| Council to debate Moratorium Motion | Demonstration | Please lobby your councillor |
Dear friend,
I’m emailing you as you have expressed interest/ signed a petition/ joined BPA/ asked to be on our supporters list/ with regards to the development threats in Bute Park and the other three central Cardiff parks on the west of the Taff, Llandaff Fields, Pontcanna Fields, Sophia Gardens.
You may have seen the reports of opposition to the proposed Bute Park bridge and the enlarged roads in the park carried in the local papers, the Echo and Western Mail, and on local television reports. Alternatively you may have seen material on UK sources such as the Guardian and Private Eye or on the web.
We have repeatedly put our case against driving a massive new bridge and roads into one of the unspoilt parts of the park. We do not accept that the Council needs to drive massive articulated lorries, containing bedding plants from Holland, into their premier heritage park, or that the £1.4 million pound bridge is necessary for health and safety reasons related to events in the park.
We have received support from councillors of all political parties but unfortunately the Council Executive continue to repeat spurious claims about public support for the proposals.
Below I quote two independent and authoritative sources:
December 2007: CADW wrote, ‘This area of the park is at present tranquil woodland and lawn dotted with specimen trees. The dock feeder canal runs quietly through it, flanked by an unsurfaced path and wider tarmacked path/roadway. There are no modern intrusions and the nursery enclosure to the west is well screened from the area…. The introduction of a wide modern road and bridge into this unspoilt area would in our view be unsympathetic and highly visible.’
February 2008: Chief Strategic Planning and Environment officer Sean Hannaby wrote to Tom Morgan, the Council Corporate Director, ‘I have a copy of the Committee report that is due to go out tomorrow, recommending refusal for the bridge. I have considered the matter carefully and am satisfied that I have no credible alternative…. We have a legal duty to protect or enhance the character of the park and cannot use highway issues as a reason to set that aside.’
However the Council has already begun preparatory work on North Road in spite of the Council’s own planning condition insisting that no ground clearance or tree cutting should begin during the bird nesting season running till July 31st. Consequently we have asked sympathetic councillors to bring a motion to the Council on next Thursday 25th June calling for a halt to development in the four parks so that a proper informed debate can take place on their use.
The last 70 years have seen massive incremental damage to the four parks. You can download here the leaflet we are giving to every councillor on Thursday. It shows the degree destruction and privatisation that has been allowed in that time and which has escalated over the last few years.
Below is the motion being put by Conservative, Labour and Independent councillors. We believe that many Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru have genuine conservation/green beliefs and will be prepared to vote with their consciences and against the Council Executive.
So please come and show your support outside the City Hall, Cathays Park at 3.45 on Thursday. Or if you can’t attend email your councillor and ask them to back the call for a moratorium.
Yours,
Professor Kevin Morgan Bute Parks Alliance
Cllr responsible NHowells@cardiff.gov.uk,Find your cllr here http://www.writetothem.com/
FIB DEM leader rberman@cardiff.gov.uk,
95 KB | 
100 KB
No comments:
Post a Comment