A SENSATIONAL Olympic Games has come to an end and once again our athletes have delivered, none more so than Dinas Powys’ very own Hannah Mills.

After coming so close to gold in 2012, Hannah’s outstanding achievement in Rio is fitting for her commitment and dedication to the sport and clearly the special partnership she’s developed with teammate Saskia Clark in the 470 sailing event.

Hannah is also a true role model off shore; recently taking time out of her busy training schedule for the Olympic Games to support the Penarth RNLI and the organisation's appeal for a new lifeboat.

The Vale of Glamorgan has a rich history of sailing success, with Penarth's Ian Barker also achieving a silver medal in the Sydney Games in 2000 and hopefully Hannah's success in Rio will go on to inspire a new generation of successful sailors in the area.

Welsh athletes finished with a record 10 medals – four gold and six silver – as Great Britain finished in a magnificent second place in the overall medal table.

Congratulations are also in order for Penarth pupils after they received their A-level results last week.

At St Cyres, pupils awarded A* and A grades increased by five per cent, compared to previous years.

I was delighted to see Charlie Baister achieve the highest A-level results in the school, with an A* in History and three As in Geography, Politics and Welsh Baccalaureate.

I’d like to take all the credit and say it was due to him having a work placement with me at the Assembly but I think that would be pushing it. Well done Charlie, outstanding work.

There were also a positive set of results for Stanwell School, where students saw A* to C grades make up 87 per cent of all results, with 31 per cent of pupils securing grades A* to A. Many first choice university options were confirmed as a result so congratulations to all.

On a more sombre note, I was extremely disappointed to receive a letter from the Vale of Glamorgan Council rejecting renewed calls for a Dinas Powys by-pass and instead telling hardworking commuters to walk or cycle their way through the chaos and congestion.

This decision is a kick in the teeth for hardworking commuters, many of whom endure the traffic chaos around Dinas Powys on their way to and from work on a near daily basis.

On a number of issues the Labour-run Vale administration has demonstrated that it’s out-of-touch with the local community and it’s important to recognise the congestion doesn’t just impact those who live in Dinas.

It also has a far wider impact on commuters from Barry, Penarth and Sully where there has recently been approval from the council for a number of controversial large-scale housing developments. Short-sighted at best, incompetent at worst.

We’d all love to live in a world where we could travel quickly and reliably on public transport but we have to be realistic and at present such infrastructure isn’t available.

This ‘head-in-the-sand’ approach is hugely disappointing and ultimately lets down hardworking taxpayers.