The difference between how councils in Gwynedd and Ceredigion go about their business is day and night.

Both are controlled by Plaid Cymru.

To look at Gwynedd, one could indeed imagine the party one day running a country. To look at Ceredigion, one could not imagine them organising a knees’ up in a brewery. If they cannot run a county, then why should we expect them to be able to run a country.

In Gwynedd, for example, the council has just purchased land on the Llŷn Peninsula to build new homes — part of their ‘Tŷ Gwynedd’ scheme that will provide affordable homes to locals.

The land in Morfa Nefyn is the first to be purchased for development under the council’s Housing Action Plan. Other sites also being examined, and the new homes will be available for rent or purchase for locals who can’t afford to buy on the open market.

Given all the attention recently on second homes and trying to figure out a meaningful way forward, Gwynedd seems to be getting its act together.

Another example of how it is actively and positively serving those who pay taxes there is Gwynedd’s £4.4 million in investment into the quay at Aberdyfi. The scheme – funded jointly by the Welsh Government’s Coastal Risk Management Programme and Gwynedd Council’s Asset Management Plan – will renew the quay wall, which has deteriorated over time.

Will the real Plaid Cymru please stand up?

As much as we would like to report that the council in Ceredigion is undertaking good works, good news is very sadly lacking.

Instead, the council says it’s too broke to fix up crumbling civic infrastructure in and around Aberystwyth. And given the poor and dirty state of the streets there too, it is unable to perform the most basic function of putting brushes to streets.

Gwynedd is open for business and services its taxpayers; Ceredigion remains shuttered, living under the impression that we are still in a state of Covid lockdown. Too many empty rooms, not enough working brooms.

Gwynedd is responsive and proactive. Ceredigion’s council chamber is closed to the press and public scrutiny, and a siege mentality prevails.

Gwynedd gets things done. Ceredigion gets little to nothing done.