Work has begun on the Taff embankment
GREENER Grangetown, the project to improve Grangetown’s rainwater management, has made parking difficult since work began on November 21 – but many of its residents don’t seem to mind.
Dan Hegarty, 39, of Clydach Street, has spotted a side benefit of the disruption – it has kept commuters to the city centre and Cardiff Bay from taking spaces outside their homes.
“To be honest, there’s always disruption caused by the commuters parking their cars here when they go to work. And there’s even more on Friday, with the mosque on our street.
“I don’t think these works are anything worse than the usual for the residents. It’s not such a bad thing, having fewer cars around the place.”
He pointed to a 120ft barrier by the site. “See that red barrier? Normally there’d be about 10 cars packed in there. Grangetown is the city’s car park. So it’s actually a bit of a relief.”
Jen Davies, 37, of Clydach Street, was generally positive about the long-term effects. “Obviously, it’s a bit annoying right now. There’s no residents’ parking permits at the moment, and I have two children. I just want to park on our street and all the spaces keep going to commuters.
“But it should be lovely when it’s all sorted. All those trees to drain the water will add a really leafy, private feel to the area. And after all our cellars flooded on Monday, the more we have to protect the place the better.
“It’s a lovely neighbourhood though, it really is, and when this is all finished it’ll be even better.”
Jimmy, 52, from Brighton, is a contractor for Bridgend-based ERH, the engineers hired for the development. He said: “It’s the biggest project of it’s kind anywhere in the country. There was a similar project in Llanelli that worked really well, but this is the one that is setting the benchmark.
“We’re not here to try and cause any inconvenience. I’m happy to give my phone number out to anyone living locally who is unhappy with us, and it’s on 24/7. We’re all aware that it’s difficult at the moment, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
“We want to help out the people around here, even if it means taking their shopping to their front door if we’re working in front of it.”
The project is running in 10 phases, taking two streets and a section of the riverbank at a time. The streets are picked far away from each other, to minimise disruption to residents and emergency services. Work began on Clydach Street and Bargoed Street on November 21.
ERH estimates the work will be completed in November 2017, assuming there are no major delays. The company has previously worked on the improvements to Loudoun Square in Butetown.
Work has begun on the Taff embankment
