Ahead of his surgery in Radyr on 5 April, Mark Drakeford enjoyed browsing through Radyr and Morganstown Community Council's new website.
As he launched the new site, Mark welcomed the role it would play in helping the council to better engage with the community - thereby making the council's work more transparent and democratic. Radyr and Morganstown residents can register with the site, in order to be notified when any significant new material is added to it. The council also intends to use the site to conduct surveys, to test public opinion about a wide range of issues. Already completed has been a survey about residents' preferred options with regard to future use of the old Spar site (the winning result was an Indian restaurant). Commenting on the official launch, council Chairman Ralph Vaughan said: 'We are delighted that Mark Drakeford, our Assembly Member and First Minster, was able to launch our new website. We hope that local residents will benefit by being able to read about the work the council does on behalf of the community. It will be easier for them to contact us - and to engage with us by, for instance, taking part in the surveys we will be able to conduct'. You can visit the site at: https://www.radyrandmorganstown.org
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Friday, 5 April saw Mark Drakeford AM hold his first surgery at the Old Church Rooms, following an invitation from the community council for him and Kevin Brennan, MP, to do so.
Mark held one-to-one discussions about a wide range of issues with local residents during a very successful, early evening surgery. The point of these surgeries, of course, is to enable residents to ask Mark for advice and assistance, to help them with any problems they face. The next surgery will be held at the Old Church Rooms between 6.00 and 7.00pm on Friday 4 October. Kevin Brennan will attend on that occasion. This will give residents an opportunity to meet Kevin - to discuss with him any issues that concern them. Whether it be the Plasdwr development, traffic or more personal matters, you can be sure that Kevin will lend a sympathetic ear and do whatever he can to help. No appointment is necessary, but you can ring Kevin's office on 029 20223207 to discuss attending his surgery. Also, if you have an urgent issue for him (or Mark) to consider, you can ring their office rather than wait for the surgery in October. So make a date in your diary - and meet Kevin Brennan! In the meantime, the community council is very pleased that it was able to arrange for these surgeries to be held in Radyr. Radyr and Morganstown Community Council met with Katie Powis, Community Liaison Manager for Plasdŵr, during the Council’s meeting on 15 November.
Discussions with Katie focused on the impact of the Plasdŵr development; the timing of forthcoming works; mitigating inconvenience for the local community and more. Also discussed were the talks held between Cardiff Council, Radyr and Morganstown Community Council, and Plasdŵr about the use of Section 106 money to improve road safety along Heol Isaf and Ty Nant Road. Following those discussions, Plasdŵr’s lead developer Redrow very generously offered to transfer to Cardiff Council its £300,000 Section 106 money – and to do so with immediate effect, rather than wait for the statutory trigger point for releasing the money (which would be reached only after the sale of many more houses). Council Chair, Ralph Vaughan, said: “Thanks to this generous contribution from Plasdŵr’s lead developer Redrow – and their community-minded spirit – we have agreed with them and Cardiff Council that the early release of this money can be used to improve road safety along Heol Isaf and Ty Nant Road. We have, therefore, asked Cardiff to begin this work by installing new, tabled zebra crossings in Morganstown, Min-y-Coed and near Radyr Medical Centre – and to use any remaining money to improve road safety near Radyr Comprehensive School. We hope that Cardiff Council will agree with our proposals – which will set in motion the statutory consultation process, detailed design and tendering required in order to install the new crossings. Without this kind contribution from Plasdŵr’s lead developer Redrow, none of this would be possible.” 5 December 2018 Councillor Ralph Vaughan, our Chairman, has signed a new Charter between Cardiff Council and the six Community Councils in Cardiff, on behalf of Radyr & Morganstown Community Council. The Charter sets out how Cardiff Council will work in partnership with the six community councils. It will be framed and displayed in the Old Church Rooms. 14 January 2019 Here's a picture of the charter:
Road safety projects The Community Council is working closely with Cardiff Council to promote road safety throughout Radyr and Morganstown. You can read our response to Cardiff Council's proposals here. And here is our note of a meeting we held with the Cardiff Council to discuss our response:
On 18 January 2019, a meeting was held between Radyr and Morganstown Community Council and Paul Carter, the Head of Transportation at Cardiff Council, to discuss road safety. This followed our meetings with the Council on 10 October and 8 August 2018. In November, Radyr and Morganstown Community Council submitted its response to Cardiff Council’s proposed layout for highway improvements in Radyr and Morganstown. This included a twenty point action plan. This is what Cardiff Council told us this time:
Radyr and Morganstown Community Council has presented a collection of books about World War One to the schools attended by Radyr and Morganstown schoolchildren, to mark the centenary of the end of the war. Pictured receiving their books are John Hayes, headmaster at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr, along with the school’s head of history, Mrs Anna Foster Evans, and Jayden, one of the pupils who will benefit from having access to the books. ‘We were delighted to receive these amazing books’ said John Hayes ‘They will make a very valuable addition to the school’s library – and we are very grateful to Radyr and Morganstown Community Council for providing us with this kind gift’. ‘It is very important for our young people to learn about the first world war – and its impact on our communities and life across Wales’ added Mrs Evans, ‘These books will help us ensure that this terrible episode in our history is bought vividly to life in our history classes’. Commenting on the gift, the council’s vice chair, Dr Huw Onllwyn Jones, said ‘We thought it was important to include our schools in the council’s work to remember this hugely significant part of our history – and we were very pleased to be able to offer these books to help with our childrens’ education’. 