Developers appeal council’s supermarket decision

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Developers behind a block of new flats planned for Cardiff have appealed a decision by the city council to refuse permission for a supermarket on the ground floor.

Cardiff Council initially approved plans for 81 flats on Cowbridge Road East in August 2023, which also included a proposal for multiple commercial units.

Local councillors and residents raised concerns when the developers, Wales & West Housing Association, later applied to have just one unit in the form of a supermarket on the ground floor, arguing this would negatively impact local independent businesses.

Council planning committee members voted against the developer’s proposal to change their scheme at a meeting in January.

Welsh Government

The Welsh Government is still in the process of looking at Wales & West Housing’s planning appeal.

When the application was first approved, a condition attached to the permission stated the largest commercial unit on site should be subdivided into no less than two units with a maximum floorspace of 250sqm.

Wales & West Housing argued there is insufficient policy basis for the council to insist on restricting the maximum floorspace of any of the proposed commercial units on their development.

It also argued having one larger unit allows more flexibility on letting out floorspace and “reducing the burden of owning and maintaining commercial floorspace”.

An appeal prepared on behalf of Wales & West Housing by LRM Planning Ltd states the council’s refusal of the proposal creates a “commercially problematic position for the applicant, whose main purpose is to provide affordable housing for those most in need, in a part of the country where supply of such accommodation is far outweighed by demand”.

Family run businesses 

In their written opposition to the supermarket plan, local councillors for Riverside said their ward is home to a number of “long-standing family run businesses” which provide jobs and “culturally important meeting places”.

The letter, signed by councillors Leonora Thomson, Caro Wild and Kanaya Singh added: “No way should another supermarket be allowed to open, and we would urge that a full equalities impact assessment is undertaken to measure the likely impact on the local BAME community.

“We would suggest that the commercial units are made smaller to protect against this.”

A retail impact report produced by Montagu Evans LLP on behalf of Wales & West Housing at the time of its application stated terms had been agreed with a national supermarket operator to occupy the full extent of the ground floor retail unit, subject to planning permission.

It also stated the proposal was “entirely acceptable on retail impact grounds”.

A council report on the application published at the time stated: “The retail units on the site add significantly to the local community.

The provision of a single, larger 350sqm Class A1 retail unit would not only materially change such local character, by being disproportionate in size within the local context, but also be to the detriment of community’s local amenity in terms of the nature of local shopping provision.”

Not all planning committee members agreed with the council’s viewpoint.

Cllr Michael Michael said: “I have no issue with a large supermarket going there because it would serve the area.”

Talking about Cowbridge Road, he added: “It was a great place to go shopping… [but] now it is not. It is cafes, gambling shops and vaping shops.”

Another planning committee member, Cllr Sean Driscoll, said at the time that he accepted the supermarket plans would “impact smaller shops further down”, but added: “I think… the local residents may have preferred a bigger shop and not have to go to Canton.”