The Labour controlled Vale of Glamorgan Council has just released a new Local Development Plan (LDP) after it scrapped the previous version shortly after winning the council elections in 2012.
On first glance, the most significant news for supporters of the Stop the Spur campaign are:
- The railway spur from the Vale line to Cardiff Airport that was proposed in the Conservative led council’s LDP in 2012 has been scrapped, and no longer appears in the council’s plans.
- There is a proposal, backed by Central government plans, to electrify the entire Vale of Glamorgan rail line.
The removal of the Spur track from the Vale of Glamorgan line into Cardiff airport is clearly a sign that common sense has prevailed within the council. We have written extensively on why this proposal would have been a terrible waste of money, would not have been well used, and would have throttled services for local residents using the Vale line.
The other bit of good news for local people who use the Vale line to get in and out of Cardiff from Llantwit Major, Rhoose and the surrounding area, is that the line is to be electrified, opening up the possibility of more frequent services on the line, something that residents are especially concerned about, and have been expecting for some years. The LDP states that this work will be completed by 2018.
We are taking a close look at the proposals and will updates you with any more interesting news that affects the campaign in due course. You can check out the LDP for yourself here.
Many thanks to all of you who have supported this campaign and helped it to be such a success, to the council, who have seen sense, and in particular, to Councillor Lis Burnett, who is responsible for preparing and publishing the LDP.