Berman demands clarity on Roath Rec pitches and trees

Rodney Berman, the Liberal Democrat General Election candidate for Cardiff East, is demanding that Labour-run Cardiff Council comes clean on the impact of ongoing works for a cycle-way through Roath Rec after being unable to confirm if the four pitches on the recreation ground will be able to be returned to their previous size once the scheme is completed. The pitches have been reduced in number to three whilst works are being undertaken, but the council has previously told him there will be a return to four pitches once the works have concluded.

Rodney, who is currently a Liberal Democrat councillor for Penylan, has been seeking clarity from senior Labour councillors and council officers for some time regarding whether or not the four pitches can be restored to the same size as they were previously. He failed to secure a clear answer to this question from the council’s cabinet member for parks at a council meeting in March. This follows concerns there will be less space for all four pitches now it has been decided that the paths will be moved further into the park on both the Ninian Road-side and the Ty Draw Road-side of the Rec. The relocation of the paths was not mentioned in either of the consultations the council previously held with the local community ahead of the scheme being undertaken.

Rodney submitted a petition to the council with 771 verified signatures from local residents in Cardiff on 28 March which called on the council not to reduce the number of pitches on Roath Rec from 4 to 3.

In an email he subsequently received from a council officer, he was advised: “In respect of the pitch sizes, we can confirm that the sizes of the pitches will be determined once the scheme is complete, or close to completion to allow for any unforeseen changes.”

Councillor Berman said: “The whole way the council has handled this project has been deeply underhand and key facts have been hidden from local residents and councillors. Significant changes have been made to the planned layout of the footpaths and the cycle-route after the scheme went through two successive consultations with the local community.

“Despite my repeated questioning, the council is not being upfront on what the final impact will be on the pitches on Roath Rec. The fact is that with the paths being relocated further into the park, there is simply less room to accommodate them. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that it’s incredibly unlikely we still be able to have four pitches equal in size to the ones that were there previously when the works have been completed.

“The council must now provide clarity on what will happen to the pitches and if any of them will have to be reduced in size. And if they do, what will that mean for the clubs that currently play on those pitches in local leagues? They need to know if the pitches will still be suitable for them to play in those leagues.

“We have been advised that the paths have been relocated to protect existing trees on both sides of the park, but residents are hearing that these trees could still be impacted. The Labour-run council must come clean on this as well.”

ENDS

Notes:

1. Councillor Berman asked the following written question at the Cardiff Council meeting on 28 March

WRITTEN QUESTION FROM COUNTY COUNCILLOR BERMAN

In the report issued to local councillors last year following the council’s second consultation on the proposed new Roath Park cycle route and improvements at Roath Recreation Ground, it was stated that it had been decided to locate the segregated cycleway within the field further away from the original planned route along the route of the footpath and that the main reason for this was to “further protect the trees by placing the cycleway outside the tree route protection area.”The report went on to outline some design updates and said that the four current pitches on Roath Rec were being repositioned to accommodate other design changes which included “the alignment of the cycle route further into the playing field”. It also stated that “following sustainable drainage designs to accommodate the cycle route and to address drainage issues within the Community Centre car park, three pitches will be retained.” At no point in this report was it suggested that the loss of one of the pitches would only be temporary. Flyers subsequently distributed to residents in the vicinity of Roath Rec in February this year showed a three-pitch layout on Roath Rec, alongside the words “FINAL LAYOUT”, thereby clearly suggesting that the reduction in the number of pitches would be permanent. On 20 February, I received an email from an officer in Planning, Transport & Environment stating that the reduction in the number of pitches from four to three is to “facilitate the construction period and the pitches will revert back to four pitches thereafter”. In the light of these conflicting statements, can the council please therefore:

1. clarify if the reduction to three pitches is to accommodate design changes (including the alignment of the cycle route and addressing drainage issues) or if it is simply to facilitate the construction of the overall scheme;
2. explain why the explanation given for the reduction in the number of pitches changed between the report issued last year and the email sent to me on 20 February; and
3. explain how it will be possible to revert to having four pitches when construction of the overall scheme is completed given that the cycle way is to be realigned further into the field than was initially proposed?

Reply

1. The reduction from 4 to 3 pitches facilitates the latest alignment of the segregated cycle route and the northern path. This has been done primarily to avoid the tree root protection areas following liaison with officers from the Council’s Parks Service. It will also facilitate the construction of the new cycle route and paths in the playing field.
2. At the time when the secondary consultation report was prepared, the detailed design work was underway and the latest information available at that time was provided within the report that coincided with the need to realign the path to avoid the tree root zones. The email sent on 20th February provided the latest information available when you were contacted.
3. To allow all 4 pitches to be introduced with the new cycle route and footpath alignments in place, the rugby pitch would need to be positioned at the northern most part of the field in a north to south orientation; followed next (south) by the second pitch, which will be the smaller square pitch (which has been removed), followed by the two football pitches in an east/west arrangement. Once the final alignment of the paths and cycle route has been implemented, the exact positioning of the pitches will be considered by the Parks Service.

2. Councillor Berman asked the following oral question at the Cardiff Council meeting on 28 March

Cllr Berman to Cllr Burke, Cabinet Member for Culture, Parks and Events

The number of pitches on Roath Rec was recently reduced from 4 to 3, but I’ve been advised by transport officers this is only temporary whilst works are carried out on the improvement scheme which is providing a long overdue upgrade of the footpaths around the Rec, as well as introducing a new cycle route. Will you confirm that when these works are completed, there will be a return to 4 pitches on Roath Rec, and that the pitches will all be of equivalent size to the ones that were in place before the works began? This is despite the fact that the footpath with the cycle lane alongside is being located further into the park.

Reply – Cllr Burke

Following the completion of the cycle route, there will be scope to accommodate the 4 pitches that were already in existence. I believe you already had an answer to a written question from Cllr De’Ath that there will be some reconfiguration required, however I can confirm that they will meet the requirements set out by the governing bodies of the relevant sports in terms of the width and length.

Supplementary – Cllr Berman

I suppose there is some confusion out there because people are trying to see how are all the pitches going to fit when we go back to 4, once the cycle lane and footpath are in, given that they’ve been moved further into the park; so probably what would help would be if you could clarify for definite that we will still have 4 pitches that are equal in size to the ones we had before, and also, could the Council please publish a clear diagram showing what the final configuration will be, and showing how the pitches will be laid out when the works are complete, because that hasn’t been done so far?

Reply – Cllr Burke

Certainly I can try my very best to get you an idea of what the configuration will be, and as I said we will be working with the relevant sport bodies to make sure that the pitches that are reinstated are suitable for the sports being played. Our Parks Service on an annual basis carries out a pitch rationalisation piece of work, so they look at how often the pitches are being booked, and I’ve got detail on how that works. The pitch rationalisation looks at, where there’s low numbers of fixtures, transferring fixtures to consolidate spaces, so this might not be relevant to Roath Park and Roath Rec, but it is relevant across the city. If we find in future that a park isn’t being used to its full capacity, that’s where the pitch rationalisation comes into play. I believe that Roath Rec is very well used and maintained, and as I said we will be working with the relevant sport bodies to make sure that the requirements are met in terms of the size of the pitches, but I can appreciate that when people are looking at the space, it can be a struggle to figure out how it’s going to work with this encroachment from the path, but I’ve got every faith in officers that we can do that.