if
it's about Cardiff..
Sport, Entertainment, Transportation, Business,
Development Projects, Leisure, Eating, Drinking,
Nightlife, Shopping, Train Spotting! etc.. then we want it here!
This story (also referred to in the BBC thread) got me thinking.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-27874864
At the end, Carwyn says that they would have "preferred the bay". Quite clearly, Cardiff council have been working with Rightacres to help get the BBC into Central Square to drive their scheme forward.
Is this an example of the council and the government pulling in somewhat different directions over Cardiff's development?
Look at office develpment. We've got the Council pushing Central Square. We've got the Welsh Govt pushing Callaghan Square, Capital Quarter and seemingly the Bay.
Look at the convention centre. Cardiff is still trying to push this. And the Welsh Govt are giving money to Celtic Manor for their planning application.
And lets not forget the "bidding war" that the council and government seemed to get themselves into last year about Callaghan Square.
If the commercial property market does well and we get inward investment, and/or, the residential and leisure market does well enough that residential can make a major contribution to some mixed use schemes (e.g. Porth Teigr, Dumballs Road etc) we might be able to fill all this. But if not we could get a glut of development. In both cases, public sector money probably isn't being most efficiently spent. Either its building office space the private sector would have provided anyway (first scenario), or its building space to lie empty.
Be good to see some better coordination between the two levels of government. You'd think they could manage it given they are both from the same party!
The issue regarding callaGhan square last year makes me think the welsh public sector and state just isn't capable. Not only do we have the price of (still) fallow land pushed up by both bidding, but we had the additional costs of transferring ownership from one to the other. That was two sales transactions resulting in three lots of professional and consultancy fees rather than one. It's a scandalous use of money and anyone involved should have done the decent thing and resigned and swore an oath never to take part in politics ever again as it's clearly above and beyond their very limited capability
Both the same Party. Really? It is interesting to note that a number of the Labour Councillors of the City Council fail to state membership of the Labour Party on their Declarations Of Interest!
There was certainly no love lost between the Goodway faction and the Welsh Government. Time will tell if things improve now that Goodway and his cronies have been frozen out.
Plaid leader Neil Mcevoy has an intersting take on Cardiff Labour's internal politics here.
