A Consortium has obtained the land for sale required to complete their £250m scheme to construct 2,000 properties in Barry. It is recognized as the Barry Waterfront Consortium and involves Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes who collectively have taken ownership of 100 acres of land from the Associated British Ports. However the sum paid for the land is not being made public.
Even though a planning application has been submitted to the Vale of Glamorgan council in August 2009, they have not guaranteed outline planning consent yet. The development has gained its name The Quays in reference to the maritime historical past of the area. The proposed scheme can involve a primary school and a link road linking the town to Barry Island. The plan was to get the land and start phase one of the development close to the same time, even so the council has not even given a date yet when they can look at the final result of the application. So even though they have acquired the vital land for sale they still cannot begin.
Richard Keogh, who spoke on behalf of the Consortium said that the actuality that they had obtained the land was a crystal clear sign that they plan to fully develop the site. He mentioned that localpeople had been all for the proposals and that anything is in place aside from the planning permission coming through. He believes that the regeneration project that can take place in Barry can have a beneficial impact by means of the jobs that can be created. He referred to the St Athan project which has been deferred and thought that it was essential that this venture gets off the ground as quickly as possible. The outline application is for up to 2,000 properties as well as shops, eating places, bars and workplaces. There can also be parks and public spaces with the primary school and community facility which can be 4,000sq ft.
Since the Consortium lodged the application they have worked with the planners to deal with each and every stage and in June they submitted a detailed application for the link road that can run through the scheme. The road will link the town and Barry Island. The scheme, which can be over a 9 year period, can see an preliminaryl 1,900 jobsdeveloped. 700 jobs can be produced as a result of employers at the waterfront. 800 direct and indirect jobs will be developed in the nearby location as a knock-on effect of the scheme. 900 more jobs can be created by way of the South East region. Mr Keogh believes that his discussions with the council have been very positive so far and have accomodated requests to revise the scheme to add value to the local men and women. He feels that all the preparatory work is in place and so the scheme should basically move forward.
Even so even if the scheme gains complete planning consent from the council it could even now be called in by the Welsh Assembly Government. Hopefully though now that they have acquired the land for sale they will soon begin development once planning is gained.
