CAMPAIGNING FOR A STRONGER, FAIRER, GREENER CARDIFF
The biggest threat to world peace is climate change. It cannot be fought with bullets, but decisions we take in our daily lives could help save our planet. Walking, cycling, catching the bus for short journeys; turning the tap off while brushing our teeth; insulating our homes; the food we eat -where does it come from? How was it produced? These are all choices that either help or harm the planet.
POWERHOUSE GARDENING HYB
I congratulate the group of volunteers growing a wealth of vegetables and herbs at the back of the Powerhouse to increase the availability of good food in their local community. Thanks to the staff at the Powerhouse for their support.
The Maelfa sale of surplus plants in June made enough money to cover the cost of next year’s seeds, so this is a project that could grow and grow.
Want to know more? Pop into the Powerhouse on Tuesday and Friday mornings to see how easy it is to grow your own. It tastes a lot better too.
I speak regularly in the Senedd on the struggle of many families to eat well. Some are addicted to Ultra Processed “food” pedalled by huge food interests that just want to make more money out of us. Most ready meals are full of additives topped with lashings of sugar, salt and fat – these are the main drivers of obesity and early death.
ACTIVE TRAVEL
Walking and cycling are great ways to make us healthier and happier, improve the air we all breathe and make our communities nicer places to live. Good leadership by Roath Park Primary School, in collaboration with Cardiff Council, Sustrans and Cycle UK has resulted in 90% of pupils walking or cycling to school. It is now the 3rd best school in Cardiff for active travel, and the 5th in Wales- Da Iawn!
Please encourage your local school to embrace active travel. It improves pupils’ health and readiness to learn, and reduces air pollution on our streets.
The cycle path on Cathays Terrace, surrounded by wildflowers is also great news for birds and insects as well as people.
DOORSTEP SEPARATION MAKES US MONEY
Penylan and Adamsdown are now helping Cardiff Council increase its recycling rate by separating glass, tin and plastics from paper and cardboard on the doorstep, joining early adopters Llanedeyrn and Pentwyn.
Every Cardiff household will be using the blue and red bags by the end of 2024. Then 70% of all Cardiff’s waste should get recycled, which is the all Wales target.
The pictures say it all: separated paper, cardboard, plastic and glass not contaminated by other products saves us money instead of costing councils to pay for incineration. No local authority can afford to delay the rollout of doorstep recycling. Businesses charge around £30 per tonne to incinerate contaminated recycling, whilst specialist firms pay £80-110 per tonne for separated glass and cardboard.
Wales is already 2nd in the world (after Austria) for recycling. We can play our part in saving our planet by becoming the world leader.
HOUSING, HOUSING, HOUSING!
Far too many families in Cardiff live in insecure private rented accommodation, waiting years to get a permanent home. The Welsh Government is building 20,000 new low carbon homes for rent over the 5 years up to 2026. In the first year 3,369 new houses were built. These include 9 family homes in Croft Street built by Cardiff Council. The YMCA has constructed 18 homes for single people.
Small building firms are encouraged to build to higher social housing standards so they can have a ready buyer in the Welsh Government. Investing in social housing reduces poverty, improves health and helps drive economic growth. The new UK Labour Government will build more homes in England which may mean more money for housebuilding in Wales too.
Everyone can get FREE energy efficiency advice on 0808 8082244. The Warm Homes Programme (NEST) gives grants for improving your home’s energy efficiency to households earning less than average wages. Use the button below to check if you are eligible.
HOMELESSNESS
Welsh Government aims to prevent people becoming homeless, or make it rare, short and not repeated. Cardiff already embraces this policy which a new Homelessness Bill will soon enshrine into law. See someone rough sleeping? Please text ‘REALCHANGE’ to 80800 giving the person’s location so they can be offered help.
PRIORITISING PRIMARY CARE
In 2021, Eluned Morgan the Cabinet Secretary for Health, invested more money in primary care to end the 8am scramble for GP appointments. 95% of practices now provide a choice of appointments, throughout the working day. Please contact me if that’s not your experience.
Out of Hours: NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day and can provide advice if you are feeling ill and don’t know what to do. For the dedicated mental health line, dial 111 Press 2.
