P-05-738 Public Petition for the Dinas Powys By-Pass – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Committee, 31.08.17

 

Response to communication from Cllr John Thomas, Leader of Vale of Glamorgan Council to the Petitions Committee:

 

Petition P-05-738 Public Petition for the Dinas Powys By-Pass

 

The response from Vale of Glamorgan Leader, Cllr John Thomas is both noted and appreciated.

 

We are particularly pleased to note that, despite the route of the by-pass being protected by the:

 

a.) Former South Glamorgan Structure Plan(1977)

b.) Unitary Development Plan (1996 – 2011)

 

it was not  included in the Local Development Plan developed by the previous administration and signed off in June 2017, Cllr Thomas still considers that the ‘route is still largely protected’ and that ‘land would be available should a scheme be brought forward for a new road.’

 

We agree that the constraints imposed by the Merrie Harrier and Barons Court junctions need to be addressed as a primary issue associated with any road work improvement on the traffic situation along the Dinas Powys traffic corridor.  That is why we have offered our own re-modelling of the Merrie Harrier junction as a suggested proposal to the Council.

 

It involves replacing the current sets of traffic lights with two roundabouts, one at the junction of Redlands Road and Cardiff Road, Dinas Powys and the other beneath the Merrie Harrier public house.  It would not require the demolition of any houses but may require some of the currently vacant land of the former petrol station.

 

We pressed the former Administration in the Vale to purchase this land (£160,000) but agents acting for the owners, the NHS, were told the Vale wasn’t interested and anyway didn’t have the money.  This was just prior to the Vale spending £400,000 on a wide pavement from the Merrie Harrier to the entrance of Llandough Hospital.

 

The land was eventually sold to a developer in April 2017 and it’s understood they are planning to submit an application to build a small row of houses on the site, regardless of access.  We are pleased, however, to note in correspondence to us from Cllr John Thomas, Leader of the Council that, if needed, the site can be purchased under a Compulsory Purchase Order.

 

At the Cabinet Meeting of the Vale Council on 31st July, as flagged in the Leader’s email, the Cabinet received the WelTAG Stage One assessment from the appointed consultants, Arcadis Consulting Limited.

 

There are several points arising from that meeting that we’ve felt necessary to draw to the Council’s attention:

 

1.     Reference was repeatedly made both in the Arcadis report and the report to Cabinet from within the Council to the content of the WelTAG 2016 report. However the reports then referred to a Review Group that had been put in place. But this process only exists in the WelTAG 2017 draft document and has never been used by any other project.

 

It implied, at page eight of the document (attached) that the Review Group should assess each of the options presented, make the necessary decisions and take the actions needed at the end of that WelTAG stage.

 

     After considerable inquiries we discovered that Officials compiled 

     the Review Group. 

 

Cllr Thomas has since confirmed that the decision of all stages of WelTAG will be made by the Cabinet and not the Review Group.

 

2.     The composition of the Review Group includes representatives of WAG and the Vale Council plus Network Rail, Arriva Trains, local bus companies and Sustrans.  We have requested that our member Roger Pattenden B.Sc MICE would be accepted to represent the 72% car commuters and work drivers from the area.  We were told no pressure group could hold a position but at present our Vale Councillors are challenging this decision as those listed above are also pressure groups for the interests they represent.

 

The Cabinet decided to refer the matter of the way forward to Stage 2 to the Scrutiny Committee for Environment and Regeneration for further discussion and advice.  It is due to form part of the Agenda of the meeting to be held on September 14.  Representatives of our Steering Group are hoping to register to address the Committee, which is also to receive a presentation from Arcadis Consulting.

 

3.     There’s been a further complication surrounding proposed applications for housing on two sites, one by Barratt Homes for 230 houses on the site of the former St Cyres School and the other, for 70 houses by United Welsh Housing at the rear of Caerleon Road.  Consultants for both developers have stated their intention of having both their construction vehicles and eventual home-owners using Murch Road from the already officially over-capacity A4055 Cardiff Road traffic lights next to Dinas Powys Junior School.

 

Our understanding is that these developments could fall foul of several parts of the recently adopted Local Development Plan (LDP).  We are hoping in the circumstances these developments will be postponed until they can use an entrance onto the proposed By-pass that would, regardless of route, pass between the St Cyres site and Sully Road.

 

I trust this brings matters up to date and that your Members will agree to keep a watching brief on the situation.

 

Yours

 

Rod Harrod

Also for Petitioners Vince Driscoll & Andy Robertson

Dinas Powys By-Pass-Steering Group