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Cardiff Council Update: 7th August

Welcome to the last update of the week from Cardiff Council, covering: new safety measures introduced in Cardiff Bay; another 21 play areas to reopen; COVID safety measures introduced at four district shopping centres; CF11 Fitness, the council-operated leisure centre at Channel View, opens on Monday; and Cardiff Council tops Wales-wide satisfaction survey.

 

Please act responsibly when visiting Cardiff Bay

Visitors planning to come to Cardiff Bay to enjoy the sunshine this weekend are being asked to act responsibly, follow social distancing guidelines and to put their litter into waste bins.

New measures - designed to enable social distancing and to curb anti-social behaviour - have been put in place around the Bay in preparation for what is expected to be a busy weekend.

The measures have been introduced following some reports of anti-social behaviour in the Oval Basin over recent weekends.

At the Oval Basin itself, barriers and additional bins will be put in place by the Council. Police and stewards will also be on site to ensure people are following social distancing guidelines and the area is safe for everyone to enjoy.

Bute Crescent was closed at lunchtime on Friday, and marshals are on site to control access. Visitors and residents will be able travel down Bute Crescent until 1am on Saturday morning. The road will then re-open until Saturday lunchtime, when the same arrangements will be followed, including on Sunday.

Cllr Michael Michael, Cabinet Member for Clean Streets, Recycling and Environment, said: "We ask everyone visiting the bay this weekend to come and enjoy the surroundings, but please act responsibly and don't spoil the experience for others by acting in an anti-social way.

"Littering has been a major problem. Recently we had to deploy additional staff to clear 28 tonnes of litter from the Basin at a cost of £4,000 to the tax payer. If people would only use the bins provided or take their litter home with them when the bins are full, then we wouldn't have to waste this money tidying up after the few who somehow think it's ok to leave their mess behind them.

"The Police and Council are working together to ensure that people can enjoy themselves as we come out of lockdown, but to achieve that we need everyone to play their part."

 

Play area at Roath Park Lake among 21 more Cardiff play areas re-opening

A further 21 children's play areas in Cardiff, including the popular facility at Roath Park Lake, are to be re-opened this weekend. Once these facilities are open it will mean 91 sites across the city are available to use.

Play areas are being opened on a phased basis, following a safety first approach and with a view to ensuring that children across the city have some play provision in their local area as quickly as possible. If a play area has had all swings removed, this is because it has not re-opened yet and the swings have been removed to enable them to be untangled and reset, prior to re-opening.

21 play areas will open from midday on Saturday (8thAugust). They are:

Brewery Park (Adamsdown); Canal Park (Butetown); Schooner Way Junior (Butetown); Schooner Way Toddler (Butetown);Heol Trelai (Caerau);Treseder Park (Caerau); Victoria Park - Toddler (Canton); Victoria Park - Junior (Canton); Creigiau play area (Creigiau & St Fagans); Roath Park (Cyncoed);Fairwater Park (Fairwater);Rosedale (Fairwater);Matthew Walk (Llandaff);Sedgemoor Road (Llanrumney); Roath Rec (Plasnewydd); Peppermint Park (Pontprennau & St Mellons);Moorland Library Gardens (Splott); Cemaes Crescent - Toddler (Trowbridge); Cemaes Crescent - Junior (Trowbridge); Whitchurch Library Gardens - toddler (Whitchurch & Tongwynlais); Whitchurch Library Gardens - Junior (Whitchurch & Tongwynlais).

In line with Welsh Government guidance and health and safety legislation. All sites have gone through a Covid-19 risk assessment and the equipment and safety surfaces have been inspected by a qualified playground inspector, prior to re-opening.

Changes have been made to some play areas to help maintain social distancing and minimise risk of transmitting Covid-19 - for example, some swing seats have been removed to ensure a 2 metre distance is maintained.

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/24495.html

 

COVID safety measures introduced at four district shopping centres

Work on adapting four of Cardiff's district shopping centres to help businesses trade safely through the COVID pandemic and to enable visitors to adhere to social-distancing regulations is set to begin.

The first phase of works will take place on Sunday, August 9th. It will see temporary three schemes installed using red and white bollards to widen pavements in Pontcanna Street, off Cathedral Road; in Llandaff High Street; and placed on Merthyr Road in Whitchurch.

A similar scheme will then be installed in Merthyr Road, near the junction with Hermon Hill in Tongwynlais early next week. Planters with trees will be installed in all four locations later in the month.

This work follows on from the Wellfield Road pilot scheme, where pavements were widened, cafes and bars allowed to create spill out areas to trade outside, and new trees were installed in planters to green the shopping area.

Cardiff Council is also planning a second phase of works for all four schemes, which will involve replacing the temporary red and white bollards with bolt-down kerbs, and laying new tarmac on the pavement extension.

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/24493.html

 

CF11 Fitness centre to re-open

CF11 Fitness,  the council-operated leisure centre at Channel View, will re-open from Monday, August 10th

Measures have been put in place at the facility to enable appropriate social distancing and ensure customer and staff safety.

Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury said: "The health and wellbeing of residents is really important, maybe now more than ever, so it's great news that with new Covid-19 safety measures in place, the centre is now ready to welcome people back."

The re-opening of this facility follows the announcement that social enterprise GLL, who operate the city's Better Cardiff leisure centres on behalf of Cardiff Council, will re-open their facilities on a phased basis from Tuesday 11thAugust.

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/24497.html

 

Cardiff Council tops residents' satisfaction chart

Cardiff residents are the happiest in Wales with their council's services a new Welsh Government survey has revealed.

The National Survey of Wales is a large scale survey of adults across the country, covering a range of topics such as wellbeing and people's views on public services.

In the reporting year from April 2019 to March 2020 the survey found that Cardiff residents were the most satisfied in Wales with services provided by their council.

When asked their views on whether their local authority provides high-quality services, 58% of surveyed residents in the capital replied that they agreed; 22% said they neither agreed or disagreed; and 21% disagreed.

Cardiff Council Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance said: "This is welcome news and good to see. Despite the huge cuts to our budget - with almost a quarter of a billion pounds made in savings over the past 10 years - we have always been intent on improving the Council's performance. This independent survey shows that we are moving in the right direction, but we won't rest here. I want residents to know that we are not complacent and that we are committed to ensuring they get the best value for money and the public services they deserve.

Read more here:

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/24499.html