A Welsh Government planning decision on a proposed mainline train station and integrated business park on the outskirts of Cardiff will be made by the First Minister, it has been confirmed.
The Cardiff Parkway project, with its proposed four platform new station on the South Wales Mainline and a 900,000 sq ft business park, was called in for planning determination by the Welsh Government as a development of national significance almost two years - after it had secured planning consent from Cardiff Council in the spring of 2022.
A public hearing by the Welsh Government at arm’s length Planning and Environment Decision Wales (PEDW) didn’t commence until July last year. PEDW, through an administrative error, which was quickly rectified, published the findings of its report backing the project for approval last October.
Then Minister for Climate Change, Julie James, confirmed a tightening of the Welsh Government’s Planning Policy Wales, which effectively barred development at sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) not deemed as wholly exceptional. Consequently, the Welsh Government wrote to the planning inspector (Tony Thickett), asking him to reassess a recommendation to approve the application, in light of the updates to planning policy.
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That left him with little choice but to reconvene a second public hearing in January of this year. His report and recommendations (although the Welsh Government is not bound by them) is understood to have come out in favour of the project, having been submitted to the Welsh Government back in February. A Welsh Government decision was then promised back in April, but didn’t materialise.
The company behind the Cardiff Parkway scheme is Cardiff Parkway Developments Ltd, in which the Welsh Government is a minority 10% equity holder, having already invested around £6m. The other equity holders in Cardiff Parkway Developments are international banking and wealth management group Investec, with 60%, and the remaining 30% held by entrepreneur Nigel Roberts and his family.
The business park element of the Cardiff Parkway project could provide an annual economic uplift of up to £265m to the Cardiff Capital Region and £5bn over a 20-year assessed period. It would also help Wales punch above its weight in attracting inward investment, according to independent research by property advisory firm Savills.
The business park, over a phased development period, could provide around 900,000 sq ft of employment space, comprising grade A office, R&D, and tech space, as well as provision for advanced manufacturing. It is the sort of specialist space that is unavailable at scale in the centre of Cardiff.
The site has been appraised by engineering giant Rolls-Royce as an ideal location for a hub, linked to its involvement in a multi-billion contract for a new fleet of attack nuclear submarines for the Australian government. Such a project could create thousands of new high-skilled jobs.
Ms Morgan confirmed in First Minister Questions that she will make the final decision on planning, in respond to a question from former First Minister Vaughan Gething. The proposed project in his Cardiff South and Penarth constituency.
Three weeks ago, also in FMQs, Mr Vaughan was told by the First Minister that a minister would be assigned within a week to make a decision. It was anticipated that it would have been the new Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Energy and Planning Rebecca Evans.
Mr Gething first asked the First Minister what measures would be implemented by her government to speed up planning decisions, an area where he said Wales “had to do better.”
Ms Morgan responded: “Planning makes a major contribution to green growth, social housing provision and addressing the environmental and climate change emergencies and for that reason accelerating planning decisions is one of my top priorities. A delivery plan setting out proposals to accelerate decisions is being prepared.”
In a supplementary question Mr Gething then asked specifically for an update on the Parkway planning decision, a project which he pointed out was endorsed in the Burns Commission, as one of a number of new rail stations needed in South Wales following the Welsh Government’s decision, by then First Minister Mark Drakeford, not to proceed with an M4 Relief Road project.
Mr Gething added “It is worth reflecting again that there is no credible publicly funded alternative for a station in East Cardiff (proposed on the South Wales Mainline at Newport Road). This is a significant transport and economic development proposal (Parkway) that should create well-paid jobs in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. It is almost two years since the planning proposal was called in by a previous Welsh minister.”
He then asked Ms Morgan which minister would make the decision and when it would expected to be made.
The First Minister said: “The Welsh planning directorate has received the planning inspector’s report for the application and that is now being actively considered by officials and the decision will be issued as soon as possible. I am unable to comment on any merits of the proposals as we don’t want to risk prejudicing that final decision, but I intend to make the final decision on the application.”
Cardiff Parkway's business park, over a phased development period, could provide around 900,000 sq ft of employment space, comprising grade A office, R&D, and tech space, as well as provision for advanced manufacturing. It is the sort of specialist space that is unavailable at scale in the centre of Cardiff.
The site has been appraised by engineering giant Rolls-Royce as an ideal location for a hub, linked to its involvement in a multi-billion contract for a new fleet of attack nuclear submarines for the Australian government.
If planning consent is given, Cardiff Parkway Developments would need to revisit its business and financial plans in light of planning delays. The initial pre-Covid indicative price tag for a four-platform mainline train station was put at £120m. With inflationary pressures, that would have gone up significantly.
While always positioned as a privately funded station, being operated by Transport for Wales (TfW), alongside income generated from train companies via a track access charge, would underpin a private sector funding model. TfW, which is wholly owned by the Welsh Government, has worked closely with the project for several years on this approach.
