This is a slightly longer version of an article published by Wales Centre for Public Policy in June 2024. It is also, in effect, a draft summary of one of the chapters of my WIP book on the South Wales Metro (watch this space!)
I have also covered this subject matter in number of earlier blogs and papers (so I do re-use some content), including:
The problem
Paraphrasing the late Eric Morecombe, our planning and development eco-system has resulted in us building “all the wrong stuff in all the wrong places” for over 50 years. Homes, hospitals, shops, offices, cinemas, leisure centres, etc all designed and located around car access.
This car based eco-system was in part enabled by the likes of such planning and transport giants as Corbusier, Moses, Buchanan and Beeching, and now means that many new houses are located in places that require you to get in your car every time you want to buy a pint of milk!
So, for me, after the collapse of local and employment intensive heavy industry, the biggest negative influence on many of our city and town high streets, has been the huge relocation of office, retail, public services, etc to car based “out of town” locations in the last 50 years. Southeast Wales is covered in them; Cardiff Gate, Trago Mills, Imperial Park, Spytty Park, Navigation Park, Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Celtic Springs, McArthur Glen, Culverhouse Cross, Llanfrechfa Grange, etc.
When you combine this reality with mass volume car-based “shed” corporate supermarket retail, the consequential demise of local independent shops and food retail, and now the perversity of drive through coffee shops, the primary cause of the sickness afflicting our high streets becomes clear – car based out of town development. We have a collective blind spot with cars and a failure to recognise the wider societal and economic costs of the apparent freedoms they provide[i].
Internet shopping has also clearly had an impact, but for me it is cars and car-based development that is the poison killing the local town high street. And to repeat for those on my local Facebook group, its not the cycle lane on Wellfield road either!
The impact
The resulting damage and wider external costs have been recognised by The Welsh Government who commissioned a report by the Foundational Economy Research in 2021, “Small Towns Big Issues[ii]” which illuminates the negative impact of out-of-town car-based development – especially on existing town centres. A further report ay Audit Wales[iii] came to broadly the same conclusions.
I assert that across the UK over the last 50 years we have replaced millions of small high street based, independently owned retail businesses, who retained and recycled value locally and performed a vital social cohesion function, with a few thousand corporate car based, shed retail outlets, employing fewer people on lower wages, often part time, with the value of those retail transactions extracted from communities via profits to corporate balance sheets and shareholder dividends.
As I have discussed with students, it is instructive to compare, even qualitatively, the vibrancy and status of Tonypandy High Street (Dunraven St) [iv] in the mid Rhondda Valley with Treorci High Street at the top of the Rhondda. Tonypandy high street has been plagued by problems, empty properties, low footfall and many failed initiatives over decades and is seen to be suboptimal. In stark contrast Treorci High St won “high street of the year” as recently as 2019[v]. How can two places so close have high streets that perform so very differently.
My assertion is that Tonypandy has suffered far more from the growth of car based out of town shed retail. Less than a mile from Dunraven St is a very large Tesco at Llwynypia; the bright lights of Talbot Green or Pontypridd with its Sainsbury on the A470 are not too far away either if one is so inclined. However, there is limited space or land availability in/around Treorci and/or probably insufficient commercial potential for there to be similar large car-based retail in Treorci (albeit there is smaller Coop with car parking). The impact is clear to see. Tonypandy high street has been hollowed out through the abstraction of activity to places like Tesco whereas in Treorci most activity has remained local, in locally owned shops, etc. The impact of edge of town development like Tesco in Aberdare, Asda in Blackwood and Morrisons in Bargoed have also impacted the viability of those town’s high streets.
This is not (or should not be) “rocket science”, as stated in Regenerating Town Centres in Wales…
“The growth of car based, out-of-town retail has contributed greatly to the decline of town centres”.
So, building our lives around the car has left us an enormous problem. Yes, cars have provided millions of people enormous freedoms and convenience, but at what cost.
