Planners to consider Riverside apartments development proposals

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Plans to demolish a row of buildings on a Cardiff street and replace them with apartments and shops are set for a decision this week.

Cardiff Council’s planning committee will meet on Thursday, August 3, to discuss an application for 81 apartments proposed for 51-65 Cowbridge Road East and 2-8 Lower Cathedral Road, Riverside.

The complex will be seven storeys in height and predominantly made up of one bedroom apartments if approved.

All of the apartments would be affordable.

However, local councillors have highlighted that there is a high demand for properties of more than one bedroom in the area.

In a joint letter to the council, ward members for Riverside, Cllr Kanaya Singh, Cllr Leonora Thomson and Cllr Caro Wild, said: “As previously outlined we have ongoing serious issues on a daily basis in the local community partly because of the amount of one-bedroom accommodation.”

An amended application was put in by Wales and West Housing in April, 2023, proposing that 75 of the apartments are one bedroom and for six to consist of two bedrooms.

The local councillors added: “The Housing top priority need in Riverside is not one and two-bedroom flats but [three] bed housing and above.

“Whilst we are pleased that some two-bedroom flats have been put in, it is still very few and so it is still very much one-bed majority.”

Acceptable

A Cardiff Council planning committee report on the development stated that the applicant had responded positively to these objections. The report added that the principle of the residential use proposed was considered acceptable by the local authority.

Following a 21-day consultation period which closed on January 31, 2023, 38 objections were received. These included concerns over the proposed scale of the building, the potential loss of jobs in the area due to the proposed demolition of existing buildings, and an increase in traffic and lack of parking.

Some residents and Cardiff Civic Society pointed out that, although the proposal for no car parking spaces was to be seen as a positive in some respects, it was highly possible that at least some future residents could have a car.

A transport statement attached to the application forecast a maximum peak hour parking accumulation in the area of 14 vehicles.

The applicants have also proposed the installation of 88 cycle parking spaces for residents and 14 cycle parking spaces for staff.

Cardiff Council is seeking a £90,000 contribution from the applicants towards an active travel transport scheme on Cowbridge Road East.

Members of the council’s planning committee will meet to discuss the plans at 10.30am.

You can watch the debate live here…..