ALL ABOARD!
£120M CARDIFF PARKWAY TRAIN STATION PLANS GO OUT TO THE PUBLIC AS NEW IMAGES RELEASED
THOUSANDS of Cardiffians are being asked for their views on plans for a new £120m mainline train station and business park at St Mellons.
The massive project, which could be home to 5,000 staff, takes a significant step forward today with the launch of the public consultation.
It coincides with the release of new artist’s impressions of what the station and business district could look like.
Leaflets are being sent out to around 12,000 local residents, giving them the opportunity to have their say on Cardiff Parkway and its business district – Cardiff Hendre Lakes.
Over time, it could see nearly one million square metres of new offices and leisure space built, together with a public square with open space.
Subject to planning, work on both projects is expected to start next year, with the station and a first phase of 300,000sq ft of 900,000sq ft of mixeduse development at Cardiff Hendre Lakes completed in 2023.
Both interconnected projects are being driven by entrepreneur Nigel Roberts and his son Andrew.
They are being backed by financial services giant Investec and the Welsh Government, which has taken a 10% equity stake in the project.
The station would be located on the existing South Wales to London Great Western Mainline that runs through the 160-acre site.
Cardiff council has already identified the site as a major employment hub in its local development plan.
The project has been in preplanning consultation with Cardiff council and Natural Resources Wales for the past two years.
The local authority will also seek to secure funding from the £1.3bn City Deal for the Cardiff Capital Region, for road infrastructure improvements to support access into the scheme.
The new park and ride station is aiming to secure 12 train services an hour – 24 in and out – including two to London and four to Temple Meads.
Cardiff Parkway is expected to welcome more than 800,000 passengers and aims to have significant impact on reducing car congestion.
The station would be part of the South Wales Metro from the Welsh Government’s at arm’s length transport body, Transport for Wales, and will also benefit from bus facilities, walking routes and cycle paths.
There would be 600 car parking spaces and overflow capacity.
For people in communities such as St Mellons and Llanrumney, buses currently take around 40 to 50 minutes to travel into the centre of Cardiff.
Trains from Cardiff Parkway would take around seven minutes, as well as offering speedy access to Newport city centre.
Nigel Roberts, executive chairman of Cardiff Parkway Developments, said: “Cardiff Hendre Lakes is an ambitious development that aims to be a catalyst for growth in South Wales by connecting businesses with high quality facilities, people and skills. We also hope to deliver a range of benefits for the local community, including new jobs, better transport and enhanced green spaces.
“Our plans are at a stage where we want to hear from people in the local community about how the project could benefit them.
“We will then hold a formal consultation before we submit a planning application next spring. We hope as many people as possible get involved in helping us shape this exciting project for Wales.
“We will not be building some soulless place in the middle of a field, but providing new road infrastructure, a new train station, public realm and hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office space, with bars and restaurants too. It will also benefit from all the ancillary infrastructure like GP and dental surgeries, a gym and creche facilities.”
The train station and business district will be subject to separate planning applications.
On future commercial phases beyond the initial 300,000sq ft, Mr Roberts said: “We are confident that we can build out very quickly going forward and we have already had positive conversations with major occupiers in London. There is also interest from universities and companies in emerging markets such as fintech and medtech.
“Hendre Lakes and Cardiff Parkway will exude quality in their design, which will only encourage more businesses to invest there when they see it for the first time.
“A tremendous amount of work and collaboration has gone into this game-changing project for the Cardiff Capital Region with two years of pre-planning consultation with Cardiff Council.
“We have also been working closely with Natural Resources Wales in seeking to enhance the natural environment.”
The public engagement exercise will run to December 18.
There will be a drop-in event to meet the team on November 23, from 10am to 2pm, at St Mellons Hub. And two days later there will be a similar event from 3pm to 7pm at Castleton Baptist Church in Marshfield.
A formal consultation will be launched in January.