Revealed: Details of £11m Navy base in city
DETAILS of what would be inside an £11m naval training facility have been revealed. The new facility in Cardiff would be a training centre for the military, primarily by HMS Cambria, a Royal Naval Reserve Unit.
The reserves using the facility would be adult volunteers attending for physical training and education to prepare them for active service at sea.
Inside the newly created building, which is not a military barracks, would be classrooms, changing areas, sleeping accommodation and a hall.
The new development would see local roads upgraded as well an outdoor exercise area. The dormitories will sleep up to 50 people.
HMS Cambria was a Royal Naval Reserve unit established in July 1947. It originally occupied buildings in Cardiff Docks where it remained until 1980 before moving to Sully.
This project is intended to give a permanent home for the reserve unit. It would combine the Royal Navy Reserves, Royal Marine Reserves, and University Royal Navy Unit and provide them with facilities to recruit and train future reservists.
The planning report says that its current location in Sully is hard to get to by public transport.
The site is part of the port area in Cardiff Docks, near the BBC’s Roath Lock facility.
The planning application says the building could be expanded in the future. The training centre would be in use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but with its main use between 8am and 4.30pm and then 6.30pm and 10.30pm.
The outdoor area would be used for fitness drills, obstacle courses and rope training. The fitness suite would be available to staff and volunteers 24 hours a day.
The application to Cardiff council says that “the training activities that would be undertaken at the site would not be considered anti-social”.
Security personnel would be present on site at all times, and access into the site would be via a security area.
Around 70 volunteers and 10 staff would use the site.
The majority of volunteers would leaves during the week but there could be some staying over at the weekends.
Most would arrive by car and there would be 53 parking spaces as well as 10 bike spaces. Access would be by Cargo Road. The report to planning officers concludes: “While it is identified that the proposed development would result in a change of land use from allocated employment land, it is considered that the impact of this would be minimal since the site will create employment, existing employment uses will be relocated elsewhere in Cardiff Port and the site only represents 0.77% of existing port use.”