This is the ghost town centre with a ‘road to nowhere’ leading to shops that were never built
The road to nowhere! Unfinished highway with its own bus stop leads to the ghost town center with a supermarket, movie theater and hotel that was never built
- The shabby scheme in Talbot Green, near Cardiff, was revealed in 2011
- But years of delay left it in limbo with a road leading into a wasteland
A haunted ‘town center’ with its own ‘road to nowhere’ – leading to shops that were never built – has been labeled a ‘waste of money’.
Built five miles from Cardiff, Wales, the route was intended to serve a bustling new leisure center at Talbot Green, complete with a cinema, supermarket and hotel.
But after more than a decade in limbo, the delayed project has failed to get off the ground, with the “city center” still a muddy wasteland.
Now outraged locals have lashed out after new photos revealed the disorderly plan from the air.
Shopper Val Lewis, 58, said: ‘What a waste of money to build a road that goes nowhere – it even has a bus stop on it. It only gets worse every time you drive by.’
‘A road to nowhere’: The highway had to lead to a vibrant new ‘city center’. But after more than a decade of delays, it instead leads to an empty stretch of wasteland
Plans for the new leisure center were intended to include a cinema, supermarket and hotel. But the site remains unused, with locals labeling the plan a ‘waste of money’
Excavators have now turned up at the site to carry out work – more than a decade after the project was unveiled – but no date has been announced for the long-awaited plan to be completed
It was in 2011 that Talbot Green Developments Ltd unveiled proposals for the new supermarket, hotel and cinema to serve the burgeoning commuter outside the Welsh capital.
Plans were approved and the new road with roundabout built to handle the expected traffic to the place that promised so much.
But nothing happened – until recent weeks with excavators on the site.
Locals are hoping construction will begin on a 50,000 square foot Sainsbury’s store, described as the ‘anchor tenant’ on the site.
The new Sainsbury’s store is expected to create at least 150 jobs.
The company hopes to open the store within a year. There will also be an Argos store in the supermarket, which will have more than 500 parking spaces.
Sainsbury’s real estate director Patrick Dunne said the company was ‘delighted to have taken the final steps in our longstanding plans to build a new supermarket for Talbot Green’.
The group overseeing the development, the UK-based Scarborough Group – a joint venture with TGDL – is still unable to clarify the future steps for development.
The vision: This is what the area was supposed to look like, with a built-up multi-screen cinema, shop and hotel
Proposals for the new leisure site were unveiled in 2011 by Talbot Green Developments Ltd for the new supermarket, hotel and cinema to serve the burgeoning commuter built outside the Welsh capital
But nothing happened – until diggers showed up at the site in recent weeks. Locals are hoping construction will begin on a 50,000 square foot Sainsbury’s store described on the site as the ‘anchor tenant’
The new Sainsbury’s store is expected to create at least 150 jobs. The company hopes to open the store within a year. The photo shows an aerial view of the site
A spokeswoman for Scarborough Group said the company is “assessing our options” about the development and cannot commit to plans already in place for the site.
“We are currently reviewing our options for the wider Talbot Green town center location to ensure that the proposed master plan includes the right mix of uses that respond to the needs and desires of the local community,” they said.
A council spokesman Rhondda Cynon Taf said: ‘The council’s planning committee initially granted permission for a new supermarket on land at Talbot Green.
Work to implement this latest permit must begin in August 2023 to comply with the building permit. The council has recently been notified by Sainsbury’s that it intends to commence work in accordance with that requirement.’