More planning madness

At a packed meeting at Whitchurch Community Centre on 9 May last year, residents protested about not being consulted on the options for the redevelopment of the Resource Centre site. This piece of land is allocated in the Cardiff Local Plan for educational purposes and the Council should have consulted on any changes. Instead it rode roughshod over public opinion, granting itself permission for 18 dwellings in July, without listening to any of the alternatives. The development will require the felling at least 30 trees in the access lane. This is part of the conservation area and the trees should have been protected.

Residents accept that that this piece of land must be developed, but they are unhappy at the way the Council has handled the case. A complaint has been submitted to the Ombudsman and a legal challenge is being considered. Residents believe that the Council has acted unreasonably and with bias. The Council’s Estates Department advertised the site for sale before the application had been considered by Planning Committee. The advert stated that the land was due to come to market with the benefit of outline planning permission for residential development. The application did not get a fair hearing and this is one of the major grounds for complaint. Between June and November the Council ignored 5 letters of complaint and ignoring requests for information.

We understand that the Council is currently considering bids to use the land as a either a care home or for residential purposes. Such a use would be very similar to the previous use as an older people’s Resource Centre. We consider that this would be a more appropriate use of the land, avoiding parking problems and peak hour traffic pressures down the very narrow access lane. There is also a serious shortage of care home places, both in Whitchurch and in the City of Cardiff. At the very least, we believe local residents should have been consulted on these options.

You can discuss this development over in the forums.
Please email us urgently with your views on this to WHAG99@gmail.com. This will also enable us to send you updates.
If you are interested in helping with this campaign please let us know – especially if you have legal, planning or communications expertise.