Forking out £5.50 everyday to get home seems extreme but it is a reality hundreds of Welsh people who work across the Severn estuary face on a daily basis.
Since 1966 the Severn Bridge has allowed easy passage between Wales and England and as a result it has connected Wales with the rest of the UK, but this has come with a high price tag for those who use the bridge on a regular basis. In November 2009 an e-petition was started in an attempt to gain support for a campaign to get tolls on the Severn Crossing reduced.

The announcement of 250 jobs created in Cardiff by Barclaycard today has been hailed a “big vote of confidence for Wales” by Welsh Assembly Government’s First Minister Carwyn Jones.

Barclaycard confirmed it will move work from Barclays Partner Finance in Glasgow in the summer, following months of consultations. The jobs will be in the same building as First Plus, another loans company, based in Pontprennau, to the north east of the capital. Roles will include management trainees and customer loan advisers.

First Minister Jones said: “I welcome the announcement by Barclays of …

The tapping of laptop keys is a sound which has come to characterise cafés such as Starbucks, as freelance workers and entrepreneurs settle themselves in these spaces as an alternative to forking out high prices for their own offices. But accountant Mark Hooper is turning this culture on its head.
Mr Hooper has brought the growing craze of co-working, which has become massive in America, to Cardiff as an alternative to working alone in cafés.
Indycube is a concept Mr Hooper has been developing for the past five years, but the space itself has been situated in the ITV media centre at Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, for the past six months.

PROPERTY investors who have benefited from a 50 per cent council tax discount have targeted Butetown and Grangetown as prime locations for purchasing second homes in Cardiff.

The two districts south of the city centre have more than a quarter of the capital’s unoccupied furnished properties. Butetown has 553 and Grangetown 295. At the other end of the scale, St Mellons and St Fagans have only 11 and six second homes.

Up to now these second homes and those properties unoccupied between lets have been eligible for a 50 per cent reduction in their council tax. But from next month the city’s 2,795 unoccupied furnished properties will be liable for the full amount.

A CARDIFF shop owner’s new alcohol delivery service has drawn criticism from charities and local residents.
Arjuna Gunesekera, 23, will launch the Bargain Booze delivery service on Friday with the aim of selling alcohol in the city’s Cathays area.
The scheme, which is the first Bargain Booze has ever run, will target central Cardiff’s large student population and deliver cheap alcohol as late as 4am. This has led to criticism from safe drinking campaigners.
Mr Gunesekera owns Bargain Booze in Splott Road, but will move his business to Cathays to target its large …

Two Cardiff men are embarking on a new venture to connect local businesses in Cardiff and give something back to local charities through a new online business directory with a twist.
Cardiff Business Online will launch at the end of March and is the first part of a three-stage-plan to help connect Cardiff-based businesses. The online directory will offer businesses the opportunity to place their profile online for just £10 a month and advertise to consumers in a new way through the use of Twitter.

Shopkeepers in Penarth have shown their support for a new loyalty card scheme, which residents and organisers alike hope will help keep trade in the town.

Nearly one in six first class letters failed to arrive on time in Cardiff due to strike action last year, according to figures by Royal Mail. Only 84.3 per cent of first class letters arrived in Cardiff, the valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan the day after they were posted between September 7 and December 6, below the national target of 93 per cent.

The owner of a popular Cardiff shop has announced it will close down to go online-only.
Irene Parow, of Rich and Rare on Cowbridge Road East, said she will continue to run the business through the internet after 13 successful years in Canton’s main shopping street.
The shop, which specialises in holy communion dresses and christening gowns, attracts customers from all over the world and holds regular fashion shows and exhibitions.
Ms Parow, 58, said the shop will probably close its doors at the end of May and operate solely through its website.
She …

Cardiff council has moved to curb the soaring number of taxis in the city today – against the legal advice of its own officers.
The decision was made at a meeting of the council’s Public Protection Committee this afternoon. The public gallery was crammed with taxi drivers, who had organised a protest about the issue outside County Hall before the meeting started.
Current policy is to issue a taxi license to any applicant with a vehicle that meets the council’s standards. But drivers say this has led to a huge rise in the number of taxis in the city over the past two years, to almost 1,000.

Up to 8,000 new jobs for Cardiff could be at risk after inspectors blasted plans for an International Business Park next to the M4.

Independent businesses in Cardiff are fearing for the future after the closure of a number of restaurants and bars in recent weeks, despite the Welsh Assembly claiming it has taking steps to reduce business rates to help retailers in the area.
Two businesses in the heart of Cardiff Bay have been forced to close their doors in the last few weeks, along with the closure of The Point, a popular music venue, before Christmas, and there is fear among the local community that more will follow.

An interview with Simon Hoare, the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth, at his home in Atlantic Wharf, Butetown.
Mr Hoare spoke about MPs’ expenses, his experiences of campaigning against Alun Michael, devolution in Wales, public sector cuts and the future of South Wales’s economy, among other topics.

CARDIFF Council has issued a plea for bidders which could give the capital its long-awaited Snow Dome, a permanent ice rink and a city-centre conference centre – but still no housing.

The property slump and the recession still threaten deals at the International Sports Village (ISV) in Cardiff Bay. One company has already gone bust and another lost its original contract with Cardiff Council.

Housing firm City Lofts bought an area of land at the site which the council sold to raise money for the ISV. They were supposed to build up to 40% affordable housing on the site, but they went into administration in 2008 and the land remains barren having changed hands several times.

An interview with Alun Michael, the MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, at his constituency office in Cathedral Road, Riverside.
Topics included the International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay, a hung parliament and working with Plaid Cymru, whether he has been damaged by the expenses scandal, devolution, fighting a general election through social media, and banning khat.

Cardiff residents face a council tax hike after South Wales Police approved a five per cent rise in the amount they request for their annual budget. The decision to endorse the £257 million budget will add more than £7 to the annual council tax bill of the average home in the city.
The rise is a pre-emptive move to bolster the police’s resources after Chief Constable Peter Vaughan warned the force could be “facing a financial black hole in the next few years” with significant cuts expected from 2011. Addressing South …

The regeneration of a Cardiff community will begin within three months after a construction contractor was appointed, it was announced yesterday.

Cardiff Community Health Council also announced its provision for healthcare services within the development.

Leadbitter have been confirmed as the contractors for the Loudoun Square regeneration, in Butetown, and work is scheduled to start in May.

It was all change yet again in Cardiff city centre last week, as the council implemented phase one of its plan to pedestrianise St Mary Street and High Street.
Of course, you could be forgiven for thinking we were well past the early stages of the plan and nearing completion. But the last two and a half years, which have seen partial pedestrianisation and the replacement of gas pipes running under the street, have in fact been nothing but a prelude.

ONE of Cardiff’s oldest pubs is due to be demolished and replaced by 22 new flats.
The 19th century Grosvenor Hotel on South Park Road, Splott, has been empty for three years and Brain’s Brewery, who owned the hotel, have sold the site for it to be developed.
Despite the four-storey building dating from the 1890s, Welsh heritage organisation Cadw has refused to list the building so it can be protected.
The property has been listed on the website of property surveyors Rawlins and Madley since 1 February and it looks set to …