Wales round-up: First Welsh clean air plan stresses the role of placemaking; New business district and rail station for Cardiff take shape

First Welsh clean air plan stresses the role of placemaking

The Welsh Government published its first clean air plan this week. The 93-page document Clean Air Plan for Wales: Healthy Air, Healthy Wales emphasises the role of placemaking and the planning system.

The Planner

New business district and rail station for Cardiff take shape

Latest designs for Cardiff Hendre Lakes, a proposed new business district to the south of Cardiff’s St Mellons Business Park, are the subject of a public consultation which started this week.

The Planner

Year-on-year decline in construction contract awards

Based on a three-month rolling average, the value of construction contract awards in June was £2.2 billion – 57.3 per cent lower than the same month in June 2019.

The Planner

Burry Port move

Carmarthenshire Council has agreed to buy a former zinc oxide factory site in Burry Port as it eyes up major development plans for the area, which include hundreds of new homes, a supermarket and a creative hub.   

BBC News

Caerleon campus scheme

Redrow Homes is seeking prior approval from Newport City Council to knock down eight former student accommodation blocks and two laundry blocks at the former Caerleon university campus, where it is hoping to build 218 new homes.

Wales Online

Go-ahead for Neath leisure centre 

Neath Port Talbot councillors have given the green light for a new two-storey leisure centre in Neath, a key element in the regeneration of the town centre that will incorporate a swimming pool, gym, café and library.

Wales Online

Swansea city centre conversion

Swansea City Council has unveiled proposals to convert the former Barclays Bank building on The Kingsway into flexible workspace suitable for a range of companies.

Swansea City Council

Newport flood prevention

Natural Resources Wales has announced proposals for a flood defence project along the River Usk in the Spytty area of Newport. The plan is designed to reduce flood risk for about 200 homes, 600 businesses and major infrastructure such as the A48 trunk road.

Natural Resources Wales

Monmouthshire broadband connections

Broadway Partners, a telecoms company that specialises in providing broadband to rural parts of the UK, has launched a £2 million scheme, part-funded by a commercial loan from Monmouthshire County Council, to support the installation of gigabit networks across the whole county.

Insider Media

Wrexham housing

Norris Jones Developments has applied to Wrexham County Borough Council to build 109 new homes in the village of Gresford.

BBC News

Lampeter ‘food village’ project

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David has revealed proposals for a ‘food village’ on the site of the university’s playing fields in Lampeter, which is also earmarked for an Aldi store, car park, one rugby pitch, a renovated pavilion, a community garden and a biodiversity area.

Cambrian News

Chirk factory regulation

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has announced that it will take over as site environmental regulator at the Kronospan particleboard factory, Chirk. This decision will enable NRW to oversee regulation of the entire site including noise and pollution issues associated with a proposed new production line. 

Natural Resources Wales

Backing for Swansea solar park

City council planners have backed proposals by Wessex Solar Energy for a six-megawatt solar farm on a 14-hectare site at Rhyd-Y-Pandy, to the north of Swansea.

Insider Media