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Update 19 September

The South Wales Guardian carries a forthright opinion piece here. Readers will recall that the newspaper recently got into a spot of bother with the County Council when it carried a report which contained some very mild criticism of the local authority for its management of a regeneration project in Ammanford.

The Carmarthen Journal meanwhile carries a report which gives readers a general outline of the story, but without expressing a view.

Update

At the risk of being called a Plaid mouthpiece (I have been called a lot worse), Jonathan Edwards and Rhodri Glyn Thomas have issued a statement pointing out that, contrary to the accusations made by Kevin Madge, they did not ask for the Sainsbury's application at Cross Hands to be called in. The Cross Hands development, which includes the doctor's surgery, care home, health centre and improvements to Maes yr Yrfa school which Kevin Madge says are now under threat, was called in by Labour minister John Griffiths, and the two Plaid representatives did not raise the matter with the Welsh Government.

They did, however, raise concerns about aspects of the proposed development of a Sainsbury's store at Llandeilo in response to representations made by constituents.

For all you Welsh learners out there, today's phrase is "cawl potsh", as in "Mae Kev wedi gwneud cawl potsh o bopeth".

Update

The council has now responded to the invitation to Kevin Madge to take part in a radio discussion today by issuing the stock reply that "no one is available", which suggests that perhaps the matter was not quite as important or urgent as the council has been claiming.

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The row over the Welsh Government's decision to call in two planning applications for new Sainsbury's stores in Llandeilo and Cross Hands continues to rumble on, with BBC Wales reporting this morning that Kevin Madge, the Labour council leader, has now criticised the Welsh Government for jeopardising jobs, presumably after someone pointed out to him that its was a Labour minister who actually called the applications in, rather than Plaid Cymru.

Meanwhile, Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM has published a letter challenging Kev to a public debate, and to make matters worse for our leader, BBC Cymru has stuck its ore in and invited Jonathan Edwards MP to take part in a discussion on the phone-in programme Taro'r Post later today. Jonathan has agreed to take part if the council leader does.

There will be those who say that this is unfair to Kev because his Welsh is not that strong, but then neither is his English. Having listened to him in both languages, I can honestly say that there is nothing to choose between them.

Carmarthenshire County Council hates it when anyone questions any of its acts or decisions, and it normally brands those who do as belonging to a tiny and unrepresentative minority bent on undermining some visionary scheme or other. These attacks are often accompanied with legal threats to pursue the miscreants for costs through the courts, while the Press Office goes into action to accuse the perpetrators of putting jobs, children's welfare and the well-being of the sick and elderly at risk.

The only thing missing so far, then, is an accusation that our MP and Assembly Member are part of some unrepresentative minority of malcontents, although the claim in the council's press release that the two schemes had "overwhelming support" from the public came close.

The Welsh Government's letter explaining its decision contained the following observation:

For students of the planning regime in Carmarthen, saying that the Planning Committee may not have considered the issues properly is akin to saying that bears have been known to relieve themselves in the woods.

Two Labour councillors in particular became well-known in recent years for routinely proposing and seconding any planning application recommended for approval by the officers at the drop of a hat. On one occasion they misinterpreted a pause in the officer's opening remarks to propose and second a vote, and had to be gently reminded that it was customary to allow (a) the officer to finish and (b) questions and discussion of the application by members of the committee.

If you exercise your right as a member of the public to speak in a planning meeting (only two people are allowed to speak either for or against for a maximum of 5 minutes), the experience can be nerve racking for anyone not used to public speaking. Add to that the glares you will get from representatives of the opposite side, and in controversial applications, the presence of the press, and you need nerves of steel.

To make matters worse, you can expect barracking from the chair or the professional officers on occasion. A friend of mine began his opening remarks by pointing out that this was a complex case, and that it would be difficult to do justice to it in just 5 minutes. Whereupon he was interrupted by the council's legal officer who told him he had better get on with it then.

A serving councillor recounted attending a training session for members of the Planning Committee where some of the old boys nominated by the Independents were manifestly mentally unfit to decide anything, leave alone grapple with the finer points of planning.

If you go to a planning meeting, you will also find, especially when a controversial application is up for decision, that the discussion which takes place usually bears no relation to the outcome of the vote. On one memorable occasion, quite a few members of the committee spoke, and all but one spoke against the application. When it came to a vote, however, councillors who had sat silently throughout, neither voicing an opinion nor asking for clarification, voted in favour, and the plan was passed by a small majority.

No wonder public cynicism about the planning system is so widespread.

To end on a more positive note, it is worth emphasising that there are councillors on the planning committee who take their role seriously and go to great pains to dig into the detail. We need more like that.