Furious residents are at war with developers over plans to demolish £300k four-bed private home to make way for CYCLE PATH through their suburban cul-de-sac
- The ‘perfectly good’ £300,000 four-bed house is in a leafy Cardiff cul-de-sac
- Plans to flatten the home are to build a cycle lane for affordable houses nearby
- Residents in the Welsh suburb says it is ‘ill-conceived and ill-thought through’
Developers are demolishing a ‘perfectly good’ house which is less than 20 years old to make way for a cycle path.
The £300,000 four-bedroom private home is set to be destroyed to create a cycle route to a new ‘affordable’ housing development.
The move has prompted outrage from neighbours who say plans to flatten the house will change the ‘way of life’ in their leafy suburban cul-de-sac.
Residents also fear their objections to the ‘ill-conceived and ill-thought through’ plans will not be registered as as they claim council planners ‘seem to have made up their minds’.
The destruction order for the house is part of plans for 45 new social housing homes next to their existing private houses on the outskirts of Cardiff.
Families say they are not against the new development but do not want the cycle path to run through their quiet suburban cul-de-sac.
The £300,000-plus house in a suburban cul-de-sac on the outskirts of Cardiff, Wales, is set to be destroyed to make way for a cycle lane
The destruction order (house ringed in red) is part of plans for 45 new social housing homes next to their existing private houses (field ringed in red)
The move has prompted outrage from neighbours who say plans to flatten the house will change the ‘way of life’ in their leafy cul-de-sac. Pictured: Residents Rob Lee with Vaughan and Alison Williams
A petition to ‘Save Number 43’ has now been signed by nearly 300 people to call on Cardiff Council to reject the pathway plans in the Pontprennau suburb of commuter homes.
Paul Cawley, 61, has lived in the area for 17 years – and says planners have not considered the community by allowing the house to be flattened for the pathway.
He said: ‘We have a great community spirit here everybody is aware of who is coming and going. I have numerous concerns regarding the demolition.
‘I think there’s an increased risk of crime and safety and I don’t believe it links to anything. I’m not opposed to the housing development.
‘I don’t think the road is particularly safe for cyclists due to the junction at the bottom. It is ill-conceived and ill-thought through.
‘I’d like the application to be objected, the planners haven’t considered us. I’ve personally received no notification about the demolition.’
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.
A petition to ‘Save Number 43’ has now been signed by nearly 300 people to call on Cardiff Council to reject the pathway plans in the Pontprennau suburb of commuter homes
Families say they are not against the new development but do not want the cycle path to run through their quiet suburban cul-de-sac
‘As a community here, we don’t object to social housing, only the cycle lane.’
The neigbhours deny being ‘not in my backyard’ nimbys trying to block the people living in the affordable homes.
Action group chairman Rob Lee said: ‘Even if you build five-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.’
Residents fear they will not get a fair hearing as Cardiff City planners ‘seem to have made up their minds’ on the application due to be heard on April 21.
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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