Melrose Park Youth Facility:

Last year a St. Mellons resident approached me about setting up a modest facility for young people in Minsmere Close, St. Mellons. Previously there was a childrens play facility here but vandalism and persistent anti-social behaviour lead to this being removed by the Council several years ago.

Concerns raised by Minsmere Close residents prompted the view that alternative, preferrably more easily policed, sites should be considered before developing the proposal further.

The resident decided not to pursue this approach (which is her right) and instead raised the matter with the Council Leader, Liberal Democrat Councillor Rodney Berman. The Council has been working on this proposal without even bothering to discuss it with local Councillors or residents for over six months.

This is either a sign of Liberal Democrat deviousness or incompetence - both provide reason for concern. I’m told it was an “oversight” on their part. It is certainly unacceptable.

Such behaviour undermines local democracy as well as being very unhelpful. We hope the Executive are not busy dealing with other local matters without consulting us. This incident says a lot about Lib Dem politicians who won last years local elections on the promise that they would be inclusive, open and democratic.

Schools Reorganisation Update:

The Council’s ruling Liberal Democrat Executive is still reeling from the verbal battering it received from around 170 parents at the public meeting in Eastern Leisure Centre on May 18th. Your Labour Councillors leafleted parents outside school gates in Trowbridge and St. Mellons to make up for the lack of publicity

The earlier series of meetings, held in February, were so badly publicised by the Council that few people attended them; only 16 parents turned up for the West Cardiff meeting. The following day over 100 people attended the East Cardiff meeting after we leafleted at school gates.

At the latest public meeting worried parents demanded answers to their questions and complained that they were getting “waffle” in reply.

Having exposed the Councils failure to publicise these meetings properly, the South Wales Echo, has continued to devote space to the issue. The Council’s best kept secret is the talk of the City!

We are asking the Liberal Democrats to tell us when they will honour the promise contained in their June 2004 local election manifesto. Before winning power in Cardiff Council the Lib Dems promised to reduce class sizes to 25 pupils. Yet reducing class sizes is not even mentioned in their consultation paper!

Now they are proposing to close schools whilst presiding over a period when the gap between the average amount spent by Welsh Councils per pupil and the amount spent per pupil in Cardiff is widening. Under Labour between 1999 and 2004 the gap fell from almost £100 per pupil to £9.00!

We accept that something needs to be done to reduce the thousands of surplus places in our schools. However, we oppose plans to increase the size of all primary schools to 420 children because we believe smaller schools are more appropriate for very young children, especially in areas like Trowbridge and St. Mellons where there is significant socio-economic disadvantage.

At the next public meeting, to be held in September the Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Education (Councillor Bill Kelloway, who represents Penylan) will announce which schools he intends to close in East Cardiff.

Remember, even if the school your children attend is not going to be closed, there will be consequences as the children attending schools that are to be closed will have to go somewhere and will increase the size of your child’s school!

Some parents whose children attend St. John Lloyds (Trowbridge) or Bishop Childs (St. Mellons) mistakenly think this has nothing to do with them. It does. Voluntary Aided schools will have to take some of the pain as well as LEA schools.

Finally, I was recently advised that Councillors who find themselves governors of schools destined to be closed would not be permitted to vote on the final proposals as they would “have an interest”. The Echo published the story and I resigned as a Governor of Willowbrook School. Within days a meeting was held where dispensations were agreed for every Councillor who is also a governor. Thus the chaos that would have followed the resignations of 75 Councillors from school governing bodies was averted.

Trefaser Crescent

The row between your Councillors and the Council over the stopping-up of Trefaser Crescent is continuing. The intention behind the proposal was to transform Trowbridge Green into two cul de sacs. We believe this would reduce anti-social behaviour, rat-running by motorists and motor-cycle nuisance in the area.

We have now made a bid via the Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme for funding to carry out a full consultation with Trowbridge Green residents on the proposal and if it proves popular for a feasibility study into the costs and practicability of doing the work.

A Council Executive Member, Cllr. Judith Woodman, has told us that there is opposition to the idea from the local Police and some residents. Local Police officers tell us that in fact they are quite positive about the proposal but want to be formally consulted about it.

Some residents may oppose the idea but if so they have not expressed this view to us.

We believe a formal consultation exercise will establish whether there is support for the scheme amongst residents and enable a general debate on the wider issues. If the idea is not supported by residents we will accept those views but we are not prepared to accept Cllr. Woodman’s unsubstatiated opinions which seem to be more about saving money than improving the area for the residents of Trowbridge Green.