The Radyr & Morganstown Community Council have posted Notice of Vacancy in Office of Community Councillor following the resignation of one of the Councillors who represented the Radyr South Ward.

Do you want to stand to represent the people of Radyr & Morganstown on our Community Council?

Do you want to see an election for this post rather than the default co-option process?

Details of the vacancy and relevant processes can be found on the Community Council’s own website – https://www.radyrandmorganstown.org/news/vacancy-on-the-community-council

What are the benefits of having a Community Council?

The notice of vacancy has made the RMA Web Team consider the above question and has found an Independent research study carried out by Aberystwyth University in 2003 which identified 8 key benefits to residents of having a community council.

• Local Responsiveness: On average there is one community or town councillor for every 250 residents in those parts of Wales with local-level councils, compared with
  one county or county borough councillor for every 2,320 residents across Wales. Most members of community and town councils live in the communities they serve and many councillors also engage with local residents through surveys, newsletters and public meetings. As such community and town councils can be more responsive than higher tier authorities to community needs and interests, and to the diversity of interests and needs within a community.
• Representation of Local Interests: Community and town councils can act as a vehicle for the representation of local interests to external bodies. Whereas Unitary Authorities have to balance the competing needs and interests of the many communities across their territory, community and town councils have a responsibility for a single community and are able to be uninhibited in advocating the interests of that community.
• Mobilisation of Community Activity: Community and town councils exist at a scale that reflects people’s patterns of social interaction and their identification with place. They can therefore act to facilitate community activities, organise and sponsor community events and promote community spirit and inclusiveness. Community and town councils play a vital role in supporting local clubs and organisations. Collectively they donate over £1 million in grants to community groups, sports clubs, charities and other voluntary sector organisations each year – funds that are not available in communities without councils.
• Additionality: Community and town councils can provide additionality to the services and facilities operated by county and county borough councils. They have the flexibility to enhance service provision in the community, or to provide additional services, facilities or even simple features such as floral displays, that may lie outside the principal councils’ budgetary priorities.
• Accountability: The authority of community and town councils comes from their electoral mandate. Unlike the officers of non-statutory community associations, community and town councillors are accountable to the local electorate and may be removed at election time. Furthermore, they are accountable to the whole community, not to a paid-up membership, and therefore have an incentive to engage with and represent all sectors of the community, not just those most predisposed to join local societies.
• Stability and Continuity: The statutory constitution of community and town councils gives them a relative security of existence. Unlike non-statutory community associations, they are not dependent on recruiting members or securing a continuity of funding from grant-making bodies. This means that community and town councils can plan on a longer-term basis and have more capacity to take on larger-scale projects.
• Tax-raising Powers: The ability of community and town councils to precept the council tax is one of their most significant powers. Whilst they may be restricted in accessing funds in other contexts, the ability to precept provides a relative stability of income (again supporting long-term planning) and a means of raising funds from the community for reinvestment in the community for communal benefit.
• Promotion of Public Service: Participation as a community or town councillor more substantially engages an individual in public service in local government than participation in a non-statutory community association. Community and town councils can provide a ‘training ground’ for individuals who may subsequently progress to serve as county or county borough councillors, or to stand for higher political office

Source: Community and Town Councils and the role of the Local Councillors published by One Voice Wales

Thank you to everyone who supported TENOVUS Cancer Care through our Radyr & Morganstown Festival events in early May. We raised over £2,200 for our charity and had some great fun doing so. A full writeup of the events and our competition winners is now available on the Festival website. You  can also still watch some of our recorded sessions on the RMA YouTube Channel.

Planning for the Festival Committee has already moved on to preparations for the events in our September Festival where hopefully restrictions will have lifted further allowing in-person events to take place. Full details can always be found on the Festival Website https://rmfestival.org.uk/events

Read the roundup of events from the 2021 Radyr & Morganstown May Festival, including competition winners on the Festival website.

