not been addressed by the County Council despite the serious health risk to local residents. I want answers as to why the Local Authority have not acted to prevent traffic congestion and air pollution in Llanelli as thy should have and I promise to push this issue until our streets are safe. Lockdown has given us temporary respite but the cars and their poisons are now returning.

“The second issue is that for more than 2 decades Welsh water/Dwr Cymru has been unable to treat all the sewage produced by the Llanelli area and vents untreated sewage spills frequently into a supposedly protected Natural wildlife habitat, the watercourse of the Loughor Estuary, with serious environmental consequences and economic ones – our shellfish fishery has been seriously damaged by the chronic sewage pollution as have probably many of the rare species once recorded here. 

“The reasons why the local waterways continue to be polluted are unclear as is the delay in a Welsh Water “Rainscape” project designed to stop the sewage spills. My local residents and the cockle pickers took the UK Government to the European court to stop the sewage spills. We won the case in 2006. The UK Government was instructed by the European Court of Justice to stop the pollution and the Welsh Assembly was told to make good the damage and treat all the sewage produced by the area. Neither seems to have happened, even though the judgement remains despite Brexit .

“As a Councillor I have failed to protect our environment as I did not have the power to make the case directly to the Senedd to prevent the pollution in my home town, and those that did have influence ignored the problem. As an Assembly Member I will do all I can to stop this senseless and dangerous pollution of the local air and water.”