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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the Replacement Local Development Plan Deposit Plan (as set out in Appendix 1) for consultation purposes; 2. To approve the revised timetable for the preparation of the Replacement Local Development Plan (as set out in this report) so it can be formally submitted to Welsh Government for their consideration and agreement.
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: a. To approve the proposed allocation of seats on Committees to political groups in accordance with the Political Balance Rules as shown at Appendix A; b. To receive nominations for the proposed changes to committee membership; c. To approve the appointments to Committees as shown at Appendix B.
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the appointment of Mrs Ruth Davies as independent member of the Standards and Ethics Committee for a term of 6 years.
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the new appointments of Local Authority governors to the school governing bodies as set out in Appendix 1, each for a term of 4 years from the date of the appointment, in accordance with the recommendations of the Local Authority Governor Panel.
Apologies were received from Cllrs Elsmore, Joyce, Melbourne, Robinson and Wild.
The following declarations of interest were received in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct. Councillor Agenda item Nature of interest Reason for interest Joe Carter 7 Personal Chair of Healthy Air Cymru Ed Stubbs 7 Personal Chair of Splott Community Volunteers, which received money to help carry out the RLDP consultation process Bethan Proctor 7, 11 Personal Employed by Community Housing Cymru Jennifer Burke 8 Personal Employed by Cardiff University Emma Reid-Jones 8 Personal Family member has a business relationship with a Cardiff Parkway investor Oliver Owen 9 Personal and prejudicial Works for NHS body providing services to Welsh Ambulance Services Trust Norma Mackie 11 Prejudicial Lives in a building that would benefit from the Motion Joel Williams 11 Prejudicial Owns a property in the same block as above Calum Davies Multiple Personal Employed by a developer Catriona Brown-Reckless Personal Family members are part of the Maindy Flyers Mike Ash-Edwards Calum Davies Helen Gunter Garry Hunt Rhys Taylor Personal Non-executive directors of Cardiff Bus
The minutes of the Extraordinary and Regular Meetings on 28th November 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. .
There was one public question. 1. Aaryanna Smith to Cllr Burke, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport & Parks Hi, my name’s Aaryanna Smith, I’m thirteen years old and a student at Whitchurch High School. My friends and I, along with others in the community, love spending time at the park. But despite living close to Whitchurch Library Gardens, young people often choose to go to parks like Caedelyn instead, even though crossing the A470 to get to Caedelyn can be dangerous. The reason? The playground equipment at Whitchurch Library Gardens is in need of attention. The park is used by people of all ages, from young children to pensioners, and plays a vital role in our community. Yet despite receiving a green status from the Playground team, there has been broken or missing equipment for years. A local family with a wheelchair-bound child have also highlighted that there is no accessible play equipment anywhere nearby. I understand that funding is limited, but support for changing is clear, with an online petition gathering over 700 signatures in under a week. People care about this space, and they want to see it improved. Whitchurch Library Gardens and play area is a key part of the local community, a base to socialise and feel safe. Given that budgets are tight, how can we work together to ensure that broken play equipment is fixed and the park is made accessible for all? Reply – Cllr Burke I believe you’ve strong-armed myself and your local ward members into joining you for a litter pick in March, which I’m looking forward to, and I’m going to drag my kids along should they say yes. I know we’re also in the middle of arranging a meeting to have a sit down and a conversation about it less formally than this, but I’m really, really pleased that you’ve brought the question and to see your passion for your local park. I also recognise the importance of our parks and gardens for local communities, and in particular for young people like yourself. The council is responsible for over 175 play areas in Cardiff and, as you’ve indicated in your question, funding and carrying out repairs is limited by the budget available. Repairs and maintenance for all our play areas falls into two main categories, either general maintenance to ensure that equipment is safe to use, or repairing damaged equipment. There are a number of ways in which residents can support our work, I know that Whitchurch Library Gardens has a local group that have done some planting previously, and I think we can cajole them into providing some additional workdays should they be willing. Communities can form official friends groups for dedicated park spaces with the support of council officers, and communities can also help by keeping playgrounds litter free. As I said, I’m really looking forward to sitting down and litter picking with you, and having a conversation and a cup of tea as well.
There were no petitions.
The Lord Mayor welcomed Cllr Anny Anderson to her first Council meeting, having won the by-election in Splott on 5th December 2024. A list of mayoral engagements since the last Council meeting had been circulated on the amendment sheet. The Lord Mayor sent condolences to the families of David Rees and Baroness Jenny Randerson, both former councillors for Cyncoed who had passed away. She highlighted a number of fundraising events in support of the former Lord Mayor Jane Henshaw’s chosen charity, Cardiff Foodbank, and thanked Cllrs Kanaya Singh and Joel Williams for their involvement.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the Replacement Local Development Plan Deposit Plan (as set out in Appendix 1) for consultation purposes; 2. To approve the revised timetable for the preparation of the Replacement Local Development Plan (as set out in this report) so it can be formally submitted to Welsh Government for their consideration and agreement.
Council was asked to approve the Replacement Local Development Plan 2021 to 2036 Deposit Plan for consultation, as well as the revised timetable for the preparation of the RLDP. The report was proposed by Cllr De’Ath and seconded by Cllr Thomas. The Lord Mayor invited debate on the report, before moving to the vote. FOR (59) Cllrs Abdul-Sattar, Ali Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed, Ali, Ash-Edwards, Berman, Boes, Bowen-Thomson, Bradbury, Bridgeman, Burke, Carr, Carter, Chowdhury, Cunnah, De’Ath, Derbyshire, Ebrahim, Ferguson-Thorne, Gibson, Green, Gunter, Hinchey, Hopkins, Humphreys, Hunt, Jenkins, Jackie Jones, Owen Jones, Latif, Lay, Lent, Lewis, Lister, Littlechild, Livesy, Mackie, McGarry, Merry, Michael, Molik, Moultrie, Naughton, Palmer, Proctor, Reid-Jones, Sangani, Shimmin, Simmons, Singh, Stubbs, Taylor, Thomas, Thomson, Thorne, Waldron, Weaver, Wong and Wood AGAINST (9) Cllrs Brown-Reckless, Cowan, Davies, Driscoll, Lancaster, McEvoy, Owen, Robson and Williams ABSTAIN (0) RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the Replacement Local Development Plan Deposit Plan (as set out in Appendix 1) for consultation purposes; 2. To approve the revised timetable for the preparation of the Replacement Local Development Plan (as set out in this report) so it can be formally submitted to Welsh Government for their consideration and agreement.