The Solution – Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
The Climate Emergency and WG mode shift targets demand that we completely re-think our approach to land-use and in so doing embrace, so-called, “Transit Oriented Development[vi]” and Placemaking[vii] to augment the development and implementation of the South Wales Metro.
Whilst there are many definitions of TOD[viii] I tend to focus on the following key features, which I think we in Wales need to embrace:
- Mixed use and higher density development around transport corridors and stations
- Aligning new housing, public services and employment sites with public transport – some real transport/land use planning
- Improving safety and quality of urban realm – especially our urban streets
- Integration with Active Travel
- Inclusion of open/green spaces
- Community engagement and involvement in scheme development and implementation.
It’s an approach to development focussed on people, public spaces and public transport, leading to reduced car dependency; and is an approach that delivers benefits, for example:
- With higher density it becomes easier and less costly to provide public services
- Local shops and retail have a higher local demand that can be accessed via active travel
- In many cases schemes for new housing can be linked to local and town centre regeneration projects and greening urban realm improvements
- TOD also means public transport investment becomes easier to justify because higher numbers of people can more easily access transit services (helping build the fare box and reduce the operational subsidies of new transit – bus or rail).
Collectively, and more importantly TOD reduces our need to use and own cars – given the present danger of climate change this perhaps is the primary reason for us in Wales to embrace TOD. This intent has also been set out in the National Development Framework[ix] and will I hope, flow through into the regional Transport Plans and Strategic Development Plans anticipated across Wales.
How?
The big question for me, is, does the Cardiff Capital Region have the capacity and capability to really take on this challenge? Does the region need a Metro Development Corporation to complement TfW?
Looking back, perhaps we did throw out the baby out with the bathwater re the winding up of the Welsh Development Agency[x] in 2004 (and included the Land Authority for Wales which was absorbed into the WDA in 1998). Whilst I was and remain critical of some of its activities toward the end of its life, the WDA did possess a very effective land use, regeneration, and development capacity that would be ideally placed to take up this Metro TOD challenge.
So, I think we do need a new body with an operational and delivery focus to embrace the opportunity for the Cardiff Capital Region, especially with the development of the South Wales Metro, for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and help build a more sustainable city region. I think a focus on densified, transit connected, affordable (and likely public) housing should be at its core.
The expectations of Wales’s “Well Being of Future Generations” Act, Welsh Governments 2019 Review on Affordable Homes[xi] and various articles from industry experts, academics and observers provide further local context and support the need for a more strategic leadership and capacity in this space. More importantly the emphasis on placemaking within national planning policy demonstrates a pressing need for the exploration of how and where to promote sustainable homes, great placemaking and TOD in strategic locations.
In practical terms any new organisation will also have to work with the private sector to help bring forward many more smaller in-fill developments Vs the fewer larger green field sites more often favoured by developers. This is challenge…
Despite the constraints and challenges of developing many smaller infill sites, there are still bigger TOD based urban opportunities. This is especially true in Cardiff where the Vastint proposal along the Embankment/Dumballs Rd[xii] offers the prospect of a more European style street layout and density, punctuated with public spaces.
Figure 1 Street focussed urban development (from Cardiff Council approves regeneration plans for Vastint UK’s Embankment Site, Cardiff | Vastint United Kingdom
A similar opportunity exists at the Peninsula site overlooking the bay and River Ely. Disappointingly, the current images of the nascent masterplan[xiii] seem to suggest it has been optimised around car park access and operation with a number of tower blocks sat on top of a single car park. The site is also LT 800M from Cogan Metro station (which needs a platform on the Penarth branch which would give min of 8tph Vs 4tph today) so we should be more focused on AT access to that station.
Figure 2 Cardiff Bay Peninsula proposals (from: Masterplan – Cardiff Bay Peninsula (cardiffpeninsula.wales) )
This unique location could be a Barceloneta [xiv] for Cardiff – a place and waterside neighbourhood designed around streets, public spaces, Active Travel and Public Transport. So, for me , the current plans need a good kick before we get anywhere near that!
