As anticipated in our last post, we received a letter from the Welsh Government today which states:
"The Minister for Housing and Regeneration has considered the issues associated with the application in the light of the Welsh Government's policy on call-in (detailed in Planning Policy Wales (Edition 5, November 2012)) and, on the information available, has concluded that it does not raise issues which warrant taking the matter away from the local planning authority. Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council has been informed that the Minister does not consider that the applications should be called-in for determination by the Welsh Ministers. It is now for the Council to determine the application as it sees fit."
Other than express disappointment that the sound arguments we put forward were not accepted there is little to add to our previous post.
Clun Valley - new development
Provide a publicity and discussion space for local people who are interested in the proposed new development affecting Llantrisant, Pontyclun and Talbot Green
Friday, August 23, 2013
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repealed.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.
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!
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
Friday, March 15, 2013
Updated speculations about the future - watch this space
A year ago the Pontyclun New Town Development working group
posted a piece evaluating how this new evidence on the future impact of
internet shopping might impact on the proposed development. Since that time we
have extensively used this analysis in our responses to RCT and in support of
our ‘call in’ request to the Welsh Government.
If you follow the financial press you will see that Morrisons
are linking up with Ocado in a desperate attempt to overcome their lack of
internet provision. On the other hand Tesco have purchased Giraffe restaurants
in a similar desperate move to attract customers to their large stores.
Now, how might these fast moving circumstances be affecting
Sainsbury? Perhaps we will find out soon? Similarly the private equity
companies that ultimately own Valad the local developer are really only
interested in realising the additional value achieved through planning
permission by selling on as soon as possible. We were informed as much during
the consultations as other more specialised companies are the ones who do the
actual development. If they are interested in a quick buck any wobble on
Sainsbury’s part will be fatal especially as they will be expected to pay up
front £4m for the phase 2 infrastructure when permission is finally announced:
no quick bucks and no trebles all round.
We were right to pick up on the internet shopping changes a
year ago. Perhaps we are also right to speculate about these fast changing
circumstances. Watch this space. RCT might like to look at our blog and start
to think about the ideas we have proposed that will create real long term jobs
for the area.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Pontyclun Cllrs Paul and Margaret Griffiths speech to RCT planning meeting
Margaret Griffiths
I have sat on the fence for over a year wanting to believe that the predicted
benefits of this retail park could be realised and that it would benefit the
people of Rhondda Cynon and Taff.
But now I too have got to speak against this development.
Planning applications of this sort are like looking into a crystal ball.
As I travel around the UK
and see chaos caused by misjudged developments, I remind myself that in every
case there was an expert report saying
that everything would be all right on the night.
This proposal for a new town was conceived 10 or more years ago and life
has moved on. There is no extra demand in our economy. But if demand shifts this
retail park will kill
Pontypridd,
Porth
Tonypandy,
Tonyrefail
Aberdare,
Talbot Green,
Pontyclun
Phase 1
If people are going to transfer their shopping from existing retail
centres they must travel and this plan does not address the serious highway
infrastructure problems that we have now and will become worse.
I accept that the new supermarket is not a big issue for the roads
although I think it will kill all the small supermarkets in Talbot Green and
Pontyclun.Shoppers will move from the existing Tesco and the road network will not be adversely affected.
We have an LDP objective that we encourage walking and cycling instead of car use. But there is no provision for walking from the Talbot Green retail park, to the new retail park. This will be a very strange new town in which a shopper wishing to visit Marks and Spencer and Boots and Sainsbury will need to travel half a mile by car.
So we will double the amount of traffic on the road as shoppers drive between one retail park and another. The effect is chaos .
Phase 2
In Phase Two we will not just be shifting shoppers around the Talbot Green area. The applicant states that 40% of shoppers would previously have shopped in
The applicant states that 30% of the shoppers will travel from the south and through the
The developer is offering £150,000 to mitigate the effects of the extra
traffic through Pontyclun. I know I should be grateful; but I have not seen one
suggestion of how this money could actually be used to reduce the density of
traffic, allow the post to be delivered, allow the sick to get to hospital on
time. Nor is this enough
Looking outside of Pontyclun itself, have you travelled at any time between
2.30 and 6.30 on the A4119 travelling northwards from the M4 to get onto the
road to the Rhondda or the road to Pontypridd.
You sit in your car and crawl from the time you leave the motorway till
you get past the roundabout where the A473 and the A4119 cross.
