Reasons to object to the Ty-Du development


Existing vacant light industry floor space

The existing vacant floor space throughout Caerphilly County Borough Council for light industry is as follows:
- 119 units.
- 44 office units.
This begs the question - why desecrate 47 acres of a green field site to house 15 new units? There are a large number of units and office units standing empty that could be occupied tomorrow.

Traffic congestion

The construction of the buildings will cause a significant increase in traffic congestion as large construction trucks will have to travel to and from the site, sometimes passing through Nelson. In addition if the business park is occupied (which is unlikely due to reasons already given) it would give rise to an increase in traffic with workers travelling to and from the business park, again passing through the centre of Nelson. The roads in Nelson and the roads leading out of Nelson are narrow country roads that cannot cope with large amounts of traffic.

Ty-Du development will contain large lake

The proposed Ty-Du site will contain a "water balancing area", (Dry Swale) measuring 2.6 acres. The site allocated is actually 2.7 acres, in case of a necessity to enlarge the capacity. 2.6 acres equates to the size of 2.5 football pitches. The water will be of a depth of 12 inches. This gives a holding capacity of 2.5 million litres, or 600,000 gallons. There will be lifebelts surrounding this lake. The lake will be adjacent to the Somerfield Stores alongside their water culvert, and also next to the A472. This area currently floods regularly during heavy rainfall. The impact of heavy rainfall on 600,000 gallons of standing water will cause severe flooding in the area. This area on the plan is called; "a leisure and wildlife reserve."

Air quality

No one can accurately predict the impact of such a development will have on air quality. The report itself describes the potential emission of contaminated dust from the landfill site during construction as "uncertain". Also, exhaust fumes from additional traffic; airborne pollutants from the buildings themselves and the disruption during development will almost certainly have an adverse effect on air quality. This is of particular concern as residential home for the elderly and an infant's school is close to the site. These members of the community are vulnerable in terms of health and should be protected.

Water quality of streams

If the nature and use of this area changes, pollutants released from the buildings themselves and as a result of disruption of landfill may eventually find their way into neighboring streams. The effects of this on aquatic life forms could be very detrimental. There is also a possibility that the attenuation features put in place may themselves become affected and may not provide adequate buffers. The environmental impact on the area will be significant.

Sewage

Our antiquated sewage system is already overloaded, resulting in rising sewage. This has significant health implications.

Environmental impact

A report has described the site as having areas that have "high value and low tolerance to change". This means the environmental impact of development on the area is high. Natural habitats will be lost, and the flora and fauna of retained habitats detrimentally affected. Population dynamics are such that disruption of a habitat and its species can have serious long-term effects on significant species higher up the food chain.

Destruction of a site of natural beauty

The site at Ty-Du has been described as; "A site within an overall landscape of undulating fields interspersed with small woodlands, hedgerows and farms". Caerphilly Council intends to replace this with "A developed urban site with building and illumination". It is ludicrous that anyone would desecrate an area of beauty under the premise of social benefit. The people of Nelson consider living in an area surrounded by countryside a social benefit.

Rare breed of bat nests in the Ty-Du site

The Nelson Action Group has discovered that the existing survey of a rare breed of bat nesting in the Ty-Du site is out of date. It has therefore been requested that the Welsh Assembly Government carry out a new survey. This has been agreed by Caerphilly County Borough Council. The Nelson Action Group is in the process of arranging an independent survey.

Global warming

At a time when environmental issues are at the center of political debate, councils should be making a proactive commitment to reducing carbon emissions that result in global warming. Removing vast areas of plant life and replacing them with buildings will actually increase carbon emissions. Thefore, this development plan appears to be in direct conflict with the ethos of central government and the present global ethos.

Ty-Du construction will damage historical sites

The Welsh Assembly Government environmental statement tells us under the value of heritage; "Three cultural heritage features have been identified within the site and its vicinity, all of local importance."
 
Two of these, historic hedgerows and the line of the former tramway lie within the site, the third - four nineteenth century buildings lie outside the site. The former tramway line is the subject of a "Claimed right of way". The development will remove stretches of the hedgerows depicted on the Llanfabon title map of 1842, and parts of the line of the former 20th century tramway will be affected.

The four nineteenth century buildings lying outside the site are actually three now, the missing one being the now demolished Mount Zion Welsh chapel that stood at the bottom of Caerphilly Road. The three remaining are:
- Penbeili Cottage - a post-medieval house.
- Ebenezer Welsh Methodist Chapel - now Bethel Evangelic Chapel in Heol Fawr. Ebenezer was built in 1796, modified in 1831 and 1874, and is also post-medieval.
- Calfaria Baptist Chapel built 1878, and also a post-medieval building.

Conclusion

The only argument for placing a Business Park at Ty-Du is that it would improve socio-economic conditions. These improvements can be achieved by developing more appropriate sites within the borough I.E. sites where the infrastructure for industry already exits and where the cost incurred in terms of environmental impact, quality of life and resources required are fewer.