Visit https://rmfestival.org.uk

The following has been sent as a notification to the Web Team from Dŵr Cymru | Welsh Water:

As you are aware, we have been carrying out work to abandon a section of an old water pipe and connect it to an adjacent pipe. This work has been taking place along Ffordd Las, Drysgol Road, Dan-y-Bryn Avenue, Park Road, and Windsor Avenue in Radyr. We will need to return to these areas on Thursday 13 May to carry out some further work, and as long as everything goes to plan it will be completed by the end of May 2021.

What can you expect?

In order to carry out this essential work, we will need to carry out small excavations within the highway which will allow us to connect properties onto the water pipe. While we carry out our work, there will be Give and Take traffic management at the following locations:

• Junction between Park Road and Windsor Avenue: We’ll be working here from 13th May until 21st May. We will be carrying out our work within the highway, so please be assured that the pedestrian access will be open during this time. To minimise disruption we will be working at this location between 9.30am and 3pm
• Ffordd Las: We’ll be working here from 17th May until 21st May. On this occasion we will be using smaller machinery which will minimise the impact on parking. Please be assured that access for residents will be maintained at all time.

We’ll be working with Morrison Water Services to help us get the work done. They’ll be working Monday to Friday between 7.30am and 5.30pm, but sometimes they may need to work outside these hours and on the weekends to get the work done quickly.

We will keep posting updates on the ‘In Your Area’ section of our website, which is a great way for customers to receive instant updates about our work. We encourage customers to sign up to ensure they are kept up to date as our work progresses.

Working during the COVID-19 outbreak

We want to reassure you that our team will be following Government guidelines on working during this time to ensure they keep you and themselves safe. We know this is a very challenging time but please be assured that we are – and will continue – to do everything we can to continue providing our essential services.

Llongyfarchiadau | Congratulations to all who will represent Cardiff West in the Sixth Senedd following the elections held on 6 May 2021.

Our constituency Member remains as Mark Drakeford MS alongside the 4 Regional Members for South Wales Central.

You Regional Members of the Senedd

Police and Crime Commissioner

Alun Michael remains our Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales

Other representatives

We look forward to the Local Council elections planned for 2022 where Radyr & Morganstown’s long serving Cllr Rod McKerlich is understood to be standing down. The ward will also be gaining a second council seat in recognition of the growing population of the Ward meaning 2 seat will be up for grabs.

View all your Local Representatives in our directory

Thank you to everyone who supported Tenovus Cancer Care through our Radyr & Morganstown Festival events. Roseanne and the team are still counting the donations. Whilst we wait for a total you can still watch some of our recorded sessions on the RMA YouTube Channel. Full details of this and plans for our Summer Show and other in-person events for September are on the Festival Website.

The last day for entries to our Festival Photographic Competition “Animals in R&M” is on 1st May.  For all details see the Festival website.

The Senedd elections and elections for the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will be held on Thursday 6 May 2021.

In order to help voters decide who to vote for in the Senedd elections, the RMA have organised an online hustings event for Monday 19 April 2021 starting at 19.30

Send your questions through in advance to Hustings@radyr.org.uk and our moderator will then pose these questions to your candidates. Tune in to watch the candidates answers live through our YouTube channel – or watch again afterwards.

https://youtu.be/eI0N9MFFyUs

Who can I vote for and Where do I vote?

The Democracy Club aims to provide accurate, non-partisan information on every election and candidate across the UK. Their widget, below, offers free impartial information about who is standing in our area.

Have you registered to vote?

Finally, a reminder that Monday 19 April is also the last possible date to register to vote in these elections.

If you have not yet registered, it is quick and easy either online or by post – https://gov.uk/register-to-vote 

The RMA Web Team received the following information from Transport for Wales late yesterday.

