The boardwalk at the International Sports Village has been closed to the public since mid-2023
CYCLISTS and residents have welcomed plans to improve the boardwalk at the International Sports Village, but say more could be done to make the peninsula a boast-worthy destination for walking and cycling.
The waterfront path has been closed off since 2023 – with part of it never having opened to the public at all. The boardwalk has fallen into serious disrepair, with planks of wood rotting and falling away, causing a health and safety risk.
Last month, Cardiff council announced plans to reopen a temporary waterfront path for public use, and a longer-term plan to replace the wooden boardwalk with a land-side promenade as part of the wider redevelopment of the International Sports Village.
Previous plans to build a boardwalk all the way round the area were abandoned when a private development fell through. Some sections were never built, and some of the existing boardwalk is privately owned.
The council’s latest plans have been welcomed by cyclists and residents who have been unable to use the route for over a year. The Cardiff Bay Trail is used heavily by people commuting from Penarth into the city centre and to the west side of Cardiff, as well as residents, walkers and people cycling for leisure.
Dan Allsobrook, from cycle campaigning group Cardiff Cycle City, says the route people have to take as a result of the closure is much less cycle-friendly.
“The alternative route is a lot less desirable and in some places quite dangerous. You get squashed onto the road with cars or you’re sharing a narrow, dark pavement with pedestrians which can introduce conflict.”
“We have quite a few members who live in Grangetown and that’s the start of their route when they go to places on their bikes. There’s been a lot of grumblings about the fact that it has been closed,” he said.
Ruth Squire, a lecturer at Cardiff University, uses the route twice a week to commute from Penarth. Having been knocked off her bike before, she is keen to stay off roads where she can, and says the current route feels less safe.
“If they want us to get on our bikes and be healthy, they need to create the space for us to do it,” she said.
Margaret Pearson, 70, who lives in Prospect Place, says she has almost been knocked over several times by cyclists riding on the pavements while she walks back from doing her shopping at Morrisons.
“Sometimes they just whizz past you on the pavement. It’s scary, especially for older people,” she said.
Mr Allsobrook is keen to support the council’s boardwalk plans but hopes whatever is put in place will be properly maintained and cyclist-friendly. He would like to see plans go further, improving the Cardiff Bay Trail by fully joining up the sections of the waterfront path around the peninsula.
“I hope it doesn’t stop there and they think about joining up the whole circular route around the bay properly and turning it into something that has a bit of a higher profile, so people will come from further away to use it as a circular walk or cycle ride taking in the bay and Penarth and the marina and the barrage.
“They are very attractive parts of Cardiff, but if the route isn’t attractive for people to use then they’re not going to use it.” he said.
Suzanne Rogers, another resident from Penarth, agrees that upgrading the route in this way would boost active travel in the city. She says she has been “disgusted” by the current state of the path and says the council “have to look at the whole thing”.
“The Bay should be for everyone. It feels like there’s less and less of the Bay I can walk. It’s getting chipped away. They could have made a beautiful walk. If you build a place where people can walk, people will walk. One pound spent on that is a pound well spent.” she said.
Cyclist Timothy Brignall says he would “definitely” use the path around the site if it was built. Currently, he avoids cycling in that particular part of the city because he knows it is closed.
The Welsh Government’s transport strategy includes a target for 39% of all journeys to be made via public transport, walking or cycling by 2030, and 45% of all journeys by 2040.
What are the council’s plans?
Cardiff council’s Cabinet has approved the following work:
- Remove the boardwalk along the length in its ownership
- Remove the heras fencing and installation of more permanent fencing to isolate the water’s edge.
- Re-open a temporary path along the waterfront
- Engage with residents and the owners of privately-owned sections of the boardwalk (also currently closed to the public) with a view to developing a permanent long-term solution for the entire boardwalk”
A spokesperson said: “In the longer-term, the proposal for the areas under council ownership is to create a land-side promenade along the waterfront. This would form part of wider work to develop currently vacant land at the International Sports Village by the council’s appointed developers Orion.”
The plans would see the balustrade, which is in good condition, retained and repositioned on the revetment wall as part of the new inland path.
The Cabinet confirmed it would identify a date in the coming weeks to meet residents, address their concerns and agree a way forward on the areas of boardwalk that are not in private ownership.
The council has not published a timescale for the reopening of the temporary path or the creation of the land-side promenade.
