Will public money be used to build a second mainline station in Cardiff?
Martin Shipton
Cardiff Civic Society has raised further concerns about controversial plans to build a mainline railway station on the eastern outskirts of the capital.
The station, which would be called Cardiff Parkway, forms part of a scheme to expand a business park at St Mellons that has been heavily promoted by former First Minister Vaughan Gething, the MS for Cardiff South and Penarth. Mr Gething has described the station and business park development as “the largest economic growth project in Wales today”.
However, Great Western Railway has rejected the idea of having a second station stop in Cardiff, arguing that it would negate the time savings achieved by electrifying the main line to London. It has also been argued that the proposed site of the new station is not near enough to St Mellons to discourage people from driving.
Earlier this year, however, the Welsh Government approved a planning application for the project to proceed, rejecting an argument put forward by Cardiff Civic Society that if permission was granted, the station should be built first.
Although Nigel Roberts, the businessman behind the development, originally stated that it would not require public funds, Ken Skates, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, recently confirmed that the UK Government would be providing funds to enable an upgrade of the railway line that would enable new commuter stations to be built between Cardiff and the Severn Tunnel.
And last week, Rolls Royce Submarines announced that it would be increasing the number of people employed in its office on the adjacent business park from 40 to 120.
However, Lyn Eynon, the planning lead of Cardiff Civic Society said the picture was not as rosy as was being painted.
He made the point that the presence of Rolls-Royce Submarines was to support the AUKUS partnership between Australia, the UK and the US to supply and deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines.
Mr Eynon said: “AUKUS is not guaranteed to go ahead despite Trump’s apparent support. In any case, I’m not enthusiastic about further growth in Welsh military output being positioned as our ‘engine for growth’.
“[Welsh Secretary] Jo Stevens has claimed: ‘This development will bring highly skilled job opportunities and economic growth to the people of Cardiff’, but Steve Carlier, the President of Rolls-Royce Submarines, says: ‘The Cardiff satellite office opening shows Rolls-Royce Submarines’ intent on attracting the brightest and best from across the UK’. How many of these jobs will be taken by people living in Cardiff today? Few if any skilled jobs will come to St Mellons, in my view.”
Semiconductor hub
Mr Eynon said the UK Government’s £160m Cardiff Capital Region Investment Zone funding was to develop a semiconductor hub in Newport, plus ‘a science and technology park to become the focus point for R&D activity and investment in Cardiff’ The location for that has not been determined. Cardiff council’s zoning suggests it should go to north Cardiff, but I expect the Cardiff Parkway business park to be a prime candidate, despite Jo Stevens continually boosting it as private investment.
“Cardiff council has long complained about the Welsh Government wanting all parts of Wales to benefit from business rates revenue. It has lost that argument, but it has now reemerged as a Cardiff Capital Region bid.”
Mr Eynon added: “I doubt that the Welsh Government will get a memorandum of understanding with Rolls Royce to come to Cardiff Parkway. Such an MOU would anyway have no contractual value. It is evident from Carlier’s comments that he is a long way from any commitment – he’s just saying friendly words to keep in with the Welsh Government. Insofar as he is interested, it is as much for St Mellons’ links to Bristol and London as for the merits of Wales. It would fit better into the Western Gateway initiative that the UK Government has scrapped.
“The hope that building a station would not cost significantly more than the £120m estimated in 2019 is optimistic. New construction costs have risen by a third over the past six years. Given that it will be years before this happens and that building work always costs more than quoted, £200m does not look an unreasonable estimate of the eventual cost if it is ever built to mainline standards.
“I don’t know how it can be argued that Cardiff Parkway has on its doorstep a far higher population density than any of the five new stations advocated by Lord Burns [who undertook an inquiry into alternative ways of reducing traffic congestion following the decision not to build the M3 Relief Road at Newport]’, given its location on the city edge. Cardiff East (Rover Way – Newport Road junction) will be at the heart of dense population, as will Somerton in east Newport. Neither of those will have easy access to the M4, unlike Cardiff Parkway. The M4 has always been Cardiff Parkway’s hidden asset that fits badly with its environmental claims.
“As Eluned Morgan recognises, there is not enough allocated money for the Burns stations, let alone Cardiff Parkway. Jo Stevens’ claim that Cardiff Parkway would be ‘a railway station that will be privately funded with no public sector money’ was always bluster.”