Vegetation management across the City Line will continue this weekend (02 – 05 April 2021). Since we provided an update at our recent meeting we wanted to ensure you we have actioned the following:

• Changed our working practices to mitigate noise
• We will monitor and record noise levels
• Continue to respect and protect wildlife and habitat, compliant to ecological legislation

The majority of our work will be done at night as can only be carried out when trains are not running to ensure the safety of our teams. We will do our very best to minimise unnecessary noise:

• Remind our teams to refrain from shouting
• Shut off machines during periods when not being used
• Take care when placing some of our noisiest machinery, with the aim of directing this away from homes as far as possible.

TfW have a customer service number 0333 3211 202 active between 08.00 – 20.00 Monday – Saturday and 11.00 – 20.00 Sunday. They don’t seem to be available overnight.

The recording of the TfW briefing for residents on all of the South Wales Metro from 24 March 2021 can be viewed on the RMA Meetings page of this site.

Both Radyr Methodist Church and the churches of the Parish of Radyr (Christ Church, Radyr & St John’s, Danescourt) remain closed for in-person worship at the moment but that does not mean that there will not be services in the village for Holy Week and Easter.

Parish of Radyr

The Parish of Radyr will meet:

• Maundy Thursday at 18.00 for an Agape Meal, led by Rev’d Gareth Rayner-Williams over Zoom.
• Good Friday at 15.00 for a service of Seven Moments, led by Rev’d Belinda Huxtable broadcast on YouTube
• Easter Sunday at 10.30 for Sunday Worship including an Agape Meal – Spiritual Communion over Zoom.

Radyr Methodist Church

Radyr Methodist Church will be meeting online, via Zoom, on:

• Maundy Thursday at 18.00
• Good Friday at 12.00
• Easter Sunday at 10.30

Anyone is welcome to the Methodist Services, simply contact Rev. Judith Holliman for the Zoom details.

The census is a unique survey that happens every 10 years. It gives us a snapshot of all the people and households in England and Wales – the most detailed information we have about our society. By taking part, you can help inform decisions on services that shape your community, such as healthcare, education and transport.

It’s important that you fill in your census questionnaire. Without the information you share, it would be more difficult to understand your community’s needs and to plan and fund public services.

In one way or another, your information touches the lives of every single person living in England and Wales, whether it’s through using census information to plan new schools, doctors’ surgeries or bike lanes. Because these things matter to us all, everyone needs to complete the census.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) runs the census in England and Wales and is independent from government. Your details are protected by law and information published is always anonymous.

Census Day is Sunday 21 March 2021. You can fill yours in online as soon as you get your access code in the post. If your household circumstances change on Census Day, you can let the ONS know.

The ONS aim to make things as easy as possible for everyone, but if you need help taking part in the census, there’s a wide range of support services available. You can request support for yourself, or someone else, including:

• guidance and help in many languages and formats
• a paper version of the questionnaire, if you prefer
• accessible census guidance, for example, in braille

There is a help area on the census website. It covers everything from who to include on the questionnaire to how to answer each question.

If you cannot find what you need there, there’s a dedicated contact centre where census staff will be on hand to give help over the phone, in a web chat or on social media.

If you need help, visit www.census.gov.uk

On the Thursday 6 May 2021, the Welsh electorate will be greeted by two separate elections, three different electoral systems, and three different electoral boundaries.

We will be voting for our Constituency (Cardiff West) and Regional (South Wales Central) Members of the Senedd. We will also be voting for the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). Whilst polling is likely to take place with strict Social Distancing measures in place, and the results may take longer as votes are safely counted, this is also a special election for many as those aged 16 & 17 and qualifying foreign citizens will also be able to vote in the Senedd elections for the first time.

Registering to Vote

In order to vote in May’s elections, it is important to make sure that you have registered to vote. If you have not registered to vote, you won’t be able to vote. Each person has to register individually. If you have not yet registered, it is quick and easy to register either online or by post.

