Radyr and Morganstown Community Council, along with our excellent County Councillor, Rod McKerlich, have been working with Cardiff Council to develop a number of ideas with regard to road safety and highway improvements across our community. Indeed, Cllr McKerlich has been working hard on many of these ideas for many years with considerable success.
This work has resulted in the proposals to build three new zebra crossings along our main road; the closure of Golf Club Lane to traffic; proposals to install a section of pavement on Windsor Road - and, of course, Cardiff Council has recently consulted on its proposal to introduce a 20mph speed limit throughout Radyr and Morganstown (apart from Parc Radur, which will be included in a separate scheme, in due course). We have also discussed, with Cardiff, possible improvements to the Station Road area. To this end, we have agreed to present Cardiff with ideas which could improve road safety at this location, whilst also improving Station Road's role as one of our community hubs. In doing so, we are mindful of the fact that changes to the area would depend on Cardiff Council having funds available to undertake the work. Those funds could come from Plasdwr Section 106 money, or from other sources - but nothing can be guaranteed at this stage. Even so, we see our role as presenting Cardiff Council with a vision for Station Road. It will be for Cardiff to decide whether or not to implement it. We have today, therefore, invited residents and businesses located on, or near, Station Road, Windsor Crescent, King's Road and King's Avenue to respond to a number of ideas developed by the Community Council. These relate mainly to those roads - as well as the approach to Radyr Station. The proposals deal with parking, possible one-way systems, the use of Station Road by the community - and pedestrian safety near Radyr Station. Our initial survey has been sent only to residents and businesses directly affected by the proposal. Depending on the outcome of the initial survey (which closes at the end of February), we will then consider arranging a wider survey for Radyr and Morganstown residents. NB: If you live on any of the relevant streets, but haven't received a letter from us, please contact our office. As always, we will keep you posted. Update (3 March): the survey is now closed.
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Reliable sources have told us that the new tenant set to occupy the old Spar site on Station Road will be the Coop.
We will let you have further details as soon as we have them. What do you think? Are you pleased? Were you hoping for something else? Let us know by leaving a comment, below. During our recent meeting with Cardiff Council, we were invited to develop (for consideration by Cardiff), proposals for improving Station Road and the surrounding area, to improve its role as a place for the community to meet, shop and socialise.
This could include introducing a one-way system, changes to parking, closure to traffic at specific times and more. This is all very exciting - and we will be consulting with residents about this in the near future. So please keep an eye out for more news about this! During our recent meeting with Cardiff Council we were informed that the nextbikes station will be located outside McColl's on Station Road.
The station will be installed in the very near future. The bike station will measure 7m by 2m (7m by 1 m without the bikes). If this location proves to be unsuitable, the station can be moved quite easily. Cardiff is also considering installing electric bikes at Radyr Station. Other locations may also be considered. What is a nextbike? This is a system which rents bicycles for anyone who has downloaded the nextbikes app onto hir, or her, mobile. You can rent a bike from any nextbike station - and leave it at any other station. You can read more about nextbikes here. This could be another useful resource for Radyr and Morganstown residents. For instance, you could go to town on the train - but fancy cycling home. Now you will be able to grab a nextbike and enjoy riding along the Taff Trail. We will have to see how the nextbikes look outside McColl's. Will they limit the room available for pedestrians? Let us know what you think after they are installed. We held another meeting with Cardiff Council's Head of Transportation on 10 September. It turned out to be a very positive meeting - and it was great to hear Cardiff officials saying how much they valued the close relationship they had developed with our community, through the work of Radyr and Morgantown Community Council - and its Road Safety Working group. Our thanks go, again, to Cllr Rod McKerlich (our County Councillor) for facilitating the meeting.
This is what we discussed:
Chair Radyr and Morganstown Community Council Take Part in our latest survey!
