Sophie Howe

Sophie demands a more family friendly Cardiff

For the past year Sophie has been heading up a team of Councillors who have been considering how family friendly our Capital city is.  The enquiry has been considering what facilities families who visit the city Centre need and how well the Council and City Centre Retailers do in providing them.

Over the course of the year the Enquiry has conducted a numbr of exercises including a trip to the City Centre (using public transport) with electronic babies who needed feeding, changing and burping at regular intervals, they have attened a number of parent and toddler session to seek the views of parents and have commissioned market research where 400 parents with children under the age of 8 were interviewed and asked to share their views on how family friendly Cardiff is.

The enquiry has reported a number of findings and top of the list of demands for parents were:

• better access into the city Centre on buses and trains with consideration being given to fitting buggies on buses etc
• action to address community safety issues in the City Centre
• improved baby changing/feeding and toilet facilities

The Task and Finish Group have made a number of recommendations which Sophie presented to the Council's Executive this week

• planning guidance should be issued compelling all new developments to take into consideration the needs ot families when building new shopping complexes etc
• As an immediate priority the Council should work with the developers of the St Davids Phase 2 Shopping Centre and the Sports Village to ensure that family friendly facilities are provided.  In particular the Group have called for baby changing and feeding facilities, a play area for children and for consideration to be given to providing a creche.
• the Council should review its Licensing Polices to move away from a binge drinking culture in the City in the evenings and promote opportunities for families ot be involved in the evening economy of the City.
• The Council should work with transport partners to ensure that public transport meets the needs of families with young children
• more information should be made available to parents to direct them to exisiting facilities should they need them e.g. better signage
• Consideration should be given to developing a breastfeeding strategy including taking forward the Breastfeeding Premeises Scheme which has been piloted by the council in partnership with Sure Start and the NHS Trust and which aims to promote premises which provide a clean and comfortable environment in which mums can feed their babies.

See the following links to the Echo and Western Mail coverage of the Report

Western Mail - Capital must attract families not binge drinkers

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=16655116%26method=full%26siteid=50082-name_page.html

South Wales Echo - why Cardiff is such a family friendly city

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=16607602%26method=full%26siteid=50082-name_page.html

Council criticised for not delivering on nursery education

Labour Councillor and Assembly Candidate for Cardiff North Sophie Howe has criticised Cardiff Council for failing to meet the needs of parents an children in providing nursery education.  The Labour Councillor who represents Whitchurch and Tongwynlais has highlighted flaws in the nursery school admissions policy which does not take into account where other children in the family are going to school.  Sophie has taken up the case of three families in Whitchurch whose children have applied to go attend the nursery unit at Melin Gruffydd but have been told that it is full.  These children have been offered places at Munedd Bychan, almost two miles away but will not be able to take up the place because they have older brothers attending Ysgol Melin Gruffydd who need to be dropped off at school at the same time.  Councillor Howe has argued that it is a physical impossibility for parents to be at two places at the same time and that the result is that these three year olds will not be able to take up the nursery place to which they are entitled but officers have refused to take this into account.

Sophie said:

"The Council are not meeting the needs of families in their arrangements for nursery school admissions.  The fact that the current policy does not take into account where older brothers and sisters go to school is absurd and means that many children will not be able to attend nursery because their parents can't be in two places at the same time."

She continued:

"The way in which the Council are operating their admissions policy undermines the policies of the Welsh Assembly government who have pledged nursery places for all three year olds.  I will be raising this matter with Education Minister Jane Davidson as I don't believe that Cardiff Council is delivering on the Assembly's priorities for early years education"

Sophie has also raised concern about the policy which states that children will be offered places at nursery school up to two miles away from their home.

She said:

"It is completely unacceptable to expect a three year old to walk two miles to nursery and then the same distance back  just a couple of hours later .  In the cases that I have taken up three year olds are being expected to walk from Whitchurch, via the Gabalfa interchange down to Ysgol Mynedd Bychan on Whitchurch Road."