The Blue Print

Yesterday I published an article on WalesHome http://waleshome.org/2010/06/whatever-happened-to-the-idea-of-making-every-school-a-great-school/ which sought to address the issue of schools reorganisation in Cardiff and the way that Cardiff Council has addressed it.

I have been accused of backing the decision by the Education Minister who refused to support the Council’s plan for Canton. My accusers are right. On occasion I believe that opposition politicians should support the Government when those decisions are correct, and in this case the decision to protect standards was the right course of action. I also endorse the right of the Minister to point out when local authorities make fundamental errors in their plans.

The announcement yesterday by the Government that Cardiff Council had used the incorrect section of the 1998 School Standards and Framework Act in support of their planned reduction of Whitchurch High School raises a number of important points.

Firstly, these errors should not occur. Getting the relevant statutory provision wrong is admittedly somewhat embarrassing but also serious. It highlights the incredible strain that this council is facing in its attempts, however misguided, to reorganise school places. What this error does, yet again, is call into question the ability of the council to get this right and damages any confidence that might have existed in the community of Whitchurch that the council was able to do so.

Secondly, this latest error is part of a package of failures experienced by Cardiff Council during this process.

The original plans in Whitchurch relied on incorrect pupil projection data, information which they had actually supplied to the Welsh Assembly Government ahead of the publication of their proposals!

The council have also failed in adhering to the guidance on the maintaining of standards, which is one of the reasons why the decision in Canton was open to question and why the proposals for Whitchurch primary schools fall into this category.

It seems to me that Cardiff Council, and perhaps others, are now being caught out in the sloppy way that the schools reorganisation is being handled. More worringly for my constituency is the prospect that excellent and popular schools could be lost through a process which is now in question.

Our campaign to protect the Llanishen Reservoir has received another boost thanks to a decision in the High Court.

The owners of the site decided to question whether the Assembly Government was right to list the structure for its historical significance. Many of us had argued for some time that recognising the engineering contribution of this reservoir was in keeping with the listing that had already been applied to the three other connecting reservoirs.

Yesterday HH Judge Milwyn Jarman QC  ruled against Western Power Distribution on all the points that had been raised. This is superb news for our campaign and confirms what we all thought, that the Government was right to acknowledge the role that Llanishen has played since its construction.

As the AM in whose constituency the reservoir is based I am delighted with this outcome. However the battle doesn’t end here. Ultimately we need to be in a position where the site is protected from the threat of development and as far as I am concerned the only way to do this is for Cardiff Council to make a compulsory purchase of the site.

Cardiff Council has now decided to propose a 4^thoption for the reorganisation of school places in Whitchurch and once again they ignore the damage they will do to the excellent standards in this part of Cardiff North.

Having been part of a superb local campaign against the three previous options for change, the council is still determined to close one of the primary schools and reduce the size of the high school from a 12 to a 10 form entry, thus removing 60 pupils per year from the school.

The council still doesn’t get it. Whitchurch for both primary and secondary education is popular with pupils and parents, we produce excellent results and the breadth of the curriculum provides opportunities for students in many subject areas. The schools are well subscribed and the problem of surplus places in other parts of the city isn’t one which affects the north of the city.

Whitchurch, along with the north of the city generally is changing. Younger families are moving in and the demand for primary education, even on the council’s own figures, is likely to increase. Culling one primary school demonstrates not only a lack of vision but an ignorance of the standards achieved in this community.

Yet again this is an attack not just on excellence but on parental choice. The message from county hall is that the more successful you are as a school, the more sceptical and unsupportive our council will be. And beware because this issue not only affects the community of Whitchurch but those surrounding areas from where pupils are able to attend the high school at present. Rhiwbina, Birchgrove, Llandaff North and Gabalfa are all within the high school’s catchment area at the moment but if their children can’t attend the school in future where does the council propose to send them?

Cardiff Council is more interested in penalising success and dumbing down our education system instead of raising standards in schools where there are problems.

On Saturday I spent some time volunteering with a new initiative called the Cardiff Foodbank. I must admit it’s not the sort of thing I usually do, although I am involved in a number of charitable organisations.

