Gigs shouldn’t take precedence over Cardiff's residents, workers, sports players and visitors who enjoy Bute Park
Blackweir, Bute Park. Credit: Patana Rattananavathong, Flickr.
Here is a response from the Friends of Bute Park to the article published recently by Wales Online, Cardiff Online and Nation Cymru, which, although not sent to the Friends of Bute Park, was itself a response to their original statement regarding concerns about the staging of Blackweir Live.
There has been some disagreement about who knew what, and when, although throughout the 'consultation process' the information provided by the Council to the Friends of Bute Park, the Community Orchard and the park traders has been scant:
"The council is considering holding an event at Blackweir" conveys little implication of the magnitude of what is now going to happen.
"Temporary footbridges" doesn't go anywhere near describing the size of the structures, nor the amount of damage to the trees that would happen.
"Fully informed" should mean the groups and the public would not have to find out about schedules, plans, inconveniences and major arboricultural work via the media.
But, if we leave aside the disagreement, it doesn't alter the facts:
a series of one-off gigs should not take precedence over Cardiff's residents, workers, sports players and over a million visitors who enjoy Bute Park's beautiful open spaces every year.
A meeting with Council representatives took place on 21st January so that an update could be provided and questions answered. When a query was raised about 35,000 people coming out of the site the answer indicated that people would go out through the southern park exits – there was no mention of needing to create new access routes into/from Blackweir and the A470, and that this would entail tree felling and clearance work and the obstruction of the North Road cycle lanes.
It was also noted that there had been no ecological assessment undertaken, even though these events had been announced many months ago.
At no stage had the Council informed/advised the Friends of Bute Park that major clearance works in the ancient woodland of Blackweir were being considered, let alone performed with no notice - and discovered only when the sounds of chainsaws echoed across the park...
The Council commissioned 3 reports with the terms of reference specifically related to enabling works for the gigs to proceed. The first is dated 21st August 2024 which is 2 months after the Council says it briefed community groups inc detail. It stretches credulity that Council Officers were able to carry out any informed briefing when they had not yet received the initial report. Further, this report and 2 subsequent others (17th January 2025 and February 2025) were not released to us until just a couple of weeks ago (28 March) long after the damaging works had been done.
Our reading of these expert reports indicates that the recommended action after felling and pruning is that these are all left for habitat diversity - however, the Council has failed to follow the expert advice and has, instead, removed it so that the gig structures can be transported and installed. Further, only 4 trees were identified as being high risk and high priority, yet over 20 were felled. There can be no doubt, therefore, that these works were done solely at the behest of the gig organiser. Bute Park deserves better than for its nature and landscape to be determined by corporate demands.
We are, however, very pleased to hear that the organisers have agreed to move several gigs planned for Coopers Field to Cardiff Castle, and would be even more pleased if the council were to recognise the damage that will be caused to Blackweir Fields' surface and pitches and make arrangements to avoid that by relocating the planned events.
The Friends of Bute Park
14 April 2025
