Tivyside | Archive | 2006 | April | 26
From the archive, first published Wednesday 26th Apr 2006.
BADLY presented and "lacking in detail" - that's how locals described the exhibition staged this week to show ideas for the redevelopment of part of Cardigan town centre and the out-of-town development at New Mill Lane.
Many people turned up to see the artists' impressions and suggested road layouts for the schemes and to meet the two representatives of the developers, Modus, at Mwldan 3 on Thursday.
Modus, which took over the two sites from Eatonfield Holdings last year, plans to create up to 35,000 square feet of retail accommodation in the triangle bounded by Chancery Lane, Pwllhai and Morgan Street. The development will incorporate 100 new car parking spaces, six town houses and 18 flats.
At New Mill Lane the plan is for more retail accommodation, plus a car showroom, new police station, hotel and offices. Changes to Cardigan by-pass, including the blackspot Tesco junction, would be part of that scheme.
Canon James Cunnane, who has raised concerns about the preservation of the medieval town wall in relation to the Pwllhai development, described the public consultation event as "pious PR flummery".
"They are talking about perhaps saving a few yards of the town wall somewhere buried in the middle of the scheme. It's tokenistic," he said.
John Southern, chairman of the Look of the Town Group, said: "The exhibition is very poor and inadequately presented. It is very difficult to work out what they are actually planning to do."
And Cllr Linda Grace said: "There is very little detail so far on which to base any judgements."
Cardigan's mayor, Cllr John Adams-Lewis, said: "The town centre plan looks better than the last one, but there is no clear detail. The out of town scheme illustrations seem to be showing a new roundabout on the by-pass and two further roundabouts nearby. The Welsh Assembly has already said we can't have two roundabouts there, so this is confusing.
He added: "Also the developers still seem to be saying that the two schemes are linked and the town centre one will not go ahead if the New Mill one doesn't get permission. That's blackmail and it is not on."
Modus asset director Andrew Crewther told the Tivy-Side that there was "no question of blackmail". "The two projects are not strictly dependent on each other," he said.
Mr Crewther added that this week's exhibition was "just the start" of a long consultation process with the people of Cardigan.
"We will be back in a couple of months with more detail. We want to consider the feedback we have been getting today before going further. This was meant to be a very informal first meeting," he said.
The planning application for the Pwllhai scheme will be submitted in the autumn and the New Mill application will be made "some time next year", he added.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008