Caerphilly Observer
Member Sign in Manage Membership
Become a Member - no ads
Menu
  • News
    • Senedd
    • Business
    • Newport
    • Opinion
  • Sport
    • Rugby union
    • Football
  • Membership & Subscriptions
  • Notices
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Sponsored Content
Menu

Could the Welsh Government step in to decide Caerphilly station transformation?

News | Nicholas Thomas - Local Democracy Reporting Service | Published: 14:56, Tuesday January 30th, 2024.
Last updated: 15:03, Tuesday January 30th, 2024

Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

How the new interchange could look from St Martin's Road
How the new interchange could look from St Martin’s Road

Plans to redevelop Caerphilly’s bus and railway stations could be decided by the Welsh Government.

Documents show someone has asked the government to “call in” the planning application and let its inspectors decide whether it should go ahead.

Caerphilly Council wants to knock down the existing stations and replace them with a new “interchange”, where passengers will be “seamlessly” connected to various forms of public transport and “efficient and effortless journeys”, according to the plans.

But the final decision on approving the project could be taken away from the council if the Welsh Government agrees to “call in” the application.

According to the government, “call in” powers are used “very infrequently and only when a proposal raises issues of more than local importance”.

An artist's impression of the new interchange on a rainy day
An artist’s impression of the new interchange on a rainy day

Only around five or ten of the thousands of planning applications submitted in Wales each year are usually called in, and even then that does not necessarily mean the government will refuse an application.

The identity of the person who requested the Caerphilly interchange application to be called in is unknown, but there has been considerable opposition to the project since detailed plans emerged in late 2023.

This has been both at a political and a community level. The council’s Plaid Cymru group has criticised the modern look of the proposed interchange, while a grassroots petition to save the station’s former ticket office from demolition has attracted more than 1,300 signatures.

The “call in” request was made in late November, shortly after the council applied for planning permission for the interchange project, and the latest Welsh Government documents, which list planning applications being considered, show the request is currently “under processing”.

How the new interchange could look from Station Terrace
How the new interchange could look from Station Terrace

The request will simply decide which organisation gets to approve or deny planning permission for the interchange project.

It is not a decision “on the merits of the application” itself, according to Welsh Government guidance.

“‘Calling in’ applications is generally only considered appropriate where a proposal raises planning issues of more than local importance,” the guidance adds.

Such issues can include a proposal being “in conflict” with national planning policies, having wider effects beyond the immediate area under development, or being “likely to significantly affect” sites of historic or natural importance.

“Generally, applications which do not raise planning issues of more than local importance will not be ‘called in’ for determination by the Welsh ministers,” according to the government guidance, which adds that ministers “will not ‘call in’ an application because of concerns about [a council’s] handling of it”.


Sign-up to our daily newsletter


Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts.

Become a member today

Grimshaw Architects
Grimshaw Architects
Grimshaw Architects

Latest News

  • Blackwood High Street
    County borough to receive £21.5m from UK Government ‘Pride in Place’ fundThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Aneurin Bevan University Health Board set for £19.9m overspendThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Gareth Potter: Conservative candidate for the Caerphilly Senedd by-electionThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Senedd stock image
    Senedd unveils £100m budget, including 21% increaseThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Wales at AI crossroads between promise and peril, Senedd warnsThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd
    Welsh Government ‘not taking its own infrastructure body seriously’Thursday, September 25, 2025

Find out how the communities of Caerphilly County Borough get their names

Caerphilly

Legal & Public Notices

  • Notice of application for a premises licence: Hanbury Road, BargoedThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Notice of application for a variation of a premises licence: Pontygwindy Industrial EstateThursday, September 18, 2025
  • Caerphilly County Borough Council public noticesThursday, September 18, 2025
  • Caerphilly County Borough Council public noticesThursday, September 4, 2025
© 2009-2024 Caerphilly Media Ltd, Caerphilly Miners Centre for the Community Watford Road Caerphilly, CF83 1BJ. Incorporated in Wales No. 07604006.