Sunday 19 June 2011

National Heritage Group backs Cardiff Reservoir Campaigners

The highly distinguished and much respected Victorian Society has written to the Planning Inspector to register a strong objection to plans to build over 300 houses in the basin of Llanishen Reservoir.

The Society believes that the significance of the reservoir's Grade II listed dam is largely meaningless without the purpose for which it was built and therefore, the reservoir and the water within it are part of its special interest and must not be destroyed.

'A residential development of this scale is fundamentally incompatible with the character and appearance of one of the largest listed structures in Wales' said Heloise Brown, Conservation Advisor for the Victorian Society. 'Llanishen Reservoir remains an attractive and striking reminder of a visionary nineteenth century engineering project and the irreversible changes needed for this scheme means the reservoir won't be easily recognisable and its significance will be lost'.