In December I met with Ian Purcell one of the organisers who talked me through what the Foodbank does, and how it is linked into the UK charity. Foodbank asks people for food donations which can be stored and given through a voucher scheme to families in crisis who are identified by health and social care professionals.

I got involved as it caught my attention because the charity helps families in Cardiff, and it targets groups for whom there’s little community support.

I am not doing to apologise for believing that unless charity begins at home then we have little chance in fostering an understanding as to how to be kind to anyone else in the world. I know that there is considerable suffering outside of the UK but in fairness the government and organisations do an incredible amount of work overseas. We are all taken by the pictures of destruction, famine and disease on TV but the plight of our immediate neighbours can all too often be overlooked. The families in crisis helped by Foodbank are those where the effects of unemployment might be starting to hit hard or where an elderly person for example might have little or no family support. It’s the sort of situations where there’s not much help at the moment.

So on Saturday I helped out at Sainsbury’s in Thornhill where we encouraged shoppers to donate items from our shopping list and it was a massive success. The organisation was first class, we were ordered into three groups to hand out leaflets, collect items at the tills and load the food into the van. The generosity of the public was incredible; the spirit of human kindness on full display and apart from a few people who weren’t too interested the response was more than a tonne of food collected. One lady even donated a full trolley load!

I came away glowing, not because of what I did, but because of what I saw.

Earlier today I asked the Welsh Assembly Government whether the Counsel General would examine the attempt by WPD to drain the Llanishen Reservoir.

There has been an ongoing battle between the American company who want to build on the site, and the local community who want to save this wonderful open space. In the Assembly chamber I raised two concerns about the possible loss of the reservoir water.

Firstly Cadw, the body responsible for protecting our national heritage, recently listed the site for its heritage and architectural contribution. The action by WPD may well be open to challenge by Cadw and the Welsh Assembly Government. Secondly there is the issue of the loss of water. I understand that there are legal requirements for the maintaining of an adequate water supply in the event of an emergency.

It is important that the Government’s chief legal officer examine the situation as quickly as possible, these issues have pan Wales implications and are not just planning issues for the capital city. As the AM for Cardiff North I am as ever committed to securing the site for future generations.

Memory Lane Cakes which has been based in my constituency for almost 50 years has today confirmed that there will be job losses at the company. This has not come as a shock as the future of around 80 workers was being discussed before Christmas.

Job losses are rarely good news to those affected, but I do think that the company has acted responsibly in responding to a difficult situation, working with the union and Careers Wales to ensure that help is given to those who will now need to look for work. I had a very productive and frank meeting with the management before Christmas and they were keen to do all possible to help their workers to move on.

I have already been in contact with the Deputy First Minister urging the Welsh Assembly Government to act quickly in processing any applications from workers for financial assistance under the ReAct scheme, it would not be acceptable for bureaucracy to get in the way of support for those looking for alternative employment.

Importantly too, the management see a future for the company here in Cardiff. I will be doing all I can to support the company is helping them to achieve this.

Having fallen over this morning outside my constituency office in Whitchurch I could easily see why Cardiff Council had decided to keep all schools in the city closed today. It now appears that some people are criticising the Council and schools for caving in to the weather too quickly.

Keeping children out of school is of course a headache for parents who have to juggle their work responsibilities as a result. One would also expect a knock on effect for businesses who become short staffed although looking at the villages in my constituency having few customers is probably having more of a negative impact.

Schools have a responsibility for the safety of their pupils. Looking at the paths and playgrounds, unless the Council has an exhaustive supply of grit, it is obvious that the school site is currently a hazardous place to be. Getting to school for many would also have been difficult with side roads remaining untreated and dangerous to drive or walk along. If we expect schools to act in loco parentis then we should expect them to put the welfare of those children first. I am therefore supportive of what the Council has decided.

There is however a further difficulty. As we know long term weather forecasts are fairly useless, until recently no-one predicted this weather, and some are now saying that the freeze will continue for some time with snow likely on the weekend. It begs the question as to how much planning can actually occur and when a local Council is close to exhausting its supply of grit to whom can it turn for help?