Register to vote

The minimum age for voting is 16 for the Senedd elections, but 18 for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. All foreign nationals legally resident in Wales are eligible to vote in the Senedd elections, but only British, Irish and EU citizens and qualifying Commonwealth citizens may vote in the Police and Crime Commissioner election. For any further queries in regards to registering to vote, go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote or contact the elections team at Cardiff Council.

The deadline to register to vote in these elections is Monday 19 April 2021.

For those who are shielding or who may not wish to go out to a Polling Station on 6 May, there is still time to apply for a Postal Vote for this election by completing a form and returning it to the Elections Team at Cardiff Council.

The form and details of where to send it can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-postal-vote

Read more about the different ways you can vote on the Electoral Commission website

Deciding who to vote for

Whilst deciding who to vote for is an individual decision there are some tools being prepared to help you to make that decision.

Members of the RMA Web Team are again working with Democracy Club – a group which aims to provide accurate, non-partisan information on every election and candidate in the UK, unbiased and unfiltered. We hope to provide the “Where Can I Vote” widget to this site again in the near future.

The RMA are also organising a “non-selective” hustings on Monday 19 April 2021 at 19.30. This online meeting will offer an opportunity for you to put your questions to the range of parties seeking your votes in the Senedd election.

Residents associated with Radyr Methodist Church have organised a collection for Cardiff Foodbank.

Boxes will be placed outside the following addresses between Thursday 11 and Sunday 14 February 2021. Please be generous with packets and tins of long life foods.

• 30 Pentwyn
• 13 Heol Roald Dahl
• 17 St Philbert Street

• tins: vegetables, fruit, fish,meat, puddings including rice pudding;
• long life fruit juice and milk;
• squash;
• cereal;
• biscuits;
• tea, sugar, coffee;
• jam;
• some treats for childre;
• toiletries: shower gel, shampoo, hand wash, soap, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes; and
• feminine hygiene products;

Cash donations can also be made. Cash or cheques should be placed in an envelope marked Food Bank and pushed through the letterbox of any of the above addresses.

The first collection of Radyr & Morganstown refuse in the new Tuesday pattern now confirmed as Tuesday 23 February 2021. Letters to this effect have been sent to all affected households in Cardiff to explain the changes.

The date for the restart of the Green bin / garden waste collections following the winter suspension has also now been confirmed as Tuesday 23 March 2021.

Changes to Recycling and Rubbish collections for Radyr & Morganstown

At some point in February 2021, the refuse and recycling collection day for Radyr & Morganstown will be changing to a Tuesday.

The changes are being made across the City to allow all collections to take place between 6.00am and 3.45pm, meaning that rubbish can be left out on the street for less time. There will be no need for employees to work Bank Holidays, and more importantly no need to change collection days to accommodate Bank Holidays. Collections will take place outside rush-hour, reducing congestion at the end of the school and working days.

The new timetable will also make collections safer for workers and community members as they will be taking place during daylight hours and outside of peak traffic times. Cardiff as a city will have 3 days a week with no residential waste on the street and cleansing teams will be able to focus on other priorities on those days.

Changing the hours also means that refuse collections will also be within the service hours of other contact points with the Council including Connect to Cardiff (029 2087 2087)

When will this be happening?

Cardiff Council are not yet able to confirm the date for this change as, at the time of writing, negotiations with the Trades Union about the details of the staffing changes required are still underway.

The Council have promised that, once the details are confirmed, each household will receive a letter setting out the details of the changes to our routine, a leaflet reminding residents of the correct time and a handy postcard setting out the changes to our routine. The RMA Web Team will also ensure that accurate details are, as ever, posted on your Community Website – https://radyr.org.uk

A reminder – other waste services

With Radyr Library closed, other local shops, including the Co-op in Station Road, are holding small stocks of recycling and Food Waste bags. You can also order these from the Cardiff Council website for direct home delivery to yourself or a shielding neighbour.