Leader’s Statement In addition to his published statement, Cllr Thomas confirmed that the First Minister had made the decision to grant planning permission for Cardiff Parkway, and welcomed this as good news for the city. He then responded to questions in relation to: - proposals to restrict student parking; - the Core Cities UK devolution framework; - cuts to Shared Prosperity Funding; - Ed Sheeran’s visit to Fitzalan High School; - the Cardiff Parkway decision. Deputy Leader and Education Statement Cllr Merry responded to questions in relation to: - Fitzalan High School’s positive Estyn report; - the ground-breaking ceremony at the Court School/Ysgol Cynefin; - recruitment of the governing body of the Court School/Ysgol Cynefin. Children’s Services, Tackling Poverty & Supporting Young People Statement Cllrs Lister and Bradbury responded to questions in relation to: - support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children; - speech and language provision in Cardiff; - the Play Sufficiency Assessment 2025-28. Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services Statement Cllr Mackie responded to questions in relation to: - additional green bin collections; - making the segregated recycling scheme more accessible for elderly residents; - the number of dogs adopted from Cardiff Dogs Home; - an impact assessment on the rollout of the new recycling scheme; - public information regarding rogue traders; - preparing residents for new recycling schemes. Culture, Sport & Parks Statement Cllr Burke responded to questions in relation to: - the refurbishment of Pentwyn Leisure Centre; - Llanrumney Skatepark and the importance of parks to residents. Finance, Modernisation & Performance Statement Cllr Weaver responded to questions in relation to: - accommodating and responding to residents’ feedback from the budget consultation; - the possibilities of the Cardiff Gov mobile app during elections and weather warnings; - a potential briefing session on the council’s use of AI. Housing & Communities Statement Cllrs Thorne and Bridgeman responded to questions in relation to: - a residents’ meeting about the Waungron Road development; - Fairwater RFC’s fundraising efforts; - increased wardens in the City Centre; - the new play area in Splott Park; - plans for a new community space in Penylan Library. Investment & Development Statement Cllr Goodway responded to questions in relation to: - the International Sports Village; - Maindy Velodrome; - Wales in London Week; - the M4 relief road; - increased Employer National Insurance Contributions. Adult Services and Public Health & Equality Statement Cllrs Thomson and Sangani responded to questions in relation to: - hospital discharge funding; - the Community Cohesion Fund; - discouraging vaping among young people; - the Neurodivergent Friendly Cardiff website; - the Splott Games Festival; - cuts to support payments for Ukrainians in Cardiff. Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport Statement Cllr De’Ath responded to questions in relation to: - bus stop and service improvements; - the Castle Street cycleway; - consultation on the bus priority strategy.
The first Notice of Motion was withdrawn prior to the meeting.
Part of an issue followed across 8 meetings
The Lord Mayor noted that a Notice of Motion proposed by Cllr Davies and seconded by Cllr Lancaster had been received for consideration. The Lord Mayor invited Cllr Davies to propose the Motion as follows: This Council notes: - the increase in employer National Insurance rates that are due to come in as a result of the British Labour Government’s Budget; - that such an increase will mean increased costs for companies and organisations that are engaged in the Council’s supply chains and those with which the Council would wish to enter contracts to deliver services or projects. The Council believes: - the increase will have a negative impact on both small businesses and major employers and, consequently, workers across Cardiff; - the increase will have a negative impact on local charities’ ability to operate effectively and efficiently; - the increase will have a detrimental effect on Council spending, further limiting the Local Authority’s ability to pay for frontline services. The Council resolves: - to write to the Chancellor, Secretary of State for Wales, and Secretary of State for Local Government to reflect this belief – calling for the policy to be dropped; - that its representatives at the Welsh Local Government Association make the case for the WLGA to do the same; - to publish forecast costs of the NICs increase; - to commit to ensuring the cost of the increase to school budgets will be fully funded; - to publish, via the Economic Development Department, any feedback from businesses and organisations they work with, detailing their views on the increase. The Motion was formally seconded by Cllr Lancaster. An Amendment to the Motion had been received from the Liberal Democrat group. The Lord Mayor called upon Cllr Berman to move the Amendment as follows: This Council notes: - the increase in employer National Insurance rates that are due to come in as a result of the British Labour Government’s Budget; - that such an increase will mean increased costs for companies and organisations that are engaged in the Council’s supply chains and those with which the Council would wish to enter contracts to deliver services or projects. The Council believes: - the increase will have a negative impact on both small businesses and major employers and, consequently, workers across Cardiff; - the increase will have a negative impact on local charities’ ability to operate effectively and efficiently; - the increase will have a detrimental effect on Council spending, further limiting the Local Authority’s ability to pay for frontline services. - Insert that it’s a bit rich for Conservative councillors to complain about the impact of the current UK Government’s budget on the council’s ability to pay for frontline services after years of underfunding for public services in Wales through the block grant to the Welsh Government under successive Conservative UK Governments and the disastrous impact on the UK economy of the September 2022 “mini budget” under former Conservative Prime Minister, Liz Truss - Insert that instead of increasing employer National Insurance rates, the UK Government could have sought to raise more funding for public services by other means, including through measures such as: a) Insert reversing cuts to taxes on big banks previously introduced by the Conservatives, restoring Bank Surcharge and Bank Levy revenues to 2016 levels b) Insert raising the digital services tax on social media and tech giants c) Insert extending the windfall tax on oil and gas super-profits to apply to profits made since October 2021 The Council resolves: - to write to the Chancellor, Secretary of State for Wales, and Secretary of State for Local Government to reflect this belief – calling for the policy to be dropped; - that its representatives at the Welsh Local Government Association make the case for the WLGA to do the same; - to publish forecast costs of the NICs increase; - to commit to ensuring the cost of the increase to school budgets will be fully funded; - to publish, via the Economic Development Department, any feedback from businesses and organisations they work with, detailing their views on the increase. The amended motion would read as follows: This Council notes: - the increase in employer National Insurance rates that are due to come in as a result of the British Labour Government’s Budget; - that such an increase will mean increased costs for companies and organisations that are engaged in the Council’s supply chains and those with which the Council would wish to enter contracts to deliver services or projects. The Council believes: - the increase will have a negative impact on both small businesses and major employers and, consequently, workers across Cardiff; - the increase will have a negative impact on local charities’ ability to operate effectively and efficiently; - the increase will have a detrimental effect on Council spending, further limiting the Local Authority’s ability to pay for frontline services. - that it’s a bit rich for Conservative councillors to complain about the impact of the current UK Government’s budget on the council’s ability to pay for frontline services after years of underfunding for public services in Wales through the block grant to the Welsh Government under successive Conservative UK Governments and the disastrous impact on the UK economy of the September 2022 “mini budget” under former Conservative Prime Minister, Liz Truss - that instead of increasing employer National Insurance rates, the UK Government could have sought to raise more funding for public services by other means, including through