New footbridge will connect communities across river
PLANS for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge across the River Taff have been unveiled. The footbridge will link the Channel View estate in Grangetown and the area around Jim Driscoll Way on the west bank of the river to Hamadryad Park on the east bank.
Cardiff council is behind the proposal, which is a key part of its wider plans to redevelop Channel View council housing estate. Permission was granted for the masterplan of the £80 million scheme in December last year.
The active travel route will connect communities on both sides of the river, link to the Cardiff Bay Trail, Ely Trail and Taff Trail, as well as offer pedestrians and cyclists an alternative to the A4232 Cardiff Bay Link Road and A4119 Clarence Road.
Concept designs for the bridge have been completed and consultation is now under way to hear the views of local people and interested parties to help shape the final set of plans to be submitted for planning approval next year. People can submit their views via an online survey until December 6.
A public consultation event is being held at CF11 Fitness (formerly Channel View Leisure Centre) on November 23 from 11.30am to 7.30pm and there will be a smaller drop-in session for anyone unable to make the main consultation event at Grangetown Hub on November 17 from 12pm to 5pm.
The wider Channel View regeneration will see 214 homes demolished, including 56 houses and 158 apartments. Developers will replace these homes, over seven phases, with 400 new homes as part of Cardiff council’s huge housebuilding programme.
The first phase will see two new apartment blocks on the northeastern edge of the estate, for people aged over 55. One block will be 13 storeys tall with 57 apartments, and the other will be eight storeys tall with 24 new apartments. A new cafe will be included on the ground floor of the northern block, facing the river Taff and the Marl park.
Later phases will see 319 homes built across the estate, and further details of these phases will become clear as future planning applications are submitted for each one.
Channel View was built by the river Taff in the 1970s, and many of the houses there suffer from subsidence and structural damage, while the existing apartment tower has fire safety issues. The new homes will all be built to a low carbon standard, with better insulation, solar panels for electricity, and ground source heat pumps for heating.
Part of the new homes will be built on the southern and western edges of Marl park, meaning the park will lose about nine per cent of its area, just under one hectare. But councillors on the planning committee previously said this would be offset by “lots of little new parks” within the redevelopment.
Cabinet member for housing and communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne, said: “As well as delivering good quality, sustainable new homes for existing residents of the Channel View estate and building more, much-needed homes for the city, a key part of our Channel View vision is about providing better connectivity for people in the area, improving the local environment and delivering high quality community spaces.
“A new bridge across the Taff is an important part of these plans, that we have been speaking about to residents in Channel View and people and businesses in the wider area for a number of years now. We’re at the early stages of the process with the bridge and have recently appointed a team to begin designing it so this consultation is an opportunity for people to give us their views, which will be fed into that process.
“We’d love to see as many people as possible at the consultation event at CF11 Fitness later this month and encourage anyone interested in the plans to have their say by completing the short online consultation.”
A new bridge across the Taff is an important part of these plans, that we have been speaking about to residents in Channel View and people and businesses in the wider area for a number of years now. We’re at the early stages of the process with the bridge and have recently appointed a team to begin designing it so this consultation is an opportunity for people to give us their views, which will be fed into that process
Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne