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Station approval delay indefensible - council leader

Cardiff Parkway Developments An artist's impression of the new Cardiff Parkway railway station and landscaped groundsCardiff Parkway Developments
The proposed railway station would be built in the St Mellons area of eastern Cardiff

Delays in approving a new mainline station into Cardiff have been described as "inexplicable" and "indefensible" by the city's council leader.

Cardiff's Labour council granted planning permission for Cardiff Parkway station and business park in St Mellons in April 2022, with the decision called in for a Welsh government review by that October.

In a letter to First Minister Eluned Morgan, the council's leader Huw Thomas said the community had been left in "limbo".

The Welsh government said its consultation was ongoing and First Minister Eluned Morgan said she will make a decision about the project "as soon as possible".

Cardiff Parkway would bring a mainline station to the St Mellons area of eastern Cardiff, with developers also proposing to build a business park alongside.

Campaigners had questioned the scale of the business park, which they claimed could put local biodiversity at risk.

A map of south east Wales showing the proposed location of the Cardiff Parkawy station
The new station would become a major hub, avoiding the need to travel into Newport and Cardiff to catch mainline trains

Asked about the delay in December in the Senedd, the first minister agreed the application "had taken far too long" and hoped to make a decision "in the next few weeks".

But a further exercise by the government's planning department to seek reassurances about the building of the railway station means a final decision has been delayed again.

Getty Images Huw Thomas wearing a red Labour rosette in front of a Cardiff logoGetty Images
Huw Thomas said the delay in considering the applicaiton risked Wales's reputation among investors

In his letter to the first minister, which was first reported by media website BusinessLive, Thomas said: "The near three-year delay this project has endured is as inexplicable as it is indefensible.

"It is an affront to local decision-making; it has left a poor and marginalised community in limbo; it flies in the face of ambitions to grow the economy, and it portrays Wales in an extremely unfavourable light to would-be investors.

"You have a historic opportunity to right this wrong and to set a new direction which is bold and ambitious. I would urge you to seize the moment."

Thomas urged Morgan to announce her decision before the end of January and called for the project to be "front and centre" of a planned investment summit being organised by the Welsh government later this year.

Cardiff Parkway Developments, which is overseeing the project, hopes to build a four platform railway station and a business park.

Its original agreement with Cardiff council means the railway station must be built during the first phase of construction.

However, the Welsh government's planning team has sought further reassurances that this remains the case.

The Welsh government has a minority stake in the organisation, with Investec and the Roberts family.

A government spokesperson said: "Consultation is ongoing with organisations and individuals about the development.

"A decision will be made following consideration of the representations received."

In a statement to BBC Wales the Roberts family said it expected the latest planning requirement to be "straightforward", with papers due to be filed by 15 January.

"We hope this means we're near the end of the long call-in process, and can move on to the next steps of preparing for delivery."