Road to nowhere as new-town plan comes to a halt
A SIGNPOST on this A-road directs motorists to a supermarket, although the road is completely blocked off.
Venture a little further on foot up this new road, which is just off the A473 in Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and you come across a bus stop, more road signs and a roundabout.
After that roundabout, which is about 100m on, the road – seemingly leading to nothing – ends.
This is, to date, the result of the huge £200m “town centre” development originally planned seven years ago for Talbot Green, which was set to see a Sainsbury’s as the anchor tenant along with hundreds of thousands of square feet of buildings including a cinema, cafes, restaurants, homes, offices and a hotel.
The full plans submitted by Talbot Green Developments Limited (TGDL) were given the green light in 2014 after the ideas were first revealed in 2011.
They were for a shopping destination along the lines of the Bridgend Designer Outlet, and although an access road has been built, little else has so far been done.
The application for approval of “all reserved matters” for the huge site was set to expire in December last year but another application has been submitted to renew it, providing “additional time”.
On Wednesday local resident Paul Baccara said: “Seven years ago they applied for this scheme and discussion began to build a new town centre.
“When the roads started going up we were very pleased. They might be done nicely but to see them going nowhere now is ridiculous. It’s all just come to a stop.
“It’s frustrating for everybody and is the biggest question this area has faced in recent times.
“Everyone’s still positive about it but none of us know what’s happening.”
Mr Baccara, who used to represent Talbot Green as an independent on Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council, added: “If I was still a councillor I would have called these plans in and asked the developers what is going on – they appear to have gone back on their word. We need guarantees it’s still going ahead.
“The Tesco here is over-shopped and there is need for competition.
“To have a Debenhams would be delightful – this area has nothing like that.
“The public want answers and the councillors should be asking the questions – not, as far as I can see, nodding through this re-application”
In the application for renewal, which was submitted in May and validated in September, a cover letter addressed to RCT council on behalf of TGDL said the “phase one” element of the development had begun and that £6m on infrastructure “necessary to serve the town centre”, including the new road, had already been spent.
It also said the terms of the current agreement with Sainsbury’s required the store to be built by 2020 – a condition that would remain the same under the renewed permission.
The covering letter concluded: “There are not considered to be any material changes in circumstances since the previous approval of the planning permission which would prevent the Local Planning Authority from extending the period for the application for approval of reserved matters or for the commencement of the development in the way set out above.
“The implementation of the proposed development accords with the current adopted Development Plan policies and will enable a longer period of time to deliver a strategic allocation.”
The decision of the application for renewal on the land, made up of the former Purolite and Staedtler site together with the current Leekes department store and an area of land on Pant Marsh, is not yet known.
Last year we asked Sainsbury’s whether or not the plans were still going ahead, to which the firm responded: “All of our planned schemes, including Talbot Green, are under review. We’ll update when we’re able.”
We then asked the company to elaborate about why the schemes are under review and how many schemes are in the pipeline, but it failed to respond.
On Wednesday a spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “The scheme is currently under review, while we continue to develop our plans.
“We’ll update the community when we have further information.”
Under the terms of the previous planning permission it was decided that the Leekes store already in Talbot Green would be relocated.
When contacted and asked if that was still the case Emma Leeke, managing director of Leekes, said: “We continue to engage with the council and developers about the redevelopment of the area and the role we can play in this but we have no firm plans to announce at this stage.”
The news come weeks after the development at nearby Cefn Yr Hendy, which is also led by TGDL and set to see 460 new homes built near Pontyclun, was approved by planners.
The area along the M4 corridor is popular with developers, and plans for a new small town of 5,000 homes, as well as industrial and office space, were revealed for the huge site between Pencoed and Llantrisant.
A spokeswoman for RCT council, the authority dealing with the application, said: “The council can confirm that it has received an application to extend the planning permission for this site. No decision has been made on this application yet.”
TGDL was contacted for comment but said nobody was available.