measures such as: a) reversing cuts to taxes on big banks previously introduced by the Conservatives, restoring Bank Surcharge and Bank Levy revenues to 2016 levels b) raising the digital services tax on social media and tech giants c) extending the windfall tax on oil and gas super-profits to apply to profits made since October 2021 The Council resolves: - to write to the Chancellor, Secretary of State for Wales, and Secretary of State for Local Government to reflect this belief – calling for the policy to be dropped; - that its representatives at the Welsh Local Government Association make the case for the WLGA to do the same; - to publish forecast costs of the NICs increase; - to commit to ensuring the cost of the increase to school budgets will be fully funded; - to publish, via the Economic Development Department, any feedback from businesses and organisations they work with, detailing their views on the increase. The first Amendment was formally seconded by Cllr Carter. The Lord Mayor invited debate on the Motion and Amendment. The Lord Mayor invited Cllr Davies to respond to the issues raised during the debate. He confirmed that the Amendment was not accepted. The Amendment having not been accepted, the Lord Mayor moved to the vote on the Amendment as proposed by Cllr Berman and seconded by Cllr Carter. FOR (13) Cllrs Saleh Ahmed, Berman, Carter, Gibson, Hopkins, Latif, Livesy, Molik, Naughton, Shimmin, Taylor, Waldron and Wood AGAINST (56) Cllrs Abdul-Sattar, Ali Ahmed, Ali, Ash-Edwards, Bowen-Thomson, Bradbury, Bridgeman, Brown-Reckless, Burke, Carr, Chowdhury, Cowan, Cunnah, Davies, De’Ath, Derbyshire, Driscoll, Ebrahim, Ferguson-Thorne, Goodway, Green, Gunter, Hinchey, Humphreys, Hunt, Jenkins, Jackie Jones, Owen Jones, Kaaba, Lancaster, Lay, Lent, Lewis, Lister, Littlechild, Mackie, McGarry, Merry, Michael, Moultrie, Owen, Palmer, Parry, Proctor, Reid-Jones, Robson, Sangani, Simmons, Singh, Stubbs, Thomas, Thomson, Thorne, Weaver, Williams and Wong ABSTAIN (0) The Amendment having been lost, the Lord Mayor moved to the vote on the Substantive Motion as proposed by Cllr Davies and seconded by Cllr Lancaster. FOR (9) Cllrs Brown-Reckless, Cowan, Davies, Driscoll, Kaaba, Lancaster, Owen, Robson and Williams AGAINST (47) Cllrs Abdul-Sattar, Ali Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed, Ali, Ash-Edwards, Bowen-Thomson, Bradbury, Bridgeman, Burke, Carr, Chowdhury, Cunnah, De’Ath, Derbyshire, Ebrahim, Ferguson-Thorne, Goodway, Green, Gunter, Hinchey, Humphreys, Hunt, Jenkins, Jackie Jones, Owen Jones, Latif, Lay, Lent, Lewis, Lister, Mackie, McGarry, Merry, Michael, Moultrie, Palmer, Proctor, Sangani, Simmons, Singh, Stubbs, Taylor, Thomas, Thomson, Thorne, Weaver and Wong ABSTAIN (12) Cllrs Berman, Carter, Gibson, Hopkins, Littlechild, Livesy, Molik, Naughton, Reid-Jones, Shimmin, Waldron and Wood The Motion was LOST.
Part of an issue followed across 5 meetings
The Lord Mayor noted that a Notice of Motion proposed by Cllr Gunter and seconded by Cllr Thorne had been received for consideration. The Lord Mayor invited Cllr Gunter to propose the Motion as follows: This year marks the 8th anniversary of the Grenfell Tragedy. There are currently 433 buildings in the Welsh Building Safety Programme, with Cardiff having the highest number of affected buildings, and hundreds of residents living in these buildings awaiting an unacceptably long time for the completion of safety remediation work. This Council notes: - the benefits of the introduction of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill, scheduled by the Welsh Government for summer 2025, which represents the next stage of the new building control regime, introducing greater scrutiny and new duty holder responsibilities, to ensure the safety of future developments. - that the Welsh Government’s remediation plans are more ambitious than the UK Government’s Remediation Acceleration Plan, including apartment blocks over 11 metres and a wider range of building safety issues beyond cladding. - that the Welsh Government’s Building Safety Team regularly meets with the Strategic Stakeholder Group, an independent advisory group with representatives from different sectors affected by fire safety issues, including some leaseholders and residents. - the onboarding of additional organisations to deal with the high volume of assessor work, which has caused backlogs and delays, to expand the capacity for the assessment and planning elements of the process. - that all the large developers have signed contracts to remediate their buildings, but that work to date has been slow and can be inconsistent. The Council believes: - the safety and well-being of residents is a paramount concern. - more effective, clear, and timely communication to affected leaseholders and residents, keeping them informed and engaged, could alleviate some of the anxiety and stress experienced. - no resident living in an affected apartment should be placed in a situation of financial hardship, such as negative equity or a massive increase in service charge costs, as a direct consequence of the remediation process. - the timescale delays to address the ongoing building safety issues are causing significant financial hardship and wellbeing issues for many residents who are yet to see any works completed. - that the Welsh Government Minister’s restatement that the cost of remediation work should not be borne by leaseholders is a principle still strongly supported by this Council, as demonstrated through a previous Council motion. - the ambition and approach of addressing a wider range of building safety issues in more buildings is an effective long-term course of action, so it is vital in the meantime that interim measures are also taken to keep residents safe. - that ensuring developers’ commitments are met promptly and thoroughly is essential. - action should be taken to address matters outside of the control of developers, such as delays due to a lack of qualified contractors to complete a high volume of contracts, or to address contractors’ concerns about future liability for interim work undertaken. The Council resolves to: - write out to all those in affected buildings informing them of Council advice services, to support any resident who may be in financial need. - support the implementation of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill and advocate for the swift adoption and enforcement of the Bill's provisions Call on Welsh Government to: - implement a dedicated channel of communication with all leaseholders, tenants, and residents enabling them to interact directly with the Building Safety Team. - consider how to ease some of the financial burden on individuals facing hardship. - consider what sanctions they can bring against developers who haven’t yet started works or cause any further avoidable delay. - reconsider establishing a grant to install sprinkler systems in affected buildings awaiting full remediation works. - ensure the provision of appropriate levels of training and resources for the Council to carry out the new duties of the proposed Bill. The Motion was formally seconded by Cllr Thorne. An Amendment to the Motion had been received from the Liberal Democrat group. The Lord Mayor called upon Cllr Wood to move the Amendment as follows: Add additional point at ‘Call on Welsh Government to:’ - Insert Reconsider the government’s position on the introduction of sections 116-125 of the Building Safety Act 2022, or sections to their effect, into Welsh legislation to provide further protections to leaseholders. The amended motion would read as follows: This year marks the 8th anniversary of the Grenfell Tragedy. There are currently 433 buildings in the Welsh Building Safety Programme, with Cardiff having the highest number of affected buildings, and hundreds of residents living in these buildings awaiting an unacceptably long time for the completion of safety remediation work. This Council notes: - the benefits of the introduction of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill, scheduled by the Welsh Government for summer 2025, which represents the next stage of the new building control regime, introducing greater scrutiny and new duty holder responsibilities, to ensure the safety of future developments. - that the Welsh Government’s remediation plans are more ambitious than the UK Government’s Remediation Acceleration Plan, including apartment blocks over 11 metres and a wider range of building safety issues beyond cladding. - that the Welsh Government’s Building Safety Team regularly meets with the Strategic Stakeholder Group, an independent advisory group with representatives from different sectors affected by fire safety issues, including some leaseholders and residents. - the onboarding of additional organisations to deal with the high volume of assessor work, which