We’ve invited all the County Councillors in Cardiff North to write about their first year since being elected in May 2017.
This article is by Rhys Taylor and Ashley Wood, Liberal Democrat Councillors for Gabalfa and Mynachdy.
It’s difficult to believe that it’s been a whole year since we were elected to represent Gabalfa and Mynachdy! We got to work right away after the election and the last year has been a bit of a whirlwind.
We’ve worked hard to balance addressing day to day resident concerns, and being proactive in identifying opportunities to make our area better. It’s fairly easy to report problems like potholes, waste, problem parking (solving them is a whole other story!), but it’s not so easy to recognise opportunities and ways of achieving them.
It’s a privilege to serve as a councillor – to have the support of residents to represent them at City Hall, and the trust to help them with their concerns or issues they’re dealing with.
For most people being a councillor means dealing with bins, potholes and dog mess which is (half) true! Most of the issues we deal with from day to day is the bread and butter of community issues, and those are the issues that we’ve been fighting to address – pothole repairs, fighting for funding to repair Talygarn Street, calling for more regular sweeping of lanes, calling to improve the safety of subways and pavements, and fighting plans for 350 student flats on Mynachdy Road.
Solving these issues is a bit like a revolving door, but we’ll keep at it!
On a more positive note, we secured the expansion of Maitland Park, a consultation on resident parking, recognition of the need to solve parking on Whitchurch Road, resurfacing Parkfield Place and Newfoundland Road, and supporting the creation of a new community group to ensure a future for the Mynachdy Institute.
Beyond local community issues, we have both been elected to serve on the Public Protection and Licensing Committees, in addition Rhys is a member of the Children and Young People Scrutiny and Bilingual Cardiff Committees whilst Ashley serves on the Environmental Scrutiny.
It’s a privilege to serve on these committees, not only to represent our own communities but to look to the needs of the whole city – how we improve the school estate, how to improve recycling rates, or how to tackle the rising number of children in care. These aren’t easy issues to resolve, and these bring councillors from all parties together to tackle the issues facing our city.
It’s been a great year and we’re looking forward to what’s ahead!
By Rhys Taylor and Ashley Wood (Councillors for Gabalfa and Mynachdy)
My Cardiff North 