Save Our Woods

The council have given a deadline of 15th March for comments on the revised planning proposal. Even if you previously sent in an objection, or signed either of the two petitions, please also send a new objection to the Council. Each one counts, and has to be reported to the Planning Committee before they reach their decision.

A personal, individual objection is best, but if you are looking for inspiration or want a shortcut, our facebook page has a Word draft ready for you to download. Just add your name and address (an anonymous objection will be ignored), and send it, either by email, post or by submitting it via the portal.

Remember, there is no appeal process – the decision of the Planning Committee is final, so it is our only chance to stop the development.

Woodlands near Danescourt could be cut down to Build 36 Houses

Following the submission of amended plans by the developers, we’ve decided to run a new petition to counter any claims that these updated plans address the concerns of the local community. They are largely unchanged, with a small reduction in the number of dwellings, but proposing to house the same number of people and destroy the woods and open land that is marked for protection in the Cardiff Local Development Plan.

So please sign the petition, even if you signed the previous one. Every signature adds weight to our objection. With the pandemic, we can only run this as an e-petition, so click on this link to enter your details and digitally sign the petition.

We have to submit the petition at least a week before the application comes before the Planning Committee. We don’t know when that will be (not expected before April), so please let you friends and neighbours know about the new petition and encourage them to sign it now.

See the following article, published on Wales Online yesterday.

You may have noticed that new planning notices have been put up around the woods and meadow. On 4th February the developers submitted a revised set of plans, reducing the number of dwelling to 36, in response to “various discussions” they have held with council officers. We are checking with our local councillors and the council how this affects the status of existing objections and our original petition. The proposed development remains essentially the same, with the same level of destruction of woodland, removal of trees, incursion through the wood with a new road, and the replacement of the meadow with housing, roads and parking.

We’ll update this site and send out via the mailing list recommendations regarding further local action once we have reviewed all the revised documents and received advice from the council and our councillors.

Many thanks for the continued support of all those who wish to protect this area and uphold the council’s policy of maintaining green spaces along Cardiff’s river corridors.

Many thanks to local resident, Wynford Emanuel, for creating this wonderful short video that expresses why we all need this green space preserved. Please share:

We notice that the Council’s planning portal remains open for new comments and objections, so if you want to register your objection, or have some new concerns you believe should be considered, there is still time to make your voice heard.

Cardiff Council has announced a phased resumption of services delivered by the planning department. Cases that would require the involvement of the Planning Committee fall into Phase 3, and work is still ongoing to develop arrangements for these. They say that Phase 3 is unlikely to commence before the beginning of June, and have confirmed to Cllr. Philippa Hill-John that the application to build on land at DeBraose Close falls into this category.

Click here to see Cardiff Council’s announcement.

We have received the following from our councillors:

The Planning Department will not be registering or issuing decisions on any current applications until further notice.

If an exceptional or emergency issue does arise, the department still has the resources to process an application, if necessary authority is given to do so.

Officers will continue to progress the 500 current applications which are in the system, as best as possible.

We will update you once this situation changes, but in the meantime please keep safe and well.

There is no news of when the planning application will be considered by the Planning Committee. We have urged for there to be a site visit ahead of any Committee meeting so that all members can see for themselves the woodland and open countryside that would be destroyed should they approve the development. Such a collective visit is no longer possible in the current circumstances, and I’ve received the following notice from Cardiff Council about forthcoming meetings of the Committee:

The next meeting of Planning Committee of 22^nd April is cancelled with the likelihood of further cancellations. Interim measures are currently being explored and should there be formal approval of any new interim arrangements, details will be communicated. 

As soon as I hear of any alternative arrangements that might apply to this application, I will post details here. In the meantime, I have provided a copy of the petition by email to the Planning Officer, reserving the right to address the Committee which is afforded by the presentation of a petition with more than 50 local signatures.