Advice: Housing week comes to Cardiff P14 >>
gair rhydd
Politics: Brexit blamed on British austerity P21>> gair rhydd | freeword Cardiff ’s student weekly Issue 1085 Monday 31st October 2016 £1.1bn relief road to offer “very little” benefit to valleys
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he Welsh Government has been criticised over its plans for an infrastructure project located south of Newport. The project, which will take the form of a relief road for the M4, which, according to social economics expert Dr Mark Lang, will provide “very little” benefit to valleys towns, such as Pontypool and Tredegar. Despite costing an eye-watering £1.1bn, Dr Lang told the BBC that the infrastructure project will offer “very little to the people and town of Pontypool, who like other communities have not been engaged in the conversation around setting the economic policy agenda.” He also added: “Some of the key economic priorities that have emerged in Wales, notably the proposed construction of an M4 relief road around Newport, appear to offer little to the wellbeing of future generations.”
Crime rate in Cathays amongst highest in South Wales area EXCLUSIVE
Harry Webster
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nti-social behaviour and crime rates in Cathays, Cardiff’s student centre, have remained higher than in neighbouring districts, according to new crime statistics for the last year. The district, which has a population of approximately 23,000, playing host to many of Cardiff’s students, saw the highest crime rate of Cardiff districts in August 2016, while also seeing unparalleled reports of anti-social behaviour during the last year. Of the 30,191 incidences of antisocial behaviour (ASB), that were reported by South Wales police between September 2015 and August 2016, 2,086 were recorded in Cathays alone, equating to approxi-
mately 7 per cent of the total reported incidences. In terms of the district itself, this equates to roughly 1 report of ASB for every 10 people living in the area, while its nearest rival, Butetown, which only has an approximate population of 10,000, sees this ratio diminish by almost half to 1 incidence for every 20 people living in the area. However, despite the number of incidences remaining proportionately high, the district did see a marginal drop in the number of reported ASB incidences, falling by 6.9 per cent from 2,240 incidences during the year between September 2014 and August 2015. ASB, an offence which police define as partaking in a ‘wide range of unacceptable activities, which can cause harm to individuals and their community’, often includes drinking offences, leading some to link the high number of reported incidences
in Cathays, to its dense student population. The figure can also be related to the areas vast homeless population, with begging and vagrancy also falling under the confines of ASB. Gair Rhydd last year reported that homelessness in Cardiff had increased by more than a half in the two-year period between October 2013 and October 2015, after many cities across the UK began to implement aggressive anti-homeless policies. Such an increase can therefore be linked to the cities high number of anti-social behaviour reports, with Cathays in particular being one of the Welsh capital’s most affected areas. Cathays also accounted for 4 per cent of South Wales Police’s total reported burglaries and robberies, with 313 incidents being reported between September 2015 and August 2016. This marked a drop from
the 421 reported incidences in the previous year by roughly 25 per cent. However, despite the drop, Joseph Bennie, a third year geology student, whose Cathays residence was burgled in June 2015, said he felt student’s were ‘vulnerable’ to such crimes. Speaking exclusively to Gair Rhydd, Mr Bennie said: “Most students live in houses, with lots of tenants, each owning personal valuables such as laptops, as well as having more communal valuables, like games consoles. “Students can be naive to the dangers of burglary. It’s down to the landlords to ensure houses are properly protected.” Continued on page 4
Cardiff sends life saving trauma packs to Namibia
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its containing essential medical equiptment have been sent to Namibia in order to reduce the high death rates on Namibia’s roads. Members of the community such as police officers, drivers and senior villagers will be trained in how to use the trauma packs. It was the Phoenix Project Cardiff University has set up with the University of Namibia that meant the packs were sent. They were put together by Welsh researchers with clear instructions on what to do in a crisis. It is hoped that the packs will mean that people who have been injured in an accident will be reached more quickly in order to potentially save their lives. Professor Hywel Thomas, Pro ViceChancellor, Research, Innovation and Engagement, Cardiff University, said: “I hope that this latest innovative intervention, involving many collaborators in Wales and Namibia , will eventually be expanded across Namibia and to developing countries elsewhere in the world.”