Residents hold silent protest at Pontcanna Pine planning visit

Residents in Pontcanna turned out en masse today in a silent demonstration against proposals for new flats. The public protest was made during a site visit by Cardiff Council's planning committee, ahead of a planning meeting next week where councillors will vote on the application. The developers, Pine Warehouse Ltd, plans to build 14 new flats on the junction of Kings Road and Severn Grove and the application has been met with opposition from residents, the local conservation group and Cardiff Civic Society. Among reasons for the objections, it is thought the the flats will not be in keeping with the area, which comes under the Cathedral Road and Conway Road Conservation Group guidelines, and exacerbate parking problems and congestion, becoming a danger to children from the two local primary schools. Read our earlier post on the reasons for objection here. Officers and councillors from the planning committee today were accompanied by roughly 70 demonstrators, who silently followed them around the premises on their site visit. Resident Simon White, who has headed up the campaign against the flats, said he was pleased with the turnout. "I hope they will see that there are a number of people opposing the application, and I hope they will see the building plan is too far forward on the pavement compared to the surrounding houses. Even at 3pm on a sunny afternoon parking is a real problem here and this is quite clear." Dawn Thatcher, 48, of Kings Road, said: "Parking here is horrendous, and when the building work begins it will get even worse. This road is a rat run for people cutting through to Cathedral Road, and you can see there's cars parked on either side and children running up and down here to school." Another resident, Hilary Whitworth, of Severn Grove, said: "My concern is the density of the housing in respect to cars parking. I hope the planning committee will take people's opinions seriously – the fact that people have made an effort to come out of work early to be here means something." Elizabeth Cascas, 71, said she remembered as a girl her grandfather working on the site when it was a depot for St John's ambulances. Then it became Forse's Dairy, then Pontcanna Flea market and now Tim Rice is converting the space into a design hub. "Why has it got to be flats?" she asked. "It's out of character with the rest of the area – why can't it be affordable houses, or somewhere with some space for a garden. People in flats come and go – be we want something a bit more permanent." The application will go before planning committee next Wednesday 14 July at 2.30pm at Ferrier Hall in City Hall. What do you think of the development? Do we need more flats in Cardiff? Leave your comments below.