Hirwaun village green
Posted by Y ddraenen from Aberdare on the 22nd July 2009
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/07/22/residents-deligh...
I'd like to congratulate the people of Hirwaun for winning their fight against the developers. This came about of course because they had the support of their local councillors, unlike we in Abernant who were sold down the river by our local Labour incumbents, and lost our green area at River Level.
Our councillors mouthed weak protests against the plan for a housing estate on the River Level site, but of course their political future in the Labour Party was at stake if they shouted too loudly and supported the residents' fight. Consequently the fight was lost even before it was started.
Until RCT Council begins to take the environment and its degradation through handing out planning permission that destroys our green areas seriously, we will continue to lose them and we'll end up far poorer for it.
Let's get the issue straight; developers are there to make money, and the only green they see in the environment is the greenback of money. Their interest is not need but profit. However, they can't make that profit without the collusion of councillors like we have in the Labour Party in Abernant and Aberaman. That's why the Hirwaun residents' victory is so important for all of us.
May there be many more victories against those out to destroy our environment, because there are many more fights to come, and may those in the Labour Party who are hell bent on colluding in that destruction be ousted from office for good.
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People need homes, men and women need jobs. Me, I’m sick of the do gooders that protest about a little bit of countryside being used for development of any sort. Regardless of what area certain flowers grow or what birds are nesting in, because these will always grow or breed in other places.
YOOO HOO Have you seen the amount of countryside in Wales, how many of us walk in the natural surroundings anymore? We simply ignore it unless we want to gain a political groan.
I’m not interested in political parties, but I do look at the statistics of the unemployed and the homeless. I’m no property developer either. I am just grateful I have a house to live in and my partner had employment until retirement. Employment means less crime, and there’s enough poverty and crime in the valleys because of unemployment
I look around our once beautiful untouched countryside near to where I live and usually see it littered by fly tippers or car rubbish throwers and by the hell I would rather see any amount of housing or industry there, to replace the eyesore it has become over the years
If you are a home owner or a tenant then it is likely, in your time you had employment so let others enjoy the luxury of work that was once common place instead of using it as an excuse for a political gripe.
Creating homes and employment is not degrading, it is upgrading our society for the better.
Garden girl,
I hope you get what you want!
Every window that you look through, every avenue you try to tread, every inch of your garden covered in concrete with lots of builders around you doing so.
"People need homes, men and women need jobs."
People need space and men women and children need long term prospects rather than short term greed driven fixes.
"I’m sick of the do gooders that protest about a little bit of countryside being used for development of any sort."
These "Do Gooders" also helped creat places like the national parks, protection areas and the like which happen to provide Wales with one of its biggest employers at the moment - Tourism.
"these will always grow or breed in other places." this maybe true - but long after you or i are gone.
"how many of us walk in the natural surroundings anymore?" - I bet you don't.
The fact is that the local people in Hirwaun were being given something THEY did not want. They stood up and should be applauded.
And who is going to buy these homes? The builders who are building them?
There are already many unsold developments throughout the valley and plenty of brownfield sites that could house people (The old factory site in Robertstown, The chicken factory in Trecynon, The Phurnacite, etc
Go take a walk and wake up to the fact that we have a natural heritage that is worth protecting and an industrial heritage that can be developed.
Good for you Gardengirl. Some of the contributors to these forums seem happy to protest just for the sake of protesting. What sad lives they must lead, finding bad in everything and everyone. I am sure though that if they had a useless bit of land to sell they would be the first to rile at the authorities if they could not get any planning permission to develop it. Many of the housing developments that have taken place are on former coal tips or tracts of land that had little or no scenic or scientific value. Before any accusations are made to the contrary let me once again say that I am not a councillor, never have been and never will be.
If it were a useless piece of Land then there would be no problem. However when a whole community, who have used the land for years, are against it, use it daily for recreation and want to maintain a green wooded space for future generations then that should be encouraged.
But obviously not with some here.
There is no argument with sound planning and development in line with a sustainable and long term vision. Unfortunately many people here cannot see past the end of their egos (or maybe their relatives / employers egos), wallets and short sighted attitude.
No one whats to see the countryside damaged for no sake, but well said gardengirl. At last someone who isnt just having a whinge!
We need more houses in the right place, with transport links for work. As jobs brings regeneration as those jobs even if away pay the people living locally that then spend locally.
With the dualling of the Heads of the Valley road I think Hirwaun if the prime place.
By the way it was 100 houses or something not a whole new town!!
So "Around Town" Are you all for the developments in Mountain Ash. What is it? 300+ houses north of the already congested junction near the bridge in to Mount?
400 + extra cars!
I dont mind development in Mountain Ash at all, as long as the transport links are good enough. If we gat the cross valley link then problems on the A4059 by the lights will be reduced.
By the way the artical in the news paper last week was so wrong, there is no plan to build houses on the site of Mountain Ash Hospital. I rang teh council as soon as I heard that to check and they said nope its miss information! The only land for development is a much smaller section to the side of the hospital
I'm sure you all know Hirwauns history of the Ironworks dating back to the 18th century and the Gloucsters Wagon works and Hirwaun railway station... they all played a massive part in Welsh History. Although these great industries are not part of everyday life anymore they are a great part of the village history the community today .
We didn't fight long and hard to deprive people of Homes and Jobs, we fought long and hard to protect our already over populated Village.. If you consider our fight to be just wanting to have something to moan about then come up to Hirwaun and take a look at all the boarded up houses that took up perfectly good land and are now not in use, the houses that are priced out of the market that remain empty and then there's the houses that are being destroyed by vandals and are filled with Squatters...
Why destroy the land that generations of people have used as recreational purposes, land that keeps children off the streets and gives them a option of playing in a innocent way protected from the traffic or offending older people with noise levels, where People feel safe to walk thier dogs, where school trips are taking place as Nature adventures... and so much more.
100 houses were to be put in the Gloucsters site, by a private company not by the council, these houses were going to be valued yet again at a very high price.. during the current Recession is it really practical?
the land meant more to us than 100 houses it's a historic site not only for the industries they once were but to our families who have brought their children up there just like we were brought up there and I'm very pleased to have been a part of the fight and the work that was put into it was far far more that just something to do to have a bit of a gripe and it certainly was more than just a political protest to get our own way...