Here is tonight's COVID-19 update from Cardiff Council, covering: social distancing measures will be installed on Castle Street on Sunday; putting plans in place to open the Household Waste Recycling Centres; the tuition service helping children through the crisis; library resources online; and ensuring the right choice of COVID-19 safety screens for taxis.

Social distancing measures will be installed on Castle Street on Sunday

The traffic lane next to Cardiff Castle, on Castle Street, will be removed this Sunday, May 17, so that the pavement can be extended into the road for both pedestrians and cyclists to use.

This is the first city-centre project that will be installed to keep the public safe and able to socially distance on the highway network. Earlier works were successfully introduced around Roath Park Lake creating a one-way footpath around the lake to aid social distancing as well as the removal of visitor parking baysnearest to the lake,toprovide additional space for cyclists and joggers.

This new shared space will run from the Cathedral Road/Cowbridge Road junction, over Canton Bridge, along Castle Street, Duke Street and up to the North Road-Boulevard De Nantes junction.

Cllr Caro Wild, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: "We have to ensure that any changes we make to roads and pavements are safe for all road users. Castle Street is the first road scheme in the city. It will be installed on Sunday and a similar scheme on Wood Street is currently being looked into.

"It's not possible for us to transform all public space in the city overnight, but we are doing all that we can, with the resources available, to bring in these social-distancing schemes as quickly as possible.

"With the significant increase in the number of people cycling and walking in the city, it is important, more than ever, for all users of public space to be respectful and mindful of others especially with vulnerable users."

When the new shared space is installed on Castle Street, it will be temporarily marked out with traffic cones. These cones will then be replaced with bolt-down pole cones.

A pilot scheme to enable social distancing in neighbourhood shopping centres will be launched at Wellfield Road, in Plasnewydd, soon. The council is currently working with businesses in the area to develop the final scheme, but it will involve removing the parking bays on either side of the road to allow the pavement to be extended to give extra space to allow social distancing measures to be followed.

Detailed planning taking place to safely open Cardiff's HWRCs as soon as possible

Cardiff Council is putting plans in place to open the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC's) at Lamby Way and Bessemer Close as soon as it is safe to do so.

Detailed assessments are being carried out to ensure that both of the sites can operate with social distancing measures in place to ensure the safety of residents and staff using and working at the facilities.

An online booking system is being developed which will allow residents to book an appointment slot. This will ensure that the council can manage access to both the HWRC's more easily, reducing any traffic build up.

Residents will only be able to use the sites if they have a pre-booked appointment. Anyone without an appointment will not be able to gain access.

Cllr Michael Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Recycling and Environment said: "I'm sure everyone understands that the safety of residents and staff has to be our first consideration. Due to the current circumstances, unfortunately, we can't just open up these facilities and operate them as we did before the lockdown was introduced.

"We have carried out a detailed health and safety risk assessment, and an equality impact assessment, which makes clear the sites have to be re-modelled to ensure a two metre distance can be maintained between residents and our staff at all times.

"We will also have less skips available at the sites, so restrictions may have to be put in place on what waste types can be brought to the HWRC's in the first instance.

"All of this detail is being worked through at the moment and I would like to reassure residents that we are working hard to open them as soon as we can and as soon as we are confident they can be operated safely. Everyone's safety is our paramount concern."

Lamby Way is an operational depot and it is therefore essential that there isn't a build-up of traffic on Rover Way which is the main route to the site. If there is an excessive traffic build up waste collection vehicles will not be able to access the site and this will significantly impact the kerbside collections to residents in the city.

Cllr Michael continued: "There is no doubt that we have to bring in an online booking system to manage traffic flow, especially for Lamby Way. Further information on how this will operate and when these facilities will re-open will be released after we are confident that the new arrangements that we are putting in place work effectively and are safe for everyone."

EOTAS Tuition Service are helping children through the crisis

The EOTAS (Education Otherwise Than At School) Tuition Service has continued to support and educate the most vulnerable children and young people in our community during the current health crisis.

The teachers and our Skills and Support Team have been in daily contact with learners and their families. Lessons and support sessions have taken place over the phone, using the internet and via WhatsApp to ensure everyone can attend them. 

Activities and resources have been delivered to the doorstep for the 50% of our learners who do not have access to the internet at home.  Many of our learners and their families are already isolated and have pre-existing mental health conditions so regular work, routine and contact is very important.

One parent said, "Thank you so much for the constant phone calls - they help my own mental health to have someone there looking out for us. And thank you for the arts and craft equipment and mindfulness colouring books my child was so happy to get her bag of goodies and it put a smile on her face".

We are also supporting our Year 11's who are applying for college and work to remain positive and optimistic.

Another parent is thrilled that their son "will achieve his dream of attending 6^thform with his former school friends".

Microsoft Teams has helped them work closely with other council teams and outside agencies including Children's Services, Llamau, CAMHS, schools and the Cardiff Youth Service.

The Tuition Service is proud to be supporting some of our most vulnerable children at this unprecedented time and to be #WorkingForCardiff #WorkingTogether

Library resources online

A range of digital resources are available from Cardiff Hubs & Libraries Service for people to enjoy at home.

The service has free e-books, e-audio books, e-magazines, e-newspapers and ancestry resources that library members can access from their own devices.

The electronic catalogue can be accessed here:https://wales.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/card_en

and has resources for adults and children, including a new book (pictured above) by illustratorAxel Scheffler and a team of experts to help children and families understand COVID-19.

Residents who aren't currently library members can also join up online via the above link.

The teams have also put together lockdown activities including rhymetimes, Hands on History resources to give people a taster of the wealth of local history and heritage e-resources that are available and ‘how to' guides to help users get the best out of the online catalogue.

Visit the lockdown activities here:

https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/resident/Libraries-and-archives/Pages/default.aspx

Ensuring the right choice of COVID-19 safety screens for taxis

The council is working with the taxi and private hire trade to ensure that the chosen COVID-19 screens used are safe, and do not compromise the complex safety systems found in modern vehicles.

The council has received guidelines from the Welsh Government, which outlines the standards and regulations that should be followed, and we are using this guidance to inform the choice of screen:

https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice/support/sector-specific-content/taxi-trade-advice

When retrospectively fitting anything into a vehicle, it is essential that it is done safely and it doesn't compromise the integrity of the structure of the vehicle. Modern vehicles have a number of air bags and it is important that these safety measures are not damaged or compromised in anyway when fitting the screen.