30 January 2019 Radyr and Morganstown Community Council has been working hard to deliver improvements to the children’s playground at Drovers Way. A partnership has been established, between the Community Council, Cardiff Council, the Clos Parc Radur Management Committee and Redrow Homes. To date, one swing has been replaced – and over £25k earmarked for further improvements. In addition, Jamie Grundy, a local resident, is developing a crowdfunding campaign to fund the one or two, remaining, unfunded items of equipment. He has already established a twitter feed in relation to the crowd funding. You can follow this at: www.twitter.com/ParkRadyr . All of this will ensure that, for the first time, the playground circle will be full of equipment, rather than half empty. Redrow Homes is also considering what work needs to be done to prevent mud and water flowing onto the site – as happens now. Local residents will have an opportunity to view Cardiff Council’s plans for the playground, as part of Redrow’s Plasdwr drop-in session on Thursday, 7 February at the New Church Rooms (between 4pm and 7pm). Comments and suggestions will be welcomed. Councillor Huw Onllwyn Jones said ‘We are delighted with progress to date – and hope that plenty of parents and children come to the drop in event on 7 February to give us their views on the proposed new park”. 29 January 2019 Here are Cardiff Council's draft plans for the playground.
Let us know, here, if you have any comments or suggestions to offer. Radyr and Morganstown Community Council has offered Radyr Cricket Club a grant of up to £13,000 to help with the construction of a new pavilion. Award of the grant will depend on the club managing to raise the rest of the £130,000 required for the project.
Here's an extract from a letter we received from the club, following our offer of a grant. It's great to see that the club has already raised £90,000: Dear Councillor Vaughan, Attached you will find a Funding Brochure which will in the next few days be issued to all members, parents/guardians of the juniors and Vice Presidents. The content speaks for itself, though it is worth noting, that the front cover shows father and son Clegg opening the batting for the 2nd X1, whilst wife/mother Emma sits on the main Management Board and daughter/sister Jess is one of the club's sixteen Wales internationals. A truly family club. The funding is progressing well and so far almost £90,000 has been committed with a number of individuals pledging their support in the last few days. The club has been encouraged to apply to Sport Wales and another fund overseen by Cricket Wales. An application will shortly be made to the ECB for an interest free loan which if successful will mean the club will have reached the necessary critical mass to allow the project to commence. I'm extremely optimistic about this as it is a fund run by the individual who is overseeing the project/grant on behalf of Cricket Wales. With regards the management of the project, two sub committees have been formed, one dealing with the funding and the second the actual building works. The former group have produced the above mentioned brochure and written to a great many individuals and companies to get the funding message out to as many people as possible. Whilst the latter group have prepared various work packages and prepared the necessary working drawings. Progress is seen on a daily basis and I have no doubt that by this time next year the project will be complete and ready for its official launch. Kindest Regards. Christopher Hitchings Radyr Cricket Club - Chairman Councillor Huw Onllwyn Jones has written to Spar Stores, owners of the lease for the old Spar shop site on Station Road, urging them to think of the community's needs as it seeks a new occupier for the site. If we receive a reply we'll publish it.
The message to Spar was as follows: Dear Spar I am writing to you on behalf of Radyr and Morganstown Community Council, located in Radyr, Cardiff.. We understand that you own the lease for the site on Station Road, in Radyr, which housed a Spar store for many years. This is now empty, of course, following the closure of the store. I understand that you are now seeking a new occupier for the site. The purpose of this email is simply to let you know that the community council is very keen to see the site being used by a business which would benefit the daily lives of as many people as possible in our community. Our high street is small, so the nature of the company occupying the Spar site will be significant. Clearly, the future use of the site depends on who can be attracted to occupy it. And clearly, for you, this is a business venture from which you need to make a profit. Even so, we hope that some thought can be given to wide and frequent community benefit when the decision is made with regard to the future use of the space. We hope, therefore, that the above can be considered by you as you take this matter forward. In the meantime, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you with your developments in Radyr (we did, for instance, support the opening of the Radyr Tap, the new micro-pub on Station Road). I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you - and best wishes Cllr Huw Jones In the meantime, what would you like to see coming to the Spar site? Take part in our survey to let us know! At its meeting on 2 March the community council awarded the following grants - all linked to the Radyr and Morganstown Festival:
Commenting on the grant awards, the council's chair, Ralph Vaughan said: 'We are delighted to offer support for the Radyr and Morganstown Festival. This is one of the highlights of the year. We all look forward to a fortnight of fun and celebration across the community and we are, as always, very grateful to the Radyr and Morganstown Association for the tremendous amount of work they do to organise the festival. We are praying for plenty of sunshine!' More information about the festival, which runs between 4 and 19 May, can be found here. |
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