Plans revealed for 5,000 new homes at former opencast site
AMBITIOUS plans for one of the biggest regeneration projects ever seen in South Wales have been revealed.
It would see 5,000 new homes – effectively a new small town – as well as industrial and office space, potentially creating thousands of new jobs.
The site is an area of 1,000 acres that was once mainly a huge opencast mining operation at Llanilid.
It’s located between Pencoed and Llantrisant and sandwiched by the M4 motorway to the south and the South Wales to London Great Western mainline to the north.
It has been designated by Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council not only as a key strategic development site for the county borough, but also the wider Cardiff Capital Region.
While the development could span 30 years, subject to planning, it could see:
5,000 new homes on just a quarter of the Parc Llanilid site (planning permission for 1,850 homes was granted in 2016).
A new motorway junction to the south of site at a cost of £25m to £30m – located between the existing junctions 34 and 35 of the M4.
Hotel and leisure facilities.
A primary school, health facilities and sporting pitches.
A park and ride train station to the north of the site on the Great Western mainline.
More than 200 acres assigned for industrial and office developments which could create thousands of jobs.
A private developerbacked financial solution for the completion of the Llanharan bypass.
And taking a wider regional approach to local development plans, something the Welsh Government is insisting happens, the scheme could join up with Pencoed Technology Park, which is in neighbouring Bridgend.
Parc Llanilid, to give the site its current name, has been seen as a key development site since the cessation of opencast mining in 1997.
After required reclamation work, by 1999 the site was in a fit enough state to accommodate alternative use development.
Just two years later it was earmarked for the so-called Valleywood project, which promised to put South Wales on the filmmaking map with up to three million square feet of film studios and affiliated office space, as well as a theme park, hotel and leisure facilities.
It was driven by consortium Dragon International Film Studios, chaired by the late acclaimed actor and producer Richard Attenborough.
However, despite the hype of creating 2,000 jobs and attracting stars and productions from around the world, all the project delivered was four silent stages extending to 50,000sq ft and unfinished road infrastructure.
While periodically used for filming, with the latest being for a US drama based on the young life of William Shakespeare, the studios, which remain in the hands of receivers, are used for storage.
The site, which now bears little evidence of its once industrial scale mining past, is well-positioned for commercial developments, particularly in areas such as logistics and distribution, a sector that is well placed for further growth and investment following abolition of tolls on the Severn bridges by the end of the year.
And in a major boost to realising the first phase of the project, it is understood a leading UK housebuilder is close to exchanging contracts to acquire two major land lots to the north and south of the site, covering more than 700 acres for which there is already planning consent for the first wave of 1,850 homes.
The land lots at Llanilid have been marketed for sale on behalf of receivers KPMG by the Cardiff office of property advisory firm Savills, which declined to comment on the current status of the sales process. And in a separate deal, the middle section of land at Llanilid, covering 330 acres – although not including the film studios – was acquired from PwC by a new joint venture company, G&G Land, last year.
The directors of G&G are Nick Griffith, one of Wales’ leading commercial property investors, and Simon Grey, managing director of Llanmoor Homes.
Mr Griffith’s commercial investments include the 500,000sq ft Imperial Park in Newport, the 300,000sq ft Waterton Point at Bridgend and plans for 200 acres of mixed-used development, including for 3,000 homes and 250,000sq ft of commercial schemes, off junction 33 of the M4.