A coherent vision for Cardiff city centre and how
it links with the Cardiff Bay regeneration area has been a cause
célèbre for so many people, for so long, that it sounds
like a broken record each and every time it's brought up in the media.
In the last few weeks, we've seen further development of two visions. One from Cardiff City Council, the other from a group of citizens and thinkers called Imagine Cardiff.
Due to Cardiff's clout, and with the imminent launch of a strategic city region in south east Wales (I've outlined my own ideas for regional government before too), everywhere from Bridgend to the English border is counting on Cardiff city centre to be "the jewel in the crown".
Cardiff Council
The plans for the city centre, from a
political viewpoint, boil down to two key schemes :
Now, that's all fine and dandy.
As for the problems, the previous Cardiff Council administration (Lib Dem-Plaid coalition) outlined their own vision for the city centre between 2008 and 2011. The incoming Labour administration scrapped it, and have since come up with....almost exactly the same plan. So that's several years work wasted for no reason.
Also, to date, the only major developments taking place within the area are a new campus for Cardiff & Vale College at Dumballs Road (due to open in 2015) and modest redevelopments of Cardiff Central and Queen Street stations.
Cardiff Council have since been buying up land in and around the city centre despite there being no firm plans in place. There doesn't appear to be any chance of a replacement for the central bus station any time soon (which was at least included in previous plans), and the whole thing seems to be rather disorganised, though there are legitimate concerns around the state of the economy.
Someone senior needs to have a quiet word as they're making a pig's ear of what should be one of the most exciting economic developments in Wales for the past 50 years.
It seems no one has a clue what's going on, or the timetables, apart from Russell Goodway himself (maybe Edwina Hart, but I suspect she's out of the loop too) and perhaps Cardiff Council's cabinet.
The previous administration – for all its faults, and there were plenty of them – at least gave us all some idea of what they wanted to do with the city centre. Come back Rodney "International" Berman. All is forgiven!
Imagine Cardiff
A concept report commissioned on behalf of the Imagine
Cardiff group, sponsored by Vaughan Gething AM (Lab, Cardiff S &
Penarth) and Jenny Rathbone AM (Lab, Cardiff Central) was unveiled to
much fanfare last week. The report itself is rather large, but
available here.
It's full of the sort of buzzwords you would expect – "progressive", "partnership", "stakeholders", "engage", "sustainable/sustainability" etc.
I don't care about that, only the meat. The vision includes:
In the last few weeks, we've seen further development of two visions. One from Cardiff City Council, the other from a group of citizens and thinkers called Imagine Cardiff.
Due to Cardiff's clout, and with the imminent launch of a strategic city region in south east Wales (I've outlined my own ideas for regional government before too), everywhere from Bridgend to the English border is counting on Cardiff city centre to be "the jewel in the crown".
Cardiff Council
 |
| Cardiff city centre should be the "jewel in the crown" of any future city region, but - to date - on-off plans for a dramatic transformation have been dealt with in a manner that borders on incompetence or laziness. (Pic : Wales Online) |
- The enterprise zone – In collaboration with the Welsh Government, and aimed at financial and professional services, the enterprise zone covers the area around the Millennium Stadium and Cardiff Central station (known as "Central Square"), Callaghan Square, the JR Smart Capital Quarter and Dumballs Road. Incentives include targeted business support and business rate relief schemes.
- Rebuilding Momentum – Tied to the enterprise zone, this (latest) 30-year masterplan focuses on key developments within the enterprise zone area; including high-density housing (6,400 units), a convention centre, more than 500,000 sqm of office space and a bus or tram-based light rapid transit system linking the city centre to Cardiff Bay.
Now, that's all fine and dandy.
As for the problems, the previous Cardiff Council administration (Lib Dem-Plaid coalition) outlined their own vision for the city centre between 2008 and 2011. The incoming Labour administration scrapped it, and have since come up with....almost exactly the same plan. So that's several years work wasted for no reason.
Also, to date, the only major developments taking place within the area are a new campus for Cardiff & Vale College at Dumballs Road (due to open in 2015) and modest redevelopments of Cardiff Central and Queen Street stations.
Cardiff Council have since been buying up land in and around the city centre despite there being no firm plans in place. There doesn't appear to be any chance of a replacement for the central bus station any time soon (which was at least included in previous plans), and the whole thing seems to be rather disorganised, though there are legitimate concerns around the state of the economy.
Someone senior needs to have a quiet word as they're making a pig's ear of what should be one of the most exciting economic developments in Wales for the past 50 years.
It seems no one has a clue what's going on, or the timetables, apart from Russell Goodway himself (maybe Edwina Hart, but I suspect she's out of the loop too) and perhaps Cardiff Council's cabinet.
The previous administration – for all its faults, and there were plenty of them – at least gave us all some idea of what they wanted to do with the city centre. Come back Rodney "International" Berman. All is forgiven!
Imagine Cardiff
 |
| With the difficulties in closing or rebuilding railways, the likelyhood is that this is what would pull into the shiny new transport hub in Cardiff Bay - not a tram. (Pic : Urban 75) |
It's full of the sort of buzzwords you would expect – "progressive", "partnership", "stakeholders", "engage", "sustainable/sustainability" etc.
