Education and planning protests greet councillors ahead of meeting

Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter

Campaigners demanding a new Welsh-medium school staged a protest outside a council meeting, where they were joined by a separate demonstration against a controversial planning application.

The two unrelated protests took place outside Cardiff’s County Hall ahead of a meeting of the full council, with one group calling for a Welsh-medium school in the south of the city and another opposing plans affecting the east Cardiff park and ride site.

Supporters of the Welsh-medium school campaign said they wanted to make their voices heard as councillors arrived for the meeting, while the second group gathered to protest against the live planning application.

Carl Morris, the co-organiser of the event, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “There’s a Welsh-medium high school in the north of Cardiff. There’s one in the west and there’s one in the east but there isn’t one in the south.

“[This] means that Welsh-medium education is just not as accessible to the families of Grangetown, Butetown, and surrounding areas.”

He said the council needs to take “concrete action and to apply for capital funding from the Welsh Government” to build one.

Carl said: “There’s a lot of reasons and family circumstances which mean that people are just not in a position to travel to access Welsh-medium education.

“There may have been a point when it was for the really keen people who were very committed to the Welsh language and were happy to tolerate some inconvenience and hassle to access Welsh media and education but that’s a thing of the past now.”

In response to the education protest a local authority spokesman said: “Cardiff council remains committed to expanding Welsh-medium education across the city and is proud of the strong progress made in growing provision over the past decade and more.

“Through the delivery of our Welsh in education strategic plan we have actively promoted the benefits of bilingual education and encouraged more families to choose Welsh-medium pathways.

“The council is in the early stages of developing strategic long-term options for future Welsh-medium secondary school provision.

“The local authority is actively engaging with parents, learners, staff, and the wider community and listening to this feedback will help shape future proposals. Those proposals would be subject to full public consultation to ensure they are informed by residents and support the continued growth of Welsh-medium education in Cardiff.”

The number of learners in Welsh-medium secondary schools has increased by 57% since 2012 and the council has opened four Welsh-medium primary schools since 2013.

During the tail end of the demonstration around 45 protesters from Acorn, a tenants’ union, arrived along with a large speaker, microphones, and banners to protest against the application to build a data centre on the site of the East Cardiff Park and Ride in Llanrumney.

The planning application is currently live and no decision or recommendation has been made.

The protesters moved past the front entrance to an area below where they believed councillors in the chamber could better be able to hear them.

At one point Acorn members entered the lobby of County Hall, a public building, with the same intention.

One banner carried by the demonstrators was titled “Our Demands” and listed them as “1. Ditch the data centre” and “2. Save the Park and Ride”.

Space was left below for councillors to sign the demands. It is unknown whether any did.

Acorn’s protest on July 16 came after they crashed a planning committee meeting in County Hall with the same concerns about the data centre although that development was not on the agenda.

Lizzie Bailey, one of the lead campaigners, told the LDRS: “What we were trying to do is get them to listen to our concerns. It’s really easy for them to ignore an email, it’s really easy for them to ignore a petition.”

She continued: “What they need to realise is their job is supposed to be working and representing for the residents in their wards and they’re not doing that.”

Campaigners were aware of a campaign headed by Cllr Joe Carter to stop the potential development.

A local resident in the Llanrumney area, Sue Elias, joined the Acorn protest due to what she felt was a lack of engagement from the council to local residents and the loss of the park and ride.

She said: “People aren’t aware of what a data centre is.”

Dan Snipe, another lead campaigner, told the LDRS: “We’ve gone through their systems of doing things – we’ve tried to call them, we try to do petitions, we try to do letters. That’s not working so that is why we’ve come in person to directly talk to them.”

He added: “We know for a fact that if you put enough pressure on these councils they will eventually capitulate and that is exactly what we want to do here.”

The demonstrators also criticised the council for what they alleged was a lack of transparency in the planning process.

The group’s main concerns with the data centre surround the noise it may generate and the impact on the environment.

Previously the developer, Curtis Hall Ltd, had refuted these claims to the LDRS, saying the scheme’s noise generation would be minimal and a range of environmental impact mitigations would be put in place if approved.

Regarding the protest a Cardiff council spokesman said: “A planning application relating to the site has been submitted and is currently being considered through the council’s statutory planning process. It is important to stress that no decision has yet been made on the application.

“As with all planning applications the proposal will be assessed against relevant planning policies and material planning considerations before any decision is reached.

“The council therefore rejects suggestions that the process lacks transparency or that decisions have already been predetermined. Planning applications are considered through an established legal framework with opportunities for public consultation and scrutiny.

“The planning committee is made up of councillors from different political groups and will consider the application on its planning merits.

“We would strongly encourage anyone with comments, concerns, or views about the application to submit them through the formal planning consultation process so that they can be considered as part of the determination of the application.

“Public representations form an important part of the process and help ensure that decision-makers have a full understanding of local views.

“As this is a live planning application relating to a private development it would be inappropriate to comment further on the specific merits of the proposal while the planning process is ongoing.

“In relation to concerns about parking provision for University Hospital of Wales staff the council is working with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to identify an alternative site to ensure suitable provision should the proposed development be approved and proceeds.

“The Cardiff East Park & Ride has not operated as a public park and ride facility for several years as it was unable to operate sustainably.”

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