{"id":55853,"date":"2021-11-30T15:53:56","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T15:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=55853"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:49:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:49:09","slug":"campaigners-appeal-for-cladding-victims-to-stand-at-council-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2021\/11\/30\/campaigners-appeal-for-cladding-victims-to-stand-at-council-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Campaigners appeal for cladding victims to stand at council elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welsh Cladiators hope to fill two new seats on Butetown ballot<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A CAMPAIGN group is searching for Cardiff Bay cladding victims to stand in the city council elections next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Welsh Cladiators want residents affected by cladding issues to run as independent councillors for the Butetown Ward, which will go from having one councillor to three in the May 2022 vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who are just very disappointed with what they see as a very passive response from Cardiff Council to the plight of victims in the Bay,\u201d said Mark Thomas, 63, who is a Celestia Development leaseholder and a member of the Welsh Claditators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cWe have lobbied Cardiff Council hard for sanctions against developers who refuse to remediate their fire defective buildings as well as asking for other support, but the response has been very poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy putting up some councillors who are victims of this crisis we hope we can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Saeed Ebrahim is currently Butetown\u2019s only councillor. The electoral ward was described<\/a> as having the greatest voter underrepresentation in Cardiff by the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coun Ebrahim won the council elections in May 2017, with 1,462 votes and a 56% share of the total votes cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur thinking is that 1,400 votes is probably just two or three apartment developments in the Bay,” said Mr Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still relatively early, but we are going to push hard in the lead up to Christmas to see if we can get at least two home fire safety victims to stand in the council elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Cardiff council spokesperson said that any problems leaseholders were facing over cladding were a matter for the Welsh Government and the developers and not the responsibility of the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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