My name is Ian and my neighbours and I are asking for your help to stop Cardiff Council from allowing (profit hungry) developers, over developing an existing site in a beautiful conservation area in Cardiff.

As we are all too aware, developers in Cardiff are being given free rein to strip our city of its heritage and replace it with badly designed blocks of flats. Where once stood beautiful and interesting buildings, now we have ugly square tower blocks, with little consideration given to the city’s residents, heritage or communities. 

After over 300 objections against this development, the council are still ploughing ahead with their plans to demolish The Old Vicarage and to develop two existing buildings into 33 ill- suited flats on Cathedral Road. More insular ways of living that do not contribute to the well-being of a community. The developers were also asked to pay £648,660 in accordance with section 106 - money that goes towards affordable housing, public open spaces and funding local infrastructure. Due to the impact on their profit, it was agreed they could pay just £12,000 - less than 2%.

We believe that Cardiff Council Planning Department has failed to protect the Conservation Area, ignoring the rules of its own Conservation Act and the wishes of the community. A pattern repeated all too frequently across Cardiff. We urgently need to raise £5000 to start legal proceedings to ascertain if the council followed correct processes in relation to planning policy Wales and if it is in contravention with its own conservation area act. The costs are: Advice from a barrister up to £3000 + VAT and if there are grounds for a challenge to prepare a pre-action letter to be sent to Cardiff Council up to £2000 + VAT.

This neighbourhood is meant to be protected under the Cathedral Road Conservation Area Act so that current and future generations of residents and visitors can enjoy its architectural beauty and history.  And as the Act stipulates, all new developments should enhance and protect the area. 

We believe this is an inappropriate development that not only degrades the architectural fabric of the area, but will have an adverse impact on the community and future generations. It will also set a precedent for more developments of ugly, out of keeping buildings that are currently changing the face of our city and are already apparent at the south end of Cathedral Road.

This has given us no other option than to take matters into our own hands and fight to protect the area through a legal appeal against the planning permission, granted on 14 October 2020.  We would really appreciate any support you can offer this campaign by donating and sharing as widely as possible. We have just 14 days.

Thank you for reading and for helping us.