Welsh Water announced the delay as work was due to begin following a year-long campaign by Llandaff North residents
WORK on the planned sewage pumping station in Hailey Park has been pushed back until September – leaving Save Hailey Park campaigners “surprised” as work was due to start in February.
Welsh Water said the delay is due to “outstanding issues” and “the bird-nesting season”.
Community groups have worked together for over a year to campaign against the works on their local green space.
Friends of Hailey Park and YGC Rebel Mams have joined with the Llandaff North Residents’ Association (LNRA) to set up the Save Hailey Park Campaign.
Steph Wilkins, head of the LNRA, was emailed by Welsh Water with news of the delay.
The 53-year-old said: “I’m still in a daze, to be honest. I had to pick myself up off the floor when I read those messages. We wanted it but we weren’t expecting it.
“We spent most of Monday 13 preparing for them to come and start work because we hadn’t heard otherwise so it was a nice surprise. I did think it would be imminent, I wasn’t expecting them to push it back.”
The planned sewage pumping station will deal with sewage from the planned Plasdwr housing development across the river in Radyr. The existing treatment works do not have the capacity to accommodate the increase from the Plasdwr site, according to planning documents.
A spokesperson for Welsh Water said: “We were planning to start our work in Hailey Park and Danescourt this month. However, due to a number of outstanding issues and the close proximity of the bird-nesting season, we are now planning to begin work on site in September.”
However, this delay is not stopping concerned residents continuing with their campaign.
“We’re determined to keep fighting. We’re not complacent. I felt a bit shocked on Monday night and a bit overwhelmed but straight away I went into campaign mode,” said Ms Wilkins.
“We’ve been trying to understand what the consequences might be. Even though there is a delay, the campaign is still very much active.”
