After a year like no other, I hope you, your family and friends all have a happy and safe Christmas. Our city has looked after each other in ways I never would have thought possible over the past nine months and I want to say thank you for all the small acts of kindness by people which has made such a difference to so many in Cardiff Central.

Here’s to a happier, healthy and successful 2021 for us all.

Welcome to my December newsletter.

Firstly, thank you to everyone across Cardiff Central who has closely followed the new regulations that have been announced in recent weeks.

As  Christmas approaches, it’s clear that we are in  a very serious situation in our effort to keep COVID-19 under control. The recently identified new strain of COVID-19 is ferocious in its transmission rates and new cases, hospitalisations and sadly, deaths, are increasing.

This is why it is so important that everyone follows the Tier 4 rules so we prevent our NHS becoming overwhelmed during the next couple of months. Please treat the rules as the maximum you can do and think about what you really need to do in order to minimise your contact with others.

Vaccines are now being rolled out across Wales, and  this will intensify early in the new year. Please be alert to anti-vaccination disinformation online, particularly on social media. Please refer to trusted sources of information. If you have any questions about the vaccine itself, they should be answered in this helpful Public Health Wales FAQs page.

Until then, we all have a critical role to play in trying  to slow the spread of COVID-19 –  to keep our families, friends and communities safe.

Please continue to take care of yourselves and others, and don’t forget - if you develop any of the main symptoms of COVID (fever, continuous cough, changes to your sense of smell or taste) you should self-isolate and order a free test.

The Welsh Government has taken early action to move Wales into Alert Level 4 of the new COVID Control System, with all non-essential retail and leisure facilities closing and a stay at home order issued. The new rules are in full in the graphic below.

As always you can see the latest on the restrictions in force on the Welsh Government website here.

These new restrictions will be reviewed after 3 weeks.

The Welsh Government has made £340m available to support businesses affected by restrictions into the New Year. Further support will be available for those businesses affected by the new restrictions. Further details will be made available later this week.

Due to risk from the rising levels of Coronavirus across Wales, the Welsh Government has changed the rules for Christmas gatherings announced last month.

The Welsh Government has changed the relaxation to the rules, which had previously allowed two households to come together to form a Christmas bubble over a five-day period, so that it applies on Christmas Day only.

For 25 December only:

• you can form an exclusive ‘Christmas bubble’ composed of no more than 2 households (your household and one other household)
• you can only be in 1 Christmas bubble
• you cannot change your Christmas bubble
• you can travel anywhere within the UK for the purposes of meeting your Christmas bubble (subject to the rules where you are travelling to)
• To recognise the risks of loneliness and isolation, the Christmas bubble can be joined by a single person, a single parent household or a household with a single responsible adult.

You can read more about the arrangements for Christmas on the Welsh Government website here.

The Welsh Government has published its plan for the safe return of students to Welsh universities following the Christmas break. This plan is obviously subject to infection rates between now and January 2021.

Students will be invited to return to campus over a four-week period, starting from 11 January, with a phased return to in-person teaching. Universities will prioritise students who most need to return early, such as those studying in healthcare professions, those on placements or who need access to campus facilities.

The safe return of students will be supported through the continuation of the lateral-flow testing pilots, for asymptomatic students, which began at Welsh universities in late November.

Students will be asked to take a lateral-flow test when they return to their university accommodation, before being asked to avoid meeting socially for three days. Those students will then take a second test. Students not taking a test will be advised to lay low and not mix for 14 days.

You can read more about this here.

The Welsh Government have just published important new advice for those who were previously shielding.

You should no longer attend work or school outside of your home. This is particularly important if you have regular close contact with other people or share poorly ventilated workspace for long periods.

This follows a significant rise in infection rates, possibly due to a new strain of coronavirus.

The Chief Medical Officer for Wales will shortly be writing to everyone who was previously shielding to confirm this advice.

You can read more about this here.

Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been delivering donations of toiletries and beauty products to care home staff across Cardiff Central as a small thank you for their incredibly hard work throughout the pandemic.

This month, donations went to staff at Ty Draw Lodge in Penylan.

