THE GRAND WELSH PLANS THAT NEVER MADE IT
Plans for a New York skyline, super-casino and snow dome are among a list of ambitious Welsh projects yet to see the light of day. Ruth Mosalski and Philip Dewey take a look at some of the big plans
IN THE spring of 2011 there was still firm hope that Wales would have a brand-new hotel that would become the country’s tallest building.
It would be 32 storeys high, run by an American luxury hotel chain and have a water bus linking the 200room hotel to Cardiff city centre. It would be open within two years.
But by the time 2013 came around the scheme had been revised – it was now more focused on apartments and retail, with the hotel to follow at a later date.
Five years on, and the hotel still hasn’t been built.
It’s one of many ambitious major projects in Wales that have been planned, developed substantially, but for various reasons, never seen the light of day.
Of course, there are a number of projects changing the skylines of our towns and cities, including Cardiff’s Central Square and the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station development in Anglesey.
But here are those that have never been taken forward.
■ Cardiff Bay’s ‘New York’ skyline The 2,400-flat Bay Pointe development would have given Wales a new 41-storey tallest building and two other skyscrapers.
Costing an estimated half a billion pounds, the huge money-generating vision underpinned the initial projections for Cardiff Bay’s International Sports Village.
It was given planning permission in 2008, with police warning developers they have to safeguard the largest tower – which would have stood 127 metres high – against terror threats with bollards, steel walls and crashproof barriers.
When the scheme fell apart during the credit crunch, to be replaced by the more modest plans for town houses and flats now known as Cardiff Pointe, many of the plans for the area had to be redrawn.
Along with the 2,400 flats, there had been talk of musical fountains like those seen in Las Vegas.
But not everyone shed tears. One former city council leader had warned that the flats were destined to become the slums of the future if they were built.
■ Circuit of Wales
Ambitious plans were made to bring a £433m motorsport racetrack to south Wales which would be known as the Circuit of Wales and stand on moorland above Ebbw Vale.
It was claimed the project would create 6,000 jobs, but it fell through in June last year when the Welsh Government decided it was too risky to provide the requested £210m loan guarantee.
Among the risks identified in the Welsh Government’s financial report were the fact that the project might not be able to refinance after two years and a business model which “was not reflecting reality”.
Private investors also pulled out due to the lack of a loan guarantee.
A number of local authorities in south-east Wales were approached for financial backing as a potential recipient of funding under the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, but chairman and Rhondda Cynon Taff council leader Andrew Morgan said he would not back the project “as it stands”.
■ Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon
The UK government planned to build the world’s first tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay for a staggering £1.3bn.
The scheme had £200m backing from the Welsh Government but the project was largely privately financed.
Developers Tidal Lagoon Power had asked the UK government for a 90-year contract. It was proposed the lagoon would operate 14 hours per day and power the equivalent of 155,000 homes.
The lagoon would have a six-mile, U-shaped seawall between the Tawe and Neath river channels. Seawater would flow through 16 turbines on the ebb and flow tides.
Despite its financial backing, the UK government threw out the plans in June, with Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark saying the project was not “value for money” and too expensive to subsidise.
A new taskforce has been set up to look at ways of resurrecting the plan without the need for a financial deal by the UK government. ■ M4 relief road
Proposals for the M4 Relief Road were first put forward more than 25 years ago but there is still no sign of it. But this is what it’s like to live in the way of the proposed road.
A public inquiry into the £1.3bn scheme was launched in 2017 and closed at the beginning of this year.
The Welsh Government’s preferred proposal for the 15-mile stretch of the M4 at Newport is the “black route”. This would involve a new six-lane motorway running from the present Junction 23A at Magor to Junction 29 at Castleton, with a new bridge over the river Usk south of Newport.
The proposals have been opposed by environmentalists as the new road would cut across the Gwent Levels, an area of ancient meadows and marshland, and home to rare and endangered species.
