Friday 12 December 2014

Council Gridlocked in Cardiff

With Labour  having a mini civil war in our capitol city the hopes that they can get to grips with the appalling transport issues that affect not only ots citizens but those  living outside as well


The Mule Online  tells us concerns have been raised over the extra traffic which could be created in northwest Cardiff from a planned development of 7,000 homes.
Details have been revealed of plans for a £2bn ‘garden city’ (which sounds lovely) development on a 900-acre site to be built over the next 20 years.
But there's often a huge difference from what the planners claim we will get and the eventual outcome.

The development, named ‘Plasdwr’, For some reason Wales Online think we need a translation so they say it means Waterhall, as if Welsh was a strange exotic Language.
It would see 7,000 homes built on land bordering Fairwater, St Fagans, Danescourt, Creigiau and Radyr.

The scheme is being led by housebuilder Redrow in partnership with Plymouth Estates and planning applications for a first phase of 920 homes on two separate sites have been submitted.


Some councillors for the areas affected have hit out at the plans. It may depend on what type of housing is provided 

Conservative councillor Rod McKerlich, who represents the Radyr ward, said his biggest concern was transport.
Monday to Friday there are huge queues and that’s before you put 7,000 houses in this development. On top of that there’s another development planned in Creigiau and the BBC building in Llandaff possibly being turned into housing.
He said hopes that 50% of people can be persuaded to give up their cars and use public transport were also a long way off.“The other cities who have achieved this have an effective system of either underground or a Metro. Cardiff doesn’t have it and won’t have that for a long time.”

 Mind you local Labour ward councillors were far from enthusistic Fairwater’s Labour councillor Paul Mitchell said he felt the plans were being “rushed through”.
“I am worried this project is being rushed through before the council deposit the LDP [Local Development Plan] in November. We inherited this planning chaos from the previous administration
Always easy to blaim the previous adminidstration 

Neil McEvoy, Plaid Cymru councillor for Fairwater, who was a member of the prevuous adminatration  said the Labour council and Government were “selling out”.
He agreed that transport links were a huge concern.
“We’re already gridlocked,”.
“If all these plans go through the only options for transport will be to leave at 3am or take a helicopter. The roads are already full.

Wayne Rees, project director for Plasdwr, said:

The proposals for Plasdwr contain a carefully-planned hierarchy of roads, paths and cycleways as well as high-quality bus services, so that residents will be able to walk, cycle and use public transport as well as their cars, with the aim of helping people get about easily and conveniently.

So that's alight then .

This concerns those of us who live outside the City as many of us commute there. 

Manor way in the mornings is a nightmare and Transport should consider those who live outside the city but need to regularly travel there ,

This week  Ten Welsh councils agreed to work together to develop a combined authority that could make key decisions for the South East Wales region on economic development, transport and planning.

Maybe before any plans have a go head we start thinking beyond Cardiff  and how those of us who don't live there are effected  by short term planing in the city?


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