No Requirement to Build a station at Cardiff Parkway
The Severn Estuary, near Peterstone Wentlooge, Cardiff. Credit: Ade Rixon, Flickr
On 30 January, Huw Thomas, Leader of Cardiff Council, made an oral statement to full Council on the decision by First Minister Eluned Morgan to approve the Cardiff Parkway development application. The statement (attached below) is revealing, as much by what it does not say as by what it does. It vindicates the objections made by Cardiff Civic Society and others exposing the true nature of this proposal and politicians’ support for it.
Council had just discussed the replacement Local Development Plan, with plenty of promises on our environment and biodiversity net benefit. But the Leader ignored the ecological costs of this new business park. Instead, he presented it as an unqualified good, ‘a seminal development for Cardiff and the Welsh economy’, with no pretence of a ‘planning balance’ in which its benefits might justify the costs. Nor were there any pledges of mitigation or compensation for destroyed biodiversity.
There was no mention of a rail station. Throughout the planning process, the promised station has been used to justify this out-of-town development on ecologically sensitive land as an exception to Future Wales and Planning Policy Wales. Cllr Thomas claims the business park would ‘provide a huge stimulus to the development of economic and transport infrastructure’. But the First Minister has removed the obligation to build a rail station, and ‘infrastructure’ could imply public expenditure on new roads like Eastern Bay Link. ‘Cardiff Parkway’ now just advertises a prospective business park.
Why then the loud applause across the Council chamber? Politicians have convinced themselves that Cardiff can only grow by ‘doing everything to support the ambition of Nigel Roberts’ and his like. They should be careful. Cardiff Council has lost £16m by undercharging tax for soil disposal by companies, including one owned by convicted businessman David Neal. Cardiff Capital Region has to pay £10m in compensation after gifting the demolition of Aberthaw power station to a favoured contractor without proper process. Councillors should instead put the needs of Cardiff people first.
Will this development make Cardiff ‘a location of choice for cutting edge businesses looking to expand’, as Cllr Thomas asserts? That looks doubtful. Only Rolls Royce has indicated any interest, and even if that materialises, its base will remain in Derby. It will take many years or decades, perhaps never, for ‘Cardiff Parkway’ to host the thousands of promised jobs. On past experience, local people will obtain few of those.
Nonetheless, this location may attract some businesses. Creditsafe has just leased a vacant building nearby, where it will employ 300, but none of these will be ‘new’ jobs. Instead, staff will be relocated from Caerphilly. Why? Cardiff Gate ‘is a great choice, especially the strategic location at Junction 30 of the M4’.
Closeness to the M4 has always been the dirty secret of ‘Cardiff Parkway’. Forget ‘Town Centres First’ or public transport. Approval for this business park, with no guaranteed rail station, dissolves the mirage of privately funded infrastructure. This is car-focused development, contradicting the Burns report on future transport for south-east Wales.
Cardiff Civic Society wants both good jobs and good public transport for the people of east Cardiff, but we doubt this planning approval will deliver either of those.
