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Cardiff Council Update: 21 March 2023
Here is our latest update, covering: major investment in ‘hard to heat' Cardiff homes; paying tribute to city's Social Workers; local community nets new all-weather football pitch; and new school admission arrangements.
Major Investment In ‘Hard To Heat' Cardiff Homes
Around 250 ‘hard to heat' homes in Cardiff are set to benefit from a multi-million pound investment scheme to improve their thermal efficiency and help reduce energy costs for residents.
More than £7m has been earmarked for the scheme that will see improvements carried out on council and privately-owned British Iron and Steel Federation (BISF) homes in Llandaff North and Rumney.
The energy efficiency retrofit scheme will involve external wall insulation being installed on up to 252 steel-framed, non-traditional build type homes in these areas, helping to make the homes more thermally efficient.
The Council has already invested in improvements to BISF homes, classed as ‘hard to heat', in Caerau where a similar retrofit scheme helped lift residents out of fuel poverty and increased the energy performance of the properties.
The latest scheme, covering 100 homes in the council's own stock and up to 152 privately-owned properties, would see an estimated £7m spent on upgrading the homes with external wall insulation consisting of a non-combustible mineral wool system, and a further £400,000 on insulating the ceilings of the private tenure homes.
The Council will pay for the improvements to its own stock from the Housing Revenue Account while there is grant funding from Welsh Government for work on the private homes.
Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said: "We've been working for a number of years to find a funding solution to improve not only our own BISF homes, but the private homes as well and as someone who grew up in a BISF home myself, I'm delighted that we are now in a position to move this scheme forward.
"It's great news for the residents living in these homes in Rumney and Llandaff North. Now more than ever, we are all so aware of the rising costs of heating our homes and these homes in particular are costly in terms of fuel bills."
As well as helping to tackle fuel poverty, the retrofit improvements also support the Council's efforts towards becoming carbon neutral, part of the Stronger Fairer Greener vision. One Planet Cardiff, the Council's climate change strategy, identifies that housing is a significant contributor to the city's carbon emissions, and includes a commitment to facilitate the improvement of the energy performance of all tenures of the city's housing.
Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Cllr Caro Wild, said: "With gas used to heat the majority of homes in Cardiff, 29% of the city's carbon emissions come from domestic properties. Upgrading insulation is still the simplest and most effective way of reducing the amount of energy it takes to stay warm at home, making it a win for residents' pockets, and for the planet."
Cardiff pays tribute to city's Social Workers: Social Work Week 2023
With the aim of bringing people together to learn, connect, and influence change, Social Work Week 2023 takes place from Monday 20 to Friday 24 March 2023 and to coincide with the occasion, members from Cardiff Council's Cabinet have paid tribute to social workers and all staff who help deliver social work support across the city.
Cllr Norma Mackie, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Services and Cllr Ash Lister, Cabinet Member for Children Social Services have joined together to celebrate the achievements of Cardiff's social workers and share praise for the workforce.
"I would like to take this opportunity during Social Work Week to shine a light on the fantastic work carried out by Cardiff's social workers and all the staff who support the service area. They work incredibly hard, delivering essential services across the city. I've seen first-hand their enthusiasm and passion for supporting vulnerable clients and want to thank them for their exceptionally hard work.
"Their continued dedication, patience and professionalism greatly contributes to ensuring better outcomes for those who need our help most," said Cllr Mackie.
Cllr Ash Lister added: "Staff right across Children's Services are doing such an important, and frequently very challenging job - day in, day out.
"Having worked with children and young people myself, I've seen the fantastic work they do to keep our future generations safe against a backdrop of multiple pressures, whilst continuing to help make Cardiff a Child Friendly City.
"Social Work Week is a great opportunity to say thank you, but for me it's vital that staff know that the job they do is appreciated and valued every day of the year."
In October 2022, Cardiff's Local Authority Social Services Report 2021/22 was published showing that significant progress has been made across social services, despite a continuing increase in both the numbers of people needing support in the city and the complexity of the issues that they are facing.
Local community nets new all-weather football pitch
Young footballers in Splott have given a new 3G football pitch in the area their seal of approval.
Players from Splott Albion Football Club's Under-10s girls team yesterday joined Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke and local ward members at the official launch of the new facility, that has been delivered as part of the Council's Neighbourhood Renewal Schemes Programme.
"It's amazing!" was the verdict of the young players who are looking forward to playing their first match on the surface very soon.
The Neighbourhood Renewal Schemes programme delivers regeneration projects all over the city ranging from new parks, street improvements to community safety improvements.
The scheme to deliver the pitch was proposed by local members to provide a year-round facility for use by the local community. Splott Albion FC will now manage the new synthetic all-weather surface which also boasts 5m high perimeter fencing, floodlighting and secure access. The pitch will be available to use at no cost for local junior football clubs, as well as for private hire by other sports teams.
Cardiff's School Admission Arrangements 2024/25
Cardiff Council's School Admission Arrangements for 2024/25 have recently been consulted on and the findings will be presented to the Cabinet when it meets on Thursday 23rd March.
Local Authorities are required to review their School Admission Arrangements annually. Proposed changes to the arrangements for 2024/25 include adjustments to Cardiff's coordinated school admissions, the process which enables parents to apply for a school place using just one form for community schools, voluntary aided (faith) schools and foundation schools.
Successfully managed since the 2018/2019 intake year, Cardiff's coordinated school admissions has been expanded and now includes all twelve Community High Schools, Whitchurch High School (foundation school) and St Teilo's Church in Wales High School, Corpus Christi Catholic High School and The Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School (voluntary aided/ faith schools). In addition, 20 faith primary schools have joined 75 community primary schools.
The Governing Body of Mary Immaculate RC High School has agreed to consult on its admissions arrangements for 2024/2025, which would include coordinating its admissions with the Council.
Views submitted during the Council's consultation broadly supported this plan and responses suggested that this would make applying for a school place fairer, more straightforward and that families are more likely to get one of their preferred schools. It was also noted that schools still remining outside of the coordinated admission scheme, are losing out when parents secure first choice places elsewhere.
Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills said: "Cardiff's coordinated admissions promotes a more equitable system of allocating school places and makes the process of applying for a school place as fair and straightforward for families as possible.
"It is encouraging that responses are in support of expanding coordinated admissions for which will not only simplify the process but also prevent parents from receiving multiple offers which stops other children being offered these places.
"Parents can state their order of preference when applying which provides a better chance of securing a preferred school in the first round of admissions and avoids unnecessary stress for the families that otherwise would not secure a place. This has been borne out in the increased percentage of children allocated places at preferred secondary schools this year."
