Friday, April 02, 2010
Making waves
There is a fascinating feature in today's Western Mail in which the history of Cardiff 'Bay' is explored together with a look at its success since the Development Corporation was wound up ten years ago.
The authors identify several several landmark developments including the Mermaid Quay restaurant quarter, St David’s Hotel, which was the first five-star hotel in Wales, the A4232 Butetown Link Road, the £106m Wales Millennium Centre, the adjacent Roald Dahl Plass and the completion of the Senedd on the waterfront which they say have reinforced the area’s role as a pivotal place in the capital.
They also look at the private sector investment into the area as well as forthcoming investments such as a 32-storey five-star hotel and the BBC's drama village in Roath Basin. They might also mention of course the white water rafting centre and the sports village.
They then go and spoil it with a conclusion that they have failed to provide evidence for when they say: 'The Bay is here to stay and that’s not just to the benefit of Cardiff but the rest of Wales.'
If you talk to the rest of Wales you would find the balance of opinion in disagreement with that statement. Cardiff has soaked up huge amounts of both public and private investment on a scale vastly out of proportion to its size, with the result that there is very little left to share out elsewhere.
Although, one can discern clear economic benefits within the City's travel to work area, there is no evidence of similar gains in North, Mid or West Wales for example. In fact political leaders in these regions would argue that they have lost out as a result of Cardiff-centric government.
I can understand two Cardiff-based chartered surveyors wanting to big-up their City but I think we all need to agree that the jury is still out on how much the investment they describe has benefited other parts of Wales, if at all. I think we would also need to see some evidence even that efforts are being made to spread any benefits wider than the immediate South Wales Central region.
The authors identify several several landmark developments including the Mermaid Quay restaurant quarter, St David’s Hotel, which was the first five-star hotel in Wales, the A4232 Butetown Link Road, the £106m Wales Millennium Centre, the adjacent Roald Dahl Plass and the completion of the Senedd on the waterfront which they say have reinforced the area’s role as a pivotal place in the capital.
They also look at the private sector investment into the area as well as forthcoming investments such as a 32-storey five-star hotel and the BBC's drama village in Roath Basin. They might also mention of course the white water rafting centre and the sports village.
They then go and spoil it with a conclusion that they have failed to provide evidence for when they say: 'The Bay is here to stay and that’s not just to the benefit of Cardiff but the rest of Wales.'
If you talk to the rest of Wales you would find the balance of opinion in disagreement with that statement. Cardiff has soaked up huge amounts of both public and private investment on a scale vastly out of proportion to its size, with the result that there is very little left to share out elsewhere.
Although, one can discern clear economic benefits within the City's travel to work area, there is no evidence of similar gains in North, Mid or West Wales for example. In fact political leaders in these regions would argue that they have lost out as a result of Cardiff-centric government.
I can understand two Cardiff-based chartered surveyors wanting to big-up their City but I think we all need to agree that the jury is still out on how much the investment they describe has benefited other parts of Wales, if at all. I think we would also need to see some evidence even that efforts are being made to spread any benefits wider than the immediate South Wales Central region.
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Cracking post. I agree it is Cardiff's new status as a capital and having a regional, devolved government that is the cause of soaking up the money to the disadvantage , It could b argued that Aberystwyth may have been amore likely Capital due to the nat lib 15 years ago before the mount spent on cardiff
I can see what was trying to be done, make Cardiff a European capital to rival Dublin or Edinburgh which it never could in a short span of time
detrimental as u have pointed out to the rest of Wales when it comes to public funding
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I can see what was trying to be done, make Cardiff a European capital to rival Dublin or Edinburgh which it never could in a short span of time
detrimental as u have pointed out to the rest of Wales when it comes to public funding
# posted by 
: 2:59 PM
: 2:59 PM<< Home
