Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
Vale of Glamorgan Council

For all these reasons, the KS1 housing development should be removed from the plan.

The measures suggested in the traffic mitigation packages' cannot possibly meaningfully ease the density of traffic that an added 700-900 cars entering almost directly onto the roundabout will bring. The current congestion and frequent gridlock will increase exponentially. This affects not only the residents on all the roads leading to, from and around the roundabout, but also all people travelling through it each and every day, not to mention its function as a main conduit for emergency vehicles passing between Barry, the airport and towns and villages further along the coast. No public transport links the site with shops, the railway station, the town centre, local schools or health services. Walking the long up and down route to the station and back is not feasible for the majority of residents. All who already live in the area know this. The new residents will drive everywhere.

The increased pressure that will be placed on health services, amenities and schools will break the systems. These are already overstretched. This site is not capable of offering its residents a good quality of life. It will however line the pockets of the developers.

The site already has flooding and drainage and foul water issues. Tarmacking over a large part of it will negatively impact this. Measures suggested by the developer will not resolve these. The flood risk and foul management strategies are incomplete. It seems that the culvert under the whole of Nant Talwg is not identified and is already backing up under heavy rainfall. The old system was not built to deal with climate change.

The KS1 NW Barry site is directly on a designated Green Wedge. This will not be a small group of dwellings but a housing estate of over 370 houses, extending the outer boundary of the town of Barry significantly, encroaching on the settlements of Rhoose. This was decisively rejected in the previous 2015 judgement of the suitability of the site for housing. No amount of word salad redefinitions will alter this fact. The arguments the council puts out for abandoning the Green Wedge at north west Barry would seem to be spurious, formulated to justify their own backtrackingon the reasons upheld for the Wedge in 2015. The loss of green space that housing and hardcore will replace is unforgivable. There will be less uncovered land to drain the increasing heavy rainfall. The impact on biodiversity will also be felt. Loss of habitat is a main reason for the drastic decline in wildlife species countrywide. Bats, field mice, otters, owls, raptors, wood pigeons and skylarks inhabit these fields. Swallows skim them in summer for the plethora of insects. Wrens and other small birds nest in the scrub and hedges surrounding them. From my garden I hear the songs of robins, wood pigeons, blackbirds, dunnocks, tits and goldfinches. Skylarks nest in them all through spring and summer, their songs lifting up into the air above us as they rise. These are endangered red-listed birds. Green woodpeckers probe our lawn, sparrow hawks sit on our wall, Jackdaws, crows and gulls circle the skies above us. Sometimes they are joined by buzzards or red kites. THIS is biodiversity.

lolo Williams, Wales' most famous wildlife protanganist, says in Tyr Natur : "Cymru is one of the most nature depleted countries on the planet and despite conservation efforts our wildlife is still in decline."

These Green Wedge fields act as a wildlife corridor, (essential for successful breeding and survival) between the country park and the further landscape of our beautiful Vale. Take it away and it is gone for good. Yet more numbers of species will be lost. Wildlife is not just a luxury. It is the web that supports the health and wellbeing of all creatures on this earth, ourselves included. We should not lightly throw away what is on our doorstep.

Finally for me, as an artist and a gardener this aspect is close to my heart. Landscape, vegetation and wildlife are key inspirations. I garden organically with care for biodiversity.

For all these reasons, the KS1 housing development should be removed from the plan.