Council leader rips into Barry Waterfront house builders

Council leader Lis Burnett says the Waterfront Consortium is not making true to its promise delivering community facilities along with the thousands of houses they have been granted to build.

Now the council are getting serious, mentioning the term “legal action” along with a host of other terms including “broken promises”, “weak excuses”, “lack of progress” and accusing the consortium of not caring about community.

Several areas of public space at the waterfront, including children’s play areas, need attention, as does land approved for a park at East Quay, which currently contains a mound of earth.

A green area at the Cliff Top, near Barry Island Primary School, is still to be created, while the standard of open space in other areas is poor, with inadequate planting and little maintenance.

Safety improvements are also needed on a section of road along Ffordd Y Millennium.

All this has led to Cllr Burnett going on a stinging attack of the consortium, made up of housebuilders Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes.

Cllr Burnett said: “Time and again the Waterfront Consortium has made it clear that it has no interest in delivering the community components of this development.

“There has been a catalogue of broken promises and weak excuses for the lack of progress, yet, remarkably, these issues do not seem to be affecting the developers’ house-building programme.

“The only conclusion is that the Waterfront Consortium does not care about community. It builds houses not homes, is interested in profit not people, and creates properties not vibrant, attractive places to live.”

A spokesperson for the consortium has hit back, saying they met with the council in June to discuss the problem areas and reassure them of their commitment to deliver facilities.

The spokesperson said: “We understand and appreciate the frustration expressed by the council and local residents regarding the community facilities at the Barry Waterfront development.

“We can confirm that the consortium met with the leader and chief executive of Vale Council at the end of June to discuss the outstanding areas and reassure them of our commitment to deliver these facilities as quickly as possible.

“We have since devised and commenced a detailed programme of works, which has been shared with the council.

“We will continue to work alongside them to complete these facilities and the Barry Waterfront regeneration project to the highest standard.”

Barry Waterfront still needs a lot of work (Image: Google Maps)

The council previously had to take action against the Waterfront Consortium to ensure a complex of shops, bars and restaurants known as the District Centre was built, while the new St Baruc school was completed only after the council threatened legal action.

Councillor Burnett, furious (Image: Vale Council)

Cllr Burnett continued: “Enough is enough. Waterfront residents deserve better, and we are not prepared to simply stand by and accept this treatment.

“The consortium is not only in breach of its legal obligations, but also local and national government polices around placemaking.

“As a council, we will do everything in our power to hold developers to account and make sure they honour their commitments.”

Do you agree with Lis Burnett's comments? What do you think of the Barry Waterfront development and how it is going? Let us know at harry.jamshidian@newsquest.co.uk.