FutureTrowbridge

With work about to begin on the shopping centre,
traffic calming, plans for two play areas, a new
community centre, new residential builds and
improvements to existing public sector homes and flats
being undertaken, a lot is happening in Trowbridge at
the moment.

We would be interested to hear your views about what
Trowbridge needs and what improvements you would
like to see beyond the completion of these other
projects.

As readers are aware it can take years to get new
projects agreed and started, we’d like to begin working
on shaping the future of Trowbridge today.

If you have any comments or ideas you can e-mail us at

ralph.cook@trowbridgeandstmellonslabour.org.uk

or write to

Cllr Ralph Cook
1, Cemaes Crescent,
Trowbridge,
Cardiff
CF3 1TA

Abergele Road Children’s Home

This small children’s home run by Cardiff County
Council is to be closed largely on economic grounds.

A few years ago your Councillors supported the
closure of the former childrens home in Gwbert Close
and opposed proposals to transfer it to other social
services uses.

We believed then that the most suitable use for the
building was to pass it to the Council’s Housing
Department to help with the need for larger
accommodation that exists among some families on the
Council’s Housing Waiting List. Eventually this was
agreed and the property is now home to a family and
as far as we are aware this has proved acceptable to
the other residents of the Close who had previously
suffered many difficulties with children at the home.

With this in mind, we have made a similar suggestion
when we were consulted about the closure of the
Abergele Road Home in early January and we are
awaiting the Council’s decision on our suggestion.

Councillor Ralph Cook

Children’s Play Areas

Late last year Councillors were told equipment at 3
children’s play areas in St. Mellons would be removed
because it had “failed” Health and Safety inspections.
“Orchard Park play area” the nearest to Trowbridge
was one of them. Trowbridge has lacked a play area
for years.

The redevelopment of Trowbridge Shopping Centre
includes a £39,000 contribution for a play area at
the ABC park and becomes available when the first of
the new homes is occupied. The constant delays to the
shopping centre has meant that there will be further
delay in building the homes and then providing the
play area.

The Wales & West Housing Association development at
Hendre Isaf (bottom of Hendre Road) includes a
contribution of about £20,000 which we ear-marked
for a play area at Cemaes Crescent. Although not
enough to provide a good play area we are looking
for additional funds.

Councillor Ralph Cook

PACT Meetings: What Are They?

PACT or “Partnership and Communities Together” is
an initiative started in 2006 by the South Wales
Police with the intention of “introducing a far more
effective community based policing style and
delivering a quality of service that will see (the) force
as one of the leads in community policing”. The
emphasis is on “community engagement” via regular
meetings where the public can “identify any problems
or issues of concern within” the community.

A panel of local residents, community representatives
and police officers, known as “The PACT Panel” then
identify three priorities for the community which are
then targeted by the appropriate organisation - often
the police themselves but sometimes the Council or
other body.
Sadly South Wales Police introduced the idea with
little consultation with external agencies such as
housing associations or local councils and local
Councillors were involved very late in the development
of the idea. As a result the idea was born amidst
controversy and confusion.

Nevertheless, your Councillors have engaged with the
idea and worked with the local police and the PACT
Panel to try to make it as effective as possible. So far
there have been three PACT meetings in Trowbridge,
each attended by fewer than thirty local residents. It
has recently been agreed to hold future meetings at
three month intervals.

The next PACT meeting will be on 7th March at
Cardiff Community Housing Association Community
Centre, Heol Newydd (on the Bro Athro Estate at the
bottom of Trowbridge Road opposite Coleg Glan
Hafren) at 7pm.

All residents of the Trowbridge area are invited to
attend.

Councillor Ralph Cook

Trowbridge Shopping Centre

A source of much frustration and anger amongst
residents of the Trowbridge Estate, the continued
delay to the redevelopment of the shops and
Community Centre seems set to finally end. But not
without yet more compromises.
After years of being told the project was more or less
affordable, in mid-January, a fairly junior Council
officer informed us that there was a funding shortfall
of over half a million pounds. The solution we were
told was to reduce the size of the new Community
Centre! Instead of two floors, Trowbridge will get a
single storey centre about the same size as the
previous building.

This is a blow. Given the financial chaos the Liberal
Democrats have created in the Council there will be no
assistance with costs so we have to accept it or risk
delaying the project further.

Examining the figures I noticed the cost of traffic
calming on the roads around the site (which I had been
led to believe would be funded by the Council) will be
met by the redevelopment. My request for an
explanation received a technical, written reply,
concluding “I hope this clarifies the position and that
you no longer feel that you have been mislead” - well,
I still do!
The enabling works (moving sewers etc.), are complete
and building would begin on the 5th February we
have been told - from the photograph below, taken on
the 6th, we are unsure whether it has. Under Labour
the project was due to be completed by the end of this
year!

Councillor Ralph Cook

Season Greetings

I would like to send Season Greetings from myself and Members of Trowbridge and St. Mellons Branch Labour Party, I would like to thank all the people of Trowbridge and St. Mellons for there help and support and wish them a
Merry Christmas

And A

Happy New Year
And if there is any one who would like information on joining Trowbridge and

St. Mellons Branch Labour Party, please call or e-mail,

David Mawn on

(029) 2040 4422.

mailto:membership@trowbridgeandstmellonslabour.org.uk

“Stray” Horses

The large herds of horses that roamed St. Mellons in 2002-4 have gone but a small hers lives on undeveloped ground in south St. Mellons. Sadly, they frequently trespass into residential areas and cause problems. There has been a lot of media interest and a TV company visited St. Mellons in the summer to make a film about the proposed solution of giving Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to irresponsible horse owners.

Your local Councillors have continued to press for action and have become such a nuisance that the Liberal Democrat Executive Member responsible for dealing with the problem foolishly tried to prevent us getting involved with horse-catch operation.

As a result the Council’s horse capture operation on the 15th of March failed to find any horses. In May we “got wind” of another planned operation and provided information that led to the capture of three horses!

Your Councillors are asking when the horses will be completely removed from Council-owned land.

Councillor Ralph Cook