I don't care about that, only the meat. The vision includes:
- Wetland reserves at Bute Park and Parc Trelai.
- A 2km blue flag beach in Cardiff Bay based round the eastern edge of the barrage.
- A new urban village at Porth Teigr dubbed "Baltimore Village" (developed by B&B Enterprises by any chance?).
- A floating stage/outdoor performance area in Cardiff Bay.
- A 21st Century transport interchange in Cardiff Bay, along with circular tram system around the edge of Cardiff Bay, Penarth and Butetown, linking to a wider public transport network, including a Cardiff city centre circle line and branch lines to the rest of the city and the airport.
The cost estimates for their "core scheme"
– wetlands, beach, Baltimore village – is a rather "modest"
£175million. The cost of all of the vision is a rather more
substantial £972.1million (which I believe is an under-estimate),
and that doesn't include funds towards other developments like Porth
Teigr itself and Cardiff's Local Development Plan housing
requirements (alone estimated to be £6billion).
The intention would be for a "co-operative consultancy" made up of professionals to advise and work for an Imagine Cardiff community interest company. That's rather novel and I'm not sure if something like that has been done on this scale in Wales before, or the rest of the UK for that matter.
You can't fault the vision. All of the ideas put forward are brilliant and the artist's impressions are seductive (you can see a selection from architectural designer Alex Whitcroft here). The beach, the wetlands...great stuff!
I love the idea of a floating stage (though it would need a roof) and an artificial beach. The latter is very much achievable, depending on the questionable bathing quality of Cardiff Bay itself (overall water quality is surprisingly good).
But it is what it is....artificial. Fake. The whole of Cardiff Bay gives the impression of being a fairground for the middle classes with some shiny buildings dotted around it, turning its back on Butetown as if it were a bad smell.
It still needs some ironing out, however large chunks of this vision read like a bog-standard gentrified housing development with a few extras added that will probably never see the light of day.
For example, they'll have to drop all hope of a tram network as they outlined it. A tram going around the outer circle of Cardiff Bay would never be self-sustaining.You can walk it in an hour. Then there's the negative connotations of putting "affordable" housing right next to a working port.
The Cardiff
Bay branch line would need to be replaced, and it's incredibly
difficult – legally – to close a railway. There are plenty of
other things that need clearing up across Wales as well, unless the
"vision" is of a slam-door single car unit trundling into
shiny Roald Dahl station after the epic journey from a Cardiff Queen
Street bay platform, bellowing black diesel fumes at 6mph.
For the moment, that's all Network Rail have planned for it.
Cardiff isn't some sprawling metropolis, it's a compact city by European standards, and I doubt Cardiff really needs a high-density tram network. Instead, it needs to make better use of existing transport corridors - in particular railways - like filling in gaps in Roath, Ely, Rumney and St Mellons; and ideally at some point in the future completing a "circle line" from Coryton to Radyr.
Any rapid-transit system should probably be bus-based too. So not everything Cardiff Council are planning is bad. I know that's not very "glamorous", but Swansea has more claim to a tram system than Cardiff, especially as the corridor's in place via the bendy bus between Morriston and Singleton.
Swansea doesn't need a fake beach either.
The intention would be for a "co-operative consultancy" made up of professionals to advise and work for an Imagine Cardiff community interest company. That's rather novel and I'm not sure if something like that has been done on this scale in Wales before, or the rest of the UK for that matter.
You can't fault the vision. All of the ideas put forward are brilliant and the artist's impressions are seductive (you can see a selection from architectural designer Alex Whitcroft here). The beach, the wetlands...great stuff!
I love the idea of a floating stage (though it would need a roof) and an artificial beach. The latter is very much achievable, depending on the questionable bathing quality of Cardiff Bay itself (overall water quality is surprisingly good).
But it is what it is....artificial. Fake. The whole of Cardiff Bay gives the impression of being a fairground for the middle classes with some shiny buildings dotted around it, turning its back on Butetown as if it were a bad smell.
It still needs some ironing out, however large chunks of this vision read like a bog-standard gentrified housing development with a few extras added that will probably never see the light of day.
For example, they'll have to drop all hope of a tram network as they outlined it. A tram going around the outer circle of Cardiff Bay would never be self-sustaining.You can walk it in an hour. Then there's the negative connotations of putting "affordable" housing right next to a working port.
 |
| A great beach, coherent waterfront development, potential for a tram network and renewable energy....Swansea says "hello". (Pic : guide2swansea.com) |
For the moment, that's all Network Rail have planned for it.
Cardiff isn't some sprawling metropolis, it's a compact city by European standards, and I doubt Cardiff really needs a high-density tram network. Instead, it needs to make better use of existing transport corridors - in particular railways - like filling in gaps in Roath, Ely, Rumney and St Mellons; and ideally at some point in the future completing a "circle line" from Coryton to Radyr.
Any rapid-transit system should probably be bus-based too. So not everything Cardiff Council are planning is bad. I know that's not very "glamorous", but Swansea has more claim to a tram system than Cardiff, especially as the corridor's in place via the bendy bus between Morriston and Singleton.
Swansea doesn't need a fake beach either.
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