Thu Dec 11, 2014 7:23 pm
Daily Wales - which is a well known "independent voice" in no way associated with former coalition partners in Cardiff council who used to represent Fairwater -, and David James, a columnist from that "notoriously pro-development" Media Wales Group.
I'm sorry, I can't take seriously a journalist who says (and a political propaganda newspaper that quotes) the following:
"“The Labour administration in Cardiff came in promising to follow the Welsh Government’s rules of assessing population growth, identifying land for development and letting builders build on it.
“And until those rules are altered to protect all the remaining land in Cardiff so that development has to go either upwards or out, Cardiff’s suburban sprawl is the future.”"
Basically what this guy is saying is that he doesn't just believe this urban extension of Cardiff is flawed, but the entire concept of expanding Cardiff is flawed. Instead people should be shoehorned into apartments in dense tall developments (suitable for some, but by no means all, future residents of Cardiff). Or they should be forced to commute from further afield in the Valleys. Of course, the net result of all of this planning restriction and coercion will be a poorer Wales, fewer opportunities for young people, but some nice capital gains for owners of existing homes in suburban Cardiff.
Now, I do think transport is the weakest link in the current proposal. One option is a link road to the A4232. And I think the tram-train would be a major improvement on BRT, as it would avoid the problems with BRT mentioned. But I don't think BRT is really a strong contender, at least as set out in this article (it is scare mongering, a straw man, because clearly such an approach would not work). I think more regular bus services could just about cope, when combined with additional car journeys. Yes it would mean additional congestion, but that is one of the prices of living in a successful city. If the choice is between a growing but creaky Cardiff that gives opportunities to more young people in Wales, and helps drive growth.. or a somewhat less congested Cardiff and a poorer Wales, where people have fewer opportunities or need to leave for England.. I know what progressive, and "patriotic" people should choose!
And the figures cited are really pulled from thin air. A profit of £50,000 -its substantially above Redrow's average profit per house, despite house prices in Cardiff being below the UK average. Its not impossible but I'd like to see some support for this. And I don't think the land is worth £1 billion. "Clean land values" in Cardiff are about £1.25 million an acre - the topography and extra investment in infrastructure needed here would mean this land probably would achieve a fair bit less. And a lot of the land is being kept as informal green space. I think the housing element of the land is only around 350 acres or so. So thats more like £425 million, not £1 billion. That is still a big windfall gain for the land-owners but its important to get facts and figures right if you try calculating contributions to public transport etc.
I think rather than dismissing these plans out of hand, they should be seen as the start of negotiations. For contributions to transport, social housing, education infrastructure etc (there would have to be some trade-offs here). But instead, I think the 2 sources Mr Blue Sky cites are actually opposed to urban expansions in principle. And I think that actual conflicts with their so called left-wing and patriotic objectives.
