Traders demonstrate to get muddy puddle turned into parking

Ted Peskett Local Democracy Reporter

Traders in a Cardiff street said a lack of parking, which they claim could be helped by turning a muddy ditch into spaces, is hurting their businesses badly.

The shop owners of Tudor Street have been campaigning for months to turn a failing rain garden into extra parking and last week they took to demonstrating their frustration there by standing on the patch of soil to prevent workers from replanting it.

Police were called to the site by the council as a result of the demonstration at about 11.30am on Thursday, August 15.

One shopkeer, Qasim Din, said the demonstration was peaceful but it had to stop once they were told that they would be arrested if they didn’t move to contractors to continue their work. South Wales Police said no arrests were made.

Qasim, who runs 8 Till Late, said he and other shopkeers are not against the idea of rain gardens and only want extra parking to help their businesses.

Litter

However some traders who we spoke to questioned the effectiveness of the rain gardens in Tudor Street saying they regularly fill up with litter.

One hairdresser added that there was a dead rat in one of the rain gardens for weeks that stank out her shop.

Cardiff Council said the rain garden that traders demonstrated at, opposite 8 Till Late, has failed because vehicles keep parking on top of it.

Qasim said: “It is impacting our livelihoods big time.

“We are all shops here. We are independent stores and there is no national chain on this street at all.

“We are all independents and we are trying to survive.

“My dad has had this shop for nearly 45 years now. We have never seen it so bad like this.

“The loss of trade is devastating.”

Transformation

As part of the £5m transformation of Tudor Street in 2021 a new segregated cycle path was installed along with a number of rain gardens along both sides of the street.

Cardiff Council said the regeneration scheme in Tudor Street was designed to improve business premises and the surrounding environment and there are loading bays and limited waiting bays for shoppers and visitors.

There is about 20m of space for parking at the western end of Tudor Street that meets Clare Street and there is another 20m of parking space at the eastern end of the street.

Qasim added: “A lot of the time people park their cars there all day long because there are no wardens coming to check on them.

“That is a big problem as well but the fact is it is just a loading bay that is hardly suitable for four cars.”

“There are nearly 25 retail units on these two blocks alone – 25 retail units and there is only a loading bay hardly suitable for four cars.

“It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Low footfall”

Unlike some other high streets in Cardiff, like Cowbridge Road and Queen Street, Qasim said there is a low footfall in Tudor Street and that over the years it has relied on passing trade from people who stop by for a shop as they drive through on their way from or into town.

“That has always been Tudor Street for as long as I’ve known,” he added.

“I was born and bred in Riverside so I have seen it my whole life and this is just devastating.

“We are still paying our taxes, we are still paying our business rates, and this is what we are getting for it – nothing.”

The parking situation can also be a nightmare for people who need to stop and drop off heavy and expensive items, according to one man who runs a computer shop in Tudor Street.

Salek Miah of PC Express said the lack of parking is having a huge impact on his business, which has been in Tudor Street for more than 10 and a half years.

Just a few days ago he said a woman came in to have a computer serviced but found there was no parking for a taxi to drop her off next to the shop.

“He parked about two or three streets away,” said Salek, 42.

“This poor lady when she came to the store with this huge box – these PCs are getting bigger and bigger now – she was out of breath, huffing and puffing.

“She was desperate to come here because she obviously wanted something repaired but other people when they see the situation, when they have got a really expensive piece of equipment and they have got to haul it into the store from a far distance, it is going to put them off.”

Leaza Johnson of Inspiration Hair Salon said she has been in Tudor Street for 17 years now but her business has moved from one shop to the other along the street in that time.

She has been in her current premises for five years.

Leaza said: “For me we lost a lot of business at the moment because of parking. You can’t be having people taking 45 minutes to get a parking space, even to drop off.

“If I buy something from the warehouse I have to be struggling from far to get here. The taxis can’t even stop across the road. You can’t do anything.

“It’s frustrating and all we are asking for is parking.”

Rain gardens are patches of vegetation that are designed to absorb rainwater that runs off surfaces like pavements, roofs, and tarmac.

They can also improve the appearance of a street but Leaza said the rain gardens she sees on Tudor Street collect litter, needles, and dead animals.

She added, pointing to the rain garden outside her shop: “We have tried to help with it but even this one… the other day there was a rat in it for about a week and it stank out the whole place.

“Customers were complaining, people were passing. I thought something had died in here so I opened the door to get fresh air.

“As I opened the door it got worse.”

Problem

Shaun Hall is a trader whose business, SR Restaurant and Catering, has only been in Tudor Street since last year, but he has lived in Riverside for years.

“It has hurt my business a lot because there is nowhere to park,” said Shaun.

“I didn’t realise it was this bad until I opened it [the business] and until I realised I would have nowhere to park.

“It’s a problem even getting stock in.”

Shaun said the situation has left him feeling angry, upset, and worried about the future of his business.

He added: “I can’t survive. People can’t come because they have nowhere to park.”

Qasim, from 8 Till Late, said he and fellow traders in Tudor Street have been unhappy with the level of engagement from the council and their local councillors on the issue.

He said a petition for extra parking on the street gained more than 1,000 signatures but added that this was dismissed by the council because not enough people had entered their full postal addresses.

“If you looked at that petition it was genuine,” said Qasim.

“In the age of data protection people don’t want to enter all of their details onto a piece of paper in a local shop.

“At the same time there were enough people writing down their house numbers and streets.

“There were enough people writing down just their post codes, there were enough people writing down just their street names.

“Every single signature was different. What was the council going to do? Were they going to write to each and every individual?

“I highly doubt it. The petition is there to show that we have the support of the community and we do.”

Council response

A Cardiff Council spokesman said: “The council would like to make it clear that we will not tolerate any abuse to our staff or contractors or any unlawful activity to damage the work or remove the bollards that we are installing around the rain gardens in Tudor Street.

“Following recent activity by traders on Tudor Street the council had to call the police for their assistance. If similar incidents continue to take place the police will be called again.

“The council is currently carrying out remedial works to five rain gardens that have been damaged by people driving in them and parking on top of them.

“The regeneration scheme was designed to improve business premises and the surrounding environment. It has not reduced the number of parking or loading bays on the street.

“It has been designed to stop people parking on double-yellow lines and pavements, which is dangerous to other road users and pedestrians.

“Loading bays have been provided for traders to carry out their business and limited waiting bays for shoppers and visitors but these are not intended for shop owners to park their vehicle for free while they are trading.

“When we carried out the consultation on the scheme with traders we didn’t receive any adverse comments on the proposed parking bays and restrictions so it is very disappointing that after a significant investment into this street, these issues are taking place.

“The damaged rain gardens have been an eyesore for the street and do not make it a welcoming and safe environment to attract customers.”