Here is your latest update, covering:

• Increasing additional learning needs provision in Cardiff - citywide plans open to public consultation
• The apprentices who ‘fell in love with the job' now looking after Cardiff's parks
• Churchill Way Dock Feeder Canal - new city centre feature now open
• Butetown community asked to ‘drop-in' to share views on the future of Canal Park

Public Consultation now open on City-wide plans to increase Additional Learning Needs provision

Members of the public are invited to share their views on comprehensive proposals to enhance and increase Additional Learning Needs provision in Cardiff which could see more than 200 new places provided city-wide.

In July, Cardiff Council's Cabinet agreed to proceed with two public consultations on a range of plans to address the increased demand for specialist placements for primary, secondary and special schools, acknowledging the growing population of learners with complex learning needs, autism spectrum conditions and emotional health and wellbeing needs.

A series of in person and online drop-in sessions and public meetings are scheduled. Please visit  Additional Learning Needs (ALN) provision (cardiff.gov.uk)  for more information.

The consultations close on 19^thJanuary 2024.

Cardiff Council's Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry said: "We fully understand that as the complexity of learners' needs grow there is a necessary requirement for increased specialist provision across the city and significant progress is being made to grow the support, skills and inclusive facilities available in schools. For example, Cardiff's Pupil Referral Unit is being expanded, increasing its capacity to 180 places to support learners with a range of emotional health and wellbeing needs."

Read more here

The apprentices who ‘fell in love with the job' now looking after Cardiff's parks

A young apprentice who ‘fell in love with the job straight away' has become one of the latest permanent recruits working for Cardiff in the city's iconic parks.

Morgan originally joined Cardiff Council in 2019 on a four-year park's ‘sports turf' apprenticeship and is now permanently employed maintaining the city's bowling greens, rugby, cricket, football, and even croquet pitches.

Remembering being offered his initial traineeship, Morgan said: "I was just over the moon and I thought, this is me now, and then I just pushed and pushed, did everything I could. I had good mentors around me, and they showed me the ropes, and then let me crack on. I built my experience up and my knowledge, and I haven't looked back since."

"I love working on my own or as part of a team and just getting the job done. When you're working in peak summer in just shorts and a t-shirt in the early mornings, it just makes you happy, being in the surroundings and working in Cardiff's iconic parks, Roath Park, Bute Park, all the history of Cardiff, being involved in that."

"Roath Park is one of my favourites, because back at the time when I didn't even know I was going to be in this role, I used to walk past the Pleasure Gardens, looking at the bowling green and wishing I could be part of that and a couple of years on, here I am."

Morgan isn't alone in benefitting from the Cardiff Parks, Sport, Harbour Authority & Leisure People Programme. Since 2016/17 Cardiff's Parks have hosted 450 people on work experience placements, traineeships and apprenticeships, 71 one of those in the first half of this year. He's also not alone in falling in love with the job.

Read more here

Dock Feeder Canal on Churchill Way now open to the public

The Dock Feeder on Churchill Way - which runs from the top of Churchill Way to North Edward Street - opened to the public on Friday, 24 November, with a brass band and street entertainers in place to mark the beginning of a vision for a new vibrant city centre district.

The opening of the Dock Feeder is the first phase of a wider regeneration project, with plans to extend the canal along Churchill Way to connect to the Dock Feeder south of Tyndall Street. This new development could open the potential to deliver a new urban district including the regeneration of Bridge Street, David Street, Charles Street, Tredegar Street, Guildford Crescent, and Barrack Lane.

The re-emergence of the Dock Feeder will also deliver a new water habitat in the city centre, creating a new public space with rain gardens to manage surface water, outdoor seating, an amphitheatre-style performance area and two foot bridges to cross the water.

In the 1830's, the dock feeder ran from the River Taff in Blackweir down to Cardiff Docks to maintain the water levels in Cardiff's Bute Dock. This allowed the dock to operate 24 hours a day, even at low tide, servicing a 25-mile-long Glamorganshire Canal from Merthyr Tydfill to Cardiff to bring steel and iron down to the city.

The Glamorganshire Canal was covered up between 1948 and 1950 and the Dock Feeder on Churchill Way was covered over with concrete beams and the carriageway built over the top of it. Now that 69 of the 7.5 tonne concrete beams have been removed, the Dock Feeder can be seen again in all its glory for the public to enjoy.

Cllr Dan De'Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: "The opening of the Dock Feeder on Churchill Way has two main purposes, firstly as a very effective way of managing surface water and secondly as the first stage of a regeneration scheme, to work with private investors to deliver a successful high-density mixed-use development, attracting homes, hotels, hospitality, high quality offices, leisure, and retail units.

Read more here

Butetown community asked to ‘drop-in' to share views on the future of Canal Park

Butetown residents are being asked to help develop a new masterplan for Canal Park by sharing their views on the park at a drop-in session to be held at Butetown Pavilion.

The session, which will mark the launch of a community consultation, will take place on Wednesday 29thNovember, from 3pm - 7pm.

Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events, Cllr Jennifer Burke, said: "This is an important green space for the local community and we genuinely want to hear what they have to say about how they use the park now, and what they want from it in the future.

"This is the community's chance to influence the designs at an early stage and I'd encourage as many people as possible to take part either by attending this session, or by taking part in the online consultation when it launches."

The drop-in session, consultation and wider master-planning exercise is being run by The Urbanists, a team of Urban Designers, Landscape Architects and Planners who have been commissioned by Cardiff Council to prepare the masterplan for Canal Park.

Residents who are unable to attend the drop-in session can still take part in the consultation. An online survey will be available after the drop-in event.