has caused backlogs and delays, to expand the capacity for the assessment and planning elements of the process. - that all the large developers have signed contracts to remediate their buildings, but that work to date has been slow and can be inconsistent. The Council believes: - the safety and well-being of residents is a paramount concern. - more effective, clear, and timely communication to affected leaseholders and residents, keeping them informed and engaged, could alleviate some of the anxiety and stress experienced. - no resident living in an affected apartment should be placed in a situation of financial hardship, such as negative equity or a massive increase in service charge costs, as a direct consequence of the remediation process. - the timescale delays to address the ongoing building safety issues are causing significant financial hardship and wellbeing issues for many residents who are yet to see any works completed. - that the Welsh Government Minister’s restatement that the cost of remediation work should not be borne by leaseholders is a principle still strongly supported by this Council, as demonstrated through a previous Council motion. - the ambition and approach of addressing a wider range of building safety issues in more buildings is an effective long-term course of action, so it is vital in the meantime that interim measures are also taken to keep residents safe. - that ensuring developers’ commitments are met promptly and thoroughly is essential. - action should be taken to address matters outside of the control of developers, such as delays due to a lack of qualified contractors to complete a high volume of contracts, or to address contractors’ concerns about future liability for interim work undertaken. The Council resolves to: - write out to all those in affected buildings informing them of Council advice services, to support any resident who may be in financial need. - support the implementation of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill and advocate for the swift adoption and enforcement of the Bill's provisions Call on Welsh Government to: - implement a dedicated channel of communication with all leaseholders, tenants, and residents enabling them to interact directly with the Building Safety Team. - consider how to ease some of the financial burden on individuals facing hardship. - consider what sanctions they can bring against developers who haven’t yet started works or cause any further avoidable delay. - reconsider establishing a grant to install sprinkler systems in affected buildings awaiting full remediation works. - ensure the provision of appropriate levels of training and resources for the Council to carry out the new duties of the proposed Bill. - reconsider the government’s position on the introduction of sections 116-125 of the Building Safety Act 2022, or sections to their effect, into Welsh legislation to provide further protections to leaseholders. The first Amendment was formally seconded by Cllr Taylor. The Lord Mayor invited debate on the Motion and Amendment. The Lord Mayor invited Cllr Gunter to respond to the issues raised during the debate and confirmed that the Amendment was accepted. The Amendment having been accepted, the Lord Mayor moved to the vote on the Substantive Motion as amended by Cllr Wood and seconded by Cllr Taylor. FOR (65) Cllrs Abdul-Sattar, Ali Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed, Ali, Ash-Edwards, Berman, Bowen-Thomson, Bradbury, Bridgeman, Burke, Carr, Carter, Chowdhury, Cowan, Cunnah, Davies, De’Ath, Derbyshire, Driscoll, Ebrahim, Ferguson-Thorne, Gibson, Goodway, Green, Gunter, Hinchey, Hopkins, Humphreys, Hunt, Jenkins, Jackie Jones, Owen Jones, Kaaba, Lancaster, Lay, Lent, Lewis, Lister, Littlechild, Livesy, McGarry, Merry, Michael, Molik, Moultrie, Naughton, Owen, Palmer, Parry, Proctor, Reid-Jones, Robson, Sangani, Shimmin, Simmons, Singh, Stubbs, Taylor, Thomas, Thomson, Thorne, Waldron, Weaver, Wong and Wood AGAINST (1) Cllr Latif ABSTAIN (0) The Motion was CARRIED.
Part of an issue followed across 2 meetings
There were 21 oral questions. 1. Cllr Molik to Cllr Mackie, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services In light of the stated ‘successful trial’ for segregated waste collection, could you define success? Are we actually seeing an increase in our city recycling record? Reply – Cllr Mackie The new sack sort recycling scheme has been implemented in 96,000 properties now in Cardiff. This method of collecting recycling from residents' homes has significantly enhanced the quality of recyclables collected, reducing the contamination from 30% to approximately 4%, which I think is excellent. Cardiff's recycling performance for Q1 and Q2 in 2024/25 was 66.52% and 65.70% respectively, averaging 66.11% for the first half of the year. This is a 4% improvement from the same period last year, representing 1,620 tonnes – 68 fully loaded articulated lorries full of additional recycling. Supplementary – Cllr Molik As you heard from Cllr Hopkins, my colleague, the separated waste collection will be rolling out in Cyncoed, my ward, and I do feel somewhat nervous about it because I’m seeing comments from residents who have already experienced this who are having problems, actually giving up on the whole aspect of recycling. It was good to hear the figures that Cllr Mackie just quoted, I looked this up and it shows a 62% recycling rate in Cardiff in 22/23. In 23/24 it’s a 60% recycling rate. Are we ever going to hit the 70% that the Welsh Government has tasked as the statutory recycling rate target for us? Reply – Cllr Mackie We certainly hope we will, and we hope we will this year after we’ve got everybody on the scheme. If we look at the levels that have gone up since we started it, when everybody is doing it properly and we have good cleansing teams following restructuring behind us, then I think people will be more than happy with the system. There’s always going to be little tweaks we have to make for different individuals and for people maybe with mobility issues or something. All our houses are different, aren’t they, and have different needs, some with front gardens and some without, and the idea is that we’ll make sure the streets are clean once the collections have been done. I’m sure the recycling rates will go up from there because the waste won’t be on the street, it’ll be in the right containers. I am confident we’ll reach the 70%. 2. Cllr Robson to Cllr Thomas, Leader of the Council Has the First Minister advised Cardiff Council of her decision regarding the Cardiff Parkway planning application? Reply – Cllr Thomas Yes, she has. Supplementary – Cllr Robson As you’ll be well aware, this has taken two years as it works its way round whatever machinations the Welsh government has implemented on it, and it’s been stuck over there across the water before we had a decision. Do you agree with me that firstly, if we’d had a decision much sooner, the railway station would probably be completed or nearly completed by now, and do you think there is a case for the Welsh government to review its procedures when making important decisions to benefit the Welsh economy, because otherwise, the reputation of investing in Wales is really diminished, and other businesses will look elsewhere to invest their hard-earned money? Reply – Cllr Thomas I don’t think we need to re-rehearse the frustration felt on all sides of the chamber by the time it has taken to come to this point. But I think we need to give the First Minister huge credit for the change in approach that she has initiated in the Welsh government, not just as seen on this decision but actually there are multiple planning decisions. I’m thinking about some of the significant wind farm proposals that have been finally signed off and approved in recent months, demonstrating, I think, her commitment and focus on delivering growth for the Welsh economy, matching the ambition being set out by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and the UK government therefore. So I think there are clear lessons to be learned. I think it’s widely acknowledged that reforms within the planning system are critical to unlocking the growth that we all wish to see in our country, and as the UK government embarks on that exercise in England, we are already feeding in as a council here in Cardiff to the Welsh government, actually fairly quick and straightforward changes that could be implemented in the planning system in Wales that would enable planning to be done quicker and growth to be delivered. 