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Cardiff Council Update: 16 January 2024
Here is your latest update, covering:
- Primary school provision in Cathays and parts of Gabalfa, Heath, Llandaff North and Plasnewydd plans to be renewed and improved in latest proposals
- Cardiff foster carers' stories show everyone can ‘bring something to the table' to support local children in care
- £1.8 million energy saving retrofit programme to reduce Cardiff Council's carbon emissions
- New Participation Strategy to enhance public engagement with the Council
Primary school provision in Cathays and parts of Gabalfa, Heath, Llandaff North and Plasnewydd plans to be renewed and improved in latest proposals
A report to Cardiff Council's Cabinet will recommend plans are approved to reorganise primary school provision to serve Cathays and parts of Gabalfa, Heath, Llandaff North and Plasnewydd.
At its meeting on Thursday 18 January 2024, the Cabinet will also review the five objections received to the statutory notice published in respect of the proposals.
Cardiff Council Leader, Cllr Huw Thomas said: "Following a public consultation with schools, governors, parents and children earlier this year, the latest proposals have been designed to improve learning opportunities and support schools with financial pressures currently being experienced in the area.
"If agreed, the reorganisation of four primary schools will also help to achieve the correct balance of English and Welsh medium primary provision so that current and future demand in the area can be met."
The proposals include:
- Amalgamating Allensbank and Gladstone Primary Schools to establish a new 420 place (2FE) English-medium Primary School with nursery on the current shared Gladstone Primary School / St Monica's Church in Wales Primary School site.
- Transferring Ysgol Mynydd Bychan to the current Allensbank Primary School site.
- Increasing the capacity of Ysgol Mynydd Bychan from 192 places (0.9FE) to 420 places (2FE) and increase the number of nursery places at Ysgol Mynydd Bychan from 64 to 96.
- Transferring St Monica's Church in Wales Primary School to the current Ysgol Mynydd Bychan site allowing the school to have nursery provision, following agreement of the Governing Body of St Monica's Church in Wales Primary School.
The speech and language early intervention class currently hosted by Allensbank would continue and could transfer to the new school, subject to agreement of the new school's Governing Body, or could transfer to an alternative school in September 2025.
Cardiff foster carers' stories show everyone can ‘bring something to the table' to support local children in care
New campaign aims to inspire people from all walks of life to consider fostering with their local council.
There are more than 7,000 children in the care system in Wales, but only 3,800 foster families.
In Cardiff, there are currently 400 children in foster care. There are 105 foster carers with Foster Wales Cardiff (their local council), but we need many more in the city.
Foster Wales - the national network of 22 Welsh local authority fostering teams - set out with the bold aim of recruiting more than 800 new foster families by 2026, to provide welcoming homes for local children and young people.
Foster Wales Cardiff has joined the new campaign, ‘bring something to the table,' utilising their greatest asset - current foster carers - to share realistic experiences of foster care and explore the small but significant human attributes people possess that can make the world of difference to a young person in care.
Foster Wales has spoken to more than 100 people to develop the campaign - including foster carers, social workers, teachers, members of the public and care leavers.
The responses from these groups highlighted three key things stopping potential carers from enquiring:
- A lack of confidence in their skills and ability to support a child in care.
- The belief that fostering doesn't fit with certain lifestyles.
- Misconceptions around the criteria to become a carer.
Armed with this knowledge, Foster Wales has drawn on real stories of carers in Wales to show that fostering with your local council is flexible, inclusive, and comes with extensive training, professional development opportunities and generous fees and allowances.
£1.8 million energy saving retrofit programme to reduce Cardiff Council's carbon emissions
Plans for an initial twenty-three Cardiff Council buildings to benefit from a £1.8 million energy saving retrofit programme that would save money and reduce carbon emissions have been revealed, as the local authority continues it's One Planet Cardiff work to become carbon neutral.
Green, locally sourced electricity already provides the power for council buildings wherever possible, but the twenty-two school buildings provisionally identified for the first round of the programme alongside Channel View Leisure Centre, still produce 1595.7 tonnes CO2e annually, at a cost of more than £1.1million for 7.7million kWh of energy.
The Re:Fit programme which is managed and run via Local Partnerships (LP), a joint venture between Local Government Association, HM Treasury and the Welsh Government, would guarantee minimum 15% energy, carbon and cost savings.
The intention is that the work would be financed by the SALIX managed ‘Wales Funding Programme,' which allows public sector bodies to apply for flexible interest-free loans for energy-saving projects.
Cabinet Member for Investment and Development, Cllr Russell Goodway, said: "The Re:Fit programme offers an opportunity for us to reduce costs, save energy and continue the good work that has contributed to a 12.3% reduction in carbon emissions from the Council's estate since launching our One Planet Cardiff response to the climate emergency."
The plans are due to be discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday 18th January and, if approved, a Re:Fit service provider would be appointed for a four year period, with delivery of retrofit measures in the first tranche of buildings to take place in 2024/25. Subsequent tranches will then follow over the next four years.
New Participation Strategy to enhance public engagement with Council
Cardiff Council has published the results of a comprehensive review into how it engages with the public and ensures their views are taken into account in the decision-making process.
The review, of its Participation Strategy, ties in with the Council's duty to encourage local people to take part in decision-making and promote awareness of the Council's principal functions.
Over 11 weeks, between July and October last year, the Council conducted a consultation to gauge the public's views on how well the Council engaged with them.
Following the consultation, the Council is now proposing a number of changes to its Participation Strategy 2023-27, including:
- More face-to-face engagement with under-represented groups
- A more targeted approach to engagement, to avoid ‘consultation fatigue'
- Developing a feedback programme to share findings and outcomes with those who have been consulted
- Developing a regular programme of engagement with the Deaf community and those who are visually impaired.
- Using the Council's existing social media channels to promote opportunities for the public to get involved and share their views with the Council.
Cllr Julie Sangani, the Council's Cabinet Member for Tackling Poverty, Equality and Public Health and a key advocate of the Participation Strategy, said the results of the survey indicated that the public are keen to become more involved in the decision-making process and engage more with the Council via all available channels.
"The Council has been including the public for many years when discussing policy and all aspects of life in Cardiff," she added.
"Promoting civic participation and giving the people a voice in shaping the decisions that affect their lives have always been key priorities for this Council and we remain committed to ensuring we hear not just their views, but also their views on how their opinions are gauged."