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Look out for ‘Cardiff and its Stations, a Healthy Obsession’ ?
Soon to be penned, I’m sure…
Come on Welshpool, biggest livestock market in Europe, and an industrial estate of some size as I recall.
Wrecsam worth a mention as the biggest industrial estate in the UK…
Why do they need a private investor for a railway station in East Cardiff of publish money is to used? Just build a a small commuter station then. Has anything Jo Stevens predicted anything good for Wales before?
The attraction for the likes of Rolls Royce is a direct connection to London.
Are we building an entire business park for Rolls royce? Will rolls royce come without a train station being built first as planning suggests?
We’re not building one they wouldn’t want. Why would we do that?
Is this your family development?
My only interest is as a citizen of the capital of Wales who wants to see the economy developed to a level worthy of a “capital city” so that the next generation of kids aren’t forced to leave their nation of birth to access the jobs and opportunities they deserve.
You? Not losing your favourite dog toilet by any chance?
Capital is developing just fine. Just needs to get its finances and public transport in order and for a start, ensuring a reliable bus service would help. Clearly you don’t know much about this plot of land but it is used for farming. If there was much need for office space in the capital, there are a few tall towers planned for the city centre which would suit the capital just fine.
This development is offering a Cambridge science park style of grade A office accommodation which isn’t available elsewhere in the city. Being out of the hectic city and surrounded by greenery whilst still being very well connected is the point.
It can be easily available in the city center and Cardiff bay without need for public money to fund this gigantic empty office space.
CARDIFF CARDIFF CARDIFF. And CARDIFF again. Nothing ever changes with these people that have skin the thickness of a rhino.
Where else would you expect to see a ‘Parkway’ style city train station attracting manufacturing and high tech jobs in Wales? St Davids? Welshpool? Conwy?
Why not in those places? It would encourage young people to continue to live in these areas and reduce the drain of them leaving to find work.
It would also help stave off Reform in places like Welshpool if more job opportunities were created in high tech industries.
Very true.
Pwll.
Too many people throw out statements containing “engines of economic growth” “stimulating developments” blah blah then promptly forget them and go on to follow an entirely different track, mostly without roadmap or script, which why we end up with unproductive and inefficient outcomes.
Considering that this development is being pushed by Vaughan Gethin, it should be rescinded.
Definitely, considering the public money contribution will need to double to account for his usual 50% cashback. He’ll probably also want an ongoing ‘arrangement’ considering he’ll be out of a job in 6 months.
That was a perfect example…
33 comments and rising, kind of proves my point…
56 comments and counting…call Hornby Help Line it’s like AA only OO…
Public money is/was being used (with just cause) to upgrade the entire SWML Relief Lines and build the other Burns stations…to build the Metro north of Cardiff on the core valleys, to complete the £2bn upgrade of the Heads of the Valleys road, to enhance the A40 in West Wales, to build the Caernarfon bypass, to build the Newtown by-pass, to build the Llandeilo by pass, to build Bow Street station, ….etc So adding a two platform station at Parkway like the other Burns stations is or should not be an issue?
Not 2 platform, 4 platforms. This is a mainline station.
One farmer is still waiting to be paid for the purchase of his land for the Newtown bypass. How many years has that been?
GWR won’t be the only operator serving London as Lumo is starting in 2027.
Also GWR will be nationalised in 2028 so their views are irrelevant. The current London services which terminate at Cardiff Central could stop at CP with minimal impact, and offer much quicker connections to the bay with an easy transfer to Cardiff Crossrail.
Um, nationalised with what money?
Half of the TOCs are already nationalised. They’re just bringing them back under government control when the privately run franchises end. No money needed.
Two points:
Why is this development “controversial” (opening paragraph)?
Secondly, this station has been on the cards since 2012, it’s now almost 2026, by the time this gets built GWR will be no more and it’ll be TfW or GBR (British Rail 2.0) so it’ll be them who decide who gets to serve the station not GWR.
It’s controversial for Bristol Civic Society who work hard to keep economic growth on their side of the Severn Sea.
Who have been very successful regarding Cardiff airport, or the lack of a international airport in Cardiff.