3. Cllr Littlechild to Cllr De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport Over recent years, the St Ederyns estate in Old St. Mellons have been left with no community facilities, no finished roads, or pavements and play areas, allotments, river crossings, and all the while Persimmon have been selling houses and profiting from local residents. Why are developers allowed not to deliver on the agreed planning and 106 projects? Reply – Cllr De’Ath I totally get your frustrations and your residents’ frustrations around some of this, I think the picture is mixed. I understand progress is being made in respect of the allotment and community orchards, which are now being built out. In respect of the adoptable section 38 roadworks, they will be fully completed in the next 18 months. With respect to community facilities, I understand Persimmon have completed their obligations specified in the section 106 agreement. There are ongoing discussions being held with the council as well as the headteacher to ascertain the timeframe for their use. A substantial 106 contribution to pump-prime the bus service was made by Persimmon, and the 57/58 bus service site is now run fully by Welsh government bus network grant. But I recognise that actually there are issues which haven’t been satisfactorily resolved, such as the river crossing or bridge. Our officers are meeting Persimmon in the next two or three weeks, they’re going to have quite a frank conversation with them and try and get some really firm commitments and firm timescales from them. If they don’t provide those, we’ll think about taking decisive action including formal enforcement. Supplementary – Cllr Littlechild To put it in some respect, it’s been over seven years for this to get to this point. Do you think that it’s fair, then, that residents of St Ederyns have to pay full council tax whilst not receiving the same level of service as others across the ward? Plus, they have to pay the Old St Mellons Community Council a precept and also management companies a fee. Reply – Cllr De’Ath Whilst there are these issues, they’re still relying on the same services most people get, education etc. I mean, look, we’re hoping to get these things resolved, it’s something we take very, very seriously. There are obviously informal talks happening within the next month and we’ll obviously update you on their outcome. But if Persimmon don’t start playing ball, as I said, then we’ll look at serious formal action. 4. Cllr Ali to Cllr Thorne, Cabinet Member for Housing & Communities Can the Cabinet Member provide an update on the outstanding work for the BISF homes in Llandaff North? Reply – Cllr Thorne I am pleased to report that we’ll making a start on the retrofitting of council-owned BISF properties in Llandaff North next month. The scheme includes 100 council-owned homes and 152 privately owned properties. New regulations have meant that each property has benefitted from an in-depth survey prior to the work commencing, which will provide a comprehensive baseline against which to judge the outcomes of the work. It's expected that the work will be undertaken on four council properties simultaneously, with each project requiring approximately 8 weeks to reach completion. Plans are in place to arrange for the finished product to be showcased to other BISF residents to encourage as many owner-occupiers as possible to participate in the scheme. We are currently in discussion with the Welsh government to secure funding for these private properties past March 2025. We’re optimistic about a positive outcome and are committed to delivering the best results for all our projects. We currently anticipate that all properties will be completed by December 2027. 5. Cllr Berman to Cllr Burke, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport & Parks St David’s Hall has now been closed since September 2023 due to the presence of RAAC in its roof, and yet we seem no nearer to work being able to start on repairing the roof. Why has there been no update report this month to either the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee or Cabinet, despite the scrutiny committee previously having been told that one was expected? Reply – Cllr Burke Thank you for your question, I share your frustration. You will be aware from the various reports on the matter that the presence of RAAC is extensive throughout the building. Consequently, the replacement of the RAAC presents both a complex and challenging undertaking. Officers have been working closely with AMG on the work programme, which remains subject to planning and listed building consent. Once the details of the agreed programme including timelines are confirmed, a comprehensive update will be provided to the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee. Supplementary – Cllr Berman Why do we keep getting further delays, and things keep coming behind even what we’ve been told? We did get an update, actually, at the end of last week at the Governance & Audit Committee, and we were told that the conditions for the agreement for lease are likely to be satisfied by May 2025, following completion of the planning process which means that the building will then transfer to AMG at that time. That means, of course, that only then will AMG be able to start on the work, and that will take 18 months. So we’re now looking at autumn to winter of 2026 before St David’s Hall might reopen. Now, it’s interesting that that update is able to be provided to the Governance & Audit Committee but it’s not been provided to other committees. Why are we not giving full information out to all councillors to make sure this is all in the open? Reply – Cllr Burke Again, I share your frustrations, and I don’t think I’m betraying any confidences when I tell you that I have been very clear and firm with both the Leader and the Chief Executive to relay my frustrations in their conversations to AMG. I am sure that planning applications are expected imminently. Part of the issue has been that costs have gone up because of the extent of the RAAC, but that has now been signed off internally with the AMG board. They have been cautious in terms of the details that they shared, but again, as soon as I can share something, I absolutely will, and I’ve been clear with officers, the Leader and the Chief Executive that I am beyond frustrated at the current situation. 6. Cllr Williams to Cllr Thomas, Leader of the Council Cllr Thomas, in reply to a public question about Maindy Park at Full Council on the 30th June 2022 you gave assurances that the council prided itself on operating within the law. Due in no small part to diligent research by the community, it was recently acknowledged publicly by the council that it had acted in breach of the trust. It is understood that the council continued to do so for several years despite Cabinet having been made aware of it by an external expert. On behalf of our residents, I am now inviting you to correct the public record in respect of the council’s dealings over Maindy Park and to explain why no action was taken at the earliest opportunity to rectify the situation. Reply – Cllr Thomas I’m not too sure of the timelines you described there, but I can confirm that Cathays High School did temporarily utilise land at Maindy Park for car parking on the land that was previously occupied by a bowling club, but where the disused building had actually fallen into disrepair and been damaged by fire, resulting in them being demolished. This area of land was not accessible green space and, at the time, council officers were not aware of the trust implications and viewed the use of the land by the school as a practical solution to address the very poor state of the site at that time. The Charity Commission was notified of the breach as part of the application to support the land exchange at Maindy Park which, if approved, of course, would formally resolve the breach, and I would point out that it was the diligent work of council legal officers within the authority that identified the actual trust status. However, I should also point out that, in terms of resolving the breach, as an interim and swifter resolution, the car parking provision has been relocated to the Companies House site under a license agreement, effectively remedying the breach. Supplementary – Cllr Williams I am grateful that the Leader of the Council acknowledges the legitimate concerns expressed by the community, shared by a number of councillors in this chamber. What I’d now like to do in this supplementary is seek assurances that appropriate steps are being taken by the council to ensure that actually, in any other situation where the council is acting as trustee, this won’t be repeated, that we know the trusts in place, that we know what the trust documents state, and we know our responsibilities and obligations. I think it’s also important that we reset the relationship with residents regarding Maindy Park Trust, so would you take this opportunity to formally reset the relationship and commit to being transparent and open with the public over this issue? Reply – Cllr Thomas The council prides itself with being open and transparent with all its dealings, Cllr Williams, and I do come back to my words in that meeting on 30th June that you refer to in 2022, that the council does pride itself on adhering to the law. We employ legal officers to ensure that we do, and if there is an issue we seek to rectify it and make good on our mistakes. 