01/05/2024
Rhymney needs our help ….
This is a call to all of you who read my last post and would like to get behind our campaign to preserve The Buchan Building and Whitbread conservation area.
I will be in St. David’s Community Centre on Wednesday, 1st May (tomorrow) from 3pm until 9pm
Somehow we need to get the message out there to those who live around us, people who perhaps have no idea that this conservation area, and the buildings that stand in it - representing the very beginnings of our town - might soon be lost to us forever.
I would like to have an opportunity to talk with you and take your names and contact numbers (only if that’s OK with you) – but please don’t think you’re signing up to hours of hard labour! No such thing! Our first priority is presenting a strong case and a united stand for the preservation of our conservation area.
However, for those who are in favour of the planned redevelopment, and can accept the loss of our Heritage Buildings, I do not think this time in St David’s centre will be of benefit to you.
I will just put the following points out there for your consideration….
We all know how easy it is to take things for-granted but, when the day comes to watch the demolition of those two wonderful stone buildings – both monuments to our Industrial Heritage, and when we see the stones crashing to the ground, I think many of us will feel a loss that can never be replaced. Rhymney will never feel the same again – I know we already feel that way to some extent.
Our relatively modern Community Halls, each of them serving their own purpose, do not have the remotest chance of delivering the wide range of opportunities, enjoyment and health giving benefits that the full development and use of those buildings have to offer.
To those who feel it is an unrealistic ‘dream’ – actually, you might be surprised to know that it is nothing more than the Heads of the Valley Masterplan outlined in its Draft 2020. This is an extract of it ….
The Vision is as follows: “The Heads of the Valleys will capitalise upon the major public investment in the A465 and its strategic location along this corridor, complementing and strengthening employment opportunities and creating an exciting, vibrant place where businesses will want to locate and where people will choose to live and work. It will strengthen and diversify communities by improving connectivity, supporting the role of the foundational economy and developing its role as a visitor and tourism destination by utilising its distinctive industrial heritage and natural attraction spaces.
It will enable the provision of and promote accessibility to those commercial, leisure and community services that will equip people to lead more healthy and prosperous lives.
"‘Gateway’ sites such as the Bargoed and Rhymney Stations and their environs are important, both in their own right and as a means of signposting to nearby facilities. There is therefore the potential for land around local rail stations to be configured to have a positive impact on the local economy i.e. through the provision of business space and associated development, and to convey a positive image of the area by providing links to town centres and other facilities that exist elsewhere within the Heads of the Valleys Regeneration Area”.
Caerphilly CBC subscribed to the above Masterplan but have come to the decision that all those benefits within Rhyney’s conservation area, just yards from the station, should now be cancelled out in favour of fulfilling their promised quota of housing for the district.
Instead, this statement by the Head of Regeneration, Rhian Kyte, is that new housing and residential development offers … and I quote – “high quality and sustainable regeneration activity in an area of need …”. What type of Regeneration is she referring to here?
EVERY statistic proves that employment and economic growth are the factors that determine regeneration. ...the lack of employment and economic growth causes deprivation. This is the main reason why Rhymney is at the highest level of deprivation. Nearly 50% of people here aged 16 and above are unemployed. How is this redevelopment going to help in that regard – and how will incoming people find work if they are looking for employment? These are the questions that need to be answered.
I also have a letter from Mr Dallimore, The Regeneration Service Manager, in answer to my letter stating objections to the redevelopment and the loss of the gym … again I quote ... “Ongoing investment is being made in Rhymney including a High Street Environmental Scheme, funded by the Shared Prosperity Fund. The Objective of this scheme is to make improvements to the performance of the SITE DRAINAGE, REDUCE THE RUN-OFF RATE, enhance the function and appearance of the landscape, increase the soft landscape and improve biodiversity”! I ask you!!
This is a major problem for Rhymney - when those in positions of authority within Regeneration believe ‘Maintenance’ can be put under the heading of Regeneration!
Our situation will never be better than the calibre and fair mindedness of the people who make the decisions that impact us directly - and permanently.
I can’t think of a better example right now of giving to the rich at the expense of the poor than Caerphilly CBC’s. administration of the Levelling Up Fund.
Just incase that fact will be contested, I have it in writing from the Office of the Secretary of State For Wales that the Fund is administered on a competitive basis and that Caerphilly CBC chose Caerphilly town as ‘the most viable placement for the leisure centre development’ costing £33 million in the heart of the town – and here we are, fighting to hold onto ours in a run down, but valued and well used Heritage building, that must now be given up to house ten single bedroom apartments – none of which might be offered to someone from Rhymney.
That is an injustice to any community and, to my mind, amounts to an abuse of power.
This needs to be strongly challenged, as difficult and inconvenient as it is. I believe that for those of us who will meet in St David’s on Wednesday, we will be relieved to see that willingness in each other to pull together for the good of others and the future generations of Rhymney ... because, let’s face it, there will be no immediate gain for us. One thing I am certain of – we will never regret any effort we are able to make, however small. Every little action counts. No one needs to feel that a weight of obligation will be put on them. There is strength in unity.
Hope to see you in St David’s Centre anytime between 3pm and 9pm.
I will have some hand outs you can take with a brief outline of what our campaign is all about.
