Urgent Campaign Update:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all amazed that the Council is trying to get away with sequestering Maindy Park for its own building purposes by a tiny ad on one day which did not even draw attention to the fact that it affected Maindy Park or was even anything to do with Cardiff (this was only in the small print)

 

Lots of questions are being asked and people are clearly uncertain about what it means and things like the inconsistency between the maps published by the Council and those used by the surveyor has further confused people - perhaps intentionally

 

So we think it important to give our community an update on key questions/issues, what has been done, what is being planned, and how you can help (particularly points 8, 9 & 10)

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1. Council’s failure to comply with the terms in the legal notice. As many of you discovered when you went to the website address given in the advertisement there was no information actually available. We have written formally to the Council, copied to the Charity Commission, asking for the Notice to be remedied and reissued

2. Public awareness. We got in touch with the media so that as many people as possible could be aware of the secret plan by the Council that threatens to withdraw the parkland status of part of Bute Park if Maindy Park Charity does not agree to exchange its land for the land already enjoyed by the public

3. Public meeting. Many of you have asked if there will be one. We shall be asking the local Councillors to hold one. If they won’t make arrangements for this to happen soon, then we shall look at calling one on the community’s behalf

4. Is it a done deal? Far from it. If the Council had everything they needed they would be steaming ahead. Yet nearly 2 years since they hatched the plan they are only just starting the process in respect of the Charity covenant. Your voice has prevented them so far - now, we need to act as a community to get it consigned to the bin

5. What does the land exchange mean? There is scant information from the Charity (aka the Council) and we have asked formally for all the details to be made available to the public so people can reach a properly informed view

6. Leisure centre, pool and BMX track are all affected by this. Whatever Councillors and Council officers may claim that these will remain, the simple truth is that by removing the covenant protection from these facilities, the Council at any time in the future – tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, whenever – will have a completely free hand to do whatever they like with them regardless of the wishes of the community

7. Why now? Labour wanted the local elections out of the way before trying to sneak this through as quietly as possible. The local Councillors in Cathays were clearly worried about the impact it may have had on their vote if this had been announced before the election

8. This may have to go to court. We hope that the Council will realise that they have compromised their position, and cannot resolve the conflict of interest between their duty as Trustee of the Charity to act independently and safeguard its assets with their role as the Local Education Authority. However, they have been intransigent so far and we may have to try and raise funds for legal (or other) action to challenge any decision made to the detriment of the community

9. Feet on the street. Once we know about a public meeting, we will produce info to go round the local community as not everyone is on social media – the fact that the Council is only using & allowing online communication deliberately discriminates against and excludes large numbers in our community. We will need help to make sure that as many homes as possible get the leaflet

10. Responding to the Notice. We’re pulling together some key facts and challenges to the misleading statements made by the Council on the so-called “consultation” webpage. If you want to wait and use some or all of those to help you prepare your personal response then we’ll make it available. BUT whatever you put in to the Council email address [ propinfo@cardiff.gov.uk ] it is vitally important that you copy your submissio to the following people at these email addresses:

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CSCorres1@charitycommission.gov.uk FAO: Nia Jones – Nia is the Case Officer at the Charity Commission who has been our contact point and we understand she has written previously to the Council about the conflict of interest

parliamentaryenquiries@charitycommission.gov.uk FAO: Yvonne Mwiza, Public Affairs Manager – as Cardiff Council is a Local Authority (and a large one at that) ensuring that it conducts itself properly as the Charity Trustee has wider implications for public confidence and trust in charities in Wales & England, and Yvonne has been made aware of the conflict of interest issue in respect of the Council

smct.campaign@gmail.com Save Maindy Campaign Team – the Council has been known to play down legitimate concerns, objections and reasonable queries before and, in some instances, the summary produced bears no relation to the quantity and quality of responses actually received. If we know when you have responded and what has been said it will enable us to prepare a full briefing pack for Councillors, local Senedd representatives, and Members of Parliament representing Cardiff constituencies