Councillors have criticised Vale of Glamorgan Council for not publicising its plans for a water park at Cosmeston Lakes sooner
A Welsh council has been urged to elucidate itself after an e-mail path was revealed exhibiting talks between it and a leisure firm over plans for a controversial water park. The Save Cosmeston and the Vale marketing campaign group, which is against the brand new Aqua Park web site at Cosmeston Lakes, obtained the e-mail path between Vale of Glamorgan Council and Aqua Park Group by way of a freedom of knowledge request.
Within the correspondence between a council officer and Aqua Park earlier this yr the corporate proposed discussing a possible 15-year time period for the positioning and was advised that there was “settlement to maneuver ahead with you behind the scenes”.
Vale of Glamorgan Council’s chief, Cllr Lis Burnett, has responded saying no settlement to start the trial of the Aqua Park attraction was made earlier than the choice by cupboard members in March 2025 and that the 15-year proposal was the corporate’s suggestion alone. For our free day by day briefing on the most important points dealing with the nation, signal as much as the Wales Issues e-newsletter right here.
A council spokesman additionally stated that “transferring ahead” refers to transferring ahead with the preparation of a draft heads of phrases doc and discussions on necessities for water sampling and different operational points.
They added that if cupboard members had not given their approval in March and if Pure Sources Wales (NRW) had not issued its consent “these discussions would have stopped”.
Councillors raised considerations concerning the emails at a full council assembly on Monday, July 14, with one accusing the native authority of treating residents in a “shameful method”.
Plans to trial an Aqua Park attraction on the jap facet of Cosmeston Lakes have been mentioned publicly at a cupboard assembly in March 2025 and checked out by an environmental scrutiny committee earlier than a licence settlement was signed in April.
Nonetheless discussions about this specific scheme return so far as January 2025 and a variety of councillors have criticised the native authority of not involving locally-elected representatives and residents sooner.
Conservative ward councillor for Plymouth, Cllr Anothony Ernest, stated the scheme had been “very badly dealt with” and Plaid Cymru group chief Cllr Ian Johnson stated he had “robust considerations” about how rapidly it went from being publicised to getting approval.
One other Conservative councillor, additionally representing the Plymouth ward which Cosmeston Lakes is located in, Cllr Rhys Thomas, stated: “A full and truthful session ought to have occurred, one which includes the individuals of Penarth who have been in any case those affected by this choice.
“That ought to be a pre-requisition for any choice of this magnitude and never one thing to be disregarded as has occurred on this case.
“Penarthians have a proper to be heard however it appears that evidently the Vale council does not agree.
“Now we’ve got emails obtained by FOI by the Save Cosmeston group that appear to counsel a council officer needed to ‘keep away from any type of publicity concerning the plan’ and {that a} 15-year time period for the aqua park was on the desk and that was in January this yr.
“That is fairly regarding and I feel we’d like readability from the chief or the cupboard about this particular situation.”
An e-mail from a Vale Council officer to Aqua Park Group on January 23, 2025, stated there was an settlement in place for the council to pursue a licence for the corporate to trial an attraction at Cosmeston Lakes this summer time.
It goes on so as to add {that a} report on the proposal might want to go earlier than council cupboard members and states “it will likely be important to keep away from any type of publicity about your transfer earlier than the cupboard report is agreed”.
An e-mail despatched to the council by Aqua Park Group on January 27 lists a variety of “notes for dialogue” forward of a gathering between them and officers.
Amongst these are proposals to debate cost, extra income that may be anticipated, pre-negotiation on a possible 15-year time period, and different potential actions like paddleboarding, open water swimming, and pedalo rent.
Cllr Burnett stated: “The proposal for a trial of an aqua park at Cosmeston Nation Park was formally agreed by the council’s cupboard and topic to additional dialogue on the atmosphere and regeneration scrutiny committee in March.
“No settlement to start a trial was made previous to cupboard’s choice and we didn’t enter into any industrial association with the operator till Pure Sources Wales gave its assent in Could.
“Selections of this nature can solely be taken by the council’s cupboard.
“They do, nonetheless, want preparatory work to be executed by council employees.
“It’s fully regular for employees to have discussions with potential companions to evaluate feasibility earlier than bringing proposals to cupboard and the council’s different committees.
“That is obligatory to permit us to hold out due diligence and threat assessments within the public curiosity.
“The emails present factors for dialogue at a preliminary assembly instructed by the potential operator.
“These have been their instructed phrases not ours and don’t mirror the ultimate settlement.
“Once more that is regular follow for drafting a heads of phrases doc for consideration earlier than any cupboard approval.
“Throughout any such preliminary discussions we might generally advise potential companions to not share any particulars of proposals upfront of those being topic to formal democratic scrutiny and the ultimate choice of cupboard.
“On this occasion it might not have been acceptable for the potential operator to announce the aqua park was as a consequence of open as no choice had but been made by cupboard.
“The council has at no level tried to stop scrutiny of its choice to trial using Cosmeston lakes for industrial actions.
“At every step of the method choices have been taken according to the council’s governance constructions.
“These choices have been clearly documented and are within the public area.
“Recordings of each cupboard, scrutiny committee, and council assembly the place this situation has been mentioned could be seen on-line.”
The Aqua Park attraction at Cosmeston Lakes is being trialled till September 2025.
After this the council will perform a full analysis of the pilot and determine if it’s going to exit to tender for somebody to function an attraction on web site for the next season.
