Many Pantmawr residents have written to the Planning Committee to air their opinions on the plans. Below is a letter from one resident.
Dear Planning Committee,
To my amazement I found out this week that the Planning Officers report has now been received and it RECOMMENDS that the application is GRANTED!!
This development is not in the interests of the community of Pantmawr or The City of Cardiff. It is driven solely by greed!
When the Pantmawr estate was built in the 1950s, the planners were, by circumstance, ahead of the current environmental thinking. They ensured bus services, local shops (now sadly all gone) and a social amenity in the heritage buildings were provided to meet the needs of the estate residents without the need for car journeys. Global warming is clearly, in the very near future, going to drive us back to this type of more localised amenity planning. In the Pantmawr Inn, chosen as the preferred social amenity by estate residents in the 1950s, you already have the sort of localised amenity that future planning will strive to revive. This is the opportunity for the planning of Cardiff to be environmentally forward thinking and community aware by REJECTING the redevelopment.The main detailed points to consider are :1. Traffic density, narrow and inadequate access roads make the site totally unsuitable for the plans. The current appalling state of the roads on the estate will no doubt deteriorate even more.2. Removal will lead to more traffic on the VERY BADLY maintained roads on the estate as residents are forced to travel to distant alternatives not to mention the increased traffic from the proposed 60 bedrooms that will be created. Which will only have limited parking spaces, some of which I believe are located in front of garages! Which in today's society where households have two cars is inadequate. When I extended my previous property the council requested that I made allowance for two cars to be parked on my drive so why shouldn't this development have to provide a car parking space per bedroom to allow a realistic capacity for residents and visitors?3. I also have concerns regarding the height and mass of the development, the density of dwellings, parking, and the ‘type’ of dwellings – which are completely out of character of the existing estate. The amended plans also exclude facilities for the disabled and elderly, with the entrance to one section of flats straight off a section of grass.
4. I like many other estate residents frequent the Inn on a regular basis, several times a week. It is our ONLY local social amenity, it is the focus of our community (we have no local shops or other facilities left) and it would be a major loss were it to go.5. It is surprising to me that the building has never been given a heritage designation, the question should be asked why not? The old out building would also be perfect for developing into community related buildings, a restaurant, small hotel, shops, arts centre or other such, more appropriate, related business's.
6. If the property is turned into flats then I will have to increase my carbon footprint by using some form of fossil fuel burning transport to visit another public house in the area. This is not really in keeping with the council or government plans to reduce CO2 emissions.
7. Any move to change the use of this site for housing or flats would be a disaster and morally WRONG! Surely working with the current land owners, The Arts Council of Wales and local people to create an Arts centre for North Cardiff would be a far better plan.
Hopefully I don't have to remind you of your duties as councillors but your constitution says......................
2.3 Roles and functions of all Councillors(a) Key roles.All Councillors will:
(i) collectively be the ultimate policy-makers and carry out a number of strategic functions;
(ii) represent their communities and bring their views into the Authority’s decision-making process, i.e. become the advocate of and for their communities;
(iii) deal with individual casework and act as an advocate for constituents in
resolving particular concerns or grievances;
(iv) seek to balance different interests identified within the ward and represent the ward as a whole;
(v) contribute to the continual improvement of council services through the Wales Improvement Programme;
(vi) be involved in decision-making;
(vii) be available to represent the Authority on other bodies; and(viii) maintain the highest standards of conduct and ethics.
The very concept of destroying the only meeting place for the community in Pantmawr goes against so many of these principles! Please act with a sense of social responsibility when you consider your decision!
Everyday on the news we hear about councils and governments trying to fight "antisocial behaviour" and build a greater "sense of community" and "britishness". Well here you have a focal point where the community come together. We are not talking about a brown field site here, it is a beautiful building with a green and pleasant garden, the only "public" green space on the estate.
Without the Pantmawr the soul will be ripped from the estate.
Please, Please, Please think carefully before giving in to commercial pressures and granting this application. I am MD of a company in Cardiff myself and I therefore appreciate the needs of the commercial world. But all things in life need to be in balance!
I look forward to common sense prevailing and this totally inappropriate change of usage and planning application being REJECTED.
Your Sincerely,
