Shopkeepers are threatened with arrest in row over £5m ‘rain gardens’
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Shopkeepers have been threatened with arrest amid a row over £5m anti-flooding ‘rain gardens’ that have turned into eyesores.
Furious traders in the Riverside area of Cardiff complain that the ‘eco-friendly’ rain gardens installed by their Labour council have become a ‘muddy mess’, preventing customers from parking near their shops.
They even mounted a protest to stop council staff replanting the gardens – only to be threatened with arrest when police were called.
The rain gardens – shallow areas of soil at the roadside that are planted with plants that can stand waterlogging – were installed in 2021 as part of a £5m plan to increase cycle lanes in the Tudor Street main road, just across the River Taff from the centre of the Welsh capital.
Shopkeepers are furious at a Labour council for installing ‘rain gardens’ in a high street revamp and are calling for more parking spaces instead
Rain gardens are shallow areas of ground where plants that can absorb water are planted to help prevent flooding
A sign alerting locals that the rain gardens are being ‘reviewed’ and ‘improvements’ will be made in coming weeks
But frustrated shopkeepers say the trendy rain gardens are a mess and put off shoppers as they regularly fill with litter and turn into mud pits when drivers park on top of them.
Qasim Din, who runs the 8 til Late newsagents, said: ‘It is impacting our livelihoods big time.
‘We are all shops here. We are independent stores and there is no national chain on this street at all.’
He said the shopkeepers were ‘not against the rain gardens as such, [we] just need the parking spaces.’
Qasim said: ‘People would stop on the street and now can’t. That’s how the businesses opened and thrived.
‘Anything more than a single carrier bag you need transportation. We are opposed to the fact there is no parking and I’m not aware there was any consultation.’
‘We are all independents and we are trying to survive. My dad has had this shop for nearly 45 years now. We have never seen it so bad like this. The loss of trade is devastating.’
Qasim Din, who runs a local newsagent, says they are not ‘against the rain gardens as such’, but says traders and customers are in need of more parking spaces
Pictured is work taking place on one of the rain gardens
He continued: ‘A lot of the time people park their cars there all day long because there are no wardens coming to check on them.
‘That is a big problem as well but the fact is it is just a loading bay that is hardly suitable for four cars. There are nearly 25 retail units on these two blocks alone – 25 retail units and there is only a loading bay hardly suitable for four cars. It just doesn’t make any sense.
‘That has always been Tudor Street for as long as I’ve known. I was born and bred in Riverside so I have seen it my whole life and this is just devastating. We are still paying our taxes, we are still paying our business rates, and this is what we are getting for it – nothing.’
Salek Miah, 42, of nearby PC Express, said he had not seen the situation so bad in more than 10 years of operating on the street.
He said one customer wanted to bring in her broken computer for repair but as there were no parking spaces her taxi driver was forced to park ‘two or three’ streets away.
He said: ‘This poor lady when she came to the store with this huge box – these PCs are getting bigger and bigger now – she was out of breath, huffing and puffing.
‘She was desperate to come here because she obviously wanted something repaired, but other people, when they see the situation, when they have got a really expensive piece of equipment and they have got to haul it into the store from a far distance, it is going to put them off.’
Shopkeepers say litter is collecting in the rain gardens and have become an ‘eyesore’
They say plants are not growing the kerbside rain gardens, and are instead collecting litter, with customers parking on top of them due to a lack of car spaces
Hairdresser Leaza Johnson believes parking has also affected her Inspiration salon.
She said: ‘For me we lost a lot of business at the moment because of parking. You can’t be having people taking 45 minutes to get a parking space, even to drop off.
‘If I buy something from the warehouse I have to be struggling from far to get here. The taxis can’t even stop across the road. You can’t do anything. It’s frustrating and all we are asking for is parking.’
Other local traders including Mario Andreou, who runs Lazarou Barbers, and Younis Jalali, from Mr Kebab and Pizza, are also campaigning against the repair of rain gardens, instead calling for more parking spaces.
Traders worry business has been affected by the lack of parking spaces in the area
Pictured is Mario Andreou who runs Lazarou Barbers on the high street
Younis Jalali, from Mr Kebab and Pizza, which is also based on the busy high road
Cardiff Council insists no parking spaces were lost by the road’s redesign – and traders were consulted before they were put in place.
A Cardiff Council spokesman said: ‘The council would like to make it clear that we will not tolerate any abuse to our staff or contractors or any unlawful activity to damage the work or remove the bollards that we are installing around the rain gardens in Tudor Street.
‘Following recent activity by traders on Tudor Street the council had to call the police for their assistance. If similar incidents continue to take place the police will be called again.
‘The council is currently carrying out remedial works to five rain gardens that have been damaged by people driving in them and parking on top of them.
‘The regeneration scheme was designed to improve business premises and the surrounding environment. It has not reduced the number of parking or loading bays on the street.
One of the rain gardens filled with water after a downpour
‘It has been designed to stop people parking on double-yellow lines and pavements, which is dangerous to other road users and pedestrians.
‘Loading bays have been provided for traders to carry out their business and limited waiting bays for shoppers and visitors but these are not intended for shop owners to park their vehicle for free while they are trading.
‘When we carried out the consultation on the scheme with traders we didn’t receive any adverse comments on the proposed parking bays and restrictions so it is very disappointing that after a significant investment into this street, these issues are taking place.
‘The damaged rain gardens have been an eyesore for the street and do not make it a welcoming and safe environment to attract customers.’
