Skip to main content

Save Bute Park


According to last night's South Wales Echo, Cardiff Council intend to desecrate one of its historic landmarks by building a new road access for lorries into Bute Park in Cardiff.

Professor Kevin Morgan of Cardiff University, one of the world's leading figures on regional development, has rightly condemned this scheme. He said

"I am furious about this. I find it astonishing that the council, which is supposed to safeguard the interests of Cardiff, could be so arrogant and foolish as to go ahead with such a scheme.

I am trying to organise a debate here in the university about this. It’s a big issue. Cardiff likes to project itself as one of the leading cities in Britain in terms of sustainability, husbanding its resources, and caring for the well-being of its citizens. To build a road into Bute Park, Cardiff’s greatest asset, to facilitate the entry of articulated lorries is the complete antithesis of that philosophy.

Old ways of measuring cities like GDP and population size are from another century.

Nowadays, people think in terms of quality of life, and having green spaces is an absolutely vital element of that. Yet there are still those in senior positions who think solely in terms of the commercial elements of a city. Not long ago a planning director came to give a talk at the university. He never once mentioned sustainability.

But in terms of making a city attractive and a desirable place to be, you can’t trump Mother Nature. All right, with urban parks like Bute Park you are talking about cultivated nature, but what we have in Cardiff is a great asset to be nurtured, not something to be jettisoned or messed with.

We get a lot of students from overseas in the department, mainly from China and India. Every year I ask them at the end of their time here what are the best and the worst things about Cardiff. Every year, they speak very positively about our urban parks, by which they mainly mean Bute Park. It’s the number one comment they make. They greatly appreciate it as a place of tranquillity, where they can get away from the busy life of the city streets.

We are told that building the road will make it easier for big events to be organised in the park. It seems the park is being seen primarily as a venue for visitor attractions. But the main point of Bute Park is its value in the lives of the people of Cardiff. If visitors appreciate it too, that’s fine, but it mustn’t become simply a tourist attraction. Every encroachment on to the park is a blow to the quality of life of the people who live here. It is astonishing that the guardians of our civic heritage could even contemplate doing what they have done.

I don’t think the councillors who decided to approve this scheme have thought the matter through properly at all. I know that planning permission has been granted, but I would like them to think again. I intend to invite the council cabinet member responsible, Nigel Howells, to take part in a public debate. So far as I’m concerned, this isn’t over yet. It won’t be over until it’s over."



I find it incredible that the council is acting in this way and I hope that everyone with any influence in Cardiff and Wales will join Kev in speaking up against this vandalism.

Comments

Neil Cocker said…
Consider me a supporter of whatever campaign gets started against this awful proposal....
Anonymous said…
You have my support too - this is now the most read story on the icwales website

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is

Change your business through change

All business organisations, especially entrepreneurial small firms, must cope with an ever changing business environment. However, small firms have a very limited ability in being able to control and relate to changes in the environment, although this can depend on the context of change. For example, if a major customer changes increases its order, the entrepreneur should be able to predict events and actions with regard to the timing and consequences of such a change and forecast any changes in the required resources and cashflow. Given this, the entrepreneur can undertake rational short-interval planning activity in order to underpin organisational control. However, much of the change facing business today is largely unpredictable in terms of its timing and its consequences. In other words, such change is open-ended, with it often being unclear what is changing or why it is changing. For example, the effect of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Centre was largely unexpected and its

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They also make their mon