Its controversial because it is not needed. All we want is a small commuter station. We don’t want 15 storey offices on the gwent levels that maybe residential apartments later after remaining vacant for several year. The current business parks in east cardiff have vacant spaces. Cardiff bay and city centre office towers are being converted to apartments.
The current business parks don’t have a mainline station with direct connections to London but despite that Rolls-Royce are still creating a small number of jobs there that could be massively increased with this new development, they have hinted as far as they can without jeopardising commercial interests.
That’s the main problem. We are not getting a mainline station. The developer can build most of his business park first. What guarantee is there that local builders and residents will be prioritised for the jobs?
I am sceptical about the claim that it would be funded without needing public money.
How many times has that been said about development plans, only for their promoters to come round with a begging bowl when there has been “an unforeseen change of circumstances”?
This has also been a feature of developers who have offered “community benefits” like schools and public spaces – look at the ongoing Barry Docks farce.
And what about the “remediation” swindle at the Merthyr opencast scheme?
It’s not in a suitable position it would create more traffic defeating the object of reducing car travel
What is needed is a proper public bus service with a bus station that’s got planned on going journeys around the city
To me It’s obviously another friend of Vaughan Gethin just getting a leg up
But Now the public purse has to pay
Why take a 40 minute bus to the city centre if there’s a 7 minute train from this station?
There is no railway station planned anytime soon. The planning application said that most of the business park can be built first because the developer did not have the funds to pay for the railway station. The developer’s barrister assured the inspector at the hearing last year that all the funding was available to pay for the whole development. It turns out that was a load of hot air.
Presumably the Welsh Gov delaying it pushed up costs as everything else got massively more expensive during the same period.
If costs are that high with no realistic possibility of development, then it should be scrapped.
There are good reasons why the station can be jointly funded because it’s not just benefiting the business park. There’s a new 16,500 arena being built in the bay and ideally most of those folks will be arriving by public transport. Cardiff Parkway (with four platforms) will allow travellers from the east to change onto Cardiff Crossrail services and travel straight to the bay in perhaps ten minutes, completely avoiding the city centre and not contributing to overcrowding at Cardiff Central. That’s better for everyone.
Then just build a commuter station for the residents with public money. Why a mainline station in a residential area? The only people who may come and I stress the “may ” is Rolls royce. Why do they need a mainline station when there are 2 mainline stations 6 miles in each direction? A commuter station would suffice for the residents and Rolls Royce.
The post you replied to answered your query: interchange for the bay.
A commuter station would suffice then. No need for parkway. No need to spend what little money there is on a project for a single developer’s benefit.
A commuter station can’t serve as an interchange for CrossRail services to the bay.
If the bay interchange was that important, why was the baylink bus services scrapped by the council?
First, the bay arena is new and changes the transport requirements. Second, a bus holds 50 people. A six car tram-train can shift 500 people directly to the arena. Run one every six minutes and that’s a third of the arena moved in an hour. Try doing that with buses.
I take your point: St Mellons is quite a way from both Cardiff’s and Newport’s city centres, and, having grown up in a urban area close to a city centre which had a frequent rail service ‘into town’, there’s certainly a lot to be said in favour of commuting in quickly by train rather than grinding through peak hour traffic on a bus. Or, indeed, in a car. But in this particular instance I’m just a bit doubtful, because the railway line, and thus the site of a projected new station, is very much to the south of the built-up… Read more »
It’s in the southeast corner of the residential area and twenty minute walk covers most of it which is a very reasonable commute. For those further away a bike is a good option and local buses should route via this station. Switching to bus for the final leg is quicker, more comfortable and more reliable than taking it all the way to and from the centre, especially when metro combined ticketing means it costs the same.
Based on my experience back in the day when I was a kid, one or more local bus services running to or past the projected station would certainly help – especially when it’s bucketing it down in the winter! We were a mile from the station, which was a bit of a trog in poor weather.
And I agree that commuting by train is way more comfortable and less tedious than doing it on the bus.
But then you still need a bus then wait for the train. Why not just a decent bus service? St mellons to city centre is 30 minutes on bus 30.
The other problem with buses is the right-wing won’t use them because of what Thatcher said. To get them out of their cars and commuting on public transport needs a good railway.