The trial of Blue bins for the segregated collection of glass remains suspended. This trial was not completed before services were altered due to COVID and the council have not yet decided if this scheme will be rolled out further (and/or brought back for us).

We appreciated the Winter green bin collection of Garden Waste and Christmas Trees in January. Full garden waste collections are not due to restart until March and again the precise dates have not yet been shared.

Finally, a reminder that excess household waste can still be taken to the Cardiff Household Waste and Recycling Centres. The nearest one to Radyr is Bessemer Close. However, you do now need to book an appointment before you travel to the site and the number of appointments per household has been capped to discourage excessive use of this service.

We can do our bit by remembering to – Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Statement by David Silver, Chair of the Radyr & Morganstown Festival Committee:

Due to the current lockdown situation, and the probability we will not be able to hold gatherings of any reasonable number of people by May, the RMA and the Festival Committee have decided this year’s Festival will be in two parts.

We will hold a Mini-Festival in May where events will be held online, though if possible we would like to hold an outdoor event for limited numbers. This will be held between 1 and 9 May 2021.

We will then hold a larger Festival in September between 11 and 25 where we hope enough restrictions will have been removed so we can hold both outdoor and indoor events.

Tenovus will continue to be our community charity until the Festival ends on 25 September when a new charity will take over in time for the Christmas Light switch on.

If you would like to donate to Tenovus before the next Festival Event then you can do so through the JustGiving page in the name of the Radyr Friends of Tenovus to help us add to our annual total.

Members of the Festival Committee are currently working on the precise timetable for both parts of the 2021 Festival. As soon as details of any event are confirmed they will be added to the Festival Website – https://rmfestival.org.uk

If you would like to propose an event please contact the Festival Committee – info@rmfestival.org.uk

The anticipated “No Through Road” signs have now gone up at both ends of Golf Course Lane.

These are due to be followed shortly by bollards, that can be removed for emergency vehicle access, at both ends of the lane.

Access continues for walkers, cyclists and horses but no motor vehicles are permitted down the lane.

This is the latest in the series of road safety measures to be implemented in Radyr & Morganstown and follows the construction of 3 new tabled crossings on Heol Isaf at the end of 2020 and the introduction of a 20mph speed limit throughout the village.

The Web Team are working with the volunteers from the Living Taff project to try and tell the living stories that follow our local river.

The Living Taff celebrates all the great things along the river’s journey. The Taff starts in a National Park, makes its way through an area famous for its part in the industrial revolution, and has its estuary in Wales’ capital city. For a long time, people turned away from the river as it was used by the coal industry to take away waste, but the river has since returned to life. The Living Taff project believes that the river can be seen as a way to link the area’s towns, and be a protected place for people to enjoy and connect with nature.

Mark Your Spot

Over its course and its history it is a river that has born witness to so much of south Wales’ history, touching so many communities through its extensive system of tributaries, but what of its significance to Wales’ cultural life and memory? What significance does it have on our local environment, and how is it being effected by climate change?

Since the river has not often been celebrated, we’re looking to develop an archive of stories to show what it has done to inspire. The Web Team are keen that this includes the stories of the people of Radyr & Morganstown and how we have interacted with our river.

What you can do:

In 100 words, tell us about the place that means most to you along the river’s journey, or to tell a story of fiction – something that you can imagine happening or that happened. Your story can be in Welsh or English.

Once you have your story ready you can submit it at http://livingtaff.org/mark-your-spot/

If the river means something to you, and you’re happy to share why, the team would really like to hear from you?

Hear more about the Living Taff

Simon Bradwick, one of the leaders of the project, will be speaking about this project and sharing some of the stories gathered so far at the RMA General Meeting on Monday 1 March 2021. Put the date in your diary and do try to join us for what should be an interesting evening.

Advent for the church is a time of waiting and preparation.

Have you seen the nativity scene building in the church foyer starring our puppets? We have just placed it there to raise a smile and good spirits and lots of people have been stopping to look which is great.