You can find it here. What new money? Caro Wild, Cardiff Council's Cabinet Member with responsibility for strategic planning and transport has written to every community council in Cardiff, seeking ideas for a new initiative, to be called the Local Infrastructure Idea Lists. Specifically, he has asked for ideas in relation to public open spaces, community facilities and local highway improvements. Whilst looking primarily at ideas that may be funded through Section 106 developer contributions, the lists will also help to inform other work that is undertaken by Cardiff Council’s service areas, using the Council's normal funding channels. What will this mean for us? This is an opportunity for people across Radyr and Morganstown to submit their ideas. What would you like to see developed in your area? Would you like to see any improvements to our public spaces Better, or more, playgrounds? An outdoor gym? Improved landscaping? More places to sit and enjoy being outdoors? Somewhere for our young people to meet up? Do you want to see any improvements to Station Road? How about community facilities? Improvements to our halls? How about a new community hall on the Mound Field, with facilities for Radyr Rangers? Better sports facilities? A MUGA*? Or how about road safety and ease of movement across our community? Safer cycling? More zebra crossings? The invitation is there, from Caro Wild - so we would like to respond with a set of ideas that could really make a difference to our community. What can I do? You can send us your ideas by completing our survey, here. What will happen next? We need to send our ideas to Cardiff Council as soon as we can, in September. After that time, we can still send more ideas, but it's important for us to get our ideas onto Cardiff's initial list. An Important caveat: It's important to understand, however, that there is no guaranteed pot of money to fund everything or anything. But if we don't present our ideas, we won't be able to complain if other areas see their projects developed. So, Cardiff will assess all of the ideas it receives and prepare the Local Infrastructure Idea Lists. They will use this to help priorities how Section 106 money should be used (as well as helping to priorities the work they fund themselves). What is Section 106 money? New developments can have an impact on the local community. For example, growth in population arising from a new residential development might lead to greater pressure on local schools, community facilities, open spaces, highways or transportation. Planning obligations, known as Section 106 Contributions, can be used to require developers to provide new facilities, or contribute financially towards developments that help to mitigate the impact of their development. To help guide the S106 process, the Local Infrastructure Idea Lists is a new scheme which will be developed to provide Cardiff Council with a way to identify local infrastructure ideas for different wards, which can be taken into consideration when S106 contributions are being sought. Section 106 contributions can be sought for a range of infrastructure developments, such as affordable housing, transport, highway works, schools, open spaces, community facilities, public realm improvements, waste management facilities and flood risk management. However, as mentioned above, Caro Wild has asked us for ideas linked to public open spaces, community facilities and local highway improvements only (but we are checking why he has limited his request to those areas). The boring bit There are three legal tests governing the use of Section 106. It can constitute a reason for granting planning permission for the development only if the obligation is:
Think big! But don't these legal tests put you off! Send us your ideas. However wild! However ambitious! However big! However small! We want to know what you would like to have! Complete the survey and let us know what you'd like to see. * A Multi Use Games Arena as described here. Councillor Huw Onllwyn Jones has written to Spar Stores, owners of the lease for the old Spar shop site on Station Road, urging them to think of the community's needs as it seeks a new occupier for the site. If we receive a reply we'll publish it.
The message to Spar was as follows: Dear Spar I am writing to you on behalf of Radyr and Morganstown Community Council, located in Radyr, Cardiff.. We understand that you own the lease for the site on Station Road, in Radyr, which housed a Spar store for many years. This is now empty, of course, following the closure of the store. I understand that you are now seeking a new occupier for the site. The purpose of this email is simply to let you know that the community council is very keen to see the site being used by a business which would benefit the daily lives of as many people as possible in our community. Our high street is small, so the nature of the company occupying the Spar site will be significant. Clearly, the future use of the site depends on who can be attracted to occupy it. And clearly, for you, this is a business venture from which you need to make a profit. Even so, we hope that some thought can be given to wide and frequent community benefit when the decision is made with regard to the future use of the space. We hope, therefore, that the above can be considered by you as you take this matter forward. In the meantime, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you with your developments in Radyr (we did, for instance, support the opening of the Radyr Tap, the new micro-pub on Station Road). I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you - and best wishes Cllr Huw Jones In the meantime, what would you like to see coming to the Spar site? Take part in our survey to let us know! |
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