The original transport assessment provided by the developer, notes that our own strategic transport
infrastructure needs study identifies that we need a grade separated junction
as a long term solution in order to mitigate the effects of additional traffic a flyover at the cost of
approximately £19 million pounds.
There is a total of £4 million on the table with £2.5 million of this for
this junction.
It is a requirement of
our LDP paragraph 4.75 that we “ensure
that the provision of highways improvements necessary to deliver allocated
sites and to ensure that the growth proposed by the LDP has no adverse impact
on the highway network”
This is an important provision because gridlock on the A4119 and A473,
will be bad for our local economy, in Talbot Green and the Rhondda .
Firms will move out of Coed Cae
Lane and Llantrisant Business
Parks simply because they
cannot get their goods to the motorway. The Vale of Glamorgan are working with
the new owners of the Bosch site at Miskin to develop a distribution centre on
the motorway. So our ambition to attract new business further up the Rhondda along the A4119 will be undermined by this retail
park
In my view it is not a price worth paying and it is contrary to the
commitment in our LDP that development should not have an adverse effect on the
highways network.
I would however, welcome a new application for a Sainsbury store resited
to face onto Cowbridge Road .
Because I believe that there is no evidenced need for other retail shops
I believe that Sainsbury’s should be located on the western side of the site,
the brown field site and facing sympathetically onto Cowbridge Road .
1. We would not be using a green field
site.
2. We would enable the rest of the brown
field site to be developed for retail if the need arises far into the future,
for offices, industry or for housing.
To conclude I cannot recommend that you support this application and I don’t believe that an appeal will be
successful.
Paul Griffiths
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Welsh Government asked to 'call in' New Town plan
Rhondda Cynon Taf: Application
No. 11/1330/13 - Development of new town centre comprising: a 10,801sq m gross
foodstore (Class A1); 8 pump petrol filling station; 35,522 sq m gross retail
floor space (ClassA1); 600sq m gross cafe space (Class A1); 1,000sq m financial/professional
service space (Class A2); 2,390sq m gross food and drink space (Class A3);
1,400sq m gross office space (Class B1); 750sq m gross Class D1 space; 8 screen
cinema; 80 bed hotel; 64 dwellings (Class C2/C3); multi storey and surface
level car parking; associated access infrastructure, re-profiling of land,
landscaping and flood alleviation works (Further information comprising -
Environmental Statement addendum, Design and Access Statement addendum and
revised plans received August 2012) (Transport Assessment Addendum Report
received January 2013).
John Griffiths AM Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development
7 March 2013
Dear Minister
We are writing to you to formally
request that you use your discretionary powers to ‘call in’ the above outline
planning proposal.
We represent the Pontyclun New
Town Centre working group that was established over two years ago to make
representations on this application. We meet regularly as a group, open to
whoever wishes to come along; have undertaken a questionnaire based survey of
all Pontyclun residents; held three public meetings; keep those 170 people particularly
interested informed through email; and have a website that includes all our
submissions and minutes of meetings: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5229988083519007440#overview/src=dashboard
Although Rhondda Cynon Taf’s
Planning and Control Committee considered and approve this application on 28
February 2013 there is still some time before they issue their decision letter
and we hope that the Minister will still be able to intervene.
Our grounds for asking the
Minister to call in the application relate to the following criteria outlined
in your Planning Policy Wales Edition 5 November 2012:
-
Could have
wide effects beyond the immediate locality
-
May give
rise to substantial controversy beyond the immediate locality
We are sorry for the late request
but evidence relating to these criteria has only become available to us as a
result of accessing the Report of the Service Director of Planning which was
circulated for the meeting on 28 February 2013. This can be accessed in full
at: http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/councildemocracy/democracyelections/councillorscommittees/meetings/developmentcontrolcommittee/2013/02/28/reports/item-3---application-recommended-for-approval.pdf
Within this document and on these
following pages evidence became available for the first time of the impact of
these proposals beyond RCT:
P11 & P14 – From John Lewis: the
adverse impact on John Lewis as an anchor to the development of Cardiff City
Centre.
P15 – From the St David’s
Partnership: the adverse impact on the new St David’s Centre in Cardiff
P15 – From House of Fraser:
detailing impacts in Cardiff, Pontypridd and Bridgend
P23 – Vale of Glamorgan: details
adverse impacts to the south of the development, as far as Barry
P52 – RCT’s own estimate of the
minus % impact on other areas
A number of these submissions
make the point that RCT is not effectively building in the changing nature of
the town centre retail market as a result of rising retailers’ costs, little
growth in real demand and the extensive impact of internet shopping, all
expected to result in a 30 – 40% reduction in stores within the next four
years. This context enhances the impact of the adverse factors already
identified. We have made this point in our own submissions, which are referred
to in the RCT report but were not responded to.
