![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1_rbp_mai120126site43706JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe plans have led to a number of discussions by Cardiff Council’s planning committee<\/p>\n
The new development site off Lower Cathedral road(Image: WalesOnline\/Rob Browne)<\/p>\n
Part of a busy city centre street in Cardiff has been completely transformed as works on controversial plans to build flats and retail space get under-way.<\/p>\n
The plans from Wales & West Housing for 81 new flats and commercial space on Cowbridge Road East were first approved by Cardiff<\/a> Council\u2019s planning committee in August of 2023.<\/p>\n The approval for the site based at the junction of Cathedral Road was given, though this was with a condition attached that meant the largest commercial unit would be sub-divided into no less than two units, with a maximum floorspace of 250sqm.<\/p>\n However, developers later applied to remove this planning condition so that a supermarket chain could move in to the commercial space below the new flats once completed.<\/p>\n This raised concerns with some local councillors who argued it would impact other local businesses that provided jobs and \u201cculturally important meeting places\u201d.<\/p>\n Work is now under-way at the site (Image: WalesOnline\/Rob Browne)<\/p>\n It led to a further discussion by Cardiff Council<\/a>\u2019s planning committee in January 2025, where members decided to reject the amended application despite some arguing in favour of having a new supermarket in this part of the city.<\/p>\n Speaking at the planning committee at the time, Cllr Michael Michael said: \u201cI have no issue with a large supermarket going there because it would serve the area.\u201d<\/p>\n Riverside councillor, Cllr Leonora Thomson however argued that the area was \u201cmore suited to the independent provision of retail\u201d and that having a supermarket would take away \u201cpotential for independent shops\u201d.<\/p>\n The site located in the Riverside ward of Cardiff is based approximately 300m west of the city centre opposite the former Westgate public house.<\/p>\n Following the rejection of the amended condition, work on the site has begun with the eight former terraced buildings facing Cowbridge Road East being flattened as part of the construction.<\/p>\n Piles of rubble and construction vehicles now occupy the site near what is one of Cardiff\u2019s busiest junctions.<\/p>\n While the previous application to alter the planning condition was rejected, a section of Cardiff Council\u2019s planning portal shows that an appeal of the decision has been submitted and is currently in progress.<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The plans have led to a number of discussions by Cardiff Council’s planning committee The new development site…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,12502,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-693541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cardiff","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115888883344257607","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4_rbp_mai120126site43708JPG.jpg\")
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