Cardiff Council has earmarked 71 existing and former pubs, clubs and social or cultural venues for inclusion on the city’s Local Heritage List.
The move seeks to recognise and preserve these buildings for their positive contribution to the city’s culture and visual distinctiveness.
Among the pubs put forward for inclusion are:
- The Butchers Arms in Rhiwbina
- The Albany in Plasnewydd
- The Cottage in Splott
- The Cornwall in Grangetown
- The Pineapple in Llandaff North, and
- The Halfway in Riverside
Cllr Dan De’Ath, the Council’s Cabinet member responsible for Strategic Planning, said the proposal to add the buildings to the Local Heritage List aligned with the authority’s ‘Stronger, Fairer, Greener’ corporate plan where it commits to “using our powers to protect and celebrate local buildings such as pubs, community spaces and music venues, particularly those rich in the city’s working class history.”
The Council has now launched a public consultation on the proposed local list additions which forms the first phase of a full review of the Local Heritage List. To take part in the consultation – which closes on September 18 this year – visit www.cardiffldp.co.uk/local-list and give your views.
Cardiff has an existing Local List of around 200 buildings but a comprehensive review is overdue. Since the original list was adopted in 1997, around a third of the 323 buildings designated at that time have been subsequently listed by Cadw for national importance, giving them statutory protection.
However, some buildings have been altered or even demolished. “As a result,” said Cllr De’Ath, “the list needs revision to include new additions and to bring in controls over alteration or demolition where possible.
“We have already taken steps to safeguard some important buildings in the city, serving Article 4 directions on both the Rompney Castle and Stacey Hall, on the grounds that development would result in the loss of historic buildings.
“Article 4s can put a block in place of permitted development rights, which normally allow a developer to demolish a building they own – the Council can only regulate the way in which the building can be demolished.
“Reviewing the Local List and adding buildings to it will enable us to issue Article 4 directions on those buildings if required. This will help bring demolition back under planning control and halt demolition without full planning permission being granted. It’s not a cure-all, as we have seen with Guildford Crescent where the street frontage was removed – although that will be restored by the developer – but it can act to put a halt to demolition while we investigate ways in which buildings, as aspects of important buildings to our community, can be retained.
“The anger and disbelief at what happened at Guildford Crescent was very real and palpable across the city. For myself and the planning committee there was real frustration at the way this was handled by the developer. I’m determined and hopeful that reviewing the list can start to make a difference and encourage a far better understanding of the importance of Cardiff’s heritage to developers moving forward.”
Buildings are not proposed for local listing if they are already on the Cadw statutory list (Grade II or above) or are protected by virtue of being within a conservation area. Many pubs in Cardiff are therefore already afforded protection from alteration or demolition through these existing statutory designations.
Local listing will mean that future planning applications will be assessed to ensure that they ‘preserve or enhance’ the ‘architectural quality, historic and cultural significance, character, integrity and/or setting’ of each building.
Following the consultation, a summary of the responses will be compiled and reported back to the Council’s Cabinet.
