News. . . .
October 8th, 2010
Cawdor car park could collapse into river says report
There have been some interesting developments in the Cawdor Car Park story which throw some light on the murky goings-on of local politics and planning.
Back in July the Executive Board of the County Council decided that it would sell the Cawdor car park for redevelopment as part of the Cawdor supermarket project. The decision was taken without consultation with the Town Council. A number of county councillors were deeply shocked at the way in which this decision was made, not least because the council’s planning committee has yet to consider the Cawdor planning application. Questions were raised at a meeting of the full council on 8th September, and as a result, the Executive Board agreed to go away and review its decision.
Of course, reviewing a decision does not mean that it will be reversed, but a couple of eagle-eyed residents spotted an interesting document filed by Cawdor’s agents on the planning website which records a meeting held on the Cawdor site back in June. The meeting was held with representatives from a number of public bodies, including the Environment Agency, the Countryside Council for Wales and Welsh Water, all of whom had objected to the scheme. The purpose of the meeting was, apparently, to try to persuade them that their objections were misguided.
The document was written by a very small Swansea-based company called Ground Investigations (Wales) and claims that the part of the Cawdor site occupied by the public car park is so unstable that there is a significant risk that it could collapse down into the river valley below with risks to public safety and property. It concludes that the site is no longer suitable for use as a car park, and that extensive and very expensive piling work will be needed.
It seems the Executive Board was unaware of these claims at the time it decided to sell, even though the document had been received by the county council a month earlier.
One local resident decided to ask the leader of the council, Meryl Gravell, to ensure that the Executive Board was made aware of the contents of the report as a part of the review of the decision to sell the land. Presumably, he asked, the council disagreed with the report’s findings as it had not closed the car park.
Councillor Gravell asked the Chief Executive, Mark James, to respond to the resident’s concerns.
According to Mr James, the councillors asked for their concerns to be raised with the head of corporate property, although the official minutes state clearly that the Executive Board agreed to review the decision. Not quite the same thing, then.
The letter also states, “The original decision to sell the land, subject to the protecting of the Council’s interests, was based in part on the views of the local Council Member, Cllr Haydn Jones, who was of the view that it was an opportunity to improve both the shopping for locals and visitors to the town and an improvement to the overall parking facilities.”
Mr James also helpfully adds that “[The Head of Corporate Property] is also aware of claims in relation to the land and is well versed in tactics used by those wishing to buy or sell land when negotiating a price”.
What can all this mean?
Meanwhile, anyone living or owning property in the area surrounding the Cawdor site may wish to check their insurance documents. The sheet pile driving proposed as the solution to the instability affecting the site could, our civil engineering adviser tells us, damage the structure of buildings across quite a wide area. He suggests that anyone not wanting to see their homes and businesses fall into the river write to the Head of Planning, Eifion Bowen, asking for a guarantee that the work will not cause damage.
