Comment DBCC-7005

I don't agree with the amalgamation of Cardiff North and Cardiff East.

I think it makes more sense to amalgamate Cardiff North and Cardiff West. Although the River Taff is an obvious geographical boundary it does not reflect how society (societies) connect (or not) nowadays. I think there are much more social similarities in terms of collaboration, family relations and communication between West and North than there are between West and East. One obvious example of the cultural similarities is the Welsh language. Cardiff's powerhouse in terms of Welsh speakers is the northern areas of Cardiff West and the northern area of Cardiff North. So our representatives in the Senedd would have a lot of advantage if they could speak for the majority of Welsh speakers in Cardiff rather than sharing people with a distinct identity.

From anecdotal experience there are many more friends and family connections between the West and the North. Has the Commission done any research into whether that is true or not? If not, why? The Commission needs to look beyond easy and lazy geographical boundaries and look deeper at communities, identifying them, the factors that make a community (which do not always depend on geographical factors such as a river or road) and the distribution of these communities between the West and the North.

Once again from anecdotal experience, residents of Cardiff North will often go to Cardiff West for entertainment, e.g. visiting dining places in Pontcanna, visiting Chapter to go to the cinema and going to Acapela for a concert. Unlikely, as far as I know, the people of Cardiff East will visit Cardiff North for similar reasons. Again, has the commission looked into factors like this? In my opinion that's what creates society and identity, not rivers and roads.
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