The results of the public inquiry could be open to legal challenge so the saga is set to run a lot longer.
■ Snow dome and ski centre
Plans for a snow dome to be built in Cardiff Bay were officially launched in 2005, generating massive interest.
The “ice box” was going to contain snowboarding and skiing facilities and was earmarked as part of the Cardiff International Sports Village project.
Despite much enthusiasm at the time of the project’s announcement, the plans seem to have died a death.
A temporary ice arena was established at Cardiff Arena, also know as
the Big Blue Tent, with a capacity of 2,500 and acted as the home of Cardiff Devils after they left the Wales National Ice Rink, but this was demolished after the Ice Arena Wales opened in 2016.
Despite plans to build one of Europe’s longest indoor ski slopes in Merthyr Tydfil announced last year, there seems to be no movement on whether Cardiff will be embarking on a similar venture.
■ Wales’ tallest hotel
Plans to build Wales’ tallest building in Cardiff Bay got planning consent in 2011.
The businessman behind the plans hoped the 32-storey tower would become Wales’ top hotel, with a surrounding development of highend flats.
Approved plans included a 200room hotel, serviced apartments, 103 exclusive residences, 10 niche commercial units to include three bars and three restaurants, one of which would be a 24th-floor skybar.
The centrepiece of the development was the 32-storey hotel with views extending across Cardiff, the Bristol Channel and the Vale of Glamorgan.
The project – Bayscape – is progressing, with apartments built. But the hotel is yet to be built, though it still has planning permission and plans have been worked on.
■ The Iron Ring Ill-fated from the start, more than £395,000 had been earmarked for the Iron Ring sculpture at Flint Castle which could have measured up to seven metres high and 30 metres wide.
When the designs were unveiled it was described as symbolising a “giant rusted crown representing the relationship between the medieval monarchies of Europe and the castles they built”.
But the Iron Ring is the term for the fearsome castles built by Edward I in an enormous military and building effort to assert dominance over the uprising Welsh.
More than 11,000 people signed a petition opposing the designs for the sculpture, saying: “We find this extremely disrespectful to the people of Wales and our ancestors who have battled oppression, subjugation and injustice for hundreds of years.”
After the planned monument provoked fierce debate, the proposals were put on hold so they could be reviewed. They were eventually scrapped in 2017, with Welsh Economy and Infrastructure Secretary Ken Skates admitting the proposal had proved “divisive”.
■ Cardiff’s super-casino
Cardiff was among the British cities which could have had the UK’s first super-casino.
The UK government asked cities to bid for the single super-casino licence or one of large eight casino licences, but the Welsh capital was unsuccessful in both bids.
If the bid had been accepted, the casino would have probably formed part of the Cardiff International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay, and would have incorporated a 220metre viewing tower with panoramic views of south Wales and the Bristol Channel.
Cardiff council continued to press for a licence but the UK government scrapped the Gambling Bill legislation creating the casinos, and the plans were shelved altogether.
■ SuperTed theme park
A Disneyland-style theme park just off the M4 sounded fantastic to some, but it wasn’t to be.
The gigantic theme park was planned for an 800-acre piece of land at Magor and it would have been built around the ruins of Pencoed Castle.
Those behind it claimed it would have attracted three million visitors a year and created 4,000 jobs.
Both the Welsh Development Agency and the Wales Tourist Board gave it their support.
But campaigners, who battled against it for almost two years, said it would have resulted in the loss of land and damage to the environment.
Afterwards, Legend Court development director John Hartnell said they had spent two years and £3m exploring the Magor site. In 1984 there was talk of a £200m SuperTed theme park being built in south Wales. Councils and private landowners had flooded SuperTed creator Mike Young with offers of sites. At the time, Mr Young said: “We’ve been overwhelmed with the amazing response to the idea. “I’ve been most impressed with the marketing skills of local councils.” In all, 17 sites were offered – six in Gwent, five in South Glamorgan, three in Mid Glamorgan and three in West Glamorgan, most with easy access to the M4. Mr Young announced the appointment of the first experts to oversee the development of the planned 300acre project.