The church also had an Advent Calendar window slowly unveiling itself on the windows facing the car park so again if you have not yet seen this do come and have a look before it goes.

Earlier in December, members from the church went out and delivered 350 Christingles in a bag onto the new Plas Dwr estate and around some of the Sidings. This enabled people to make their own Christingle and shed some light and hope this Christmas season. We were delighted to have a large number of people join us on zoom to make them up together.

In-person events at Radyr Methodist Church are currently suspended but services and bible-study are still happening online. All are welcome, for details of specific events please see the Methodist Church webpages or e-mail Judith.Holliman@methodist.org.uk

Earlier in December, Radyr Methodist Church organised a collection of food for Cardiff Food Bank with Ruth on Pentwyn and four new members from Parc Plymouth all putting tubs out for food. The response was phenomenal and we were delighted to meet up in the church car park and hand over such a vast amount of goods.

The church plans to hold regular collections so keep an eye out for when the next one is planned – perhaps you could offer to be a collecting station to gather donations from your neighbours.

This item is posted with apologies from the Web Team for the delay in it appearing on our website.

If you have a local story to share please send it in to web-team@radyr.org.uk

Bryn Deri and Radyr Primary Schools present their combined online Christmas Concert for 2020.

Thank you to all those who took part and to those who have assisted in bringing this special presentation together.

Nadolig Llawen i chi gyd! | Merry Christmas to all!

Wrapping paper will be collected if presented in Black bags alongside (or in) your Black Bin on our usual collection day for Radyr & Morganstown of 4 January 2020. Please note green recycling bags containing any (non-brown) wrapping paper will not be collected as it cannot be processed.

Our collection days remain unchanged over the Christmas period and the Web Team are still waiting for details of the special January collection of green waste which will include the collection of real Christmas Trees.

Update 28/12/2020 – Special collection of green waste including real Christmas Trees has now been announced as Monday 11 January 2020.

From the official Cardiff Council release:

Wrapping paper often has a very high ink content, contains non-paper additives like glitter, plastics, gold and silver coloured shapes which cannot be recycled. Others are very thin and contain few good quality fibres for recycling. This product is often rejected during the recycling process. In the past we separated it from other material at our recycling facility, but this is no longer possible due to social distancing requirements.

As part of our commitment to improve the quality of material available to be recycled, we will no longer be accepting wrapping paper – unless it is plain brown wrapping paper – in green recycling bags.

We do, however, understand that residents have large amounts of wrapping paper over the Christmas period, so we’re offering an alternative.

If you can fit your used wrapping paper in your black bin or red stripe bag, that’s great, you don’t need to do anything else. Just leave it out for collection.

However, if you have any excess wrapping paper after filling up your bin or red striped bag, then for weeks commencing 28^th December and 4^th January only, please put this excess wrapping into a black bin bag and place next to your black bin or red-striped bags and our crews will pick it up.

Please do not put anything other than wrapping paper and other wrapping products e.g, bows, string etc into these bags though, as the crews may not pick them up if they contain other household or general waste.

• You can still recycle plain brown wrapping paper in your green recycling bags, but please remove any sellotape, bows and tags etc to dispose of with your general waste.
• The bags with wrapping waste which won’t fit into your black bins or red-striped bags will only be picked up on your general waste collection week – same day as your black bin or red-striped bag collection.
• Green recycling bags containing any wrapping paper which isn’t plain brown wrapping will not be collected. As stated above you can put plain brown wrapping paper into green recycling bags with other recyclables.

If you’re booking a visit to our recycling centres over the Christmas period, please take your used wrapping paper with you. Book your visit here: https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/resident/Rubbish-and-recycling/recycling-centres/Pages/default.aspx

If you’re looking for eco-friendly alternatives to traditional wrapping paper, check out our guide here: https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/25369.html

Sourced from the Cardiff Council newsroom: https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/25373.html