Residents welcome plans to rejuvenate run-down high street

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Residents in an area of Cardiff are pleased to hear their high street will receive a makeover, but there’s one issue above everything else that they said is blighting it.

Cardiff Council announced recently that it planned to make a number of changes to Countisbury Avenue in Llanrumney, like resurfacing the road and pavement and upgrading pedestrian crossings.

Few shoppers there would argue that the work needs doing. In front of the shops, some of which are shuttered or empty, many of the paving slabs are loose and the car park is marked by dozens of potholes.

However, when people were asked about what they thought of their high street nearly all of them said it was badly affected by anti-social behaviour.

Pavements

“They should by rights close this completely right off for a couple of days and re-do it,” said Derek Nowell, a regular shopper on Countisbury Avenue.

“If I want shopping, I go down to Newport Road, but I have got to be quite truthful… look at the state of the pavements here.

“It’s sad really because I never thought that it would ever get this way.

“I can remember when I was a lad, about eight, you didn’t have any shutters on any of the shops coming along here.

“Over the years they’ve needed it because of vandalism.”

“You’ve got lads on here… they [ride bikes] on this path here.

“One has got an electric bike. He whizzed past me the other day and if it wasn’t for two or three inches no doubt he might have hit my buggy with me in it.”

All of the works Cardiff Council is proposing to do on Countisbury Avenue include:

New parking layout (no reduction in parking spaces)
Existing slabbed pavement cleaned and repaired
Upgrade of pedestrian crossing points
Pavement resurfacing
Highway improvements around car wash area
Additional cycle stands, new bins and bollards
Tree planting
The council is also investigating options for enhanced lighting and and CCTV coverage.

When you look around Countisbury Avenue currently, at least one camera is visible on the opposite side of the road.

One businessowner who didn’t want to be named said a camera has been damaged already and he noticed a new one being installed using a cherry picker.

Another person who works on Countisbury Avenue told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she moved to Llanrumney about seven years ago.

Fern Beverstock was positive about the area and said she found it nice compared to where she used to live.

Sceptical

However, when Fern heard about the council’s proposals for Countisbury Avenue, she was sceptical.

She said: “It would be lovely, but I just feel like it wouldn’t be given the respect that it deserves because we do have a lot of youth problems.

“There’s been a few [instances] up here.

“I’ve seen that bus stop over there be smashed up about, no word of a lie, maybe 20 times since I moved here.

“You have the motorbikes.”

She also said e-bikes can be an issue, adding: “They can be quite fast actually and I am worried about the younger generation and… seniors that go outside. It’s quite scary.”

On the current state of the road and pavement, Fern said she once tripped on some of the loose slabs along Countisbury Avenue.

“I was more embarrassed than anything,” She said.

“I hurt my knee, but it was just some superficial bruising.

“The roads look like they’ve been hacked. There’s lots of pot holes and dips… so that would be rather nice to have all of that re-done.

“It’ll look lovely, but I’m scared it won’t last”.

‘Not safe’

One shopper who stopped to share their thoughts about the council’s plans said of the pavement: “It’s not safe at all is it?

“I’ve got a mother who uses a walker and a brother who uses a wheelchair and it’s horrific for them.”

However, they added that more than just resurfacing works are needed in the area.

The shopper, who didn’t want to be named, added: “We’ve got a good lot of shops.

“We’re supposed to be having another betting shop which I don’t think we need. There’s two up here already.

“I just think regenerating here, doing the pavements… it’s peoples’ attitudes I think.

“It’s not just the actual buildings.”

Public transport is another area where the community has been affected over the past few years.

Bus companies, including Cardiff Bus, announced in 2023 that they would change and cut a number of routes in order to save money.

The 65 and 65A buses that took Llanrumney residents to University Hospital of Wales several times a day were both cut at the time.

Transport

One resident, Michael Pace, said he’d rather the council focus on improving transport in the city when asked about the local authourity’s investment on Countisbury Avenue.

“I’m more worried about people who can’t get to their shops,” said Michael.

“It’s the old people I’m more concerned about, who can’t make ir or walk about.

“I do live within walking distance, but I know people who can’t [walk].”

The issues of anti-social behaviour and public transport were raised time and again by residents in Llanrumney when they were asked ahead of last year’s general election about the issues they’d like to see targeted in the area.

Based on what residents are saying currently, they are both very much still a problem.