This development is within three
miles of Junction 34 of the M4. Already at certain times of the day, drivers wishing
to exit at this junction need to prepare to leave immediately after Junction
33, when travelling west. There appears to be considerable concern, reflected
in the report to the RCT meeting of 28 February that traffic surveys,
particularly on the A4119 that will connect the New Town to Junction 34, do not
adequately take account of the expected increased traffic flows. We believe
that there is a real danger of the flow of traffic on the M4 being seriously
impeded, thus adversely affecting the proper operation of this main east / west
Welsh route, which is the direct responsibility of the Welsh Government.
Please come back to us if you
have any further questions and we would very much appreciate an acknowledgement
on receipt of this email.
Yours faithfully
Ann Bennett
Vera Arthur
On behalf of the Pontyclun New
Town Development working group
What we said at the planning meeting 28.02.2013
Ann Bennett
SOLD FOR A CAULIFLOWER!
Ann Bennett - local resident
Pant Marsh runs along the river Clun, between Talbot Green and Pontclun, and is one of the very few natural marshlands left in Wales. It is a valuable open space, and part of what makes Pontyclun a good village to live in and to bring up children.
But at a meeting on the 28th of February, RCT planning and control committee approved the development of a new town retail centre at Talbot Green. This, despite some very sound objections raised by me and many others including your own councillors M and P Griffiths. The eventual decision was obviously a foregone conclusion, and nothing was going to impress them. Councillor after councillor spoke for the development, one councillor in particular made the comment that she and her neighbours wanted to be able to buy a fresh cauliflower at Sainsbury, hence the heading.
What I find seriously bizarre and unreal is the article in RCTs newspaper OUTLOOK, the article headed "town centre transformation" where the same people crow about the huge sums of money invested, about 11 million in all, in regenerating both Pontypridd and Aberdare, and at the same time rationalizing the reason for allowing Valad’s development to go ahead, is that it will stop money leaving the valley's to shop in Cardiff and divert it instead to Talbot Green. The thinking being that will generate wealth within the valleys.
WRONG. What impact is that going to have on both the existing Talbot Green complex, and on Pontypridd, Aberdare and all the little villages and towns in between?
RCT has spent our time and money on a "shop local” campaign to keep villages functioning, there is a blinding contradiction here, don’t you think?
Valad has no interest in our little valley, they have profits to make, but I expected more from the people I knocked doors for to get them elected.
Pant Marsh runs along the river Clun, between Talbot Green and Pontclun, and is one of the very few natural marshlands left in Wales. It is a valuable open space, and part of what makes Pontyclun a good village to live in and to bring up children.
But at a meeting on the 28th of February, RCT planning and control committee approved the development of a new town retail centre at Talbot Green. This, despite some very sound objections raised by me and many others including your own councillors M and P Griffiths. The eventual decision was obviously a foregone conclusion, and nothing was going to impress them. Councillor after councillor spoke for the development, one councillor in particular made the comment that she and her neighbours wanted to be able to buy a fresh cauliflower at Sainsbury, hence the heading.
What I find seriously bizarre and unreal is the article in RCTs newspaper OUTLOOK, the article headed "town centre transformation" where the same people crow about the huge sums of money invested, about 11 million in all, in regenerating both Pontypridd and Aberdare, and at the same time rationalizing the reason for allowing Valad’s development to go ahead, is that it will stop money leaving the valley's to shop in Cardiff and divert it instead to Talbot Green. The thinking being that will generate wealth within the valleys.
WRONG. What impact is that going to have on both the existing Talbot Green complex, and on Pontypridd, Aberdare and all the little villages and towns in between?
RCT has spent our time and money on a "shop local” campaign to keep villages functioning, there is a blinding contradiction here, don’t you think?
Valad has no interest in our little valley, they have profits to make, but I expected more from the people I knocked doors for to get them elected.
The lack of long term joined up thinking beggars belief.
I and others have asked the Welsh Government to "CALL IN”
this development, in a last attempt to save us from this monstrous development.
I am very fond of Pontyclun, I just wish it had the
representation it deserves,
and a bit more fizz in its pop to realize the price of a cauli is not worth risking the things that make Pontyclun worth living , as the telly tells us "because we’re worth it ".
