THIS is the ghost “town centre” with a “road to nowhere” leading to shops that were never built.
Residents of Talbot Green, Wales, say that what was meant to be a bustling new urban hub remains a wasteland after years of delays.
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The road was meant to lead to a supermarket, cinema and hotel complex to accommodate the rapidly growing population in the town, but it is still unfinished more than a decade later.
The development was proposed in 2011, plans were approved by the local council and the road, complete with a roundabout, was built to service the town.
But, after that, nothing happened until diggers were seen on the site in the last few weeks.
Shopper Val Lewis, 58, fumed: “What a waste of money to build a road that goes nowhere – there’s even a bus stop on it.
“It just adds insult to injury every time you drive past.”
Locals are hoping that work is beginning for the promised 50,000sq ft Sainsbury’s store, which is expected to create at least 150 jobs and act as an “anchor tenant” for the development.
Patrick Dunne, property director for the supermarket giant, said that the company is “pleased to be taking the final steps in our longstanding plans to deliver a new supermarket for Talbot Green”.
A spokesperson Scarborough Group, which is overseeing the site in a joint venture with Talbot Green Developments Ltd said that they were “reviewing our options” and could not commit to the existing plans.
They explained: “We are currently reviewing our options for the wider Talbot Green town centre site to ensure that the proposed master plan comprises the right mix of uses that respond to the needs and wants of the local community.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said: “The council’s planning committee initially granted permission for a new supermarket on land at Talbot Green.
“Works to implement this latest permission must start by August 2023 to comply with the planning consent.
“The council has recently been advised by Sainsbury’s that it intends to start works in compliance with that requirement.”
It comes after residents of one London borough told of how Clean Air rules had ruined their high street.
Meanwhile, locals of Kingshurst, West Midlands, said that they were in desperate need of help after the once-thriving village became a ghost town.
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