Figure 3 Dense urban form and tight street pattern of Barceloneta (from Barceloneta Master Plan, Barcelona — MSA+A
In pursuing this agenda, we have to acknowledge that in most cases, we don’t need skyscrapers in the same way we don’t need low density car-based sprawl. Many practitioners are advocating, high quality mixed use, “gentle density”.
I recommend a book by Chris Johnson[xv] which explored the kind of urban form we need, “the so called missing” middle. Almost to complement, a recent book by Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet[xvi] set out their ideas to put people at the centre of urban design and not cars. A weightier tome and a guide for all of us interested in city development, transport and land use planning, equity and sustainability, is Peter Hall’s book[xvii], “Good Cities, Better Lives”.
PS – Also worth noting one of the better recent examples of TOD in Wales. The Mill on the old papermill site in Cardiff. With a masterplan developed and curated by Tirion Homes, it included density, streets, mixed use and mixed tenures and multiple development partners. The only thing lacking is the Metro station at Ely Mill/Victoria park that the development was predicated on!!!
What about rural areas and mobility choices?
Whilst TOD and PT can over the longer term reduce car dependency in urban areas (so that we provide more road space for those people that actually need to drive), it is more of challenge in rural areas and places with more limited and lower density population. For me this is where the car will still be vital, and for many remain the primary mode of transportation. This is where I think we focus EV charging initiatives, etc.
To conclude….
The move toward more widespread TOD is a must and is perhaps as, if not more, important to deliver our decarbonisation obligations than the necessary investment in public transport infrastructure and services like the Cardiff Capital Region Metro.
Enjoy….
[i] M Barry, 2023, Cars, Congestion, Health and Road Pricing…
M Barry, 2022, Mark Barry, May 2022: Submission to Senedd Climate Change Committee
[ii] Welsh Government 2021, Foundational Economy Research Unit, Small Towns, Big Issues: independent research report (gov.wales)
[iii] Audit Wales, 2021, Regenerating Town Centres in Wales (audit.wales)
[iv] Wales Online Article 2019, The anger, the frustration and the pain of trying to trade on Wales’s worst high street
[v] BBC News, 2020, UK’s best High Street is Welsh valleys town Treorchy – BBC News
[vi] M Barry 2018, Transit Oriented Development in the Cardiff Capital Region….
[vii] DCFW , 2020, Placemaking Guide PlacemakingGuideDigitalENG.pdf (dcfw.org)
[viii] Examples of descriptions of TOD:
City Beautiful, “Transit Oriented Development Explained TOD Explained – YouTube
The Urban Transport Group, 2019 The place to be: How transit oriented development can support good growth in the city regions
Brent Toderian on sustainable mobility – YouTube
Urban Village Planning Checklist | Planetizen Blogs
[ix] Welsh Government, 2021, National Development Framework, Future Wales: the national plan 2040
[x] The Welsh Development Agency (WDA) was established in the 1970s to help remediate old industrial sites (especially mines and coal tips ) in Wales and to drive economic development and regeneration. It was very successful in the 1970/80s vis a vis inward investment and had a very capable land/property development capacity. Following devolution, it was eventually wound up in 2004 with functions being absorbed into the Welsh Government Civil Service.
[xi] Welsh Government, 2019, Independent review of affordable housing supply: report | GOV.WALES
[xiii] https://cardiffpeninsula.wales/our-vision
[xiv] https://msa.cat/portfolio/barceloneta-master-plan-barcelona/?lang=en
[xv] Chris Johnson, Land Humphries, 2021, “Mid Rise Urban Living”
[xvi] Verkade & Brömmelstroet, Scribe, 2022, “Movement”
[xvii] Peter Hall(with contributions from Nicholas Falk), Routledge, 2014, “Good Cities, Better Lives – How Europe Discovered the Lost Art of Urbanism”
What is TOD? – Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (itdp.org)
Mark Barry 