From Menai Bridge closures, AI data centre protests and the pressures on the region’s A&E departments, our reporters Dale Spridgeon and Richard Evans hold the region’s authorities to account

From crowded A&Es to repeated closures of the Menai Suspension Bridge and the eye-watering sums spent on an unusable council HGV depot, Local Democracy Reporters (LDR) Dale Spridgeon and Richard Evans pride themselves on holding power to account for the communities they represent.

They are highlighting their work representing communities across North Wales with a Day of Action during the News Media Association (NMA)’s Journalism Matters campaign.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is part of the Local News Partnership between the local news media sector and the BBC.

At North Wales Live the reporters cover four of the six local authority areas; Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy & Denbighshire, holding leaders to account for the decisions they make and the impact they have on all of our lives.

This includes attending council meetings, studying agendas and uncovering what is happening in the corridors of power.

In the last 12 months both reporters have shone a light on some important local and national issues.

Ensure our latest news headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings

Dale, who covers Anglesey & Gwynedd, reported extensively on the chaos of reported closures and ongoing maintenance of the 200-year-old Menai Suspension bridge. Drivers angry at bridge closures and traffic issues had hurled bottles of urine at bridge workers, she revealed.

Dale also reported on the public outrage over the staggering size of a planned AI Data Centre on the banks of the Menai Strait, as well as why the developer believes the plans would turbo-charge the region’s economy.

Richard, who covers Conwy & Denbighshire has reported extensively on the crises facing the region’s embattled Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Richard’s extensive coverage has included the “corridor care” of patients in overcrowded A&Es and on conditions in a local hospital where “water ran from a broken tap for two months”.

He also fought hard to reveal the the eye-watering sum spent by a North Wales council on an “unusable HGV shed”

Publishers including North Wales Live’s parent company Reach plc are backing calls for the BBC Charter Review to deliver the right conditions for the BBC to partner effectively with the commercial news sector. Paul Rowland, Editorial Director, News at Reach plc, said: “The Prime Minister has said this week that local news media is a vital ingredient to the success of his plans to devolve power out of Westminster to the regions.

“Central to that will be ensuring that the relationship between the BBC and commercial news sector is a healthy and productive one which truly benefits local audiences by strengthening media plurality at a local level.”

NMA Chief Executive Theo Bamber said: “A financially sustainable, plural and diverse news ecosystem is essential to democracy and the public interest, and the BBC and commercial news publishers should have distinct but complementary roles in doing that.

“The Charter Review must deliver a commitment to this from the BBC, along with a more robust competition framework for the BBC that is fit for today’s fast-changing media landscape.”

North Wales Live editor Alex Hickey said: “The work of the LDRs in tirelessly holding local authorities and other public bodies, such as the health board, to account is inestimable. Without their dedication some of these stories may never have come to light.”

“Their work has benefitted not only Reach and the BBC but our media partners across North Wales. This approach helps safeguard one of the bedrocks of a robust democracy – scrutiny of local government and publicly funded bodies and institutions across the region. The Charter Review is an opportunity to build on this success.”

Senior News Editor of the BBC Local News Partnerships Jason Gibbins described how the LDRS reporters are funded by the BBC but employed by local and regional publishers across the UK who train and develop them, while the content they create is shared with all qualifying partners.

“This means a single story can reach audiences through newspapers, websites, broadcasters and hyperlocal publishers, ensuring important local information is available as widely as possible

“Approximately 240 media organisations, jointly delivering in the region of 1,100 news brands, have access to the LDRS content Since the launch of the service in 2018, more than 600,000 public interest stories have been published by Local Democracy Reporters across the UK. The service currently funds 165 reporters across the UK.”

Join the North Wales Live WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone