Campaigners have lost a legal challenge against Cardiff council's decision to approve plans for a sewage development at a popular park. The Llandaff North Residents' Association, which brought the legal challenge against Cardiff council, alleged that the planning process which saw an application for a sewage pumping station for land at Hailey Park, Llandaff North, approved was not carried out properly.
Campaigners claimed that there should have been greater scrutiny over the plans and that the council did not have all of the relevant information before them, like an environmental impact assessment (EIA), before making a decision on the application. During the hearing at the Cardiff Civil Justice Centre on Thursday, July 29, a barrister representing the council told the court that the local authority gave close and careful consideration to the development when undertaking its EIA.
The legal challenge lost on all grounds. Although disappointed with the ruling, campaigners said it does not mark the end of their fight against the pumping station plans.
Read more: 'The massive row about a sewage pumping station planned for Cardiff's beloved Hailey Park explained'
The Llandaff North Residents' Association said: "Separate to the legal challenge on planning process, there are moral, health, wellbeing and environmental arguments not to build on our precious green spaces, and Cardiff Council’s decision to allow development on park land should concern every community in Cardiff." Welsh Water argue that the sewage pumping station is needed to deal with the excess sewage from the Plasdwr housing development in north west Cardiff.
However, residents are worried that the development could have a negative sensory impact and threaten local biodiversity. The Llandaff North Resident's Association added: "It is evident that the planning system in Wales is broken, and favours developers’ needs over local communities: despite claims to care about the environment, planning legislation and guidance does nothing to ensure the environmental protections that we want and need.
"Now that the legal route has been concluded, we turn to our elected politicians to fight our corner. We have Labour councillors, a Labour MS, Labour MP, Labour Council and Labour Welsh Government: this is for Labour to fix.
"Now is the time for our politicians to step up and act in the interests of the people, not wealthy developers. So, this ruling does not end our fight; through adversity we have grown stronger as a community and our campaign will continue with increased vigour and urgency."
Other claims made by the residents' group, which raised over £11,000 for the application of a judicial review, include that the planning report in respect of the sewage pumping station application failed to set out crucial details of the construction works and their impacts. They also alleged that the planning report failed to set out the impacts that the development could have on the rugby pitches in Hailey Park, and that the council failed to take into account that there is a functional interdependence between the Plasdwr development and the pumping station application.
In relation to the question over interdependence, His Honor Judge Jarman KC ruled: "The fact that the pumping station is needed for the Plasdŵr development does not mean that it will not also serve other existing and potential developments in the area, and the officer and the authority were entitled to have regard to those matters." He added, in relation to the claim over a lack of detail on construction works and the rugby pitches, that the council planning officer's report on the pumping station was not materially misleading.
A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: "Throughout this process the council has tried to be open and clear about its role as the planning authority. We have always maintained that we acted correctly. Today’s judgement sees the Claim against us fail on all grounds, with the Court finding that the Council, acting as Local Planning Authority, acted rationally and appropriately.
"We know residents will still have concerns about the impact of construction works, but we want them to know that we will work with them and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to ensure these are managed, and that the visual impacts of the development are mitigated through the approval of a detailed landscaping scheme."
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