Radyr and Morganstown Local Development Group

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Making the voices of Radyr & Morganstown Residents heard on matters of planning and Local Development

The Radyr and Morganstown Local Development Group (RMLDG) is an independent group of local residents which has come together to be informed and take positive action on matters relating to Planning Consent and the revision of the Cardiff Council Local Development Plan, with particular interest in how it will affect both the area of Radyr & Morganstown and those who live here.

12 March 2025

We have an update on the RLDP for you:

Consultation on the ‘Deposit Plan’ is now open and comments need to be submitted by 15^th April 2025. Simon Gilbert, Head of Planning for Cardiff Council, spoke about the RLDP and the consultation process at a joint R&MCC/RMLDG meeting on 10^th March. He stressed the importance of people submitting comments, on any aspect of the plan. This can mean individual sites (listed in the ‘Candidate Site Register’), any of the ‘Strategic Polices’ underlying the Plan, or just generally.

The good news is that the Plan remains as we expected and there is no major direct impact on the R&M Community. None of the four candidate sites (see below) has been carried forward into the Deposit Plan, primarily because they conflict with the Strategic Policies. However, legally, they have to remain on the Register until the Government Inspector approves the Plan at the final stage. During the current consultation stage (and at the ‘Examination’, which starts in September 2025), interested parties can still lobby for any of these sites to be brought back into the Plan. We – and Simon Gilbert – do not want that to happen.

Many of you will have submitted comments on the various sites at an earlier consultation phase. But those comments will not be brought forward into this final consultation. It is therefore important that you – and we – restate our opposition to the sites being included. That can be by restating arguments against their inclusion or, more simply, by just stating that you agree with the Council’s analysis and conclusions.

Responding to the Replacement Local Development Plan consultation

There are several ways to make a comment /response on the individual Candidate Site forms found at www.cardiffldp.co.uk/candidate-sites. (The specific links are given below)

Via the Representations Form, which is in the virtual Consultation Room
Directly to the LDP team via email: ldp@cardiff.gov.uk, or by post to

Cardiff Council LDP Team

Room 250 County Hall

Cardiff CF10 4UW

Local Candidate Sites (CSs)

61 Goitre Fawr – Radyr & Morganstown ward. Fields between Radyr and Rhydlafar

80 Cwm Farm – Radyr & Morganstown ward. Fields NW of Radyr Gardens/Morganstown

23 Plasdwr Uchaf – Pentyrch & St Fagans ward. Fields W of Rhydlafar and Pentrebane Road

There is a further local Candidate Site (60) Radyr Station Car Park. This site is included in the Deposit Plan as a Transportation Proposal, which would be subject to separate assessment and consultation in the future if progressed.

Strategic Policies (SPs)

These are the relevant Policies in the draft Plan which protect the local Candidate Sites submitted for residential development. They can both be found on page 13 of the Deposit Plan.

SP16 ‘Protecting the setting of the City through a Green Wedge’

“Within this area development which prejudices the open nature of this land will not be permitted”

SP17 ‘Managing Spatial Growth through Settlement Boundaries’

“In all areas outside the defined settlement boundaries, otherwise referred to as countryside, there will be a corresponding presumption against inappropriate development”

The precise location of the Settlement Boundary and the Green Wedge can be found on the Proposals Map which accompanies the Plan. Essentially the Settlement Boundary is around the edge of existing communities and the Green Wedge is land north of the M4 which hasn’t previously been developed. (The Proposals Map is also available to view in Radyr Hub.)

It is also worth looking at the Detailed Policy CP1, (Countryside protection), which can be found on page 72 of the Deposit Plan).

Examples of specific comments which could be made:

Sites proposed for residential are outside settlement boundaries – therefore do not conform with the Council’s Strategic Policy (SP17)

No expansion provision for Strategic Housing Site C (Plasdŵr) is required in order to deliver the Plan’s housing requirements. Plasdŵr not expected to be complete by 2036

The sites contain areas protected for biodiversity including SINCs (extensive woodland and ponds) and an SSSI (Ty Du Moor)

They also encompass many footpaths (PRoWs) which afford opportunities for Health & Well-being and views of Special Landscape Areas

Cwm Farm is within the Green Wedge (SP16)

But do have a look at all the material and make your own response, in your own words. We will be making a comprehensive response which we will post on this site in due course.

(Join our WhatsApp Group by sending your contact details to this address.)

Follow us on Twitter: @RMLDGroup

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RMLDGroup

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WE HAVE NOT REMOVED THE DETAILS OF OUR CONCERNS AND OBJECTIVES FROM THIS PAGE AS THEY REMAIN RELEVANT. KEEP COMING BACK TO THIS PAGE WHERE WE WILL REPORT ON ANY PROGRESS OR OTHER INITIATIVES.

Our original comments on the individual sites are below.

Key points:

accessibility and highway capacity – impact on transport infrastructure
- The existing Plasdŵr development, which primarily exits onto the Llantrisant Road, is already struggling with traffic volumes, even before it is 25% complete. Yet more development in this area is almost inconceivable in this context. Without the implementation of the proposed Metro line through Plasdŵr, for which there is no funding, more development will mean more road traffic even if that is in the form of more buses. The idea that Radyr Station (with access via Heol Isaf) is a viable transport hub for even more development is difficult to envisage.
buses
- Even if the assumption is that buses will be a primary means of encouraging residents not to use their cars, there is no current evidence that sufficient buses will be available. At this time the funding for bus services is being cut and the number and frequency of services reduced.
landscape and environmental impact – sites of special scientific interest and so on
- There is sufficient concern over what we are losing – have already lost – in the Plasdŵr development but the additional candidate sites sit in areas allocated as “countryside to be enhanced and protected). Look at our information page for more details.
infrastructure capacity – water, sewerage etc
- Dŵr Cymru stated that there was sufficient water and sewerage capacity in the then current network at the time Plasdŵr was approved. This has proved spectacularly incorrect with all the additional work that has had to be put in place. Again look at our information page for more details.
flood risk
- Building on agricultural land and thereby replacing a natural environment which absorbs water with one that requires significant storm drain capacity is not clever. There have already been problems across the whole of the existing development. Yet more development in this area will worsen the problem.
air quality
- More traffic on the Llantrisant Road is not good news, particularly if it is stationary at peak times. Do read this article, which is extracted from our information page.
relationship to community facilities – schools etc
- Plasdŵr comes with the promise of some community facilities, including schools, medical facilities and a ‘Commercial Centre’. However, most of these are not scheduled to be started until quite late in the construction of Plasdŵr, which the Council now admits is unlikely to be completed until 2035. If yet more land in NW Cardiff is designated for development, there is a chance that the new allocation will start to be developed before Plasdŵr is completed and we will have houses without the necessary infrastructure. The only sane conclusion is that Plasdŵr should be completed before adding more chaos and, since that completion date may well be at the end of the RLDP period (2036), there is no need to include new sites as ‘reserved’ or otherwise.