Monday, July 29, 2013

RCT approves plan - probably the last post:(

Dear Colleagues

Sorry it has taken time to report on the RCT Development Control Committee that took place on 18 July. At this meeting it was agreed to support the outline planning permission for the new town development and the specific proposal for Sainsburys.

You may recall that it seemed this decision was actually taken on 28 February this year. However, at that time, the Committee agreed that it should only go ahead if the developers found £4m to prepare the highways for phase 1 and 2. Shortly after the meeting the developers said they could not afford this sum of money and a long period of negotiations started.

At the meeting of 18 July it was reported that the outcome of the negotiations had resulted in the developers being prepared to pay around £2m for highway developments at the 4119 and 437 roundabout, relating to the phase 1 development. This new figure was approved by the Development Control Committee.

The Welsh Government needs to be informed under an old piece of law requiring all new retail development to be reported to them, but it is expected that this will be a matter of form as this law has subsequently been repealed. The full RCT council meeting I believe still has to approve the decision but there is little prospect of that not happening as all councillors attend the Development Control Committee.

This is where the report now becomes a personal one and does not represent the view of any of my colleagues who have put in hours of effort on the Pontyclun working group.

1.    I remain unhappy about the decision as I’ve argued before, quoting reports that can be seen on this website, the indications are that big high street shopping is on a long term decline due to the internet and the general fall in consumers real spending, coupled with rising retail overhead costs. Jobs are very important and the brownfield site should have been used to extend the very successful industrial units such as those on Coedcae Lane. The Post Office could also have been involved in the development of a 24/7 drop and pick up point for internet orders, possibly working with Leekes. This is the sort of development that cuts with the current trends and would have helped our existing village centres.

2.    I know that many people are keen to have a local Sainsburys and I hope you enjoy your shopping. It should have at the very least been built just on the brownfield land.

3.    £5m is required to complete the infrastructure work for phase 1 and another £6m for phase 2. It is not clear to me how and who is going to fund the difference between the £2m promised and the £5m required in phase 1.

4.    The company that RCT are dealing with was called Valad Developments (Llantrisant) Ltd but change their name for some inexplicable reason to Talbot Green Developments Ltd in January of this year. They state in their accounts that the land is worth about £12m and they have a £20m loan against it from the Bank of Scotland. It is very difficult to work out who ultimately owns the company as Valad was taken over the multi-national private equity company Blackstone in 2011. Blackstone could still own half or all or they could have sold it totally to the Scarborough property organisation. Either way, the land is leveraged and although the owners call themselves developers, they are actually really interested in the money, so I expect they will soon as possible realise the added value for getting the planning permission through, sell on the land and cover the debt.  Who RCT will then be dealing with is anyone’s guess: all I hope is that we don’t see another film studio scenario.

5.    So where do we go from here? The ‘call in’ is still with the Welsh Government minister and it is up to their discretion – there is little sign of the matter being taken seriously. We’ve asked the AM to inquire for us.

6.    Finally, if you are ready to take a stand on the ground to preserve the green space and so am I. Other than that, we shall have to monitor and watch this space to see whose analysis is closest to the unfolding reality.

Thanks for your interest and support over the last couple of years. Sorry we were not more successful but who knows, money and the lack of investment return may be more powerful than planning permission!

Len Arthur 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

RCT meeting 18.07.2013 last chance to make a difference

Dear Colleagues

I’ve just heard this morning that both the outline planning permission for the whole development and that for Sainsbury’s is going before RCT Development Control Commission Thursday 18.07.2013 at 17.00. You can see the details here: http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/councildemocracy/democracyelections/councillorscommittees/meetings/developmentcontrolcommittee/2013/07/18/developmentcontrolcommittee18-jul-2013_1.aspx

The delay since the meeting in February approved the outline planning permission, has been over the circa £4m that the committee required the developers to spend on highway works in preparation for phase 2 of the proposals. There has been a lot of negotiating and the developers have now come back with a final offer of just over £2m. The committee is being asked to approve this and then approve the planning permission for Sainsbury’s.

I’ve just checked with RCT planning and members of the public can speak at the meeting and it appears that despite the short time in announcing this meeting, procedures have been followed. I have given notice of my intention to speak against the extensive nature of the development and you can do so as well by contacting Jim Bailey the planning officer responsible for the development at RCT.

This is an important meeting as it is the last chance to influence this proposal.

I’ve have chased up the request for the minister to ‘call in’ the proposals – we should have heard about this by now as well.

I’ll spread the news via Facebook and Twitter and will place this email on our website: http://pantvalley-newdevelopment.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Keep me in touch with what you decide to do.

All the best

Len Arthur