Residents of a Cardiff street have spoken of their concerns at proposals to build a seven-storey building with nearly 90 flats that they claim would 'overshadow' their houses. Developer LRM Planning has submitted an application on behalf of Wales and West Housing to demolish existing buildings at 51-65 Cowbridge Road East and 2-8 Lower Cathedral Road to develop 87 apartments in December last year. The building would also include a ground floor commercial unit as well as cycle storage.
The site proposed for the development is just 400m from the city centre and is currently occupied by three-storey dwellings and commercial units along Cowbridge Road East. Under the plans, it would consist entirely of one-bedroom affordable apartments spread across six floors of the seven-floor development.
The intention is said to be to "create a high-quality development of much-needed affordable housing in an extraordinarily sustainable location", according to the design and access statement. However, residents in a neighbouring street are concerned about the proposed development, with many submitting objections to the planning application.
Madeleine McGivern has been a resident of Rawden Place, a street off Cowbridge Road East, for over two years and has a number of concerns about the proposals. She said: "Firstly, starting with the sheer scale of the building that’s proposed. It’s set to be 5m higher than the Unite building opposite, but set nowhere near as far back off the road.
"There’s nowhere near as much greenery, so, really, completely changing the look of that whole junction which is one of the main crossroads of the city. It would completely change the character and the look and, from a light perspective, would completely overshadow Cowbridge Road East and down onto Rawden Place."
Martin Willis, who has lived in Rawden Place for 16 years, was also concerned about the development. Agreeing with the claim that it could change the character of the area if it went ahead, he said: “Many people travelling into the city know that junction, recognise the Westgate pub, Bute Park. I think it’s going to change the character of that. It’s going to become dominated by this huge brown box on legs which is going to be enormous on the corner.”
"The key thing is simply the size and scale of it all," he added. "Loads of us recognise the importance of having somewhere good to live, so we have no issues with the social housing aspect. But it’s enormous. The enormity of the building, the numbers of people, pushed into a very small area at the end of two or three streets we think is completely overwhelming."
Both Ms McGivern and Mr Willis said residents were made aware of proposals in the pre-application stage and that two meetings between councillors, the developers, and a small number of residents had taken place after residents signed a hard-copy petition to speak at a committee meeting.
Ms McGivern added that, as the development was made up of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, it did not respond to a need for family housing in the area. "But, it does put a huge number of people into a really concentrated space on a highly polluted junction in an area that is already one of the most deprived in Wales," she claimed. She said residents were aware of the need for social housing, and had no issue with it, but were concerned with it being in a “stretched ward.”
“I think one of the great things about social housing is when it has a real mix of one, two, three, four bedrooms," Mr Willis added. "This is so predominantly one-bedroom that it’s just going to create a ghetto for single people with issues and problems and I don’t see it being a benefit for that community. I worry about how that might be stigmatised as a problem group of people.”
Residents have also raised concerns about pollution, traffic, and noise during the potential construction phase of the building. "I think that anyone who goes to stand at that junction can try to imagine the level of carnage it will cause for months on end, the level of congestion backing right up into the city in basically every direction," Ms McGivern said.
Mr Willis also expressed concerns about the structure of the buildings in Rawden Place during the potential building stage. “We’re very worried about the vibration. We live in old Victorian buildings. I’m concerned about the fabric of our houses. I think another aspect of the building work is the extraordinary amount of dust. It’s a vast project, all of which is going to engulf the area over the course of many months, maybe even a year, of such work.”
He also expressed his concerns about noise coming from the building if the development went ahead. “The plans include an enormous, rear, raised garden space which is going to be at the second story level overlooking number one and all of our gardens," he said. "That’s going to be used, especially across the nice months of the summer. It’s just going to echo up the eight stories of this tower block and down Rawden Place and I think that’s disappointing.”
Mr Willis said he would “seriously consider” moving if the development were to go ahead. As an academic who often works from home, he said he would need a quiet space to work. “It would be so disruptive that I think I would be looking to move from this area to somewhere else in Cardiff.”
The lack of parking provision in the development was also a concern for residents, Ms McGivern said, adding that, while they were not against the council’s parking regulations, people would bring cars despite these regulations. “There are already not enough parking spaces for people in and around the area,” she said, adding that the street was used as a “free car park” when people attended gigs, close by churches, or events at the Millennium Stadium.
Earlier pre-application proposals have seen proposals for the height of the building reduced from 11 storeys and 150 units to the currently proposed seven storeys with 86 units. The proposed design also includes roof gardens with communal gardening and play areas and seating. Car parking for the site is not proposed and space for bicycle storage would be on the ground floor.
Currently, 26 comments have been submitted to the application, with 25 of them being objections and one neutral. Additionally, councillors for Riverside submitted an objection comment, writing: "As local councillors we continue to object to these proposals - we know there are still various outstanding concerns raised by residents which we want to be addressed.
"In particular we find it disappointing that the developer has failed to undertake any kind of suitable community engagement. When a meeting was arranged to discuss some of the issues, they accepted that this had been poor, and that they intended to undertake additional community engagement. This still hasn’t happened. As such we refute that this is a suitable PAC process.
"We still feel this work is essential to ensure community cohesion with existing and new residents. As previously outlined we have ongoing serious issues on a daily basis in the local community partly because of the amount of one-bedroom accommodation. Adding such a significant number of new residents into such a constrained space really requires an approach of engagement and co-production that sadly has been lacking. We would strongly suggest that the developers undertake this work."
The letter went on to raise concerns about the scale of the development, difficulties local residents could experience with parking, lack of facilities for disabled people, and the lack of availability for three-bedroom housing - the 'top priority need' for housing in the ward.
"We know that there have already been two versions of this development proposed which got knocked back by the Planning Department as being too big. Residents and councillors have only been consulted on this third proposal. We all agree that it is still too overbearing and would ask that Wales and West reconsider the number of people to be accommodated and the mix of accommodation. We also would urge that Planning Committee visit the site before taking their decision," the letter continued.
Among other comments, MS Rhys ab Owen wrote in support of residents' objections, urging a "more restrained development." MS Andrew RT Davies also submitted a letter asking for residents' concerns to be taken into consideration and objecting to the application in its current form. And a joint letter from First Minister Mark Drakeford and MP Kevin Brennan was also submitted, listed on the planning website as an objection comment.
A spokesperson for Wales & West Housing said: “There is an acute shortage of good quality, modern, affordable housing in Cardiff and we are working with Cardiff Council and Welsh Government to help meet this need.
“Local residents were notified of the proposed development before our Pre-Application Consultation opened last autumn and, following the statutory consultation period, we worked with our planning consultants LRM to address some of the concerns raised. Prior to submitting the application to Cardiff Council we met with local councillors and residents to discuss the proposals.
“We believe the scheme will make a significant contribution to the lack of affordable housing, particularly the need for smaller homes in the city centre. We are also working with Cardiff Council to manage the impact of traffic and car parking which was raised as a concern. The scheme is in a highly sustainable location with easy access to transport links and local amenities. There is a high level of cycle parking proposed to further encourage more sustainable travel choices and reduce the dependence on car travel.”
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