Work has finally started on what was called a “new town centre” at Talbot Green when plans were first mooted more than a decade ago. In 2011 proposals were revealed by Talbot Green Developments Ltd (TGDL) for a new supermarket, hotel and cinema among other amenities at the site east of Cowbridge Road near the A473.
The plans were approved in 2013 and 2014, and a new roundabout was even built to handle the expected traffic to the site which promised so much. But until this year the land has stood empty and by 2019 Leekes director Chris Leeke, who initially planned to move the furniture store’s Llantrisant base to the forecasted shopping hub, became frustrated and pulled out of the project.
However, after 12 years of waiting there is at last some movement as last week preparatory work for a 50,000 square feet Sainsbury’s store - described as the "anchor tenant" on the site - began. The group overseeing the development, England-based Scarborough Group - which is a joint venture with TGDL, remains unable to provide clarity on the future steps for the development.
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Sainsbury's resubmitted its plans which were granted in 2018, and then altered in 2022. The new Sainsbury's store is expected to create at least 150 jobs. The company hopes the store could be open within a year. There will also be an Argos store inside the supermarket, which will have more than 500 parking spaces.
Property director for Sainsbury’s Patrick Dunne said the company is “pleased to be taking the final steps in our longstanding plans to deliver a new supermarket for Talbot Green”.
A spokeswoman for Scarborough Group said the company is “reviewing our options” over the development and could not commit to plans already laid out for the site. “We are currently reviewing our options for the wider Talbot Green town centre site to ensure that the proposed master plan comprises the right mix of uses that respond to the needs and wants of the local community," they said.
A spokesman for Rhondda Cynon Taf council said: “The council’s planning committee initially granted permission for a new supermarket on land adjacent to the A473 at Talbot Green in 2013. A second permission for a revised, slightly smaller store design was granted in 2018 – and a number of non-material design amendments were subsequently agreed in September 2022.
“Works to implement this latest permission must start by August 2023 to comply with the planning consent. The council has recently been advised by Sainsbury’s that it intends to start works in compliance with that requirement.”
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