Compromised Cathedrals

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In 2004, a plan to improve the public realm in the 'city' which is Llandaff village, was brought to residents by the City Government. This involved stopping through traffic, by extending the grassed area of Cathedral Green. This diminished available parking a little, and meant that those living on the north side of the green, and the south side would henceforth only be able to access their properties from one direction instead of two. The aesthetic improvement is noticeable, but this is totally offset by the added congestion caused by the elimination of through traffic.

At the end of school during term times, the reasonably adequate existing car park overflows into the High Street and around the adjacent parts of the Green with the vehicles of parents picking up children. The main through road, Cardiff Road, is a commuter route in and out of the city which has seen its traffic multiply exponentially as a result of recent satellite housing development, so the junction of High Street and Cardiff Road is a major traffic jam blackspot.

This is everyday normality, when there is not a wedding and funeral or other big ceremony involving hundreds of people going to the Cathedral.Whenever there is a Cathedral event, the chaos and delay, not to mention distress caused when a cortège has a crematorium rendezvous to make after a service, are the cause of complaint. All who live in or visit Llandaff City are affected by this and remark upon it. At a time when Cardiff tourism has undergone major expansion, its fine ancient Cathedral has seen no increase in visitors. Despite the proliferation of brown and white tourism traffic signs, coach companies know all to well the difficulties of taking people within short walking distance of the Cathedral. Things are worse, since 'improvements' to the Green were imposed by the City Council. And imposed they were, against the wishes of local residents, the Dean and Chapter.

There were consultation meetings at which the plans were explained. The Llandaff Society and the Cathedral Chapter and its Council registered strong objections and warned the impact of these measures would have on the village. Nevertheless, the measures were voted through by the City Council, and implemented with surprising haste, thereby rendering objections futile. The Cathedral and village is not lacking in skilled and expert people to engage in policy debate or help formulate plans that from the outset are bound to have consequences for all residents as well as visitors. There is no evidence to suggest that this resource was enlisted to help shape an improvement plan that would genuinely make the village more accessible to locals and visitors, and enhance its environment.

Meanwhile, St David's Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral in the city centre cul-de-sac of Charles Street is seeing significant growth in attendance due to recently arrived Eastern European and Asian immigrants. It suffers problems of traffic congestion at service times caused by the conflicting needs of worshippers who need to arrive by car, and shoppers displaced from recently demolished multi-storey car parks, wanting to pick up goods from the neighbouring Queen Street pedestrian area shops. Existing provisions to regulate parking are frequently flouted, making it impossible for vehicles to turn around or pass each other. Traffic wardens, if there are any to be found are prone to penalise worshippers and shoppers with complete impartiality.

Plans to 'improve' the situation on the street, as a key gateway to new shopping developments and pedestrian areas, will affect businesses in Charles Street as well as the Cathedral and Ebeneser Chapel opposite. The Cathedral is working on a development plan for its ancilliary buildings to serve better the expanding social and cultural programme. Any 'improvements' to Charles Street could either be the kiss of death to these ambitions or the breath of life. At the moment, disruption caused by commercial re-development means an inevitable struggle for both local authorities and the Cathedral to cope. It is not yet apparent whether there is sufficient will to ensure future 'improvements' will work to everyone's benefit.

One thing seems certain - the functioning of two major religious institutions of the City Borough of Cardiff, with throughput of at least a thousand people every week, has been seriously compromised by local government in action.