September Report

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Community Council News
First of all, I hope you all had a good summer and a nice holiday - preferably somewhere hot - and far away from the woes of Brexit, work and the Llantrisant Road traffic lights.

We've been working hard over the summer, developing a number of projects across Radyr and Morganstown. These include:

Cardiff Council has invited us to submit ideas for its new infrastructure ideas list. These will be projects that Cardiff can fund via Section 106 Money (which is provided by housing developers, as part of their planning consent deals). We have gathered residents ideas via an online survey - and via the RMA. We also have our own ideas! This is a very exciting opportunity for R&M - and we will publish our contribution to the list in the near future. New ideas can be submitted at any time, since Cardiff will be keeping their list as a 'live' document. This needs a health warning, however, since it is unlikely that every idea will be accepted by Cardiff for funding. But if we don't submit any ideas - we won't get any money! We will also be meeting Cardiff's Section 106 team in the near future, to press our case.
Road safety: we had an excellent meeting with Cardiff Council's Transportation team on 10 September. We discussed several items, including the imminent installation of a Nextbike stand outside McColl's on Station Road (with more stands being considered, including electric bikes at Radyr Station). Start of works is planned for Jan / Feb 2020 for our three new zebra crossings, near Heol Syr Lewis, Ty Mynydd Close and Rectory Close. The legal preparations are underway to introduce a 20mph zone across all of R&M (apart from Parc Radur). The scheme should be introduced in spring / summer 2020. Golf Club Lane is to be closed - with work carried out in summer 2020. And the Council has asked us to propose improvements to the Station Road area, to improve its role as a place for the community to meet, shop and socialise. We will be conducting an online survey about this, soon, to seek views and ideas from residents. And we have, of course, expressed our concerns about the Llantrisant Road traffic lights. You can visit the News section of our website to read more about the meeting.
Cardiff is consulting on a new primary school to be built on the Plasdwr site. This will be a bilingual school, with English and Welsh language streams. Again, you can read more about this on our website.

The Old Church Rooms has had a minor upgrade over the summer, with the installation of oak-effect floor tiles in the main hall. We think it makes the room look bigger, better and lighter. It will also be much easier for hall users to clean after their events. No more gouging Camembert from carpet tiles after cheese and wine parties. No more dabbing at red wine stains with a wet cloth. Simply mop and sweep! We have also been discussing buying a new piano for the hall - which would please those groups who use the OCR for choir practice and concerts.
In the near future we will be considering the provision of facilities, activities and support for our young people. This work will be undertaken in liaison with a number of agencies and organisations - as well as young people from across R&M. We want them to enjoy a range of activities - and to have good places to socialise - whilst sharing the values that help make R&M a great place to live. 

We have responded on our website to the arson attack on a bird hide located in Forest Farm. Although this is not in Radyr and Morganstown, it is an area enjoyed by members of our community. It is a great pity that some people think that setting fire to a community resource is something worth doing - and it is difficult to believe that they have any respect for their community and neighbours. They may also be unaware of the penalties they could face, if caught. These are set out in the Sentencing Council's Sentencing Guidelines. A fire such as this one, causing moderate damage to a public amenity, can result in a prison sentence ranging from 6 to 26 weeks. Similar penalties exist for criminal damage. Anyone with any information about the attack should contact the police.

Finally, I am very pleased to announce the appointment to our team of two new members. Joining us as a councillor for the Morganstown ward is Vina Patel. Vina is already an active member of our community - and we look forward to benefiting from her experience as we develop our work. We also welcome Michelle Lenton-Johnson to our team. Although not a councillor, she will join us in our council meetings - bringing her valuable local knowledge and her tremendous enthusiasm to our work. Welcome both!

A Welsh language version of this report is available above.

Cllr Huw Onllwyn Jones
Chair
Radyr and Morganstown Community Council
​September 2019