Neighbours LOSE fight against developers over plans to demolish £300,000 home to make way for a CYCLE PATH
- The £300,000 home in Cardiff will be flattened to make way for a cycle route
- Neighbours say the path will create a ‘rat run’ which could increase crime rates
- The cycle route will lead to a new ‘affordable’ housing development of 45 homes
- Some neighbours complained about the creation of a social housing ‘ghetto’
Outraged neighbours have lost their last round of a battle to stop the demolition of a ‘perfectly good’ £300,000 house in their leafy suburban cul-de-sac, to make way for a cycle path.
The four-bedroom private home, which is less than 20 years old, will be flattened to create a cycle route to a new ‘affordable’ housing development.
The destruction order for the £300,000-plus house is part of plans for 45 new social housing homes next to their existing private houses on the leafy outskirts of Cardiff.
Families lost a planning battle against the cycle path and footpath through their quiet suburban cul-de-sac following approval by Cardiff Council on Tuesday.
A petition to ‘Save Number 43’ was signed by nearly 300 people to call on the council to reject the pathway plans in the Pontprennau suburb of commuter homes.
The £300,000 home in Cardiff was built less than 20 years ago but its demolition was approved by the council on Tuesday
The proposed cycle route will provide a ‘strategic active travel link’ for residents and provide a safe alternative to cars
Residents Rob Lee (left) and couple Vaughan and Alison Williams (right) believe they are at risk of higher crime rates because the alleyway will be a ‘rat run’
Neighbour Joanna Fashan presented the petition to Cardiff council’s planning committee – in a desperate battle to save their privacy.
She said: ‘Residents deliberately purchased properties on this street as it was a closed cul-de-sac, knowing we could raise our families safely, have quiet retirements, feel safe living alone, and all the other positives that living on such a street has.
‘This alleyway creates a rat run. We are therefore at risk of higher crime rates, for example from opportunist car thieves. This puts the safety and security of the whole community at risk.’
The house was bought more than a year ago by site developers United Welsh bought this house about a year ago and is renting it out before the demolition.
Emma Fortune, a planning agent representing the developers, said: ‘This footpath and cycleway will provide an important strategic active travel link for residents.
‘The link provides a safe and convenient alternative, so residents can walk or cycle, rather than use their cars.’
Some neighbours complained about creating a social housing ‘ghetto’.
Neighbours also raised issues of the link to the new development which will be ‘plonked’ in isolated fields
The petition ‘Save Number 43’ received almost 300 signatures but failed to prevent council approval of the plans
But one councillor hit back by saying people such as ‘lawyers and engineers’ live in social housing.
Cllr Ali Ahmed said: ‘We’re not creating any ghetto. Most people who live in social housing, some of them are solicitors, barristers, engineers, you name it. Yes we are destroying one house, but we are trying to provide 45 much-needed homes for Cardiff residents.’
Six councillors on the planning committee voted in favour of granting permission for the scheme – with two voting against and two abstaining.
Vaughan and Alison Williams are both retired and have lived at their home for over 20 years but will now consider moving.
They said: ‘We’ve got no problem with social housing and when we purchased our property it was in a quiet cul-de-sac.
‘The demolition won’t make us feel secure and it’ll change the dynamic of the street. You don’t expect a perfectly good house to be demolished.
‘The cycle path leads to nowhere, there’s no shops at the bottom of the road.
‘If the decision wasn’t reversed eventually we would move because our dynamics would change completely.
‘As a community here, we don’t object to social housing, only the cycle lane.’
The neighbours deny being ‘not in my backyard’ nimbys trying to block the people living in the affordable homes.
Pictured above is resident Vaughan who said the cycle path would change the ‘dynamics’ of the cul-de-sac completely
Despite upset from residents Developers United Welsh say the development will provide high-quality affordable homes
Action group chairman Rob Lee said: ‘Even if you build 5-bedroom luxury houses we would oppose the plan, if it involved the demolition of one of our homes and destroying our way of life’
Residents also raised issues of the isolated nature of the development which is ‘plonked ‘among fields with no amenities or connectivity.’
Mr Lee said: ‘This lets people in affordable housing down.’
Developers United Welsh say it is important for the new builds to ‘integrate well’ with the community.
A spokesman said: ‘This development will provide much needed high-quality homes for affordable rent and first-time buyers.
‘It is important for the proposed new homes to integrate well with the community and for pedestrians and cyclists to have adequate access to local facilities and amenities
‘Local residents are being consulted as part of the planning process.’
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