7. Cllr Reid-Jones to Cllr Mackie, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services Can the Cabinet Member confirm the total cleanup costs associated with Storm Bert and Storm Darragh in Cardiff? Reply – Cllr Mackie Our Highways Team provided support to close roads to enable the removal of some storm damaged trees. However, the specific costs relating to a storm are difficult to define as highways provide an out of hours service anyway, 365 days of the year, to support emergency work in response to road traffic accidents, flooding and fallen trees. There is a budget for the out-of-hours service for dealing with storms, however the variance of spend will directly relate to the demand on the service and the work undertaken. Therefore, ongoing budget reviews are required due to the increase in storm events and the costs of the related increase in demand. In terms of our parks service, the cost of responding to and making safe storm damaged trees arising from Storm Bert totalled £418, it was only a small one. This was in stark contrast to the costs of responding to and making safe storm damaged trees arising from Storm Darragh, which totalled £52,000. Supplementary – Cllr Reid-Jones Residents in my ward believe some of the damage and resulting costs could have been avoided by carrying out regular preventative maintenance. Does the Cabinet Member agree we should be more proactive in ensuring regular preventative maintenance is carried out across the city? Reply – Cllr Mackie That’s a difficult one for me to answer, I think, because it was trees that fell. Most of the trees are dealt with by Parks and I’m not quite sure of their system for checking them, but I would be concerned if they weren’t regularly checked, I’m sure they are. 8. Cllr Proctor to Cllr Mackie, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services What is the council doing to support reusing, recycling and sustainable consumption? Reply – Cllr Mackie In 2023/24, the average person in Wales produced 445kg of total waste, and after recycling 296kg of this waste, 149kg had to be disposed of as residual waste as it was no good for recycling. In comparison, the average person in Cardiff produced 394kg of total waste, and after recycling 237kg of this waste, 157kg had to be disposed as residual waste. That’s showing that Cardiff is doing a lot better at producing recyclable waste and not residual waste. Each Cardiff resident is producing less total waste by over 50kg or over 11%, which also helps to reduce our carbon footprint. The council continues to promote re-use with third parties on our website and through our re-use shops, the cabin at Lamby Way, and I understand that you held your first re-use café last Sunday in Llanishen which was very successful – well done and thanks to all involved, great work. However, there is still a need to ensure residents in Cardiff recycle as much of their waste as possible, as our recycling performance is still over 6% lower than the Welsh average, but we are working hard to improve this. The change to segregated recycling across Cardiff, as I’ve said before, is improving the amount of recycling residents are doing, and ongoing support from residents is very much appreciated. 9. Cllr Naughton to Cllr Weaver, Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation & Performance What steps are the council taking to support people with learning difficulties in filling out the budget consultation? Reply – Cllr Weaver We are very committed to involving all residents in consultation and engagement work, something which our participation strategy makes very clear. All our survey questions are developed in accordance with the Gunning Principles and National Principles of Public Engagement, which means that we try to provide understandable information and make it easy for people to take part. Because the participation strategy places a focus on seldom heard groups, we have also been undertaking more targeted engagement with a number of specific groups in the city. We have specifically sought to involve those with learning difficulties in the budget consultation through face-to-face engagement where appropriate in our hubs and libraries, and through dialogue with partner organisations who advocate on their behalf. So as an example, since November last year, the council has been working with Cardiff People First, an advocacy organisation run for people with a learning disability, to arrange dedicated sessions to support those people with learning disabilities to complete surveys. As part of this work, alternative engagement methods are used to encourage people to take part and indicate their preferences using a person-led approach that is specifically tailored to support individuals. This approach has been recognised by partner organisations across the city, and I’m very grateful to the officers in the council who’ve helped to lead on that engagement process and make that happen. 10. Cllr Davies to Cllr De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport How much has the council budgeted for Traffic Regulation Orders, and does it wish us to use them to prevent congestion? Reply – Cllr De’Ath The average spend on TROs over the last three years was £240,000. It obviously varies year on year depending on timescales and what exactly we’re delivering. TROs are obviously subject to consultation and legal approval processes. Some of the funding for them comes from the transport budget or grants or developments or the local authority. We use them to manage the network, they support things like on-street parking, bus lanes, bus gates, yellow box junctions, loading and unloading, access, turning movements, weight restrictions, cycle lanes, and school streets and many more. So in the sense that they help us manage the network, and in the sense that they facilitate active travel schemes, it helps manage congestion in that way, I’m not sure if that’s what you were thinking of – so, yes. Supplementary – Cllr Davies I’m glad you mentioned yellow boxes at junctions because that’s actually specifically what I’m looking for. I raise this point because officers this week unfortunately have, I’m afraid, refused my request for a yellow box or grid to go on the main road outside Pugh’s Garden Centre in Morganstown. The reason I asked for this is because the area becomes really congested several times a year, particularly in the summer and at Christmas. This was turned down purely on the ground of cost, there’s no budget to do something like that. I mean, it’s a bit disappointing because it’s literally just, and I know there’s a whole process, but it is at the end of the day just some paint on the road, and we’ve seen that in some other places which actually don’t do anything for traffic management like on Castle Street. So what I’d like to know from the Cabinet Member would be, for such a Traffic Regulation Order, how much do you think it could be, as you talk about external funding. It would be interesting to know, and it would be really helpful for the council to take this modest step in addressing a significant issue in my ward, so I would implore officers to think again as well. Reply – Cllr De’Ath I appreciate your frustration. There is a cost to the legal process, it’s not just money for paint on the ground, there’s slightly more to it than that. I will speak to officers about the specific area you raise, I can’t promise we’ll be able to do it but leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do. 11. Cllr Reid-Jones to Cllr De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport Can the Cabinet Member outline the strategies used to manage traffic congestion pinch points in our city centre? Reply – Cllr De’Ath Junctions within the city centre area are all connected via a real-time urban traffic control system called SCOOT. It allocates green time where required on the network according to road user demands, thereby optimising the network’s capacity. The city centre is often subject to disruption due to roadworks, developments, transport projects, utility upgrades and so forth. The council takes a coordinated approach with stakeholders to manage the transport network to minimise disruption to it. We also seek to deliver active travel schemes to help people move away from private cars onto more sustainable modes of transport. Supplementary – Cllr Reid-Jones There seems to be an ongoing issue with accessing the highway from St David’s shopping centre at times, causing long delays. Is