Folks here in Trowbridge and St Mellons take the bus. When it turns up. The railway station will only seems to serve the few lucky to have cars or live nearby.
You might indeed need a bus to get you to the station. I often did just that, back in the day when I was a kid. I sometimes walked the mile to the station if the weather was really OK, but more often than not I’d take the bus – just a ride of about seven minutes. I then took the train. I did – in good weather or bad – have your preferred alternative of doing the entire journey by bus. But in peak hour traffic the journey was usually depressingly and interminably slow. Which is why I preferred… Read more »
Yes ,I agree which is why we wanted a small commuter station built in this area. A commuter station would offer more benefit to the local residents compared to a large mainline station which would cost more in parking rates to the residents and bring more out of area traffic to the area if it ever gets built of course.
In terms of the interests of local folk, I’d agree that a modest commuter station is all that is really required.But I think that any station might be more useful locally than no station at all! Though if I had the last word – fat chance! – my stipulation would be: (a) free parking and bicycle storage at the station, and (b) provision for buses to areas slightly further away to pick up and set down immediately adjacent to the station. If you ever travel up to the north, you might take a look at Rhyl, where they’ve done exactly… Read more »
You are not taking into consideration getting to this station which you will need a car or bus journey cost of parking time waiting bus would take you a lot less and cost effective and the traffic already in this area is jammed up at peak times
It
The cost should be the same once metro ticketing works on both trains and buses.
You can have all the stations you want,
the actual train service is substandard in every way . Cancellations at the drop of a hat, had to pick up a family member from Cheltenham on a Leeds to Cardiff train twice recently.
Transport for Wales ? That would be a good idea !
Leeds to Cardiff is CrossCountry not TfW. Any old issue and they give up at Birmingham.
Is there a development or proposed piece of infrastructure that Cardiff Civic Society actually supports? Just seems to be more NIMBYism from them.
Build on brownfield site then. Why build an unnecessary business park on precious farmland and destroy a large piece of the gwent levels?
If it’s about the Levels why the relative silence over solar farms.
I have never remained silent about solar farms on the gwent levels or any where else for that matter. Except in the deserts.
Referring to the relative efforts of CCS.
This might help with a broader understanding of the proposals (yes I know its from June 2024)>>> Cardiff Parkway… – Mark Barry’s blog site
Whatever business case was made for this development and the recommendations put forward by Lord Burns were all made pre covid. The world is very different post covid and a new business and public transport assessment needs to be carried out. Clearly the funding is no longer available for such a massive project and this planning approval needs to be rescinded. Additionally, with the weather patterns changing very dramatically as seen this year with long dry spells and then a deluge of rain, the flood risk from storms of a such high intensity has to be reassessed. Especially when we… Read more »
You didn’t read it ….burns services /stations FBC in progress, will include consideration of parkway. The obc modelled services to parkway as well. This will happen even if 2 platform station at the outset ( I explained rationale in the article). So many on here are very ill informed of what is proposed, work undertaken and current status ….I appreciate why, so just trying to help. SE wales needs a PT connected business park to begin to reduce our dependency on car only business parks…. Ps A 2 platform station in this location (like the other stations proposed) stands on… Read more »
As someone who lives outside Cardiff and who travels by train whenever possible, I always thought that this one was a no-brainer. Getting the train into Cardiff to change to the service you want or the nightmare of driving into Cardiff city centre is a hassle and a disincentive. If/when this station is built, I would drive to it, park there and then catch the train east/north/south depending on where I was going. For a while I used to do this with Severn Tunnel Junction station, but that’s still an annoying drive from the M4. The point in this article… Read more »
The overall aim of the Burns Commision was to reduce overall car travel. Better public transport would reduce the need of car transport through South Wales. This parkway model doesn’t seem to indicate an overall reduction in car use. More of an increase.
GWR think only of moving people between stations. What the public need, is convenience and good journey times between where they are, and where they want to be. Additional stations can reduce journey times.
In future we must include the journey times to and from stations as well as between stations.
“Will public money be used to build a second mainline station in Cardiff?” Of course the public will pay!! Who else pays for things that Cardiff wants? Who else, apart from the taxpayer, pays for things these days?
This whole mess was approved on the rather naive or just plain stupid understanding that the private developer will put up on the funds. I am going with the latter.