Plan for £11m flood defences scheme

A NEW £11m coastal defence scheme has been designed to help protect east Cardiff from flooding, including a traveller site which now could be there to stay.

A wall of boulders, known as rock armour, will be built along more than 2,000m of coastline running parallel to Rover Way.

The defence scheme would protect 249 homes, a Tesco supermarket, a landfill site and the Rover Way Traveller Site – which could now stay put despite long-running plans by Cardiff council for it to be relocated.

Cardiff council, which is pledging £2.75m to the scheme, will discuss the coastal defence plans next week.

The council’s cabinet member for clean streets, recycling and environment, councillor Michael Michael, said: “A report into the current state of defences along the foreshore by Rover Way makes it clear that they are in a poor condition and only have a short to medium-term lifespan.”

Cardiff council is now keeping the options open for the long-term location of the Rover Way traveller site.

That’s despite council plans first announced in 2013 to move the site to another part of the capital.

Councillor Adrian Robson, leader of the Conservatives on Cardiff council, welcomed the investment.

He said: “In terms of protecting the site and the local supermarket and the houses the investment is going to be welcome. I’d be very surprised if anyone had concerns with that.

“It’s one of those issues which needs resolving.”

Cardiff council says the coastal defence scheme would manage flood risk in the area for the next 100 years and protect 1,116 homes and 72 nonresidential buildings.

Erosion rates on the coastline parallel to Rover Way are among the highest in Europe, a report has said.

The coast off the west of Rhymney river is expected to retreat by 30m by 2036, 50m by 2067 and 170m by 2117 based on predicted erosion rates and taking into account predicted sea level rise.

This would lead to the loss of Rover Way traveller site and the nearby electrical substation within five years and release of large volumes of unknown material from the Frag tip into the Severn Estuary, Coun Michael said.

He said: “The report also points towards a potential breach being established in the defences east of Rover Way travellers’ site, resulting in flood risk to significant areas of land including Rover Way itself, Tremorfa industrial estate, some residential properties, local amenities and a supermarket.”

A business case has been put forward for the coastal defence scheme, which would involve £8.25m of Welsh Government funding.

Cardiff council’s cabinet will decide whether to tender for a contract to design and build the scheme at a meeting on Thursday, March 15.