the Cabinet Member able to reassure car park users that this issue has been resolved? Reply – Cllr De’Ath I think it’s been a recent issue with St David’s caused by some utility works in that area. You will have seen the comments in the press over the weekend, there was also issues with drivers ignoring certain road signs and then turning round to try and come back out which caused major problems. Those utility works should be completed in the next week or so, which will improve the situation, we’re looking at ways to make the signage more clear, so hopefully yes. 12. Cllr Ali to Cllr Mackie, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services Can the Cabinet Member provide an update on the pavements and road resurfacing in Llandaff North? Reply – Cllr Mackie The following surfaced works have been undertaken in Llandaff North in 2024. Taff Trail, Hailey Park footpath resurfaced; Clyro Place, tactile crossing point and footway resurfacing on Clyro Place including a section of Hawthorn Road East; and at College Road, the carriageway resurfacing. Maintenance teams will be compiling their scheme lists over the next two months for the programme for 25/26, and the final list will be agreed when available budgets have been set. 13. Cllr Shimmin to Cllr De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport In view that we were told that the changes at the junction outside Penylan Library would not lead to an increase in traffic along Sandringham Road, why has a dedicated right turn waiting area been put on Penylan Road to help direct more traffic down this side street next to a school and nursery? Reply – Cllr De’Ath I should make clear that the right turn lane does not direct traffic to turn down the side road. As with many priority junctions throughout the UK, the purpose of a right turn lane at a priority junction is to improve traffic flow and safety by providing a dedicated space for vehicles to wait to turn. Supplementary – Cllr Shimmin With the increase in traffic along the side street caused by the recent junction works and closure of Alder Road, will the Cabinet Member commit to properly reviewing how these arrangements are working, including looking at whether improvements might now be warranted to the junction of Penylan Road, Kimberley Road and Ty Draw Road, which has seen an increase in activity? Reply – Cllr De’Ath As the councillor will be aware, we’ve already committed to monitoring traffic in this area. Just to reiterate, the right turn lane is not to direct traffic down that side road, that’s literally how they work. 14. Cllr Driscoll (on behalf of Cllr Cowan) to Cllr Thorne, Cabinet Member for Housing & Communities Does the Cabinet Member agree that the target date of six months for some works to council homes is too long, and will they revisit the policy? Reply – Cllr Thorne The target response time for our Responsive Repair teams depends on the level of risk to person or property. Jobs are categorised as emergency, urgent, routine or planned programme priorities. Improvements to maintain or replace items such as fencing, railings and line posts are deemed to be less urgent and so would fit in the planned programme priority. The target completion date for these jobs is six months, however if able, we will try and complete it sooner than the target date. By taking this approach, we can maximise our resources by scheduling this non-essential exterior work in the dryer months of the year. This reduces both weather-related delays and increases resources during wetter months to deal with the increased demand for damp and mould cases, heating breakdowns and urgent roofing repairs. Contract holders can contact us if the issues worsen and we will try if we can to prioritise those jobs. Supplementary – Cllr Driscoll (on behalf of Cllr Cowan) Jane speaks of the experiences of issues raised with her by her residents, but from my own experience of speaking with officers and dealings with council surveyors, who are frustrated, they tell me, at delays from Building Services in implementing some work, and issues of not reporting back when there are delays. Is this something you’ve encountered or others, and what can you do to improve that? Reply – Cllr Thorne I think I’d need to talk to you about that because I’m not sure what you’re suggesting, so if we can have a chat about it please. 15. Cllr Green to Cllr De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport How is the council ensuring road safety for pupils outside Tongwynlais Primary School? Reply – Cllr De’Ath Officers are aware of concerns about traffic and parking at during the morning and afternoon school peaks. They are due to meet with the headteacher on 4th February to observe traffic and discuss what measures can be implemented. They think it may be possible to install parking restrictions, with a part-time loading ban south of the zebra zigzags extending to the junction of Merthyr Road and Ironbridge Road, as well on the junction of Cae Lewis and part of the highway opposite the school. This would be subject to what is observed and what is required. There would have to be a Traffic Regulation Order that would be subject to public consultation. Officers would be happy to discuss the outcomes of the meeting and any follow-up actions with the local ward members. Supplementary – Cllr Green Thank you for the answer, some great stuff there and I’m glad you have been listening to the representations made, not just by the ward councillors but the community council, the local PCSOs and the school, so glad to see that moving forward and I look forward to hearing more about it. Along with this, we are having an issue of HGVs rat-running from the A470 trying to cut through onto the motorway. As part of this, could we investigate the possibility of having restrictions during these times on HGVs so they’re not rat-running through the village when children are trying to go to school? Reply – Cllr De’Ath Well done to you and your ward colleagues for your vigorous campaigning around this issue. I’m happy to discuss that possibility with officers and they can update you when they discuss the wider school-related issues. 16. Cllr Berman to Cllr Mackie, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services Whilst the council considers the roll-out of the new segregated recycling system a success, many residents who have contacted me since its introduction in Penylan do not share that view as they are unhappy with the red and blue sacks, because they a) lead to increased issues with litter being spilled due to their design, meaning streets are messier; and b) are not always correctly returned after being emptied, or are blown around the street after they have been emptied. Will the council therefore commit to reviewing its use of these sacks, to see if something better could be put in place which could reduce the problems I have described? Reply – Cllr Mackie The move to reusable glass caddy and reusable sacks for recycling have reduced the use of single-use plastic bags. Before these changes, the council provided residents with over 24 million single-use bags annually for co-mingled dry recycling. The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Act 2023 makes it an offence to supply or offer certain single-use plastic products to consumers in Wales. Therefore, it was necessary for local authorities to act in accordance with the Act and support the legislative changes, which we did. The service area continues to review and improve the implementation of the segregated recycling scheme, and has identified a number of related improvements which are being actioned. These include further briefings for collection vehicle loaders to ensure that the sacks are completely emptied, and this practice will be closely monitored by supervisors – making sure that they empty them before they move away from the lorry and not spill it over the road. Following a planned restructure of cleansing services, a team of litter pickers will follow the collection crews on their runs to ensure that street cleanliness is maintained. In addition, a review of the red and blue reusable sacks is planned in due course to determine if any further improvements can be made. Supplementary – Cllr Berman I welcome some of what you’ve said in that response, particularly the fact that there will be a review of the red and blue sacks. I think one of the issues is that I appreciate the green bags were single use plastic, but of course people could tie them to stop things spilling out, whereas the red and blue sacks have sort of got gaps at the sides and things do come out. Also, as I say, they get blown around afterwards because they’re not heavy enough. The green bags didn’t have to be returned but these do have to be returned. So, could you perhaps tell us, in terms of that review you referred to about the