I have resolved never to give my hard earned cash to line Valad's pockets, despite the fact that I love the cinema, I will shop local and try and get our own cinema in Pontyclun. Why not ? Cowbridge has.
Claire Williams:and a bit more fizz in its pop to realize the price of a cauli is not worth risking the things that make Pontyclun worth living , as the telly tells us "because we’re worth it ".
I have resolved never to give my hard earned cash to line Valad's pockets, despite the fact that I love the cinema, I will shop local and try and get our own cinema in Pontyclun. Why not ? Cowbridge has.
I am a resident of Pontyclun village
and a representative of the Pontyclun New Town Centre Working Group. The Group was formed in response to Valad’s
announcement of their plans for the development of a “New Town Centre” at land
on the A473.
The Groups public meetings were
attended by well over 100 residents, and the mailing list is subscribed by xxx
people, who keep in touch with the progress of the Group and the Developers
application by way of newsletters and published minutes of the Groups meetings.
I request that the council does not
approve the application today. I ask for further considerations to be
made, for a number of reasons:
· The scale & size of the proposed
development;
· The impact on the existing road
network; and
· Whether the application fulfils the
RCT’s guidelines of a “New Town Centre”.
1. My objections are based on key differences
between the approved LDP and the current application.
The LDP states “total
additional non-food floor space of between 24,350 and 28,850m2 net” for Rhondda
Cynon Taf... with the “largest proportion of the proposed additional floor
space at Talbot Green”. The
applicant is seeking approval of 35,522m2 gross of non-food retail floor
space.
The LDP further states “The
Retail Capacity Assessment (2007) indicates that there is a quantitative need
for 2,507m2 net convenience retail floor space in Rhondda Cynon Taf”. The applicant is seeking some 11,000m2 gross
for the Sainsbury’s application.
I ask whether its the
developers intention to confuse anyone trying to interpret and compare the
stated floor space allowances within the LDP which are net figures by
submitting the design and access statements in gross figures?
Further clues however can
be gleaned from the Design & Access Statement for Phase 1 (which is not
part of today’s discussions) which states that floor space for Sainsbury’s will
be 11,000m2, of which net sales areas will be 7,230m2 (further split between
food and non-food) The non-food space
figure of 4,130m2 is well in excess of the approved LDP figures of 2,507m2.
Is this an indication of
the space creep being proposed for the whole development?
2. My second point is that the proposal does
not comply with RCT’s own LDP guidelines. The LDP states that the purpose
of the New Town Centre is primarily to divert economic migration from other
shopping areas (i.e. Cardiff) to this new town centre, indeed the application
requests some 2,360 car parking spaces to accommodate these new visitors.
As RCT’s ambition is to
capture visitors who are migrating to other areas to shop there will be an
increase in the traffic to the area. The
proposal does nothing to mitigate the traffic impact that these diverted
visitors will make to the site.
Indeed the application
states that there will be no impact on the road network. Further that the Design and Access Statement (September
2012) seems to rely on classing this development as “unique” and therefore
doesn’t need to address the issue of adding to the already over congested
highways. At 6.7 the Statement claims that the application “has no
detrimental impact on traffic flows on the A473”.
The current adult
population of the Pontyclun, Llantrisant and Talbot Green is approximately
13,000. Current shopping developments in
the immediate area of the proposed development provide approximately 1,579
spaces. With the addition of the
proposed 2,360 spaces a total of 3,939 car parking spaces will be available.
If the development is
intended to meet the needs of the immediate areas of Pontyclun, Llantrisant and
Talbot Green, surely parking provisions which will allow almost a third of all
residents to be parked at any one time across the new and existing shopping
areas is excessive. This demonstrates
that this is no more than an out of town retail park, which wishes to encourage
people from outside the area and to arrive by car.
I would refer to RCT’s
own Traffic Assessment Report, which was commissioned in 2007 and carried out
by Hyder Consulting, which says that the A4119 is already at over capacity, and
that any development on this land would require extensive improvements to this
key road network. Indeed it states that impact could be felt as far out as the
M4 should the necessary road improvements not be made prior to any development
of the nature and scale proposed be carried out.
3. What is being proposed and presented as a
“New Town Centre”, is nothing more than another out of town retail park, of
which this area has sufficient provision already.
