Opposition grows towards demolition of town’s historic Victorian railway ticket office
Nation.Cymru staff
Plans for a new £33 million transport interchange which involves demolishing a town’s historic 111-year-old Victorian railway ticket office, has sparked local debate and growing opposition.
Caerphilly County Borough Council and Transport for Wales (TfW) are leading the project to replace the existing railway and bus stations with an integrated two-storey glass, stone, and metal transport hub.
The current ticket office was built in 1913 and is considered one of the town’s last remaining historic structures from that era, alongside Caerphilly Castle, an old chapel, and the old courthouse.
Council planners and project documents state that the old building and its bridge are suffering from structural corrosion and do not meet modern accessibility, safety, or environmental sustainability standards.
Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Lindsay Whittle and local campaigners have strongly opposed the demolition.
The Blaenau Gwent, Caerffili, Rhymni MS met Deputy Transport Minister Mark Hooper and presented images created by a Caerphilly resident of how the ticket office could form part of the development.
Lindsay Whittle, who opposes demolition of the existing Victorian ticket office as part of the development said: “I thought the meeting with Mark Hooper was useful and he listened closely to the case to save the old ticket office.
“But I understand that the issue is not just one for the Welsh Government but also for Transport for Wales and the local authority who have submitted a planning application. I hope even at this late stage the plans can be amended because it is quite possible to have both the old ticket office and the new interchange.”
Whittle pointed out that ticket office was unique in Caerphilly as many other significant old buildings have been demolished.
He pointed out that the area had lost a school that was built in the late 1800s, the town’s old police station, a number of old banks, a cobblers shop from the 1700s and the old Clive Hotel, a magnificent building.
“This is the last of the 100 year old buildings with the exception of Caerphilly Castle, a chapel and the old Courthouse,” he added.
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Welsh councils are nothing but vandals when they see developers with millions of pounds sticking out of their pockets. They’ll agree to knock anything down. When it suits them “structural corrosion” is used as an excuse to demolish historic buildings whilst at other times they will spend tens of millions to remedy “structural corrosion”!! I often wonder what persuades them to act in this way? 😉😜
In order to protect our built heritage and save it from demolition a viable purpose for future use needs to be made. How can it form part of the proposed new transport hub? Could it for instance continue as a ticket office, or a cafe/ restaurant/ waiting room or transfomed into some other use. The backing of local support and other interested groups such as Railway preservation groups, the 20th century society etc will help persuade politicians. It may be possible, even at this late stage, to get it listed by Cadw as a building of historic importance. If it… Read more »
Most station redevelopments are embracing the old and the new.
TfW and Caerphilly CBC would do better to look at how to make the existing structures and facilities more user-friendly.
For example, I found it extremely challenging to get through Caerphilly station in a manual, self-propel wheelchair.