But alas, it wasn’t to be.
■ Severnside Airport
In 2013, proposals for a new £5bn airport which would have been the size of Gatwick were put forward. Both Cardiff and Bristol would have had to go for the new Severnside Airport to go ahead near Chepstow.
It would have included a 4,000metre main runway with road links to the M4, sea links and rail links to the main London-Wales mainline.
One thousand people would have been employed, with potential for 10,000 support jobs, the proposals said.
At the time it was reported the construction would take between five and eight years.
But a document published by the Airports Commission said: “Whilst providing capacity to serve the south-west of England and the south of Wales, it is not clear that this proposal would add significantly to overall national capacity, given the almost certain operational and commercial need for Cardiff and Bristol airports to close, therefore the additional benefit may be small against the proposed cost.”
■ Swansea’s Bullring
Around a decade ago, Swansea council brought in the developers of Birmingham’s Bullring.
Two of Europe’s leading developers, Hammerson and Urban Splash, drew up plans for a shopping complex, 1,000 apartments, offices, a high-class hotel and a major conference centre.
There would have been a highquality European-style boulevard along Oystermouth Road. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
■ Severn Barrage
Building a barrage to support a tidal power scheme in the Severn Estuary has been touted for years.
The scheme got the furthest in late 2007, when a feasibility study was announced. The plans were for a 10-mile barrage across the Severn Estuary to generate renewable electricity from the tides.
The 10-mile-long tidal barrage would have been built between Lavernock Point, near Cardiff, and Brean Down, near Weston-super-Mare.
The study, initially led by John Hutton and then Ed Miliband, was to gather and assess evidence to enable the government to decide whether or not it should go ahead.
There was a public consultation, but in September 2010 the government ruled out giving public funding to the plans and the following month the project was scrapped.
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said the £30bn scheme’s costs were “excessive”.
The following year there were further plans for a project via a privatesector consortium, but that too was abandoned.
■ LG in Newport
In 1996 electronics firm LG announced it was creating a factory in Newport. Prime Minister John Major proclaimed the South Korean firm’s decision as a “vote of confidence” in the UK economy.
It would have brought £1.7bn of investment and 6,100 jobs.
Then Welsh Secretary William Hague said it was the “biggest vote of confidence the Welsh economy has ever had”.
The government gave a grant of £200m to LG. It was given a £124m grant by the Welsh Development Agency.
But the hopes and promise of more than 6,000 jobs were never realised. At its peak, there were 2,000 employees.
At the time of LG removing its final staff, Lib Dem Kirsty Williams said: “Instead of the major shot in the arm that the Welsh economy was promised, Newport got a pain in the neck – a small factory producing electronics and an embarrassingly large hispec white elephant”.
■ Usk Barrage
In the mid-1990s a scheme was put forward to build a barrage across the river Usk.
Newport council estimated it would create 5,000 jobs when it began the 10-year project in 1988.
It was hoped the barrage would transform the waterfront.
It would have included 2,300 new homes being built as part of a £400 million waterfront park along the river, and rivalled Cardiff Bay.
The barrage itself would have kept the waters of the Usk at a permanently high-tide level, covering what was seen as the “unsightly” mud banks, which were believed to be deterring developers.
Others said that it would impact on fishing.
After a three-month public inquiry, Welsh Secretary William Hague announced in September 1995 that the scheme would damage the river and that the economics of the scheme were flawed.
At the time, chief executive Sandy Blair said £6.5m had already been spent on the project.
■ Walk of Fame
In 2006 it was announced that outside the Wales Millennium Centre, Wales’ celebrities would be honoured with their own plaques.
Singers Tom Jones and Charlotte Church, rugby legends Gareth Edwards and Neil Jenkins and politicians including David Lloyd George were expected to feature.
It was put on hold in January 2007 in a row over funding.