Build challenge

OF COURSE I am negative on plans that could create new slums of the future. I am positive and excited about fine new developments that will build an attractive prosperous Newport Nouveau. That’s my job.
Newport is building on a scale unprecedented since the fifties. We must get it right. There have been fine developments. The City Campus, the Riverfront and the Newport High School Bettws are architectural icons. The challenge now is to populate the derelict industrial sites with quality developments. Buildings must not be crammed into Lilliputian sites to maximize profits.
There has some mock indignation from those who are not used to hard scrutiny of their ideas. But it’s been more flannel than facts. One developer boasted that he had spent ten hours in Newport. Some of us have been here a little longer. We are alarmed at the results of stuffing a quarts worth of houses into pint-sized plots. Inevitably the parking hell and traffic congestion spread like a stain into the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Quality development? Yes. Over-development? Never