General Developments

Caterham park I believe it's called. It's a real any town suburb with no discerning character at all

Close, but no cigar this xmas. CAVERSHAM park. My evaluation is that homes here are pretty good value. When I was a kid in the 60s it was all fields. I lived - not in a box or a hole in the road, eating gravel - but on Lavernock road.

How Penarth has changed. I'd say that it is the safest place (in Wales) to park any extra cash if you want to invest in property.

Caversham park isn't brilliantly designed or executed, but it is a flat 15 minute walk (or 5 minute cycle) to Penarth train station. Great schools too.

How Penarth has changed. I'd say that it is the safest place (in Wales) to park any extra cash if you want to invest in property.

I think a lot of Penarth's added value is already factored in. A friend of mine was looking to buy there last year and was told by estate agents that they were getting a lot of people relocating there from S.E England because of affordabilty issues around London.

It used to be rarity for people with jobs in London to locate their main home in south Wales but it seems to be becoming more common. It's been happening a lot in Bristol in recent years and I suppose we're the next stop on the line!

How Penarth has changed. I'd say that it is the safest place (in Wales) to park any extra cash if you want to invest in property.

I think a lot of Penarth's added value is already factored in. A friend of mine was looking to buy there last year and was told by estate agents that they were getting a lot of people relocating there from S.E England because of affordabilty issues around London.

It used to be rarity for people with jobs in London to locate their main home in south Wales but it seems to be becoming more common. It's been happening a lot in Bristol in recent years and I suppose we're the next stop on the line!

Yeah I like to pretend Newport doesn't exist too

Not Cardiff but quite near -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-35111733

National Planetarium planned for Maerdy at top end of the Rhondda.

Is this a bold plan to establish new national institutions and revitalise depressed communities at the same time or a white elephant that will suck up public funds best utilised elsewhere? Discuss.

Nice idea in theory, but Maerdy is one of the most difficult places in the Valleys to actually get to.

Its a great idea to have one, but bloody stupid to put it in a place where no one is, or goes for this type attraction. Why not put it in a place where people actually are, as it doesnt seem like its connected to any scientific group in the area. My first choice of places would be either the scrap of land at the rear of the national museum or next to the waterfront museum in Swansea. I suppose next to Doctor who in the bay, near the Barrage end would be nice as there is less light pollution here for astronomy, up in the hills seems silly with all the cloud cover we get.

Maerdy is a ridiculous place for it. There's no rail connection, poor roads and zero visitor infrastructure.

For something like that to have any chance of success in the valleys it would need to be near existing attractions and with decent transport links. It might work in somewhere like Blaenavon - but even there - I'm dubious.

This is the kind of idea you often hear in the Valleys - well intentioned but not exactly in the real world. They object when new things get built in Cardiff or the M4 corridor, even when funded by new private sector money (I remember people in Ponty whinging that they did not need St Davids 2 in Cardiff as they already had lots of shops, and "they" should build it in Ponty instead).

Now I imagine one reason to go away from Cardiff with this would be the darker skies. But Maerdy is one of the most remote parts of the Valleys (only can think of Brynamman and Glyncorrwg as being more remote). Wouldn't somewhere like Merthyr be better? Close to the Beacons which do get visitors.

If dark skies aren't a big deal, I agree it would work better in Cardiff. I just don't see 400,000 visitors making it up to Maerdy every year - its hard to combine with other activities and isn't a day out in itself, I imagine.

Thinking about the severe flooding up north and the fact that South Wales has escaped by luck.
The Ely Bridge development of 900 houses built on the

former flood plain of the River Ely,

as the planning document puts it! Medium risk area on the EA flood maps.

A report into this area a few year back says:

Sites at Ely Bridge
The sites at Ely Bridge require a significant scheme of raised defences to enable
development to comply with TAN 15 over the development lifetime. The costs of such a
scheme has been broadly assessed and considered economically viable to deliver
these sites.
The site that currently fails the requirements of TAN 15 (A1.15) is Site 36LBR. The
depth of flooding to this site is stated as “significant” (even with the defences in place to
the West) due to its low lying elevation in relation to the surrounding area

And guess what the planning restraints NRW said would be ok for this site? widen the river a bit by the houses and raise the land by up to 1 metre!
So maybe this will be OK but does this not just move flooding problems elsewhere.

I would hate to see the insurance quotes on these new houses.

An application has been submitted for new homes and flats to be built in Cardiff’s Atlantic Wharf.

The proposal, going before planners next week, would see 117 homes including 85 apartments and 32 affordable homes, built on land off Schooner Way in Cardiff.

The application site is between Schooner Way and Bute East Dock and includes land currently attached to County Hall. The land is currently covered by a large amount of soil which would need to be removed.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/new-homes-apartments-planned-cardiff-10707858