Well, my faith in the Vale Council has been slightly restored with the narrow defeat against the Model Farm Application last week – credit to those who voted against.
Fancy trying to kick a fourth-generation farming family off their lands and livelihood just to build a big business park – no wonder legions of our locals are livid.
I felt for the Jenkins family who were certainly set to lose their home after making a living mixed farming on the land since 1935.
Now, some may tell me it’s not as simple and that I’ve got it all wrong. I certainly known one thing I’ve got really right, the Vale Council initially pushing this Plan through was always precarious thanks to the strength of feeling against the marketing move right from the get-go.
Yeah, yeah I know the Planning Committee duly passed the business park blueprint back in July but against a 1,000 objecting signatures, a chorus of environmental disapproval, and with a majority of just one – hardly a landslide victory was it.
I get that Legal and General, who own the land, want to create a 45 hectare business park with offices and other stuff that will support Wales’ only airport up the road.
Fair enough, who doesn’t want a booming Barry and beyond economy full of high-tech manufacturing and aerospace businesses, creating jobs, and paying wages to would-be employees.
I do.
But not at the expense of seeing farmers lose the livelihoods, the natural countryside destroyed for our future generations, and residents raging at the alleged lack of even looking at other options.
For me, the defining double whammy of BREXIT and COVID-19 sprinkled with the creeping climate emergency is a game-changer to the way we live and work in this new normal.
Things ain’t how they used to be and our Councils crucially need to adapt to the very different world we now operate in.
It’s time to thrive not just survive.
In my view, we need to take the lessons learned and develop more open spaces and leisurely living ideas.
Bring all the bankrupt business buildings, empty shops, and stagnant sites back into use, and regenerate and redevelop where we can mindful of the very different climate change considerations that must be made.
Personally, I think, we should ban the new business builds until we have explored exhaustively the potential of rejuvenating all those existing said shops or sites.
You in?
(c) mrssvj.co.uk
Sue Vincent-Jones, blogging as Mrs SVJ, is a Barry born journalist, editor, and activist. She writes about Barry – and her life in the wider world, through the eyes of a, quirky and queer, local girl done good.
Written exclusively for the Vale’s newest newspaper, and digital platform, The Glamorgan Star, her latest ‘Passing Comment’ column, an addition to the infamous Sue’s Views collection, can be found here.
Mrs SVJ, Barry’s Boldest Blogger, can be contacted here.