For 50 years Memory Lane Cakes has been based at Maes-y-Coed Road in the heart of Cardiff North, a major employer of 1,000 people in a small constituency with few big companies.

The news over the weekend that the parent company Finsbury wishes to cut 4% of its workforce has come as blow in this part of Cardiff. The fact that they are consulting the staff until the first week of January means an uncertain Christmas for workers in Cardiff who do not know how hard the axe will fall here. The lack of clarity can be of no comfort to them or their families.

Having contacted the Deputy First Minister over the weekend I am pleased that his officials responded positively by meeting with Finsbury Foods today. I hope that the Welsh Assembly Government will be able to help in the short term and also provide assistance to workers if job losses do materialise.

I am meeting with the management at Memory Lane Cakes on Wednesday to seek assurances about the handling of this consultation and to do what I can in sticking up for constituents who might not have a happy new year.

For all the talk of improving access to public transport for disabled people has anyone ever tried getting a train from Llandaff (North) railway station to Cardiff in a wheelchair?

I pose this question because I have been doing a survey of railway stations in the constituency to see how accessible they are. Some are ok for wheelchair users, although you may have to go around the houses, quite literally, to access them. However others such as Llandaf f (North) and Heath High Level are absolutely useless.

The bottom line is that if you are disabled and live in west part of Whitchurch or in Llandaff North then you won’t be able to get to the correct side of the platform to get the train to Cardiff. There is a footbridge but wheelchairs and steps are an unhappy mix so there’s no way of a wheelchair user getting onto the correct side.

Similarly, if you are disabled living in Heath and want to travel to a destination on the Rhymney Valley line – even if it is just to Llanishen or Thornhill, then you would have to negotiate several flights of steps just to get to the platform. There is no other way to access it.

The Disability Discrimination Act was specifically intended to break down barriers for disabled people, putting pressure on private and public organisations to make their premises and services as accessible as possible.

It is high time the UK Government in collaboration with the Assembly Government truly enforce the DDA and compel the owners of these, and other, stations to have access for wheelchair users.

An area where the Assembly Government can make a difference is by investing in platform accessibility.

The UK Government has committed itself to spending £370m over the next ten years on improving access to deliver its Accessibility Strategy for Great Britain’s Railways’, which was published’ in 2006. The strategy states that:

“The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) will specify and fund franchised passenger services within and bordering Wales from 1st April 2006. It also has the option to fund new rail investments in Wales, over and above that currently specified.”

As part of the £370 million fund, up to £7 million a year is allocated for improvements to smaller stations. Yet I have discovered that from 2006-09, only £403,348 had been spent in Wales, despite the large number of smaller inaccessible stations in this country. Yet WAG has said that it’s not its responsibility to submit bids, rather it’s the role of Arriva Trains Wales to do this.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that WAG wouldn’t play an active role in this. I would expect the Assembly Government to work in close collaboration with Arriva Trains Wales to ensure we maximise additional investment.

It’s not just about getting onto the train, its also about being able to reach the platform to get to the train in the first place!

Cardiff Council’s proposals to reorganise schools in Whitchurch in my constituency are based on inaccurate information and demonstrate a worrying lack of understanding about our local education system.

At a public meeting at the high school last night the council officers’ performance (in the absence of any of the Executive members of the council) was lamentable. They struggled to explain the impact of reducing the high school from a 12 to a 9 form entry school and the potential ability to deliver all that they do now.

The document setting out their case, and which is the basis of the statutory consultation process, relies on pupil projection figures which the council has since corrected.

In 2008 the council told the Assembly Government that the pupil projection figure for 2014 for Eglwys Newydd was 320 and for Eglwys Wen 282. However figures given this year are 343 and 295 respectively. In fact all the council’s figures for these two schools have had to be revised since 2006, demonstrating the upward birthrate trend. On a matter of law I am not sure what the legal requirements are for the accuracy of data used in a statutory consultation process, but I intend finding out.

Figures aside, I see this process as an attack on good schools, a way of manipulating figures to support other less popular schools. I fail to see how schools which lack strong local parental support can be improved just by forcing their children to attend them.

We have an on-line petition to support our Whitchurch schools at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supportwhitchurchschools/