I was also able to deliver donations Cardiff Women's Aid for the women and children who pass through their emergency accommodation this Christmas.

67.4% of survivors experiencing abuse have reported their abuse worsening due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For many women, this Christmas will be even harder than you could imagine.

Cardiff Women's Aid are also running an urgent Christmas fundraiser to ensure they can continue to support survivors and their children in Cardiff by providing essential items, aftercare and a warm, safe space in emergency accommodation - and potentially provide survivors and their families with some Christmas items.

You can find out more and contribute to the fund by clicking here.

Thank you to Beauty Banks for the donations.

Exciting plans for a new Canal Quarter in the city centre and details of the Cardiff East Transport Scheme have been revealed, and the public are now being asked for their views.
 
The schemes could see:

• the first phase of the re-opening of the dock feeder canal on Churchill Way.
• the creation of a new public square and event space.
• the provision of a permanent segregated cycleway, new bus priority routes, and wider pavements to improve access and safety for pedestrians.
• new trees and green planting.
• new sustainable drainage techniques used throughout.
• Boulevard de Nantes; Stuttgarter Strasse; Dumfries Place and Station Terrace remodelled.
• Improved walking and cycling links between the civic centre at City Hall, Castle Street and the city centre.

Last week we had the good news that the developers have withdrawn their application to demolish the Roath Park (for now).
 
Well done and thank you to all who signed the petition against the plans.
 
It is likely that another application will be submitted - if this happens I’ll post the details on my social media accounts as soon as they are received.

16- and 17-year olds will be able to vote for the first time at the Senedd Elections in May 2021, as part of the biggest changes to the democratic process in Wales in half a century.

You can register to vote here (it only takes 5 minutes!)

If you’re over 16 and already registered, don't forget to make sure your electoral registration details are up to date so you can vote in the Senedd elections.. Each household will have received a letter from Cardiff Council to ensure registration details are up to date.
 
Follow the steps in the yellow letter the Council has sent so you can have your say.

Since the summer, I’ve been running a COVID-19 survey for constituents to feed in their views about how your lives have changed as a result of the pandemic.
 
The survey is now closed, and I have set out a summary of the results below.
 
Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has resulted in a huge change for all of us in how we work, socialise and go about our daily lives. The challenges we have faced in Cardiff Central, but especially our businesses, will continue even after vaccination roll out is completed.

We know that it will take a long time to recover.

Work
 
The survey showed that 37.6% of respondents worked 100% from home throughout the pandemic. 7.1% had been furloughed, and only 3.9% worked in their usual location.
 
Going forward, only 19% of respondents thought their working lives would return to as they were before the pandemic. 25% thought they’d be working from home on a more regular basis going forward, and 9.2% said they’d be working from home fully from now on. Sadly, 3% of respondents said they’d lost their job altogether due to the pandemic.
 
UK and Welsh Governments’ Response to the Pandemic
 
The results showed that 23.3% rated the Welsh Government’s response to the Pandemic as ‘very good’, 51.6% rated it ‘good’, 17.4% as average and 3.23% as poor. On the other hand, only 0.65% rated the UK Government’s response as very good, 1.29% rated it as good, 11.61% as average, 35.4% as poor and 50.97% rated it as very poor.
 
Socialising in Future
 
27.2% of respondents said they would be comfortable post-pandemic socialising at the same level as before, 3.25% said they would socialise more and 69.48% said they will be going out less frequently.
 
Public Transport
 
Through the pandemic, 27.25% of respondents to the survey said that they are using public transport at the same level as they did prior to the pandemic, 2.6% said they are using it more, and 69.93% said they are using public transport less than they did before the pandemic.
 
Social Distancing
 
Just 7% of respondents said social distancing measures should be scrapped now, 13% said at the end of 2020 and 77.78% said they should remain in place until the vaccine is rolled out.
 
Cardiff Council Plans for Castle Street and Wellfield Road
 
51.68% of respondents strongly supported the Council’s plans to open Castle Street as a café quarter, and 61.59% strongly supported the plans to widen space on Wellfield Road for social distancing. 17.4% and 10.6% responded respectively that the plans for Castle Street and Wellfield Road should be opposed and should never have been brought in, in the first place.