Clinical Community Pharmacy Service: Nearly all Welsh pharmacies now provide free advice and treatment for common ailments, including the morning after pill, emergency supplies of medicines, oral contraception and flu vaccinations.
SENEDD
COMMITTEE WORK
I chair the Equality and Social Justice Committee which has a wide ranging remit in scrutinising the work of public bodies. I also served on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee from May 2021-March 2024. I have recently joined the Economy, Trade & Rural Affairs Committee.
I speak regularly in the Siambr about education, food security and health as well as any matters that affect us in Cardiff Central such as music, sport and the vibrancy of our town centres.
INSPIRING VISITORS TO THE SENEDD
Lord Deben was an inspirational Chair of the UK Climate Change Committee, 2011-2023, where he was a regular contributor to our Climate Change Committee’s work. Politics never got in the way of holding all four governments to account on the action or inaction required now to achieve our 2050 Net Zero Carbon obligations.
King Charles reminded us at the Senedd 25th Anniversary celebration that all politicians have a duty to act to protect our threatened planet. I look forward to working with the new UK Labour Government which takes the climate threat seriously.
It was a delight to welcome Lord Deben back to the Senedd in May as guest speaker at a Natural Resources Wales event.
Eva Clarke came to the Senedd in January to help us commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. Eva’s parents were deported to Auschwitz in 1944, after 3 years in the Prague ghetto. Her father Bernd Nathan was shot in January 1945, shortly before liberation by the Soviet army. Her mother Anka Bergman concealed her pregnancy (discovery would have meant instant death) and gave birth to Eva at the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp in April 1945, shortly before it was liberated.
Eva and her mother settled in Wales in 1948. Eva attended Rhydypenau Primary School and remained in Cardiff until she married.
Lt. Col. Crispin Black is spearheading the 42-year campaign for justice for the Welsh Guards and others killed by the bombing of RFA Sir Galahad during the Falklands war.
Crispin Black’s meticulous analysis of the events leading up to the tragedy which led to the biggest one day loss of life in military action since the 2nd World War pose grave questions about the political and military mistakes made.
Survivors and relatives have been told the full evidence will not be published until 2065, by which time most of them would be dead. Many Senedd members back their campaign for the truth.
WALES, A LAND OF SONG AND SANCTUARY
Let’s celebrate Wales as a Nation of Sanctuary, an antidote to the toxic anti-immigration messages of the far-right. Cardiff is a wonderfully multi-cultural community, which so enriches our culture, and is my privilege to represent. Half the doctors and nurses who serve in our health service were born outside the UK.
How wonderful is it that the National Poet for Wales, Hanan Issa, is a hugely talented Welsh Iraqi woman, and the Chair of the Welsh Language Society is Joseff Gnagbo, a former asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast.
STAYING SAFE IN THE WATER
PENTWYN POOL
After a long campaign by the community to save Pentwyn Pool, Cardiff Council is due to award a contract to build a new 25 metre pool by October 2024, with an estimated build completion in the summer of 2025. Aided by a £400,000 Welsh Government grant, the pool will be heated by solar panels and an air source heat pump, to keep energy bills low and meet net zero carbon emission requirements.
A Swim Wales and Cardiff Metropolitan University survey puts Cardiff bottom of the class for swimming with only 1 in 6 or 7 children able to swim (16%), making Cardiff the lowest performing area in Wales. Re-opening Pentwyn pool will help address this gaping hole in young people’s basic skills for life. All pupils need to learn to swim as part of their curriculum entitlement.
While Pentwyn Pool remains closed, Better Leisure Services have agreed to a phased re-opening of Pentwyn Leisure Centre’s Gym, to run exercise classes and activities for young people after school and in the school holidays.
Cardiff Youth Services is collaborating with third sector youth organisations to provide free activities for young people. Click the button below for the latest information.
CONGRATULATIONS, JO!
Jo Stevens MP was re-elected with a thumping majority to represent the new Cardiff East constituency. Congratulations on Jo’s appointment to the UK Cabinet as Welsh Secretary. The boundary changes mean Cathays is now represented in the UK Parliament by Stephen Doughty MP. I continue to represent Cathays in the Senedd.
