Earlier this month 欧美成人 published our聽city centre manifesto, laying out what we think should be priorities for the next Cardiff Council administration. Now we鈥檙e looking over the manifestos of the major parties to see how far their plans fit with our ambitions and whether they line up with our recommendations of prioritising setting, culture, and transport.
First up, here鈥檚 what we found interesting from the Common Ground alliance between Plaid Cymru and the Wales Green Party.
- 鈥榃ork to end the edge of city retail development schemes often built on green belt, biodiverse spaces and which encourage car journeys鈥︹
This commitment ties in with our plea to Welsh Government to prioritise town and city centre development over edge/out of town. The retail argument is key here, but we鈥檇 suggest this commitment should extend to business parks and office space 鈥 all of these amenities should be in multi-functional accessible places.
- Lobby for a land fund for Wales to make community ownership easier, enabling our communities to buy unloved spaces to make them amazing again.
People in Wales have the weakest rights in the UK when it comes to community ownership and this can have an adverse impact on our places including Cardiff city centre. We鈥檝e asked Welsh Government to empower communities to take over neglected and mismanaged assets and we would like to see this come to fruition in Cardiff and across Wales 鈥 powers need to come with access to funding and we鈥檇 be interested to see this proposal develop.
- Ensure our creative heritage is front and centre of developments. Cardiff鈥檚 changing, creative character is reflected in the planning decisions made, and new developments are inspiring spaces.
This sounds great and we consistently advocate for centring Cardiff鈥檚 essential 鈥楥ardiff-ness鈥 in developments to the city. It鈥檚 great that Common Ground have recognised this conceptually and we鈥檇 love to see a more fleshed out idea of how they鈥檇 describe that particular Cardiff quality.
- Commit unequivocally to supporting independent music venues and working with musicians and businesses to ensure Cardiff is the city for live music and nights out for years to come.
A great statement but we鈥檇 like to know more about what this means in practice. We鈥檇 like to see the Common Ground stand up for the Agent of Change principle and, while they work for community purchase powers to be progressed, explore what can be done to protect cultural venues that are not in owner occupied spaces.
- Recognis[e] the value of urban sports such as skateboarding, BMX, and parkour
We鈥檙e clear that the city centre should welcome young people and uses that are not specifically linked to spending money. Urban sports belong in urban centres and as long as they are not creating health and safety hazards we鈥檇 like to see them nurtured.
- Establish a properly funded, adequately enforced plan for getting to grips with the issues in the local environment like littering, dog fouling, and waste disposal.
Getting the basics right is vital 鈥 it鈥檚 good to see this included alongside more strategic concerns 鈥 waste disposal in particular is a blight in the city centre. Let鈥檚 get a real grip on this commercial bin issue.
- Investigate how we can reopen public toilets and bring them back to local high streets
Yes! It鈥檚 not a headline grabber but this is an absolutely vital issue and, we think, Common Ground are the only people to touch on this. Public amenities are one of the key elements in making a town or city centre a welcoming place to spend time.
Setting聽 鉁旓笍
Community 鉁旓笍
Transport 鉁旓笍 (we鈥檝e not pulled out many points on public transport from the Common Ground manifesto because there鈥檚 lots of other stuff to talk about but their general commitment to high quality public and active travel infrastructure is there)
You can read the full聽