red and blue sacks, what sort of timeframe can we expect that review to be undertaken in, and when do you think we might get some conclusions as to whether or not anything will be changed? Reply – Cllr Mackie We’re at an early stage yet, we haven’t even gone out to the whole of the county. It’s an education for people, if you pull the top over far enough and use the Velcro properly, very few items come out, and they are weighted at the bottom so they stay there. It’s sometimes messy when the crews are putting them into the lorry, and that’s what we’re trying to stop. They’re weighted so they shouldn’t fly about, but for people with gardens we’re asking the crews to put the bags back over the fence or the wall into the gardens, or hang them on the fence if they’ve got one. Where we’ve got houses with no front garden then it’s a bit more difficult, what we’re saying to crews then is if you’ve emptied the glass bottle bins, the bags go into the bin, or if there’s an empty food bin you can put them underneath to stabilise the bags. We’re looking at different ways of working first to see if that works. They can be squashed down quite small to make it work. The same system is used throughout Wales, really, everybody’s using them now, and we’re all finding different ways of making the best of it. The use of reusable boxes for recycling was considered, but there were concerns about how they’d be emptied into the vehicle and stored by residents in smaller households. The bags can crumple down and stay outside or under a bit of a shelter outside, and you can have your new bag inside and top it up on collection day. With boxes, you’re a bit more limited. I think it’ll work in the end, and in the other counties where they’ve been doing it for longer, they seem to have got it generally sussed. 17. Cllr Lancaster to Cllr Merry, Cabinet Member for Education Did the Cabinet Member provide a formal response to the Welsh government’s recent consultation on ending business rate relief for independent schools with charitable status? If so, what response did you provide? Reply – Cllr Merry No, I did not. Supplementary – Cllr Lancaster It’s disappointing that the Cabinet Member didn’t take the opportunity to actually stand up for some of our schools, because we have five independent schools with charitable status in Cardiff, and they of course will now suffer an increase in costs as a result of the removal of this relief. So, what actually will be the cost to these schools as a result of this change, and what will be the increase in costs for Cardiff Council if we don’t send pupils, for example those pupils with special educational needs, to those particular schools? Reply – Cllr Merry The Welsh government estimates that the change will bring in £1.3m, that’s the additional funding for the Welsh government. In terms of additional costs, I’d like to refer you to the IFS figures which, in terms of the national impact of that change, reckon there will be £1.3bn-£1.5bn extra going into the coffers of the tax office, but an insignificant increase in costs with additional children entering the state system. The figures supplied by the independent schools themselves gave an average relief of £75,000 per school, which is less than 2% of the overall fee increase. I would also point you to the figures which were based on information provided as part of the Independent Schools Council’s annual census, which shows that private school fees actually increased by 50% between 2008 and 2018, and presumably even the Conservative opposition could hardly put that increase at the door of the Labour government, and there is absolutely no impact on the figures attending private school. And I just really wish the opposition actually showed as much concern about the funding of our state schools. 18. Cllr Jenkins to Cllr Mackie, Cabinet Member for Waste, Street Scene & Environmental Services How many times in the past twelve months have parking enforcement officers visited Caewal Road? Reply – Cllr Mackie Caewal Road only has a Traffic Regulation Order for double yellow lines at the junction with Ely Road. Since the start of 2024, we have received two complaints about vehicles parked on these double yellow lines. Civil Parking Enforcement Officers have attended once, but there were no vehicles parked in contravention and so no Penalty Charge Notices were issued. We have also attended Ely Road three times in this period, and again there were no vehicles parked in contravention and so no PCNs were issued. The enforcement of issues such as obstruction and pavement parking are matters for the police, so we don’t know whether there has been issues there, but we’ve not found any contraventions, sorry. 19. Cllr Carr to Cllr De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning & Transport What is Cardiff Council doing to ensure the preservation of the old Whitchurch Hospital? Reply – Cllr De’Ath While previous planning proposals to develop the wider Whitchurch Hospital site did not come to fruition, contributing to the neglect of these buildings, planning officers have been engaging with NHS Wales and the Welsh Government over recent years to ensure that the site is protected and a new use of development can be brought forward in order to secure its future. The site is now entering a new chapter in its history, following its recent acquisition by Velindre University NHS Trust, who are working closely with planning officers and the Welsh government to put in place early interventions to clear vegetation, and to protect and secure the buildings through urgent repairs aimed at keeping the weather, people and vegetation out of the most significant structures on the site. Thereafter, planning officers, in consultation with local ward members, will continue to engage with the NHS Trust with a view to supporting them and bringing forward a new development proposal to secure the future of the listed buildings. Supplementary – Cllr Carr Thank you, Cllr De’Ath, to you and to your officers for the attention that’s given to this. Will you commit to coming out to meet with the AWEN volunteers and the historical society to come and talk to them about their ideas as well? Reply – Cllr De’Ath It would be my pleasure.
There was no urgent business.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: a. To approve the proposed allocation of seats on Committees to political groups in accordance with the Political Balance Rules as shown at Appendix A; b. To receive nominations for the proposed changes to committee membership; c. To approve the appointments to Committees as shown at Appendix B.
Council was asked to approve proposed allocation of seats on committees to political groups in accordance with the Political Balance Rules, and receive nominations for the proposed changes to committee membership. Cllr Berman stated that in terms of the Liberal Democrat group transfers at item 2a. The seat transferring from the Constitution Committee was his own, not Cllr Carter’s, and the seat transferring from the Democratic Services Committee was Cllr Wood’s, not Cllr Carter’s. RESOLVED: Council AGREED: a. To approve the proposed allocation of seats on Committees to political groups in accordance with the Political Balance Rules as shown at Appendix A; b. To receive nominations for the proposed changes to committee membership; c. To approve the appointments to Committees as shown at Appendix B.
Part of an issue followed across 3 meetings
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the appointment of Mrs Ruth Davies as independent member of the Standards and Ethics Committee for a term of 6 years.
Council was asked to approve for the appointment of an independent member of the Standards and Ethics Committee to fill a vacancy that had arisen. RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the appointment of Mrs Ruth Davies as independent member of the Standards and Ethics Committee for a term of 6 years.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the new appointments of Local Authority governors to the school governing bodies as set out in Appendix 1, each for a term of 4 years from the date of the appointment, in accordance with the recommendations of the Local Authority Governor Panel.
Council was asked to appoint Local Authority School Governors to fill vacancies. RESOLVED: Council AGREED: 1. To approve the new appointments of Local Authority governors to the school governing bodies as set out in Appendix 1, each for a term of 4 years from the date of the appointment, in accordance with the recommendations of the Local Authority Governor Panel.
In accordance with Council procedure Rule 17 (f) the Written Questions received for consideration and their responses are attached to the minutes.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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