We're fighting for green space
I RECENTLY read an article in the Echo stating that Cardiff's Victoria Park was to have a revamp.
Residents were given a choice of A and B during a recent community consultation.
I then read that £390,000 will be shared between Pontcanna, Blackweir and Llandaff Fields, to improve their pitches.
If you live near to these parks then you and your children are very lucky.
Congratulations.
However I live in Ely, our recreation ground is a precious green space that our community cannot afford to lose but our council says it cannot afford to keep it.
These areas are well used and we have three football pitches - but unfortunately they haven't been marked out by the council for years.
The goal posts were the next thing to go. We do have a well-used play area but it's full of horse manure at the moment that the council failed to remove.
We are very proud of our stunning views overlooking St Fagans and the
Ely valley conservation area.
Our recreation ground is precious to the council too. Precious to the tune
of £4.9m per hectare, according to land registry figures for greenfield sites
in Cardiff.
So now the council plans to build houses on more than half of our recreation
ground.
We were given no choice.
It's only by visiting this area that you can see why residents are fighting so
hard to save one of Ely's only green spaces and of course our amazing view,
as it will also be lost to our community if these housing plans go ahead.
Denise Corbyn Llewellyn Avenue, Ely, Cardiff
nearby recreation ground
I am a lifelong Labour supporter but no more.
I am ashamed that someone I helped put into office with my vote has repeatedly ignored the children of the North Ely area by not showing them any encouragement or help when the children themselves have worked tirelessly to save their fields.
Yet Plaid Cymru hears about the children's fight and checks it out on the web site, www.elygardenvillagers.co.uk, and within a few days this party are in touch with the organisers offering them their help and the children words of encouragement.
Everyone is usually very vocal in running the children of Ely down, but you would think the local Labour councillors would be proud of what these children have achieved. Obviously not. It has taken a party that has no representation in this area to do what Labour should have done eight months ago, so thank you Plaid.
Tay Godfrey Glyndwr Road, Ely, Cardiff
PROTESTERS trying to stop houses being built on nearby playing fields have criticised the lack of action by council officers.
Cardiff council's planning committee ordered reports into the possible presence of dormice at land off Pethybridge and Snowden Roads, Ely, Cardiff, at its last meeting in January.
The decision to build 60 new homes at Pethybridge Road and 250 on nearby Snowden Road - as part of the council's Ely Regeneration Project - was also deferred so officers could find out how much local support there was for the scheme.
Communities First, a network set up in deprived communities to manage the spending of money from Europe, was told to ask local people what they thought about the housing project and report back to the council.
But protest group, the Ely Garden Villagers, claim no work has been carried out to get the reports done by Communities First.
Spokeswoman Tay Godfrey, 49, of Giyndwr Road, Ely, accused the council of dragging its feet.
She said: "They still haven't done a survey on the dormice. We still haven't got a date for the next planning meeting. There's been no involvement from Communities First.
"There was a meeting a few weeks ago, for working groups in the community, but we weren't invited. It's a bit of a worry.
"There were supposedly local residents there. We wondered where they got them from because we don't know anybody who went."
Protesters say the council is neglecting the field by failing to maintain perimeter fencing and leaving changing rooms to go to ruin.
They say they have been asking for new fencing for 11 years but three weeks ago a fence was put up on the edge of the field which borders the Westfield Park estate, St Fagans.
Residents are starting another petition against the scheme, to add to a 3,000-name document already sent to the council, to drive home the strength of local feeling against the house-building.
A Cardiff council spokesman said: "The application will not be scheduled for a further planning committee until the information requested by the committee has been received and assessed.
"In terms of the dormice survey, the council will need to obtain quotations from independent ecologists and a programme of survey work carried out. During this time period other requested information, including the traffic survey, will be done." lisa.jones@mediawales. co. uh
Greenfield protesters seek action
WE, the people of North Ely, have asked for our playground's fencing to be repaired, only to be told there's no money available. Yet Plaid councillor Delme Bowen has been able to secure funding for purpose-made horse-proof fencing for Westfield Park, which has now been installed. This has been achieved in a short period of time, yet we have been trying to protect our children's playgrounds from horses' dung for the last 11 years.
No prizes for guessing where our family's votes will go in the local elections this May. Well done, Plaid.
Neil Godfrey Glyndwr Road, Ely, Cardiff
I WAS thinking how amazing it would be to live in Cardiff's problem areas like St Mellons, Llanrumney, Ely, Butetown, etc, if a fraction of what was spent on the Bay had been spent on them instead.
When are councillors planning on putting things right?
Sian Collins Jackson Road, Ely, Cardiff
Katie Norman
PARENTS are angry after horses broke into a children's park, leaving it strewn with manure.
Residents claim horses frequently trample through the broken fence at Ely Recreation Ground and leave manure in the play area.
Mum-of-four Jane Sully, of .Windsor Road, Ely, said: "We want the children to come here so that they stay off the streets but they come home covered in horse muck.
"Sometimes it's so bad that they can't even play here.
"It's been like this for a couple of years but we're all just getting sick of it.
"The problem is that they don't put decent fencing up."
Ely resident Pete Sullivan, 43, from the community group Ely Garden Villagers, said parents and grandparents were worried about the health hazards posed to children, especially during last week's half term.
He said: "As you walk in there's horse manure everywhere.
"All the kids have to play near it and all it would take would be for one of them to trip and fall in it. It's a health issue.
"We just want the kids to be able to play safely. All it needs is a bit of fencing to keep the horses out."
It is believed the horses living on the land adjacent to the park belong to travellers.
As reported in the Echo, Cardiff council plans to spend 540,000 targeting stray horses and hopes to appoint a specialist warden to deal with the problem.
Mr Sullivan said Ely Garden Villagers believed the problem could be solved if the council simply mended the fence. He said the group had been asking for it to be repaired for weeks but nothing had been done.
Ely Garden Villagers is fighting the council's plans to build 310 homes in the area and Mr Sullivan believes officers are reluctant to mend the fence because of the development proposals.
The council's plans for the area were delayed last month while officers find out if endangered dormice have habitats on the land.
A council spokeswoman said it was aware of the damaged fence and had arranged for an inspection to assess the repairs needed.
She said: "The works will be undertaken as quickly as possible.
"We would remind horse owners that it is their responsibility to look after them."
NO-GO AREA Pete Sullivan with fellow Ely residents and their children on the playground at Archer Road, which has been covered with horse manure after animals got in through a fence.
picture: Paul Rose©
Parents concern as strays break into park
Horse muck ruins our children's play ground
