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Cardiff Council Update: 02 May 2023
Here is our latest update, covering: Cardiff marks the Coronation of King Charles III; New real-time air quality monitors installed in Cardiff; and gardener retires after 51 years tending Cardiff's green spaces.
Cardiff marks the Coronation of King Charles III
Cardiff will mark the coronation of King Charles III with a series of official public events, including a royal gun salute, a ‘Right Royal' Picnic, street parties, and screenings of the Coronation Service and the Coronation Concert.
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Cllr Graham Hinchey, said: "The coronation of a new monarch is an event of great national significance, and one that will undoubtedly be remembered long into the future. As the capital city of Wales, a country that is close to King Charles III's heart, Cardiff is proud to host this series of wonderful events to mark the occasion.
"Alongside those, it is also fantastic to see communities across the city organising their own celebrations, and as Lord Mayor of Cardiff, I wish you all a happy and enjoyable Coronation bank holiday weekend."
The full timetable of official Coronation events, taking place across the weekend, is:
The Coronation Service and Gun Salute
9.30am - 2.30pm, Saturday 6thMay, free entry, no ticket required
The grounds of Cardiff Castle will host a big screen for visitors to watch the Coronation Service, and the processions to and from Westminster Abbey. An official gun salute will also take place at the Castle as part of a network of gun salutes, taking place across the country as the King is crowned.
104 Regiment Royal Artillery, Regimental Mascots from The Royal Welsh and The 1st Queens Dragoon Guards with a Quarter Guard, Welsh Guards and the Regimental Band and Corps of Drums of the Royal Welsh will be in attendance, along with representatives from The Royal Navy and The Royal Airforce.
Due to ceremonial proceedings taking place live at the Castle as part of the coronation some elements of the screening of the main coronation event in London may be subtitled only.
Right Royal Picnic
12pm-4pm, Sunday 7thMay free entry, no ticket required
Gather your family and friends, pack a picnic, and head to Cardiff Castle for a ‘Right Royal Picnic' as part of The Coronation Big Lunch taking place across the UK. Dress up and enjoy the festivities, which will include a programme of live music, family craft activities, and themed walkabout entertainment, creating a celebratory atmosphere as people come together to share food and fun.
The Coronation Big Lunch
8am-8pm, Sunday 7thMay
The bunting will be out as local communities host street parties across the city to celebrate the coronation. 44 residential road closures across the city have been facilitated by the Council, to enable neighbours to come together to enjoy the big occasion.
The Coronation Concert
7.30pm-11pm, Sunday 7thMay, Roald Dahl Plass
Join us in Cardiff Bay to watch the Coronation Concert, broadcast live from Windsor Castle, on a large screen in Roald Dahl Plass. Enjoy food and drink from one of the waterfront's many bars, cafes and restaurants. Then look to the skies for the evening's centrepiece, as Cardiff joins locations across the UK in ‘Lighting up the Nation' with an immersive lightshow, featuring a fleet of 300 drones flying high over Cardiff Bay's iconic buildings.
New real-time air quality monitors installed in Cardiff
Forty-seven new, air-quality monitoring stations are to be placed across the city to help measure pollution in the air that we breathe.
The monitors - which will identify levels of Nitrogen Dioxide and very small particles of dust known as Particulate Matter (PM10and PM2.5) - will further improve how Cardiff Council measures air pollution and better identify problems quickly and take steps to reduce pollution.
They will be placed in the city's four Air Quality Monitoring Areas (AQMAs) and more widely across the whole of the city, near areas of concern like schools and health centres following an assessment procedure designed to identify areas of high risk.
The new equipment will monitor air pollution 24-hours-a-day and the data will be collected and reported either quarterly or monthly on the Shared Regulatory Services website:
https://www.srs.wales/en/Home.aspx
AQMA's are set up in wards where the annual average of known pollutants is of concern because levels have historically breached or are close to the legal limit. They are currently in place in the city centre, Stephenson Court (Newport Road), Ely Bridge, and Llandaff. The latest Council report on annual air-quality monitoring shows that air pollution in all the AQMA's in Cardiff is improving with concentrations below the legally-permitted limit values forNO2.
Cllr Dan De'Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport at Cardiff Council said: "Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK and, after smoking, the second-biggest threat to public health. There is clear evidence to show that exposure to air pollution reduces life expectancy and significantly increases the risk of dying from heart disease, strokes, respiratory diseases, lung cancer and other conditions.
"The latest study into air pollution in Cardiff shows that residents enjoyed cleaner air across the city throughout 2021 when compared with pre-pandemic figures in 2019. Although this data is encouraging, there is more work to do. We need to continue to reduce the levels of pollutants. If we want people to be healthier, we have to encourage people to be less reliant on their cars, and to make the shift to public transport, cycling or walking. Not only will it benefit people's health but will help the city reduce our carbon imprint as we look to combat climate change.
"Along with emissions from industry, vehicle emissions, especially from diesel vehicles are the highest-contributing factor to poor air quality in cities across the UK. By enhancing our monitoring network with these new monitors, we will better understand the air quality in Cardiff which will allow us to react quickly to any pollution concerns and ensure appropriate measures are put in place to reduce air pollution and improve the air that our residents breathe."
Cardiff Gardener retires after 51 years tending Cardiff's green spaces
There was a time when we all hoped to be in a job for life but how many can claim today to have worked for the same employer - doing more or less the same tasks - for the past 50 years?
Step forward Mark West, alias ‘Westy', who retires this week, 51 years since he began work as an impressionable 15-year-old trainee gardener in Cardiff Council's Parks department.
Mark said: "I've loved this job from the day I started on £7 a week and I still love it just as much now. Even when I'm not working, I'm looking after my garden at home in Thornhill so even when I clock off for the last time, I won't be a couch potato."
Things could have been so different, however. After leaving school in Caerphilly, his father found him a job at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Cardiff where he worked, for £18 a week, but young Mark preferred sunflowers to gunpowder and chose to work in the Parks department's site in Llanishen, just down the road, instead.