It bears no resemblance
to RCT’s guidelines on New Town Centres, which notable states that (in Policy
AW5 – New Development) “The site layout and mix of use maximising
opportunities to reduce dependence on cars” and “the development would
have safe access to the highway network and would not cause traffic congestion
or exacerbate existing traffic congestion”.
It is reasonable for most
people to consider a Town Centre to be the centre of communication with public
transport hubs, town halls, museums and libraries. Town Centres are symbolic to settlements as a
whole and often contain best examples of architecture, main landmark buildings,
statues, and public spaces. (Wikipedia
definition of a Town Centre). The
current proposal offer very little in this regard, with the vast majority of
the space given over to retail.
If this is to be a true New
Town Centre to be proud of, then the size, scale, mix of use and increase of
traffic is out of proportion to the existing needs of the local communities of
Pontyclun, Talbot Green and Llantrisant.
If this to actually be an
Out of Town Retail Park, then proper plans and proposals to support such a
scheme should be submitted, with the correct and proper upgrades to the road
network put in place prior to any such development proceeding.
The Design Commission for
Wales’s Design Review Report dated 25th March 2011 (to which I
cannot find further more up to date reports) states that “before any
detailed designs can proceed strategic decisions need to be made on access
points and pedestrian connections and crossings... at present the
project could hardly be less connected in terms of pedestrian and cycle
movements... the proposals seem likely to deliver a project that is
entirely car oriented...if this proposal is to be more than an
edge-of-town retail park, it is vital to address issues beyond the site
boundary.”
Finally, I must query whether the
process has been a meaningful consultation?
· there has been a lack of response to
correspondence;
· concerns of the community have not
been considered in the addendums to the application; and
· addendums have been overly long and
technical which the ordinary person would find it hard to interpret (e.g. 2
weeks given to respond to the latest traffic addendum which was 197 pages
long).
I would urge you therefore not to
approve the current proposal. Thank
you.”
Len Arthur:
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to your proposal
I’ve been involved with the Pontyclun group mentioned in
your report from the start.
I share your concerns to develop the economy of RCT and, in
particular, provide additional sustainable work.
Also, as mentioned in your report, the Pontyclun group
undertook a survey of residents in Pontyclun and Talbot Green and held a number
of public meetings.
The main outcome was that about 30% totally opposed the
development and about 10% totally in favour.
In between that figure, residents were more supportive of a
Sainsburys store and supporting the retention of Leekes, but less increasingly
less supportive of the other proposals.
Within our remit from local residents I would like to
address the fundamental assumption in the proposal before you.
That it will attract new and existing RCT shoppers and
create sustainable employment.
The intention is to demonstrate that new shopping trends
have appeared since the original LDP and consequently need to be taken into
account.
Thus ensuring a development that will achieve both
objectives but in a different way.
In 2011 BIS published a survey showing that between 2000 –
2009 town centre retail stores fell by 15,000.
A trend that is accelerating with 10,000 further stores
being lost since 2010.
Indeed in January of this year retail sales fell 0.6% but
online trading increased by 8%.
Deloitte, in a report published in 2012 entitled the
Changing Face of Retail stated that retail had reached a ‘tipping point’ and it
was expected that stores would decline by another 30 – 40% over the next five
years.
It is not just these figures that are significant for your
consideration but the four mechanisms driving the changes identified by
Deloitte, which are:
Consumer spending remaining weak
Business costs, especially fixed continuing to rise
The internet profoundly changing shopping patterns
Intensified competition
Basically – costs are rising and traditional town centre
shopping demand falling.
This new situation needs to be taken account of.
What I would suggest
·
Give yourself the flexibility to consider the
impact of these trends
·
Don’t lock yourself into this plan by approving
the whole outline planning permission today.
·
Support Sainsburys and Leekes on the brown field
site as phase 1.
·
Then review other possibilities for the rest of
the brown field area.
Such as
·
an extension of the successful Coed Kilay
industrial centre
·
and work with Royal Mail to develop their
existing provision into a 24 hour pick
up and return depot for internet shoppers with supporting facilities.
The second suggestion would be a first and genuinely unique.
Thus, getting ahead of the new and emerging shopping trends.
Sustainably achieving your twin objectives of attracting
local shoppers and providing sustainable employment.
The danger in supporting the plan today is that you provide
the developer with enhanced property value which will be rapidly realised by
selling on.
But RCT will be left irretrievably committed to this
proposal which at worse, could end up not being realised, such as the Westfield
town centre development in Bradford which has remained a hole in the ground for
the last seven years.
End
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