This week Caerphilly County Borough Council Cabinet agreed a number of critical decisions that will allow the plans to progress to the next level for Bargoed town centre. Phase 1 will comprise a large food store, several unit shops, a new town square and nearly 400 parking spaces.
Cllr Lindsay Whittle, Leader of the Council said, “We are approaching the final phase of negotiations to make this long awaited scheme a reality for the people of Bargoed. Over the next few weeks we hope to be in a position to make a further announcement about the development, and this could be a fantastic Christmas present for the whole community.”
Contractors linked to Simons Ltd, the firm backing the plans to create a major shopping and leisure development in Bargoed, are on site at the moment carrying out exploratory ground investigations. The much-anticipated scheme, which includes a national supermarket anchor store, retails units and other leisure facilities, is still moving forward and negotiations are now reaching a critical point.
“These exciting proposals will help put Bargoed back on the map and provide a major shopping and leisure destination for people across the county borough and beyond,” said Cllr Ron Davies, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Planning. “A lot of hard work is being done behind the scenes, but I would like to assure local people that we are doing everything possible to deliver this ambitious development as quickly as possible.”
The Cabinet also agreed to investigate options to include a new multiplex cinema as part of the overall development, which would be a major boost for the scheme. The Cabinet also approved in principle legal and leasing agreements with developers Simons and instructed Council officers to commence work on securing Phase 2 of the plateau development, including the multiplex cinema proposal.
In a further sign of confidence in the development, Simons Development Ltd will start drilling exploratory boreholes in the retail plateau site over the coming weeks in order to survey ground conditions, concentrating on the area where shops and the library were demolished in 2009. A planning application for the development is expected to be submitted to the Council in the Spring.
