I know that many people in that area will be delighted that those in the Welsh medium sector will get this investment; for many years the expansion of this sector has been based on taking over existing buildings that had been occupied by English medium schools. I admit that this isn’t the best way to provide the additional capacity.

In fact the construction of a new Welsh medium school is exactly what I and our Councillors in Whitchurch argued for there.

The Council’s original proposals for Canton are very similar to those published for Whitchurch, effectively a decrease in pupil places in English medium with an expansion to cope with demand in the Welsh medium sector. Our view was ignored by the Council who maintained that the options they published were the best, claiming that they couldn’t provide for an expansion to Welsh medium places without dealing with the “problem of surplus places” in the English schools.

The Council’s intention is to give Canton what we argued for in Whitchurch. I have always maintained that Whitchurch benefits from having excellent schools regardless of which language the children are taught. We have seen our community turn in on itself, fuelled by a Council so insensitive that it couldn’t see the pitfalls of designing the reorganisation in this way.

If the children in Canton can benefit from this investment, which I welcome, then so should the children in Whitchurch.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?