The slow boat to China...?

Well as we all know, work on the new Public Open Space (POS) had petered out in recent months as the best weather for getting the job done came and went. We know that Council officers had been pressing for completion as the weeds grew higher and the hazardous, unlevel ground disappeared under the vegetation. Meanwhile, work on the road surfacing and bus gate had put the POS's pathetic progress to shame.

We emailed the house developers to ask why the work has taken so many months longer than it was supposed to and to point out their responsibility for public safety on what is still their land. Within a couple of days the fencing was replaced around the half-built playground and, a week later work recommenced.

We await the promised full response to our letter from Persimmon Homes, along with some contact from, or on behalf of, Barratt, Bellway and Taylor Wimpey. If you want to contact the developers, email us at llanishcncommunitygarden@hotmail.co.uk and we'll send you their details. We won't publish them on here yet....

Meanwhile, here's a few photos from yesterday (Friday 13th), with apologies to the bloke caught in one of them! First an almost circular view:



Then two shots from the upper section:



It's such a shame that the good weather has been largely wasted, so let's hope the latest badgering will continue to be effective. Please do all you can to monitor progress and email anyone who needs emailing....

July latest news...

Sorry this blog's been so quiet, but rest assured we are making steady progress. Lucie and David had a very constructive meeting with Council officers a couple of weeks ago about the draft constitution for the group. We nearly had a Big Lunch event (curse the rain, much more drizzly than last year's!) and the drainage channels have been installed on the public open space which should help make our earmarked patch of land less boggy.

You'll have seen the works across the site, which appear to have stalled in the last week or so, but instead the builders have been working on the pavements and roads and bus gate. This is a prelude to eventual adoption of the road network in the areas, but no date is set yet. Similarly, there's no date yet for the new bus route.

BTW please do all you can to help save Llanishen Reservoir, which is now being drained against everyone's wishes, but now has an official permit from the Environment Agency!

At last! Something has happened!

Hurrah! The longest "we're on site within the next week or so" finally came to an end this week when some pathway and kerb work actually occured! The photos show these small steps in creating our public open space, although it's still unclear whether it'll all be ready for Summer activities such as any Big Lunch (18th July) event.

Please keep an eye on progress and make sure your children don't put themselves at risk during the works.









There's even been some levelling at the end that was boggiest earlier this year.



So who knows, maybe the pathway between Watkins and Tatham will finally be opened up - it's only a wooden fence after all...

Finally, please check out our friends at Llanishen Reservoir Action Group - there's been an Environment Agency call for public comments about WPD's latest attempt to drain the reservoir and you have until 25th May to make your views heard: http://www.llanishenrag.com/EA_notice.pdf is the notice itself, published in the Echo last month, and if you want more information we can send you the email from LRAG - drop us a line to request it.

Latest news 12th April...

We've extended the consultation period on the draft constitution to 23rd April. We've also been advised that Cardiff's legal department will want certain wording incorporated, so that'll all be covered at our next meeting - date, time and venue to be advised.

Paul from the Council took away the residents' strong views that the public open space works need to be completed as soon as possible and agreed to chase the developers again.

He's given me this update today on the timescale, so we hope to see some progress on the public open space soon. Persimmon reported that they "have placed orders with all the contractors and it is likely that the footpath works will commence within the next two weeks" with playground installation to follow in about six weeks' time and finally the landscape contractor. They anticipate two to two-and-a-half months to completion apart from tree planting.

Well, we shall wait and see!

Please let us have your constitution (or indeed any) comments by 23rd April and please encourage your neighbours to get involved if they haven't already.

Don't forget you can comment on here - the blog is a great way to share opinions!

Finally, check out the RHS Show at Cardiff Castle this weekend - one of the many exhibitors will be our colleagues at Canton Community Garden among what is normally a lovely day out. There's a link on this blog page.

After the first meeting...

What a great start! Kindly hosted by Hannah at Linc Cymru, almost thirty people joined together on 8th April to discuss the garden idea, look at the plans for the public open space with Paul from the Council and talk about next steps. We also got volunteers for the first steering group! People came away with a copy of the plan and the draft constitution for the association that will be established to create the community garden.

Here's what you can do in the next week or so...

• If you were there - please email your comments and thoughts to llanishencommunitygarden@hotmail.co.uk or better still, add to this blog by Friday 16th April.
• If you weren't able to make it - please email us and we'll send the two documents so you can comment by Friday 16th April.
• Whether you were there or not - please tell your neighbours and encourage them to sign up and get involved. We put letters through 550 doors in February, so every household should have the contact details.

Next steps for us: start the steering group meetings; begin planning for the second residents' meeting; contact local councillors. Julie Morgan MP has already pledged her support.

First meeting announced!

We've been overwhelmed with the response from neighbours across the three estates, so we're very pleased to announce, at last, the venue and date for the first meeting, so that we can start to move things forward.

Come along to Llys Enfys (the new Linc Cymru complex) at 6.15pm on Thursday 8th April.

We'll be:

o Sharing ideas
o Setting up the association that will negotiate with the Council
o Having a look at the Council plans for the rest of the space
o Discussing what happens next.

Please RSVP to our email address by the 6th if you can, Linc Cymru have been very generous with their offer of a venue and availability of refreshments, and it would be great to give them an idea of numbers.

Ballet in the mud

It's been great to get so many responses since we posted all the letters last weekend, thank you. We've set up this Blog and a Facebook page and here come some of the first photos of the site. As you can see now that the developers have gone, the fence alongside the builder's yard is very unsightly and that's the area where we'd like to create the new community garden, well away from the houses.

Just to be clear, when the Council gave planning permission for our new communities it included this new public open space. Their masterplan already has a children's playground on the lower section near Smith Road to be served by the existing piece of pathway and a second main path going north up the slope to Tatham Road. There will also be a main path heading west to join the wavy pathway to Ffordd Mograig. On the eastern side of the upper section near Tatham Road there will be a sports area (with some sort of multi-sports football goal-end and basketball net), linked to the main path. The rest will be grassed and the existing line of young trees will eventually extend to create a 'box'. Proper drainage is also a requirement.

So, you've seen some general shots of the site, now check out some idiot ballet dancing on planks to stop sinking in the mud! It's the sticky, gooey kind that tries to eat wellington boots so stay away from the coned area!