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The Update: 17 January 2025
Here is your Friday update, covering:
- Cardiff's 'Sack Sort' Recycling Scheme Enters Final Rollout Phase
- Stacey Primary School Receives Positive Estyn Inspection Report
- Relocation plans for Lansdowne Primary School
- Cardiff's Ambitious Green Development Plan to Create 32,300 Jobs and 26,400 Homes by 2036 Nears Approval
Cardiff's 'Sack Sort' Recycling Scheme Enters Final Rollout Phase
The final rollout of Cardiff's new 'sack sort' recycling scheme will begin on January 20th, extending the scheme to 36,400 homes.
From this date, residents who do not live in purpose-built flats and have not yet joined the scheme will start receiving their new recycling containers, with the first collections scheduled to start on March 4th.
From January 20th, residents in Butetown, Canton, Creigiau, Cyncoed, Fairwater, Llanishen, Llanrumney, Old St Mellons, and Riverside will receive:
- Blue Caddy: For glass bottles and jars
- Red Sack: For metals, tins, aerosols, foil, plastic bottles, pots, tubs, and tetra packs
- Blue Sack: For paper and cardboard
- Along with the new containers, residents will also receive a cover letter, a detailed booklet, and a ‘quick guide' information sheet to help them understand the scheme and know where to put their recycling.
The new 'sack sort' scheme has already been delivered to thousands of properties across Cardiff, significantly improving the quality of recycling collected.
Under the new scheme, recorded benefits include:
- Higher Recycling Rates: 96% of products presented for recycling can be recycled, compared to 70% under the previous co-mingled green bag collection scheme.
- Reduced Contamination: The contamination rate has dropped from 30% to 4%, reducing issues with non-recyclable waste, and street litter caused by birds and animals trying to open green bags for food which has been presented incorrectly.
Stacey Primary School Receives Positive Estyn Inspection Report
Stacey Primary School in Adamsdown, has been praised for its nurturing environment, strong leadership, and focus on improving pupil outcomes following its recent inspection by Estyn.
The inspection highlights the school's commitment to providing a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive learning environment that supports all pupils.
Estyn commends Stacey Primary School for creating a calm and positive school community where pupils benefit from strong relationships with adults. The school's leadership prioritises curriculum development and has implemented a consistent approach to improving oracy skills, which has been recognised as a notable strength.
Teachers at the school plan meaningful opportunities for pupils to develop and apply their literacy and numeracy skills in real-life contexts. This approach ensures that pupils are well-prepared for future learning. However, the report notes some areas for improvement in the teaching of mathematics and independent learning skills, particularly for younger pupils.
Key strengths include:
- A nurturing and supportive learning environment that helps pupils progress, particularly from low starting points.
- Strong leadership and high expectations set by the headteacher, contributing to a culture of improvement and effective safeguarding practices.
- Effective opportunities for pupils to learn about Wales, their local community, and develop respect for cultural diversity and equality.
- Teachers' skilful use of questioning and feedback to assess progress and extend learning.
The report also highlights the positive engagement of parents in school life and the staff's efforts to ensure Stacey Primary School is a welcoming and inclusive space for all.
Relocation plans for Lansdowne Primary School
Proposals have been drawn up to relocate Lansdowne Primary School in response to the deterioration of the school buildings.
Lansdowne Primary School has been rated 'D' for condition, indicating that the Grade II listed Victorian buildings are at the 'end of life' stage.
In recent months, despite mitigations, there has been an increasing number of issues around the condition of the buildings, with some requiring significant repairs to maintain its safe operation.
The buildings have undergone detailed surveys and are closely monitored daily, with enhanced support allocated to the school. Although currently deemed safe, the headteacher and staff are under considerable pressure to manage ongoing building related issues.
The breadth of works required on the Grade II status buildings would need Listed Building Consent and structural issues would need to be addressed whilst retaining the building's bespoke heritage features. It is therefore necessary to proceed with a planned relocation of the school as the only viable option.
Several relocation options have been explored, considering the distance families would need to travel. Following an appraisal of the option, the proposed new site was identified as the most appropriate as it is within the Lansdowne Primary School catchment area, less than half a mile from the current location, and has the space to accommodate all pupils and staff in one place.
Cardiff's Ambitious Green Development Plan to Create 32,300 Jobs and 26,400 Homes by 2036 Nears Approval
A new development plan for the city will create over 32,000 new jobs and 26,400 new homes by 2036.
The process of adopting a Replacement Development Plan is now nearing its final stages, with the ‘Deposit Plan' or full plan set to be discussed and agreed by Cardiff Council's Cabinet before being submitted to Full Council for approval.
The key highlights of the ‘Deposit Plan' are:
Meeting Future Needs: Creating 32,300 new jobs and 26,400 new homes to cater for the growth of the population in the city.
New Homes: As well as the sites that already have planning permission or are earmarked for development on the strategic sites in the current LDP, new houses will be built on brownfield sites in the city centre, Cardiff Docks and in the International Sports Village. This will give an overall 50:50 split between the use of greenfield and brownfield sites. Twenty five percent of all new homes under the plan will be affordable, delivering between 5,000 and 6,000 affordable new homes by 2036.
New Jobs: The ‘Deposit Plan' supports the Council's Economic Strategy, proposing a range and choice of new employment opportunities through protecting existing employment sites in the current LDP, while bringing forward new sites in the Cardiff Central Zone, Roath Basin, North of Junction 33, North-West Cardiff, Cardiff Parkway and other sites.
Creating Sustainable Neighbourhoods: Ensuring that all future developments are well-planned, mixed-use developments to create safe, inclusive, accessible and healthy environments for people to live. The strategy sets out how we will tackle deprivation and improve the quality of life by supporting existing centres, delivering affordable homes, while ensuring community facilities are delivered alongside new developments.
Sustainable Transport and Active Travel: It is essential that any new plan for growth for the city is strictly aligned to the council's priority to encourage people to travel by public transport, walking and cycling, to make people less reliant on their private car. The aim is to ensure that 75% of all journeys are made by foot, cycling or public transport by 2030 through investing in transport infrastructure to make sustainable travel a more attractive option for the public to use.
Responding to Climate Change: The ‘Deposit Plan' is in line with the One Planet Strategy to deliver low carbon developments and energy efficient buildings, as well as increasing the supply of renewable energy to new developments and preventing development in flood risk areas.
Ensuring a net gain in biodiversity and ensuring the resilience of ecosystems: The ‘Deposit Plan' aims to ensure all development maintains and achieves a net gain in biodiversity and promotes the resilience of ecosystems.
Protecting Cardiff's Environment: Protecting the greenfield sites north of the M4, along with other areas of countryside across the city.
New and Strengthened Policy in Key Areas: These have been addressed in the ‘Deposit Plan', which ensures that all new policy and legislation that has come into being since the current LDP was adopted are utilised in the ‘Deposit Plan'.
