Dr Who writer: zip-wire would exterminate the silence I need

RUSSELL T DAVIES, the former Doctor Who writer, has become embroiled in a planning row over a proposal to build a zip-wire outside his waterfront home.

Davies, who lives in Cardiff, has lodged a formal complaint about plans to install a 1,180ft wire across Cardiff Bay because it would be “impossible” for him to work with thousands of people “whizzing past” his flat.

The City Zip Company, which is behind the plan, has proposed to build the attraction from the top of the fivestar St David’s Hotel to a landing spot next to the historic Norwegian Church across the bay.

But Davies, 56, who is also behind the BBC series Years and Years, sent an objection to Cardiff council, saying it would affect his ability to write.

“Are you kidding?” he said. “I write for a living. I’m a TV scriptwriter; I brought Doctor Who to Cardiff in 2005; the BBC Studio, Roath Lock, across the bay, was built under my aegis. “That facility brings, from Doctor

Who alone, £24million of business per annum to Cardiff. But you’re now suggesting that I sit, in my Cardiff home, and write, with 48 people an hour flying past, screaming, for six months of the year.”

The zip-wire could be opened before January 2020. The developers behind

it believe the route has been “sensitively positioned to ensure minimal impact upon local views, nearby heritage assets and nearby occupants.”

However, Davies disagreed, saying: “One person screaming past my windows would be a one-off event. It could even be fun! But 48 people per hour, eight hours a day for 24 weeks equals a grand total of 64,512 events.”

Fellow screenwriter Andrew Davies, best known for House of Cards and Bridget Jones’s Diary, also a Cardiff Bay resident, said: “Please abandon this reckless and unneighbourly venture.”

Ocean Reach Owners Association, the local residents’ group, also complained about the plan.