Over 1000 people, including a delegation from the Musicians’ Union (MU) Wales & South West England Region, attended the highly successful Save Womanby Street march to Cardiff City Hall on Saturday 29 April.
Politicians from the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru marched with Cardiff residents, musicians and music fans to object to a request for planning permission adjacent to existing music venues that puts those venues at risk.
MPs including Jo Stevens and Kevin Brennan – pictured above with the MU Wales & SW England team – pledged to campaign and lobby the Welsh Government to change to Wales' National Planning Policy, and to ensure that the Agent of Change principle is provided for in Welsh planning law.
In a speech on the day, Jo Stevens MP, whose constituency of Cardiff Central includes Womanby Street, said: “We want to make sure the planning committee rejects this application for flats next to Clwb Ifor, because what’s so special about Womanby Street is the diversity of the music scene but also protecting our language and our culture. And Clwb Ifor represents that.”
Jo called for Agent of Change, saying “We can make sure that in future developments are restricted by what is there already. So when we have live music venues there already, people coming in who want to develop have to have something that’s compatible with our live music venues.”
“I want those teenagers who are practicing in their garages now to be able to be sure that they have parity with high art and high culture. And one of the people who is making sure that is happening is our fab MP for Cardiff West Kevin Brennan – the only MP here who plays in a band, live, on telly, every single week,” Jo added.
Phil Bale, Leader of Cardiff Council, confirmed that Cardiff Labour is absolutely committed to the Save Womanby Street campaign and would work to establish a task force with the music industry in Cardiff to ensure that live music continues to thrive.
Watch all the speeches from the march.
The march was organised by the Save Womanby Street Campaign. Find out more via Facebook and follow them on Twitter to keep up to date with the latest news.