Detailed new plans for 2,500-house suburb with schools and offices
DETAILED new plans have been submitted for a new suburb of 2,500 houses in Cardiff, despite several concerns and objections.
Developers are seeking permission for new homes to be built over a 15-year period on green land to the east of Lisvane in north Cardiff as part of a huge expansion of the city. A wide range of detailed revised plans and documents were submitted to the council on November 1.
Taylor Wimpey’s new documents change the boundaries of their development and address traffic issues raised by Cardiff council.
The developer is seeking outline planning permission before it puts in a further, more detailed planning application to Cardiff Council, which, if approved, will allow them to begin work.
A new two-form entry primary school and land for a new secondary school are also being promised as part of the plans, along with shops, food and drink outlets, offices and public open space including parks and gardens.
But residents, a politician and councillors previously called for the application to be refused – citing the increase in traffic and lack of provision for congestion as a major concern.
Details of the planning application are still live on Cardiff council’s website and available for the public to view and comment on.
According to the application documents, it would take 15 years for the development to be built, with construction taking place over the course of seven phases.
It has been proposed that the first phase would begin in 2022, lasting three years, and work is expected to be complete by 2037.
Taylor Wimpey applied to Cardiff council for outline planning permission in 2019, with the intention to start in 2020 – however this was first delayed until 2021, and further delayed until next year.
If the full plans are approved, the new suburb would be built next to the separate Churchlands development by Redrow Homes of up to 1,000 new houses, forming part of Cardiff council’s masterplan for 4,500 new homes on farmland between Lisvane and Pontprennau.
Affordable housing will be provided on the 330-hectare development.
Taylor Wimpey says it will negotiate with Cardiff Council over how many of the 2,500 homes will be affordable.
The council’s policy is to seek up to 30% affordable housing on greenfield sites.
Key community features of the proposed development include a “district centre”, which the developer says is likely to comprise shops, food and drink outlets, a primary care facility, a community leisure centre and a library, among other facilities.
An area offering new business space including offices, shops and food and drink outlets could also be built adjacent to Cardiff Gate Business Park. Meanwhile, primary school is projected to be built in the fourth phase (2025-2029), while the secondary school site would be built in the fifth phase (2028-2035).
The new development would be accessed from Lisvane Road, Ty Draw Road, and a re-alignment of Heol Glandulais in Pontprennau, with the district centre and two schools at the heart of the new suburb. A main road would run through the new development from east to west, providing a thoroughfare for buses.
Cycle lanes are proposed along the main roads of the development, which will connect with the district centre and employment areas, and a cycle superhighway leading to Cardiff city centre being proposed by the council. Taylor Wimpey is also proposing four play areas, 56 allotments in two locations, and to retain the ancient woodland on the site.
But since the plans were revealed two years ago, 12 concerns, 38 objection comments and 24 comments have been put forward, with many worried about
A new two-form entry primary school and land for a new secondary school are also being promised as part of the plans, along with shops, food and drink outlets, offices and public open space including parks and gardens
the impact on traffic.
In November 2019, Anna McMorrin MP for Cardiff North expressed her concern “regarding a lack of any substantial road system and the fear of gridlock and congestion”.
“Traffic in the North East of Cardiff is already particularly heavy at peak times and residents have raised concerns that if steps are not taken to alleviate this pressure, then the proposed development would exacerbate this,” she wrote in a letter to the council.
She also insisted that due to the size of the development the relevant infrastructure, such as schools, health centres and denstists, must be in place “prior to residents taking up residency there”.
Councillors Dianne Rees and Joel Williams for Pontprennau and Old St Mellons also called for the application to be refused in November 2019 because of the expected hike in traffic.
They warned of “total shutdown of surrounding roads” in surrounding areas, adding that “it is unacceptable that the main access roads for the application are existing roads without new plans to improve existing infrastructure on roads in Pontprennau and Lisvane.”
They claimed the main access roads for the development are often congested at peak times, and cited a recent survey that highlighted that if the application were to be granted waiting times on one of the roads would increase by up to 900%.
“How buses will negotiate this queue (let alone private vehicles) and this delay is not explained, and so this cannot be relied upon with any degree of certainty,” they wrote.
They also cited the potential impact on residents’ health, writing: “The building of more houses in an already heavily polluted area which will increase traffic density is dangerous to those living in the area and the younger generation and unborn who are unable to make a planning objection.”
In November 2020, resident Andrew Giles and 20 other residents of Lisvane and Llanishen also said they were worried about the impact of the development on people currently living and working in the existing adjacent communities.
They pointed out that the proposals do not address gaps in existing active travel routes in the north of the city through enhancement of infrastructure and provision of sustainable travel – and like the councillors and MP believe it will only cause “more private vehicle usage, more congestion, more pollution and a greater risk to safety”.
Meanwhile Councillor David Walker for Lisvane also believed the “cumulative impact of the proposal on other phases” of the wider plan to build 4,500 homes in the area had not be considered.
“The application fails the EIA [Environmentral Impact Assessment] regulations and any decision based on the submitted ES is at risk of judicial law,” he wrote.
However a revised non-technical summary published in October this year, which summarised the findings of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the development, insisted that the “likely impact of the proposed development on traffic conditions has been fully appraised”.
It went on to say the EIA indicated the new suburb would “not materially increase traffic flows through the adjacent residential areas or unacceptably impede access to the wider road network for existing residents”.
“The detailed traffic modelling undertaken has also taken account of further development resulting from the wider growth proposals within Cardiff, as identified in the Local Development Plan. As would be expected, this work has identified further mitigation measures which serve to support the wider Cardiff Transport Strategy which sets a requirement for Cardiff City to achieve a 50:50 sustainable transport mode split, in terms of journey made by car and non-car modes,” said the report.
It continued: “The access and movement strategy for the site will support and facilitate sustainable travel through accessible bus, bicycle, metro and walking links with a clear aim to reduce reliance on private vehicular use”.
The summary also said the proposed development would include a “bus rapid transit corridor” which would be implemented on a “phased basis”, as well as a “strategic cycle highway” to provide accessible walking and cycling routes in the new community – allowing integration within the wider area and onward connections to the city centre.